Warning on the New TrackPoint Driver!!!!

[kookatt]

I've just finish clean install windows XP Pro on my TP X61. After running system update and install latest trackpoint driver from system update (version *.62) and restrat. My computer start to act strangely. Startup and shutdown takes a long time. And one more restart, my computer goes BSOD after signing in, the error code is 0x0000008E.

I ran every dianogsis on hardware e.g. BIOS harddisk test, PC-Doc for win, Hitachi drive fitness test (since I have just upgrade to 7K200) and do the ram swamping but couldn't stop the random BSOD.

Calling IBM and get confirm the problem is not likely to be the hardware since its run ok under safemode. I start to uninstall driver and found that once the latest trackpoint driver has been uninstalled, my machine is running fine. I reinstall the driver just to confirm and the BSOD came back.

I therefore downgrade to trackpoint driver (ver. *.52) which is not the latest and the machine seem to be ok so far.

Word of warning, I went to Lenovo support and download site to look for driver for X61 XP, I found that on the list page, the driver for Trackpoint show the old version (*.52) which doesnot have the problem. But once you click it, it'll link you to the page of latest version that causes my problem.

I'm interested to know whether anyone has experience simliar problem. But my confidence in Thinkpad is shaking now......

[EOMtp]

You are correct. The new TrackPoint driver had problems and was removed tonight (Nov. 27) by IBM/Lenovo. Let's see if the next version behaves more normally ...

[andyP]

Just had a case here of an X60 hanging after log-on. Uninstalled the driver in safe mode. The driver now on the Lenovo site works.

[goodmami]

hmm, perhaps this is why i had repeated BSODs and couldn't even log in to windows (BSOD every time halfway through startup). That was the last straw for me though, so I installed Ubuntu.

I was having an error with iaNvStor.sys, is this what you were having?

[donzoomik]

I updated my girlfriend's X41 about a month ago and after some debugging had to remove Trackpoint driver to make system stable. As it works pretty good without it, i didn't bother to test any older version.

[kookatt]

Hope that Lenovo post some warning regarding the driver. I talked to Lenovo support in thailand (which is based in Malaysia) regarding this issue. She told me not to you system update any more. A lot of support problems come from using system update.

I'm still curious. What's the benefit of using Trackpoint driver since it works with native windows installation. The support told me that in any case, driver should be install (old version) to avoid conflict with other lenovo software. Should I continue to install the old version? And what is the best stetegy regarding update all drivers in thinkpad. Fore this experience, I doubt that I will update my Thinkpad unless tehre are serious problem that worth the risk of getting bad driver like this time.

[Ken Fox]

I've just finish clean install windows XP Pro on my TP X61. After running system update and install latest trackpoint driver from system update (version *.62) and restrat. My computer start to act strangely. Startup and shutdown takes a long time. And one more restart, my computer goes BSOD after signing in, the error code is 0x0000008E.

I'm interested to know whether anyone has experience simliar problem. But my confidence in Thinkpad is shaking now......

I had this problem last week while updating my old X32, but did not have the problem with other systems I updated a day or two later with System Update 3.10

The STOP code BSOD I got was different. It referenced a file called "WDF01000.SYS" and the first ten digit number was "0X0000010D"

I searched this board and found no posts, then with a Google turned up a number of posts that were unreadable by me since they were in Japanese, but it was obvious that they were occurring in Thinkpads recently. I narrowed the problem down to either the Trackpoint driver or the Keyboard Customizer application, neither of which I really needed to update, so I updated everything else I wanted and left those two out.

This sort of stuff is a huge time waster, and really rewards those who image their hard disks regularly. I tried to figure out what was going on and to fix it in Safe Mode, but after wasting 20 minutes I just put a two month old Ghost image back on the drive and went from there.

From my standpoint, I'm much less likely to update drivers and functions I don't actually use in the future, as having a completely "up to date" machine is not worth the aggravation, especially for functions of little use to me.

[EOMtp]

... From my standpoint, I'm much less likely to update drivers and functions I don't actually use in the future, as having a completely "up to date" machine is not worth the aggravation, especially for functions of little use to me.

Yeah, that's what you say now, but I bet you won't last long! I have seen this kind of resolve before, only to be done in by the next juicy BIOS release.

[Ken Fox]

... From my standpoint, I'm much less likely to update drivers and functions I don't actually use in the future, as having a completely "up to date" machine is not worth the aggravation, especially for functions of little use to me.

Yeah, that's what you say now, but I bet you won't last long! Can you even imagine deciding to forgo three BIOS releases?

If the machine is under warranty, and will be long enough to deal with the fallout, and if I was not away from home where my only machine was the one I had in front of me, YES, I would flash the Bios. That's a no brainer more or less, but then bios updates tend to stop happening a year or two after a machine was produced.

I WOULD NEVER, I repeat NEVER, flash the bios away from home or access to another machine, unless my machine was experiencing some serious problem that the bios update would fix. Bios flashes do fail from time to time, and when they do, you generally end up with a boat anchor or doorstop, rather than a functioning computer.

[EOMtp]

Ken, thanks for the serious answer to what I failed to get across as a joke ... I agree with you, and what you state is excellent advice for anyone inclined to do otherwise.