X60T : crap mach, incompetent manufacturer or stupid buyer?

[Vasco Almeida]

... or maybe the three put together, me being the stupid buyer. I bought an X60T for a daughter of mine, and she has no reason to thank me for it:

1. Takes ages to start and shutdown, and at both occasions Windows is always busy "configuring updates".

2. Gets real HOT, I doubt that I can finish this post before it melts irretrievably down.

3. The standard battery gets exhausted in an hour (more on this later).

4. A few minutes ago, a pop-up window informed me that there had been a problem with a sidebar (or was it sidewindow?), told me to hit OK, I did that, IE went and mach shut down ... but not before it spent some of the time "configuring updates".

5. The disk activity light is blinking wildly almost 100% of the time (surely this affects battery life and mach temperature?).

6. At start up, a command windows briefly shows that some "leadertech.ini" file is missing, and disappears. ("leader tech", ain't that cute?)

7. If I access a Lenovo site (eg Support and Downloads), the application does not "detect my system".

8. If I choose to look at accessories (with a view, for instance, to getting a more powerful battery) I get thrown into a French site (I live in Portugal and am careful to choose the correct country), and then the mach type and model are not recognized.

9. To this day and age, I am still not sure that the mach is properly registered with Lenovo, since the system is not detected by the application.

Can anybody help with solutions to some of these problems?

If this is anything to go by, Lenovo must have a great future in this business. Does anybody from IBM/Lenovo ever look at the forum to see what is going on?

Please don't tell me to sell the box: I am not a born salesman, and my high moral standards would prevent me from swindling anyone in such a blatant fashion.

Thank you for your help, and for listening.

Vasco

[carbon_unit]

It sounds like windows is corrupted. Have you tried saving your data and restoring to factory condition using the F11 key at startup? You should not be having all those problems.

[ryengineer]

Sir, most of the problems you stated are Windows (version ? ) related that is improperly configured.

Turn off your system, turn it over and write down the 7 digits long product number you see on the back on a piece of paper (mostly in 1234-5AB format but not limited to) and go here and input it. Please post it here as well.

The marketing part number of 8 cell battery for X60t is 40Y8318, you can call lenovo in your country to order it or search it on lenovo's Europian website.

[Vasco Almeida]

... Turn off your system, turn it over and write down the 7 digits long product number you see on the back on a piece of paper (mostly in 1234-5AB format but not limited to) and go here and input it. Please post it here as well.

Sir,

Thank you for your speedy reply: the mach/type model is 6366-K7G, serial number L3XXXXX.

MOD EDIT: Serial number censored.

[Vasco Almeida]

It sounds like windows is corrupted. Have you tried saving your data and restoring to factory condition using the F11 key at startup? You should not be having all those problems.

Thank you for your suggestion. But would it not be more reasonable to downgrade to XP, which should have far less trash to burden the system with?

Also: do you know if Linux is officially supported on this mach/type model?

Thank you again.

Vasco

[ryengineer]

Sir, your daughter's machine was shipped in 2007 so it would have a new added feature in Rescue and Recovery Predesktop console called "custom restore". It lets you choose programs that appeal you and also give you an option to leave out those that are of no interest to you. You can find it about more here. I suggest you back up all important data (if there is any) on an external media and initiate custom restore.

To do so, please follow these steps:

1. Turn off your machine.
2. Power it up and carefully observe the display. Look for the logo screen. At any time, while the logo screen is onscreen, press Thinkvantage Blue Button or F11.
3. Once Rescue and Recovery Predesktop area fully initiates, you'll see many option on the top and left side of your screen.
4. Under "Rescue and Restore" press "Restore your system".

You'll be asked for custom restore option at some point there.

The rest of the process is self explanatory.

The list of programs that come preloaded on X60t with Windows Vista is:

Lenovo Base Software Selector

Access Help
Acrobat Reader
America Online
Diskeeper home
Earthlink Network
Google Picasa
Help Center for ThinkPad
Intervideo VirtualDrive
LeaderTech Registration
Maintenance Manager 3.0
Message Center for ThinkPad
Norton IS Virus Def
Norton IS 2007
PC Doctor for Windows
Presentation Directory
Productivity Center Supplement for ThnkPad
SUN JRE 6.0
System Migration Assistant
ThinkPad EasyEject Utility
ThinkPad Mobility Center Customization
ThinkVantage Acces Connections
ThinkVantage Productivety Center
ThinkVantage System Update 3.0 (ML)
TVT - Welcome Message Applet
Vista OOBE First Run
Vista Lenovo Welcome
Vista Gagets Lenovo Essentials
Vist OOBE offer
Vista Performance Manager Screen
Wallpaper 2007
Microsoft Office OneNote® 2003
• Microsoft Education Pack
• Microsoft Experience Pack

Please ask here / look on lenovo.com if you don't know about the implication of any of these softwares.

[ryengineer]

For linux, this will help:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X60

[smvp6459]

I think part of your issue is Vista. It demands more resources and isn't quite as stable as Windows XP yet. There's no way for you to downgrade and keep the tablet features - windows XP Tablet version is not sold and is not distributed except by the manufacturer when they install it on the machine.

Here are my general suggestions (I don't have vista, so I can't walk you through how to do each thing):

-Buy more memory for the machine; two x 1GB is the most cost effective purchase and will double the memory from 2 x 1GB. Vista needs more memory than XP and it's always going to struggle with 1GB.

-If there are updates that won't install automatically and you know the KBxxxxxx identifier, you could search for the KBxxxxxx on microsoft.com and download the update manually.

-If it's running hot, you might change the power management to conserve power. Often it's called something like "maximum battery."

-You might also try running the Thinkvantage System Update program to see if some of your problems are from old hardware drivers.

-While the computer is installing updates of any type, you might want to consider not working on the machine until the updates are installed.

-The disk activity might be more active because updates are being installed and Vista indexes your harddrive when you first start use it and as you add programs and files to the computer.

-You can manually change the country on Lenovo's web page by clicking the word to the right of the country name when you go to www.lenovo.com ("changer"). You could probably also go to the link below (it looks like portugal is generally classified as "europe")
http://www.lenovo.com/xe/en/

and this page will get you to for the general support page for your machine:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ry=6366K7G

-I'd just call Lenovo's European support number and ask if the machine is properly registered.

[bhtooefr]

I think part of your issue is Vista. It demands more resources and isn't quite as stable as Windows XP yet. There's no way for you to downgrade and keep the tablet features - windows XP Tablet version is not sold and is not distributed except by the manufacturer when they install it on the machine.

Actually, you CAN buy an OEM license for XP Tablet.

In addition, if you've got Vista Business or Ultimate, you can downgrade to XP Tablet legally. You're supposed to have OEM or retail media, but I don't think they'll REALLY complain if you use, uh, OTHER media.

As for registration, I've found that if a machine's not registered, they'll take care of it with your first warranty claim.

[smvp6459]

Actually, you CAN buy an OEM license for XP Tablet.

In addition, if you've got Vista Business or Ultimate, you can downgrade to XP Tablet legally. You're supposed to have OEM or retail media, but I don't think they'll REALLY complain if you use, uh, OTHER media. ;)

You're absolutely right, but this guy probably couldn't easily get a copy of the media - legitimately obtained with a license or not. Lenovo certainly isn't going to send him a copy. Some private individual would probably have to send him a CD/DVD or upload an ISO or a disk image.

[bhtooefr]

Newegg sells the media with a license legitimately.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6837102094

But, you don't need the license is the point. It's grey area to use a pirated ISO, when you have a license - mentioned as illegal in the EULA, but how illegal is it, really, when you're licensed for it?

[surfboy]

I have a tablet X61 (7762-95G) and its just great. However, it came with Vista Business and was dog slow even with 2GB ram and all the eye-candy turned off and loads of unnecessary services. It would take ages to shut down and also burned up my battery quite quickly. I now have the 8cell battery and have removed Vista and installed XP Tablet 2005 and its just great. Its really snappy. I cant recommend this "downgrade" enough. I really dont see any benefits from using Vista.

[45]

I think Linux on a Tablet is not that much funny. Of course you get the pen input to work after some tweaking, but no handwriting recognition, most likely no multitouch, if you have it built in, and no real integration of the pen based workflow. I hope this will change in the future - can't imagine that Linux is more an energy- and memory eater than Vista. I've tried Suse and it works an a X60T with the mentioned flaws.

[schmolch]

no handwriting recognition

http://gnomefiles.org/app.php/CellWriter