ThinkVantage Button Not Working in XP

[mixz1]

The blue ThinkVantage button has spontaneously stopped working inside Windows XP SP3. I have uninstalled the Productivity Center and the Productivity Center Update and reinstalled to no avail. When called from the Start Menu, everything works fine, but the button no longer functions. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[jdhurst]

I have seen some posts about Access IBM on various platforms with respect to SP3. I have SP3 running successfully on a T41 and Access IBM V4.1 works fine there from the desktop Icon or from the Blue Access IBM button. It may be version dependent - I don't update that tool anymore.

My T61 is running Vista SP1 so is not comparable.
... JDH

[eecon]

The blue ThinkVantage button has spontaneously stopped working inside Windows XP SP3. I have uninstalled the Productivity Center and the Productivity Center Update and reinstalled to no avail. When called from the Start Menu, everything works fine, but the button no longer functions. Any ideas would be appreciated.

My T61's blue key also stopped responding (under XP SP2), but I'm not sure when that happened ..... I normally use Lenovo's exhanced external KB and mouse while on an advanced mini-dock and the blue key on the external KB still works.

I have not yet tried it when un-docked recently .... I should should probably try that next week, but I'm sure it used to work when docked (even when the external KB was in use).

[Dale H. Cook]

The blue ThinkVantage button has spontaneously stopped working inside Windows XP SP3.

What value do you have in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\TPHOTKEY\8001? The default value, which launches the productivity center, is, IIRC, "File"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\THINKV~1\\PrdCtr\\LPL1.exe."

[eecon]

The blue ThinkVantage button has spontaneously stopped working inside Windows XP SP3.

What value do you have in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\TPHOTKEY\8001? The default value, which launches the productivity center, is, IIRC, "File"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\THINKV~1\\PrdCtr\\LPL1.exe."

I checked my registry and I have the same key entry except that the back slashes are shown as singles (not doubles) like this:

C:\PROGRA~1\THINKV~1\PrdCtr\LPL1.exe

[Dale H. Cook]

the back slashes are shown as singles (not doubles)

They should be singles - I cut and pasted that from a saved page that must have come from an improperly escaped SQL database.

Do you have that file on your machine, in that path? If so, can you launch it? If no to either question, you probably need to re-install Productivity Center.

[eecon]

the back slashes are shown as singles (not doubles)

They should be singles - I cut and pasted that from a saved page that must have come from an improperly escaped SQL database.

Do you have that file on your machine, in that path? If so, can you launch it? If no to either question, you probably need to re-install Productivity Center.

Yes, it's there and launches the Productivity Center just fine from a double mouse click or the external KB's blue button while docked. I'll try undocking and just using the T61's KB later today to see if the T61's own blue key at least works when undocked.

Thanks

[eecon]

Yes, it's there and launches the Productivity Center just fine from a double mouse click or the external KB's blue button while docked. I'll try undocking and just using the T61's KB later today to see if the T61's own blue key at least works when undocked.

Thanks

UPDATE: As an experiment, tonight I undocked my WinXP SP2 T61 and removed the external KB and Mouse. It's Blue Thinkvantage Key still is dead although I see a slight momentary distortion on the screen display across the destop icons in the lower left of the screen where the Porductivity Center normally would pop up. It's like a quick horizontal distortion .... very minor and very quick when the blue button is pushed. So something is trying to happen but it's not bringing up the Productivity center any more.

Still works fine with the external KB's blue key or using the mouse to open the Productivity Center Program. I wonder if an uninstall and then reinstall of the Productivity Center is in order here?

[vital-analitix]

You can assign anything to run with the blue vanatge button. I uninstaleld some software that I did not want and one of those was using te thinkvantage button. I assigned the Help to this.

out of my install notes:
Change that unused ThinkVantage button to the same function as that it had on the A31 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\TPHOTKEY\8001]
"File"="C:\|Program Files\\IBM\\ACCESS IBM\AIBM.exe"
"DispName"="Access IBM"

you can assign any program to it.

Hope this helps
Marinus

[eecon]

You can assign anything to run with the blue vanatge button. I uninstaleld some software that I did not want and one of those was using te thinkvantage button. I assigned the Help to this.

out of my install notes:
Change that unused ThinkVantage button to the same function as that it had on the A31 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\TPHOTKEY\8001]
"File"="C:\|Program Files\\IBM\\ACCESS IBM\AIBM.exe"
"DispName"="Access IBM"

you can assign any program to it.

Hope this helps
Marinus

I did to no avail .... I think the key is bad .... good thing I have a 4-year on-site 9-5 warranty with ThinkPad accident protection. I'll just contact Lenovo and let them drive a hundred miles out to the ranch here on the beautiful west coast of the U.S. when we return from our regular summer RV travels.

It's about time I finally got something for all the extra warranty monies I've sent IBM and Lenovo over the last 10 years

[starholmre]

Are other hotkeys non-functional? EG, FN + F8 (ultranav), FN + F3 (power manager), etc. And do you update your software regularly from Lenovo?

If the answer to both questions is yes, then I suspect you have the same problem a lot of T60/T61 users have been experiencing since this spring--some of the hotkey functions have been disabled by the updates downloaded and installed through System Update. It's not system-threatening, just annoying, and the only way to restore these functions is to uninstall and reinstall a lot of drivers in a very specific order (search the forums for more information).

One way to test whether your ThinkVantage button works is to press is in the pre-XP boot sequence, because that should bring up the native Rescue & Recovery software designed to work independently of Windows GUI. If pressing the button works then, then the problem is not hardware--it's just buggy hotkey software.

[eecon]

Are other hotkeys non-functional? EG, FN + F8 (ultranav), FN + F3 (power manager), etc. And do you update your software regularly from Lenovo?

If the answer to both questions is yes, then I suspect you have the same problem a lot of T60/T61 users have been experiencing since this spring--some of the hotkey functions have been disabled by the updates downloaded and installed through System Update. It's not system-threatening, just annoying, and the only way to restore these functions is to uninstall and reinstall a lot of drivers in a very specific order (search the forums for more information).

One way to test whether your ThinkVantage button works is to press is in the pre-XP boot sequence, because that should bring up the native Rescue & Recovery software designed to work independently of Windows GUI. If pressing the button works then, then the problem is not hardware--it's just buggy hotkey software.

starholmre .... By golly, your are right! The FN+F8 and FN+F3 do not work either.

I had been using System Update regularly, so this will teach me to leave things well enough alone!