ThinkVantage Software Problems from recent updates

[joelfisch]

The last round of system updates from ThinkVantage have not done well by my X61.
Password Manager no longer works -does not fill in blanks.
Much worse - Presentation Director seems to have a serious bug and crashes the system with BSOD.

I found a helpful article on how to read crash info - see http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/0 ... crash.html


Below is the crash report. Maybe someone can help? Is there a way to roll back these programs to previous versions that are stable?



debugging Details:
------------------


EXCEPTION_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at "0x%08lx" referenced memory at "0x%08lx". The memory could not be "%s".

FAULTING_IP:
win32k!vFixupMetaSpriteList+27
bf9377a3 83670800 and dword ptr [edi+8],0

TRAP_FRAME: 98a028fc -- (.trap 0xffffffff98a028fc)
ErrCode = 00000002
eax=e1918318 ebx=e45d49c8 ecx=e29af2a0 edx=e1806048 esi=00000000 edi=00000000
eip=bf9377a3 esp=98a02970 ebp=98a02978 iopl=0 nv up ei ng nz na pe nc
cs=0008 ss=0010 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=0030 gs=0000 efl=00010286
win32k!vFixupMetaSpriteList+0x27:
bf9377a3 83670800 and dword ptr [edi+8],0 ds:0023:00000008=????????
Resetting default scope

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 2

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: DRIVER_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x8E

PROCESS_NAME: igfxsrvc.exe

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from bf938ce9 to bf9377a3

STACK_TEXT:
98a02978 bf938ce9 98a02b8c e19182d8 00000000 win32k!vFixupMetaSpriteList+0x27
98a02b94 bf94c6f1 e19182d8 e1806008 e158b998 win32k!vSpDynamicModeChange+0x259
98a02c00 bf89f247 e19182d8 e1806008 89058de0 win32k!bDynamicModeChange+0x7e3
98a02cdc bf8a1436 00000000 98a02c1c 00000000 win32k!DrvChangeDisplaySettings+0x507
98a02d20 bf8a1329 0012f004 00175e70 00000000 win32k!xxxUserChangeDisplaySettings+0x141
98a02d48 805413fc 0012f004 00175e70 00000000 win32k!NtUserChangeDisplaySettings+0x4a
98a02d48 7c90eb94 0012f004 00175e70 00000000 nt!KiFastCallEntry+0xfc
WARNING: Frame IP not in any known module. Following frames may be wrong.
0012f00c 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0x7c90eb94


STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_IP:
win32k!vFixupMetaSpriteList+27
bf9377a3 83670800 and dword ptr [edi+8],0

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 0

SYMBOL_NAME: win32k!vFixupMetaSpriteList+27

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: win32k

IMAGE_NAME: win32k.sys

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 48ce5235

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x8E_win32k!vFixupMetaSpriteList+27

BUCKET_ID: 0x8E_win32k!vFixupMetaSpriteList+27

Followup: MachineOwner

[USSS]

I can't offer any analysis of the crash dump nor can I offer any advice regarding Presentation Director.

However, there are a couple of recent threads on Fingerprint Software's latest update to v5.8:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=68803
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=68678

I concur fully with David Spalding's posts in those threads.

The time has long passed when you could rely on System Update to provide seamless, unattended updating services. Caveat emptor is the rule now with SU3.

If you are running Windows XP, you can try a System Restore that might fix your issues.

[davidspalding]

It doesn't help you much now, but something I've done is ensure that I have a networked storage drive cache of all the previous updates that have been downloaded to my system. (No joke, I've got about 5-6 separate versions of Access Connections stored up.) They can usually be found hiding in c:\drivers (YMMV). When you look at Help | About on some of these programs, they'll cite the release code (7OU812WW) along with the version (5.6.1),... search on your hard drive for a folder with that name. SU often downloads a file (e.g. 7OU812WW.EXE), expands it into a folder by that name, and within that folder you'll find the setup files. Vwalla, copy that folder to an external drive or backup media future use in case you have to roll back.

Since SU failed to install even the first update yesterday, I wrote down what it recommended, and used this post's instructions for finding applicable updates for my system. I then ensured I had the older versions that I could roll back to. So far, after upgrading four (Fingerprint Software 5.6.1 -> 5.8, Power Manager 1.13c -> 1.47, SATA Power Mgmt Driver, Hotkey utility), no crashes and failures. Each of these actually had a fix over what I had installed. Next stop, Access Connections and wireless drivers. This is usually the most risky, I've twice had to roll back from these ... but one of the recent fixes is "takes time to connect" which I'd like to improve. As I always say, don't update if the Change Log in the Release Notes don't identify an actual "fix" or "new" for your model in the most recent or intervening releases, only "support" for newer laptops.

HTH...

[Tim M]

Someone here set up an RSS feed to alert users to new updates posted to the IBM/Lenovo sites. I currently use that to download updates and apply them manually. I no longer use System Update and uninstalled it from my system today.

As to the issue with wireless drivers, I now use the generic versions from Intel. They are more recent than any Lenovo-provided drivers. I update the driver only, leaving the rest of the bloatware behind.

[davidspalding]

I'm at work so I can't confirm the version, but I installed the latest(?) FPR software Sunday, and aside from not liking the new PNG icons (anyone still have the old ones, the 2D graphics vice the photo of a finger?), I found last night that once I'd signed in with my fingerprint, when I use the FP Password Manager to open a Word doc for which I'd saved the password, the activate key just populated the field with the saved password, without having to swipe again.

I've had no problems with fingerprints memorized into the FPR being lost. Both mine and my sweetie's are still there. I only had one saved password (for that Word doc), and it worked fine.

The FP Password Manager still doesn't seem to work with IE7 (at least, on HTTPS sites).