Windows Vista SP1 Part 2

Yesterday (see post), I tried to upgrade my Lenovo X60 Tablet to SP1 and failed. The debut of Windows Vista last year was mostly plagued by driver incompatibility and it seems the problem is still prevalent. It also looks like SP1 is more sensitive to driver incompatibilities; to that end Microsoft has gone out of its way to validate Vista installations before offering up SP1 as an update option.

I used the Lenovo System Update utility to update all my drivers, then used the Microsoft Windows Update to make sure I was all up to date. The SP1 update is not showing up as an option. Per this Microsoft KB article, the Intel driver Igdkmd32.sys version 7.14.10.1329 (the latest from Lenovo) is not 100% compatible with Vista.. In fact any versions between and including driver 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403 are not 100% compatible. It is hard to believe that after a year, Intel still can't produce a driver that is 100% compatible with Vista. Hopefully they will produce a new driver soon as it also affects Lenovo's latest Tablet PC the X61.

On the positive side my Dell XPS 720, does show SP1 as an update option. I will hopefully have time to try it tomorrow or on the weekend.

Update 3/21/08: The other incompatible driver (as mentioned in Kevin's comments) is the UPEK fingerprint sensor driver; tcusb.sys version 1.9.2.99 or earlier. I am currently running with version 1.9.2.99. It looks like we are stuck waiting on updates from Lenovo,..

 

Comments

[Kevin Parkin]

I have the same problem with the X60. Intel have a newer driver, but Lenovo haven't incorporated it into their updates yet.

Also, I notice that the UPEK fingerprint driver is on the incompatibility list.

In general, the Lenovo performance under vista has been disappointing. My ancient TC1100 HP tablet PC, for whatever reason, boots and logs in *much* faster, though its application performance is slower. Could it be all the ThinkVantage crap slowing it down? I've been toying with the idea of a fresh install minus the Lenovo customizations for some time now...

[Stephen Skarlatos]

I don't have performance problems with my X60, however I learned my lesson from my X41. I made sure I ordered a 7200RPM hard disk. Lenovo seems to think that 5400RPM is good enough and it is not. I also use OneCare as my anti virus app. It helps performance and runs much better than McFee and Symantec.

[Kevin Parkin]

1. I just checked - the drive is one of the Hitachi 7200 rpm ones. I think I disagreed with Lenovo on the rpm thing also, but the advantage of 5400 is lower power consumption.

2. I used to use OneCare, having been horrified when a sysadmin installed an earlier version of Symantec on a colleague's X60. It cheaply rebranded the web browser and put its tentacles in everywhere, making the machine look and act like it was infected with some piece of spyware. Anyway, it turns out that was a version for XP, and I have since installed the vista version of symantec antivirus only, and it works very well - no cheap rebranding. The reason is I did some research, and the vista version comes out in tests as better than OneCare at identifying viruses, fewer false positives, and faster. That has pretty much been my experience since. But, having lost way more of my data to Symantec than actual viruses, I can totally understand why others won't touch it.

[Kevin Parkin]

And what I meant to say:

1. SP1 came through on Windows Update for my Dell XPS 600 today and it installed fine.

2. On the X60, I went ahead and applied the intel upgrade for the video driver (using the zip file approach) and a driver update from the UPEK website, then I installed the standalone SP1.

3. And it worked - Almost. SP1 reported it was successful, but the fingerprint reader no longer works.

4. The very first email I tried to send, and Outlook 2007 froze up for its customary 5 minutes. This was extremely disappointing...

[Kevin Parkin]

So, the fingerprint software has been unable to communicate with the UPEK fingerprint reader under SP1. It gives Fingerprint Software Error:

rnpipe: svr(00000001fusserver) not found

I have:

- Updated my BIOS
- Updated the ThinkVantage Security Solution
- Rolled back the fingerprint driver
- Reinstalled the fingerprint driver
- Reinstalled the fingerprint reader software
- Several combinations of above
- Installed the windows update intel graphics driver (the old one) to get rid of annoying messages
- Run the UPEK diagnostics, which pass.

Total time elapsed is about 14 hours, so I'm declaring defeat :(

[Kevin Parkin]

Oh, and I should add that when it takes 10-15 min to reboot and log in each time, this process is quite slow.

[Mark]

You can install the vista sp1 compatible intel video driver and it works ok on the lenovos except that the onscreen brightness indicator doesn't work.
Here's the link to the intel driver download:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filter_results.aspx?strTypes=all&ProductID=2800&OSFullName=Windows+Vista+Business%2C+32-bit+version&lang=eng&strOSs=154&submit=Go%21

[Roberto Quiroga]

Thinkpad x60 (1707 F52), uninstall sp1 beta, install all updates from lenovo (via System Update) and microsoft (via WU), install sp1 standalone, everything works fine.

[Stephen Skarlatos]

Roberto,

Thanks for posting your results. Does the fingerprint reader work? Could you tell me what UPEK driver you are using.

I also see that your 1707 X60 uses the Intel 950 chip set vs my 6365 X60 which uses the Intel 945 chip set. This probably helps explain why the SP1 install worked for you.

[Roberto Quiroga]

The upek driver is the problematic one 1.9.2.99 but the fingerprint reader works fine. I use it a lot.

[April]

I‘m a chinese and Iam in China now.I also have the same problems.And my computer is T61.Today when I open my computer itshow me svr(00000001fusserver) not foundI dont know if it is serious.I still dont clear how to resolve this problem.Please help me.I need your help.