Blue screen and hardware/driver issues

[taichi]

Before installing Service Pack 2 for Vista 32 bit, I had a couple of blue screens reporting a hardware malfunction with the result that the system was halted.

I took it into my computer repair and had them run a complete diagnostic, which showed nothing malfunctioning. I then successfully updated to Service Pack 2. After that I had the same blue screen on a number of occasions. I ran a Microsoft automatic fix-it tool which resulted in the following message:

Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #8 has a driver problem.
Biometric Coprocessor doesn't have a driver
Sierra Wireless MC5720 Modem doesn't have a driver

I have never used the fingerprint device, nor the Sierra Wireless Modem. Apparently I had also never configured Windows update to look for new drivers. I enabled it, restarted, and Update attempted to find the Biometric Coprocessor driver, and the Sierra Wireless Modem driver. It was unable to do so, and unfortunately as I bought my T60P on craigslist I was not able to get the original installation disks (although the T60P itself was flawless). The ThinkVantage toolbox pointed to the necessity for the two drivers, but did not link me to any downloads.

When I went to Lenovo I was unable to find the biometric coprocessor driver. All I was able to find where these three patches:
Registry patch to change IDLE IRP timing by Fingerprint reader driver for Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) - ThinkPad
[+] Click for files
Registry patch to change IDLE IRP timing by Fingerprint reader driver for Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) - ThinkPad
[+] Click for files
Registry patch to change IDLE IRP timing by Fingerprint reader driver for Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) - ThinkPad

When I tried to download the Sierra Wireless Modem I was presented with a bewildering array of drivers, and was a bit nervous about selecting one that may be inappropriate. My device is the 2623 DDU.

Is it possible that with the recent Windows Updates the system became unstable without these drivers? Also I cannot tell whether Windows update fixed Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #8.

Just anecdotally, it may be that playing Far Cry (never a problem in the past) preceded a few of these blue screens. Naturally I thought of the GPU, but the computer techs ran a complete diagnostic. Also GPU reports as functioning normally in device manager.

Any help would be appreciated.

[taichi]

Browsing around on www.-307.IBM.com I found fingerprint software, versions 5.8.6 and 5.6.2 for Vista. I obviously don't have the fingerprint software already installed, as I bought the T60P only with the Vista software, and no install disks. It says that I cannot install 5.8.6 if my original version was only 5.6. It recommends first installing 5.6.2., Since I have no software I'm a bit confused about what I should be installing.

I also had to restart twice because my wireless network icon did not light up just a few moments ago. I don't know whether that might be because the router temporarily went off-line, or because my internal network card is shaky. Possibly this may be the reason that I got a hardware error before. I noticed when I went into event log that several of the errors had to do with network services.

Thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

My suggestion: having so many problems with Vista, either dump it and go back to XP, or upgrade to W7, or get a set of Vista recovery CDs (e.g. in the Market forum), and reinstall from scratch, then apply SP1 and/or SP2 before installing anything else.
Vista SP2 is supposed to run quite nice, although you'll never see me wit it.
There are good reasons why many people avoid Vista like the devil avoids Holy Water.

[taichi]

[quote="RealBlackStuff"]My suggestion: having so many problems with Vista, either dump it and go back to XP, or upgrade to W7, or get a set of Vista recovery CDs (e.g. in the Market forum), and reinstall from scratch, then apply SP1 and/or SP2 before installing anything else.
Vista SP2 is supposed to run quite nice, although you'll never see me wit it.
There are good reasons why many people avoid Vista like the devil avoids Holy Water.[/quote]

Truthfully, this is the first real problem I've ever had with Vista, and I see the same error message popping up on computers running Windows 7, according to Web searches.

Vista SP2 boots up significantly faster than SP1, and the whole system is snappier.

I'm wondering if my m-pcie wireless card might be experiencing difficulty. I've had a number of dropped connections in the last two, three months, and the event log
had a number of network service errors.

[RealBlackStuff]

Remove the card, then try installing SP2 again.
Then try it on ethernet, before putting the wifi card back in.
It may be a faulty card, have you tried another?

[taichi]

[quote="RealBlackStuff"]Remove the card, then try installing SP2 again.
Then try it on ethernet, before putting the wifi card back in.
It may be a faulty card, have you tried another?[/quote]

I guess my next step would be to remove the card, but why would I reinstall SP2? Its working well. With it my Vista 32 boots up in 30-35 seconds to a working desktop.

The hardware "malfunction" occurred while I was still running SP1. The card, by the way, works, but I notice that sometimes the Wifi icon doesn't light up unless I restart. Hence, my suspicion.

For some reason the Lenovo/IBM website redirected me to a third party cooperating vendor for the card, but I called IBM directly for a fan only a few weeks back. Do you have a URL for this card at IBM?

Regarding my earlier question, could the OS be calling for the Biometric processor, or the Sierra card, and finding no drivers see it as a hardware malfunction?

As I indicated before, I'm unclear about which version of the fingerprint software I should install, given I have never had the software installed before. I take it that fingerprint software includes the driver.

Also I cannot find the driver for this Sierra wireless modem on Lenovo's's website.

Thanks for your help.

[RealBlackStuff]

I was referring to your other thread where you had problems installing SP2, so in this case ignore the remark.
Personally I always disable the FPR, it's too flaky, and you are stuck if it ever goes wrong, so can't give any advice there.
Don't know about any Sierra cards, sorry.

[taichi]

[quote="RealBlackStuff"]I was referring to your other thread where you had problems installing SP2, so in this case ignore the remark.
Personally I always disable the FPR, it's too flaky, and you are stuck if it ever goes wrong, so can't give any advice there.
Don't know about any Sierra cards, sorry.[/quote]

Never wanted the FPR or Sierra, but wondered if they could have caused the memory parity error (hardware malfunction).

My local tech told me that driver issues could trigger memory parity error. So I went to IBM support and first looked at the long list of devices, and found that my GPU driver was outdated, so I'm downloading it now.

Neither Windows Update nor Thinkvantage Toolbox informed me of that, so I guess there are no automated tools to take care of my updates. I'll have to go down the list and compare newest driver to each installed driver.

Do I uninstall the GPU driver, restart in VGA and run the driver exe?

Another thing. 79ETE3WW (2.23) appears to be the most current Bios for 2623 DDU T60P according to the above mentioned IBM download page, but according to the Thinkvantage Toolbox my machine is running what appears (according to numerical sequence) to be newer...79ETE5WW (2.25) Which is proper?

Thanks