ThinkVantage System Update Returns
I normally try to shy away from the “press release” type of blog posts here, but this is too important. We are trying to get this message out quickly and clearly in a coordinated manner. Hence if you follow our forums and our other official channels of communication, you will see very similar text.
The net of the story is simple — we listened to you. You said quite clearly that TVSU was a tool that you found valuable.
We do have a long history of listening to customer feedback. Your feedback brought back the stripes to the ThinkPad keyboard, added the Windows keys in 2006, supplemented our on-screen wireless on/off tool with a hardware disable switch, and yes, had a touchpad lay down alongside a TrackPoint in harmony on a ThinkPad. (Sadly, however, it won’t make 4:3 displays come back, no matter how loudly you scream.)
Keep it coming. We do listen.
——————————————————————————–
Recently, Lenovo announced that we were changing the way we handled system updates going forward. Basically, we were discontinuing ThinkVantage System Update (TVSU) for individual use and directing those customers to our public support site for driver and BIOS updates. Never removed was the ability for business customers in managed environments to access, download to their network, and then apply these updates as required.
There were several business reasons for this change. Regular scheduled update requests were being sent to the Lenovo servers with the subsequent downloading causing very high traffic – yielding performance issues and, in cases, causing a decline in the customer’s TVSU experience and confidence. Balancing the high cost of that already existing solution and the additional investment required to improve performance and reliability for our customers has been a difficult process and led to a more difficult decision which resulted in disabling of TVSU on April 1.
Following our announcement, however, we heard from many customers on our blogs and forums. We’ve heard clearly that our individual and business customers alike value TVSU highly. Therefore, we are adjusting course based on your feedback, and have released a new version of TVSU on May 31st. In addition, we have made some backend investments which should indeed improve system performance.
This version can be launched by the customer and it will find and install applicable updates for their system, as before. We also have a new tool, Message Center Plus, which we encourage you to download, as it provides a fast conduit to important advisory messages and helpful information about our products and services.
We value our customers’ feedback, and we hope the deployment of this new version of TVSU proves that. Thanks for your partnership with us, and the loyalty you have shown to TVSU and the other services we provide to our customers.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:52 am
Yay! Does it work with Windows 7 yet, or is it XP/Vista only at this point?
P.S.
Loud yell for 4:3 IPS displays (I love my x200 tablet and its display, but the displays on the other models leave a lot to be desired).
June 1st, 2009 at 1:08 am
Excellent! I really like this tool. It makes keeping Thinkpads current with important software and microcode easy. Clearly puts Thinkpads in a class of their own.
Since 4:3 displays are done, will yells for LED displays across the line at least be heard? The display is the only reason I am holding out on buying a W5xx.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:49 am
Awesome! It’s much easier than divining what one should upgrade from the lists, especially since with the lists there’s no way to get pushed notices about updates specific to your hardware.
My input is that Lenovo should bring some minimalist, pragmatist influence to the ThinkVantage apps. Drop the custom GUI’s, focus on small footprints (disk and memory) and quick response times. For example, Presentation Director should be able to change profiles without taking 10 seconds to flash through three different resolutions. I can go directly to the desired resolution using Windows menus… why can’t PD accomplish the same thing? Similarly, I haven’t used Access Connections for some time because the built-in Windows wireless config is so much faster at connecting. When replacing core system functions, the focus should first be on operating at least as well as the systems being replaced, then adding on features.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:05 am
Hooray! http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....MIGR-72207 should be changed post-haste in light of this great news.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:06 am
Being thrown at a web page was a very painful solution, especially since it is very hard to figure out what components you already have installed and what their version numbers were.
I agree with Ethan that you should strive for simplicity in your apps and how they are installed. I don’t use Access Connections since I don’t see the point. But other things like the drivers are very important.
I know some of the bandwidth consumption was because I would select updates, megabytes would get downloaded and the update would fail with no feedback as to why. When I ran again the next day, it would do the whole download again and fail to install again. Repeat for several months when it would suddenly take! (I distinctly remember this happening for the DVD update as an example.)
Something else you can consider is open sourcing your tools especially the update manager itself. That at least lets volunteers add to your development team. And should you ever decide that Linux matters, I’ll pitch in too. At the moment the only thing you publish that is Linux relevant are BIOS updates, but it sure would be nice to open up the fingerprint system. (If its security depends on obscurity then it isn’t secure.)
June 1st, 2009 at 3:22 am
I am sooo glad that Lenovo has not taken away this valuable tool.
But I am also very surprised that the decision was made in the first place. It seems to me that the high demand placed on Lenovo’s servers is caused by…high demand. It shouldn’t have taken an outcry from the community to surmise that TVSU is a tool that is highly valued and utilised.
Any chance that an explanation can be offered for the sudden removal of another important thinkvantage feature? What happened to the “custom” restore option from Rescue and Recovery? Being able to avoid a so-called “clean install” on a new system was a *huge* advantage and weighed significantly on my high opinion of Lenovo’s software support. Removing all the bloat on a Thinkpad is now as difficult as any other vendor
June 1st, 2009 at 3:26 am
Matt, I hate to be harsh, but sometimes the decisions that Lenovo makes are so very unclear. I am glad to hear that TVSU is back, but in the not-so-distant-past, there was a better tool before TVSU … and it was called Software Installer. It worked much more reliably, and had a way better UI than TVSU ever did. I am one amongst the many, many people who miss system installer even to this date.
It saddens me to see that Lenovo bought back TVSU mostly because you had bad press about it on a bunch of blogs – while the voices of numerous thinkpad loyalists still cannot (won’t?) be heard about SI.
I’ll get down from by soapbox now.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:28 am
Thank you for listening.
Excellent news.
Whatever you did to make this happen is greatly appreciated.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:35 am
It’s all good news and everyone seems to be happy. BUT there still seems to be a problem. Went trough the forum and realised that I am not the only one experiencing and error while trying to update my system… What’s all this about?
Hope a solution would be deliverd quick. I haven’t updated my W500 for 2 months already… Very VERY SAD.
But thanks for revivng TVSU anyway.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:12 am
YAY!!
June 1st, 2009 at 5:07 am
I was very surprised when you dropped System Update. In one of your last blogs you asked which Thinkvantage Tool is important and System Update was in the Top Three if not Top Two. So basically you didn’t listen to us the first time around. At least until now – which is good!
June 1st, 2009 at 6:35 am
New version, but where?
June 1st, 2009 at 6:51 am
So how do I use it? I don’t have TVSU installed and all google search links end up being redirected to the out-of-date http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....MIGR-72207
June 1st, 2009 at 6:56 am
Sorry – found it:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....MIGR-66956
June 1st, 2009 at 7:32 am
Gator — Software Installer died for multiple reasons. It was extremely limited in what it could do (though admittedly, it did those things well). Architecturally, it had to change as Windows version changed.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:52 am
The response to Gator re S.I. is just so Ironic. Please refer back to the comment from Ethan about keeping the things that work well rather then throwing them away and making stuff that does everything, albeit so poorly that is is too hard to use…. And ditto regarding Access Connections. It is a cesspool of complexity. Find the signal, present the network info, ask for the key if needed and make the connection. KISS…………. In my dozen years as an IBMer I’ve wasted way too many hours struggling with Access Connections.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:58 am
YAY!!! I have two machines sitting here that need to be updated before I can do anything with them. (yes, too lazy to update them manually…lol)
June 1st, 2009 at 7:58 am
This is good news. I hated having to wade through the pages to find the latest version of what I needed. During a rebuild it was not always clear what order to do things. The TVSU solved that for me.
What is the state of Win 7 drivers for the tablets?
June 1st, 2009 at 7:59 am
Thank you for restoring TVSU — and my faith in Lenovo!
Now about those 4:3 screens…
June 1st, 2009 at 8:14 am
Godd news! However, the new TVSU does not run on my system. The app sasys that it cannot hather the system information. Anybody else experiences similar issue?
June 1st, 2009 at 9:01 am
Phew! Now I can order that T400 I’ve been lusting after.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:07 am
Good news! Happy to see that Lenovo does listen after two months of prodding. And much like those 80s PSA’s, The More You Know, Lenovo should take this to heart that simple communication could have prevented much of the consternation.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:31 am
Good deal!
June 1st, 2009 at 11:03 am
[...] Source SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Lenovo announces return of System Update”, url: “http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/06/01/lenovo-announces-return-of-system-update/” }); Filed under: Lenovo News Tags: lenovo, system update, ThinkVantage [...]
June 1st, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Dude, this made my monday morning. Way to start a new month!
Thanks Lenovo. Excellent decision, might I add..
June 1st, 2009 at 12:38 pm
For those if you using TVSU on a Vista SP2 machine, you may encounter an error like “An error occurred while gathering user information”. As I understand it, this is currently being worked on but I did not get an ETA.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Also, to the complexity issues around TVTs, the latest build of access connections is actually quite elegant and simple. If you install .NET 3.0 you will get a newer UI that is “simplified” and in my opinion the best thing to happen to AC in a long while for people who want click and connect. The .NET requirement is a bit of a bummer since it’s not packaged in TVSU as a dependency but the nice thing is it also affects the UI on Power Manager (another push toward simplification).
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....onnections
June 1st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I’ll hold back on any congratulations personally – I think Lenovo made a very big mistake and have simply undone some of the damage caused by that mistake – you still need to look at why this was allowed to happen in the first place. The very thinking that a company that has been pushing TVSU as a major ‘ThinkVantage’ of their systems for so many years, that when faced with server problems (which are certainly not something that happened suddenly), decided to simply remove the software rather than fix the problem – this does not bode well.
IMHO Software Installer was not limited in a bad way but a simple tool that did what it needed to do well, sometimes simple is best. TVSU, like Update Connector before it, was flawed due to numerous errors occuring due to the complexity of the application and, more troublesome, the need to update itself every time it is launched to fix these errors. Making the scheduler function of TVSU so readily available was probably the most fatal mistake, scheduling driver updates is not something the average user needs to do (if if ain’t broke then don’t fix it), the ability should be available (it was possible to do with software installer) for those who require it but making it so readily available is the reason for your server problems.
As an IBM/Lenovo employee for many years (no longer) I was obligated to use ThinkPads but it never felt that way, I honestly believed I was using the best laptops with the best software in the industry and wouldn’t ever consider using something else, but recent develops such as this and the obvious drops in quality (in terms of manufacture not in design etc) make it hard for me to justify a ThinkPad as my next laptop. I couldn’t see myself switching to another one of the normal PC vendors but Macs look more and more appealing to me with every passing day.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:47 pm
This is awesome news – I would go into the reason, but it’s pretty obvious what makes it wonderful!
Now, if I can just get it to work … mine says ‘error gathering user information’.
Had I known this was being discontinued and not just offline for updating, I would have been shouting for the return!
Just one of the great features/value adds that make ThinkPad’s world class products.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Echoing the post above, I too am very glad that Lenovo has listened to its vocal base of ThinkPad corporate customers and made TVSU available once again. I had put an order of about 16 T500s on hold because of the loss of TVSU. With the latest HP machines offering almost all of the advantages of ThinkPads without the cost premium, I had to look closely at that option. I will likely place the T500 order now.
But, Lenovo, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING in the first place?
TVSU is one of the core applications that set ThinkPads apart from the other dreck out there and is an invaluable utility to anyone managing a large fleet of laptops. Just today I have used it to repair and roll out 4 ThinkPads (a T42, two T43s, and a T500). Having TVSU saved me literally hours of time.
Please, Lenovo, take a look at the process by which the bonehead decision was made to leave your core customers in the lurch, and then fix this decision-making process so such egregious acts will not happen again.
My $0.02.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Great to see the system update returns but the power manager sucks, i can’t even open it right now..:S
June 1st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Something totally different
What about LapTops coming with a Scroll Wheel ??
June 1st, 2009 at 6:14 pm
ALL HAIL LENOVO!!
June 1st, 2009 at 7:43 pm
God bless you Lenovo for bringing ThinkVantage System Update back again.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Well I’ve already uninstalled the old version a long with a lot of the newer Thinkvantage software. Was planning on going back to the older versions tat shipped with my Thinkpad, they were a lot quicker, but haven’t got around to it. And now I realise I don’t miss them that much…
Will probly try the new version of System Update when I do a clean install though… provided it runs ok on Windows 7…
June 1st, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Thanks for doing this. It is a much needed tool.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:45 pm
On the Lenovo site there are NO new version of TVSU for Win Vista SP2… did you know another the link ? Thanks.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:02 am
My T61 can’t run the new TVSU under os xp-sp3, it sasys that it cannot hather the system information.
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:33 am
@Mike: scrolling with the trackpoint is already there
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:23 am
Can not tell you how happy I am to have that tool back. It’s so easy installing Windows, then installing that application and just literally set it and forget it when it comes to adding all the proper Lenovo tools and drivers with zero effort.
It’s yet another reason why I tell people to buy a ThinkPad.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:26 am
[...] den Blog via rss abonnieren. Danke schonmal.Powered by WP Greet BoxKaum glauben konnte man, dass am 27.05 Lenovo tatsaechlich ein neues System Update [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Well,
I missed this app very much …
I hope there will be better screens and better built quality
I’d like to order X200 Tablet but still waiting for SL9600 to appear (2,13Ghz)
I understand that there wont be 4;3 ratio screens but make those 16;10 high quality, high res
Thanks
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Lenovo, thank you for buying system update. It was indeed a major factor in my choice to buy my wife a top of the line T500 a couple months ago–only to discover that TVSU had been discontinued. I sorted through a few drivers on your website (unacceptably difficult), but never did get my wife’s new T500 working right (would lockup attempting to standby, CD drive would sometimes work and sometimes dissappear and/or bring up errors, fingerprint reader sometimes decided it was “unavailable”, weird abberant sound distortions on occasion). In short, I regretted my decision to buy what I expected to be a premium laptop after my experience with a T61. I wished I had bought a MAC. A bit of searching the web makes it clear I’m not the only one who felt significantly ripped off.
You did the right thing to re-instate it. At the same time, I–and clearly others based on multiple other posts–would like some reassurance that the decision making process that led to the orginal decision has been reviewed and repaired. The reason for this is simple: while I’m glad to finally have my wife’s new laptop working as expected, I feel hesitant about trusting Lenovo with my next purchase. I like your machines and am not in a hurry to go to MAC, but am leaning that way barring some clear change in Lenovo’s values related to keeping faith–and clear communication–with customers. Please don’t make me go MAC!
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:46 pm
My T61p running Vista 32-bit is unable to run System Update as well. I get an error message about “An error ocurred while gathering user information.”
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I get the same error message and I have a new T400.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:14 am
Ditto with Anthony ..
Windows Server 2008 x64 running System Update. I get, “An error occurred while gathering user information.”
I don’t believe Win2k8 64 bit is supported.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:28 am
[...] let it run tonite and everything updated just fine. A quick Google search revealed that Lenovo has reinstated System Update. A very smart move on their part, in my opinion. I don’t know if Lenovo users can run [...]
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 am
Hello,
I’ve two thinkpads and the same error message when I run System Update:
An error ocurred while gathering user information
I’m using Version 3.14.0024
And windows Vista S*2
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:56 am
Praise the lord! It’s like christmas, a birthday and a vacation all rolled into one!
Lenovo I appreciate you returning to this program, however I will say that I would have liked better communication BEFORE this was turned off. As a medium sized business customer I don’t think the right way to find out you abandoned the program was me trying to do an update mid-april and seeing a notice that the service was unavailabe.
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 am
windows system update will not work on vista SP2
to make it work you need to go to
C:\Program Files\Lenovo\System Update\session\system\SSClientCommon
and open MappingInterface.xml with a word editing program
(make sure you have a bakcup incase somtehing goes wrong)
Scroll down untill you find
VS-BUS.SP1
Vista Business
Service Pack 1
Windows Vista
VS-STARTER.SP1
Vista Starter
Service Pack 1
Windows Vista
and add in between them a copy of
VS-BUS.SP2
Vista Business
Service Pack 2
Windows Vista
which is a copy of the top lines but instead of SP1 it will say SP2 and instead of Service Pack 1 it should say Service Pack 2
in the end the text shown in the beginning should look like
VS-BUS.SP1
Vista Business
Service Pack 1
Windows Vista
VS-BUS.SP2
Vista Business
Service Pack 2
Windows Vista
VS-STARTER.SP1
Vista Starter
Service Pack 1
Windows Vista
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:49 am
> “An error ocurred while gathering user information.”
Most likely because SP2 is installed. The current version of TVSU doesn’t support Vista SP2 or Win 7 beta. Apparently updates are coming soon.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
[...] http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....MIGR-66956 http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=239 [...]
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
[...] ThinkVantage System Update (TVSU) back from the dead. In a blog post on “Inside the Box” called ThinkVantage System Update Returns Matt Kohut, Global Lenovo Strategist, announces that System Update has been [...]
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Thank you, TVSU was a big time saver. As for 4:3 IPS, I bought X61t last week
June 4th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Dear Lenovo: I LOVE YOU AGAIN!!
After more than a dozen years using nothing but Thinkpads, I had seriously thought this was the end of the line. I’m *SO* glad Lenovo listened to the customers on this one.
<3
June 4th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Besides how awesome the hardware is, this is the second reason to buy a ThinkPad. Especially in a small office, where if you need to reinstall Windows all you need is the NIC driver and TVSU and you’re done!
Thanks for bringing it back!
June 4th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Blackhawk – that did it! I guess Version: 3.14.0024 of System Update does not support Vista SP2 yet.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:36 am
I followed Blackhawk’s advice and changed the MappingInterface.xml file but still have the same error message showing up. My system is T61 Vista Business SP2. Any further advice or should I leave it until the official update comes through?
June 4th, 2009 at 8:00 am
It was a wise decision to bring TVSU back.
This tool *really* is a Thinkpad Advantage.
p.s.
waiting for version 3.14.1593
:-p
June 4th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Hello Matt,
this is one of the best decisions taken by Lenovo. In my business it’s important to have good solutions and to use this quickly.
It was a no sense to download one by one each driver, application, reboot many times, and waste time looking for updates in lenovo website.
One application, one reboot, that’s it. Do you mean business ? I mean.
“Don’t buy a laptop, buy a Thinkpad from Lenovo”
June 4th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
ThinkVantage System Update is one of the features that made me purchase a ThinkPad. In fact, I own three ThinkPad laptops. I also recommended ThinkPad to my friends and they listened. If TVSU was gone, Lenovo would lose its competing edge to other laptop makers. I was very sad when I heard TVSU would be discontinued.
Big thanks to Lenovo for bringing back TVSU. Again, it is one of the most important reasons that I decided to spend a little bit more for a ThinkPad. ThinkPad is a legend in laptop industry and it would be extremely sad if this brand became “just another laptop”.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Thank you blackhawk. Now it works like charm!
Cudos to Lenovo. TVSU seems to me 10 times faster than it was!
June 4th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Retried Blackhawk’s advice again today and it’s working fine now. It must have been some typing errors yesterday.
Thanks you – Blackhawk.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Message Center Plus that installs with this new updater seems to cause Tivoli backup error code 12 as it can’t write files to the folder C:\adsm.sys\EventLog\Lenovo-Message Center Plus/Admin.evt. It just gives you a failed message. It does seem to do the backup but obviously can’t write this file. Anyone else having this issue? Any known fixes?
Thanks.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am
TVSU doesn’t work with my T500 & X301 Vista SP2
Lenovo please fix it.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
brilliant. i really started to get worried about lenovo’s direction…
(btw I love my 4:3 screen…)
June 5th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I also have to say, that I’m glad system update is back. Though I personally don’t use it that often, it sure is very helpful for unexperienced users.
As for the 4:3 displays, I still don’t get why Lenovo strictly refuses even considering a return of those. All those people asking for 4:3 displays is just a prove that there’d be a market for those. And the situation will become even worse as soon as the move to 16:9 displays begins.
I think the best would be introducing a 4:3 line with highend displays (LED, IPS if possible) for work models for people who are willing to pay more for a high quality display.
Then moving all the other lines to 16:9 displays, as that’s what will be done anyway soon.
I really just don’t see what a 16:9 display is good in a notebook that’s supposed to be for working purposes. And four 4:3 displays have together a ratio of 16:9, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble for the display manufacturers…
June 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
As covered in the forum, the TVSU team is working on further updates to support TVSU operation under Vista SP2.
Please be aware that the work arounds being proposed for Vista SP2 above may enable the client to run under Vista SP2 but does not guarantee it will properly install appropriate modules.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
As for 4:3 display ratio the last hope is probably over now. Even Panasonic Y8 (14″ SXGA+) which was probably the last serious notebook model is no longer available. Bye bye notebooks for working …
Well, we are substantially losing important vertical space in favor of the idiocy dictated by entertainment industry (or who else ?). So lets start to talk about the QUALITY. If companies like NEC can get special custom panels from LG-Philips (A-TW-IPS is a custom panel developed for NEC used in high-end monitors – still 4:3 btw) why Lenovo can’t ? Yes there are parameters like volume and price. How many professional LCD monitors NEC sells and how many former ThinkPads with FlexView displays had been sold ? I think Lenovo could be an interesting customer for LG here, IF delivering top quality product would become important aspect for Lenovo again :-/
June 6th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Thank-you for bringing this back, it really is a very useful and highly valued tool – I can’t see why anyone with a Thinkpad wouldn’t use it.
June 6th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
as a relatively new user of Thinkpads, i am glad Lenovo put back a service which they took away after users complained. this cannot be said about many other laptop manufacturers. i bought Lenovo because this tool was something not found on other brands and simplified the update process.
however, i agree that the decision to remove it in the first place was a bad move by Lenovo and makes many devoted Thinkpad users worry what else Lenovo will do to kill the Thinkpad reputation built up over many years.
June 6th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
A link to the download site would be nice…
June 6th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Keep up the good work Matt!
June 7th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I love 4:3 so much that while I had a perfectly capable X40 ( perfect for my humble needs that is), I ran out and bought a X61 eventhough I didn’t need one… The X61 is one of the last few 4:3 notebooks left in the market and I just find them so much more classier looking then the widescreen ones… 16:9 just feels clumsy to me, especially on the larger notebooks, and grates against my (classy) senses…
Thank you for bringing TVSU back… I too echo the sentiment that whatever flawed logic that led to it being made almost extinct in the first place need to be addressed. Is catering to a premium segment of the market with a premium brand so difficult that corners have to cut for Thinkpads in such a undignified fashion? Surely there must be a way for a premium brand to survive in the premium market.. Look at BMW… (Now, if only the Germans could take over the Thinkpad brand…) Thinkpad has many loyal customers over the years and it seems foolish not to continue to harness the loyalty of these existing customers by allowing service standards to fall.. As I write this, more and more computer makers are coming out with well-made head-turning machines that don’t even cost very much ( with the exception of Dell’s Adamo ).. Being a Thinkpad loyalist and elitist.. I was never swayed before… But now I am… Now.. if other makers start putting the trackpoint on their machines…
Oh as a parting note… I’m not sure if the new TVSU is error-free and urge users to be careful… I manually updated my network adapter from the Lenovo Download site- -Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG to the latest version 12.04.0000 dated 6 April 2009 but the new TVSU recommends to install driver version 11.5.0 APIb which is dated December 2007… Hmmmm……
June 7th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Nice tool if it worked on W500 with Vista 64 with service pack 2, I just cannot understand why they do not get this program to actually function i’m new to thinkpads which I thought were known for their stability & support and a fundimental program like this NOT working is a MAJOR failing by Lenovo
In conclusion its as usefull as a paper boat
June 8th, 2009 at 12:48 am
jon, i do not use it as Linux has it’s own mostly well working update procedures. So i did not even pose the question, whether Lenovo has spent a single thought on providing bundled hardware drivers for Linux for convenience…
June 8th, 2009 at 1:26 am
Well, I updated my 6 month old T61… Now none of the network devices work. the ethernet reports that it is disconnected when it isn’t, and the wireless reports it can’t see anything.
I think I would be better off if the thinkvantage update system had been discontinued April 1.
I’m restoring from a backup, hoping that this solves my problem. The backup will not restore the bios to the previous version, but hopefully this is not a bios problem.
My wife is headed out of town, and needed the laptop so that she can work while on the road. She is not going to be happy if I can’t get this fixed.
I’ll see if I can find out why this happened, but I’m about ready to uninstall all of the thinkvantage crap…
June 8th, 2009 at 3:21 am
[...] System Update made its way back by tons of requests. I’m really happy to see it back and it works flawlessly with Win7 (which I don’t have complete [...]
June 8th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Bravo Think TEAM….
You are the reason for me to buy Think-series products for the last 10 years..
When you disconnected TVSU on April 1. I thought that is it… end of my days with Thinkpad or other Think series products….
BUT… again.. you proved your highest standard of customer services with your reliable products.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Thanks for bringing TVSU back. Its a very useful tool.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:43 am
@emil,
Here is the link to ThinkVantage System Update 3.14. It works very well with Windows XP, but has yet to be revised towork with Windows Vista with SP2 or Windows 7. The update for Vista and 7 is scheduled sometime in August.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....MIGR-66956
June 11th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
New Update for TVSU for Vista SP2
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....MIGR-72758
June 11th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Thanks Matt for expediting the TVSU for VISTA SP2. It works just fine.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Nice work Lenovo – true sign of customer-focused company. It was a dumb decision to start with, not sure why a service that is cause excess demand because of high use was considered of low value. But its back, and thats great because its a fantastic tool.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
by the way: of course i tried to rollback the vista sp2 installation, hoping that those lenovo proprietary applications and drivers will work again. it didn’t solve the problem at all. not a single one.
why can’t we rollback lenovo system updates, too???!! that’s probably the only thing that would help in this case.
and why didn’t you test whether your silly proprietary updates are compatible with the vista sp2 update? i bet many customers are experiencing the same issues. and they’re all as pissed of as i am now. damn.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
p.s. i’d love tvsu, if it just worked (and would allow rollbacks). but it doesn’t. period.
(for reference: i use vista 64).
June 14th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
now i’ve undone the vista sp2 rollback and installed tvsupatch_vistasp2-2009-06-10.exe. result: tvsu doesn’t crash anymore, but the power manager still does, and the fingerprint reader still doesn’t work (crashes). wifi works again.
i expect lenovo to fix these issues immediately!
how could you release such buggy software to the public?! (note that i only installed the updates tvsu suggested)
June 14th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
yet another free hint for you bloody greenhorns provided by me: a major source of problems is the fact that tvsu doesn’t obtain an exclusive lock for system updates. as i started tvsu before the update to vista sp2 finished, tvsu wasn’t blocked from executing.
so http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969707/ is a really poor way to block tvsu.
thus: at least make sure tvsu CAN’T be run if there’s ANY other software update (by windows or whatever application) going on. Likewise, make sure NO OTHER software update may happen when running tvsu. Of course, this is just a quick and dirty fix. The real fix would be releasing stuff only that actually works (on all lenovo systems).
June 15th, 2009 at 4:56 am
hint: you seem to have lost my first comment (yes, you may sanitize it in order to publish it).
here’s the summary: i installed vista sp2 and executed tvsu. tvsu downloaded about 500 mb of updates and installed them. this totally screwed up my notebook:
- finger print reader didn’t work anymore
- power manager didn’t work anymore
- wifi didn’t work anymore
- tvsu didn’t work anymore
- lots of strange files were placed in c:\ (may be the fault of the sp2 installation, but i think it’s rather related to tvsu)
wifi and tvsu could be fixed by applying the patch of comment 82. the rest still doesn’t work.
i use vista 64 business edition (4 gb ram) on lenovo’s top-of-the-line x-series ultra-portable notebook, a half a year old model. i paid more than >3000 usd for it and i expect things to work. this is not a frigging no-name brick for <1000 usd. it’s one of the most expensive thinkpads you can get. bought from the leading lenovo reseller, not through some grey or black market dealer.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
to really pissed off customer
I have ThinkPad T61 with Vista 64-bit SP2 and everything works just fine. Hope you have resolved your issues and are not pissed off anymore.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Eudoxus, nice to hear the latest TVSU works for you, but please note that there are probably some hardware differences (different chip sets etc.) that prevent the exact same thing from working on my Thinkpad (which is a x301).
So, no, it still doesn’t work (there’s no TVSU update for it yet), and I’m still pissed off as a) this mess should have never happened in the first place and b) as it happened, I at least expect Lenovo to come up with a working fix/solution in short time.
As mentioned before, quick fixes are needed for the following things on x301:
- Finger print reader: Doesn’t work anymore at all, annoying
- Power manager: Doesn’t work anymore. The fan is running the whole time, very annoying.
Lenovo, please fix this now. If you don’t come up with a solution in short time, I won’t ever buy any Lenovo device again.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:03 am
Maybe not the right place, but here is another issue that make me doubt Lenovo’s business commitment: constant pop-up nags to buy accessories.
Following is the text of my message to Lenovo.
====================
My X61 (as well as several other ThinkPads at work and home) continue to be spammed multiple times daily by the attached pop-up ad, despite selecting the “do not show again” check box. I dislike this pop-up system in general, especially in a business environment where I DO NOT want end users purchasing accessories for company-owned laptops. However, this spamming is particularly egregious and needs to stop.
This is the second issue in as many months (elimination of TVSU was the other) that makes me seriously doubt Lenovo’s long-term commitment to the business community – the one that provides the backbone of ThinkPad sales. Elimination of TVSU and sales nags are what I would expect in a cheap consumer-focused product, not one intended for serious business use. Although TVSU has returned due to customer outcry, does Lenovo really believe that a pop-up ad appearing during a business presentation is going to engender sales or loyalty? There is probably a way to turn this pop-up stuff off but having to do so to a fleet of ThinkPads is onerous and something that should not be required.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
For more about the pop-up spam problem see http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/b.....ad.id=4886
June 28th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Just read about this, which is great news. I will stick with Thinkpads. Thanks!
June 28th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Thank you Lenovo. TVSU is a VERY IMPORTANT feature that makes me a loyal Lenovo customer.
June 28th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
will the news TVSU work on the X301 with Vista business 64 SP1 and will it work windows 7 pro I have not update to SP2 chester CVN76
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:41 am
Lenovo, I’m still waiting for a solution (see my comments above)!
Matt, I’m sorry to say, but I can’t enjoy reading T400 success stories as long as I am in deep troubles with my current X301 due to TVSU.
What we need is:
1.) A statement from whoever is responsible at Lenovo for TVSU with information about when the fixes for the power manager and finger print reader will be available (Vista 64 Business SP2, hardware: X301)
2.) The fixes either as patches for manual download or rolled-out via TVSU
Matt, please forward this request and make sure 1.) and 2.) happen. Lenovo engineering and sales likewise must be interested in solving this problem as X301 buyers are some of your most valuable customers.
Note that the way how Lenovo deals with this request influences my future purchase decisions both as a private and business customer.
Thanks.
@Chester: I’d explicitly warn from applying the latest TVSU updates on your box. I have the very same and TVSU screwed up my system (and there’s no way back, as TVSU doesn’t have any roll-back feature). Note that even if you currently use SP1, Microsoft may silently roll-out SP2 (or parts of it) in the near future. So you will likely run into problems sooner or later as long as Lenovo doesn’t release any fixes (i.e. software updates that work fine with SP2)
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:38 am
@ a really p’d off customer
“…screwed up my system (and there’s no way back…”
Do you not use image or other backups?
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:14 am
@Juniper: I use backups, but I backup once per week as I have to backup to an external drive as the built-in solid state disk (SSD) is too small and too precious for using it as a backup device. I thus lack the data of a week of work on the backups. Considering this and the expected troubles with data synchronization afterward, not knowing whether the backup actually works or is complete at all, using the backup is not an option here.
Besides, it’s not an excuse at all for TVSU messing up my notebook by installing incompatible driver updates and such. This is a problem with a clearly defined cause and an equally clear solution. Lenovo just has to provide it to their customers. To me, this is really a no-brainer.
If I had to expect a total failure after every single TVSU update I’d simply decide to buy a notebook of another brand instead that doesn’t have such troubles with software quality assurance.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:27 am
thank you! lenovo had my X301 in to fix the air card .3/1/09 to4/10 09 they removed the old TVSE the one that worked ! replace it with the new TVSE . when …. it was in for service … and not lenovos fault , verizon air card was bad . Lenovo has been very, very, very ,good to me and my X301. so much so that i have givein a new W700 DS for a marriage gift they love it . oh well , i hope lenovo can get my X301 working right .chester CVN76. out with .vista business 64 . hope to go with windows 7 pro 64…..
July 15th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Ok guys, here are some good news for you:
My Lenovo Thinkpad X301 finally works again! For some unknown reasons, TVSU started to show some updates to install again. I thought that things couldn’t get any worse anyway, so I decided to give it a try and (re-)installed all the suggested and recommended updates in TVSU. Amazingly, this fixed all of the issues I had before (read above, I was the “really p* off customer”):
* Vista SP2 and fingerprint reader on X301: working fine now
* Vista SP2 and power manager on X301: working fine now
When starting up Vista, there are just some strange dialog boxes popping up reading something like “uninstall.exe blabla not found”. I guess that’s not related to my problems. Besides, it doesn’t bother me a lot as I usually use hibernate anyway.
So, I hereby happily declare the problems as solved!
Thanks to Matt and/or all the people who were involved in escalating and fixing the issues! Of course I hope I’ll never have to report anything like this again.
July 25th, 2009 at 6:35 am
It is one of the things making me want my next laptop to be lenoveo. Just hate the new thinkvantage button – so cheap! The old one had class. Return the red points on the touchpad keys too!
July 29th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I am having the same issues that Wolf Dandyk had back in posting 64. After Lenovo System Update was installed it also installed a ‘Lenovo-Message Center Plus/Admin’ event log. Tivoli Storage Manager will not back up this event log (if I were to guess it is due to the forward slash in the registry entry…but that’s just a guess). This makes every backup appear to fail, even though it is just for the one event log and is very annoying. We can exclude all event logs from backups, but they can be handy in a disaster recovery scenario. Has anyone else had a similar issue and come up with an answer. Lenovo support wasn’t to helpful when I called, stating to uninstall and reinstall and having NO other suggestions.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Hi,
I have downloaded latest version of TVSU from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....VSU-UPDATE.
After running it (XP SP3, T400), while downloading packages information I get: “Exception Not Expected was encountered!” and the operation is aborted.
Any ideas how to fix this?
Tnx,
J
August 19th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Every Registered Thinkpad owner should be given online storage for the registered computer
and before they are pulled from ThinkVantage System Update we shoube be notified and allowed to download them
as time goes on the older Tpad are being pulled from the ThinkVantage System Update i used to be able to update my 600x and T22 but they pulled it and now it starts at the T23 (how long till you pull that one)
IMHO the T2.. where the best
i still have and use a 240 (can you say Netbook)
390x
X20
but cannot run ThinkVantage System Update on them
September 6th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Resolved. Check for proper IE proxy settings (http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Th...../m-p/11353)
R,
J
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
What sort of technology is this, this should just work without any hassel…. fix it Lenovo otherwise you WILL LOSE CUSTOMERS!