Thinkpad with 965 chipset and Vista SP1 through Windows Update -- anyone?

I just got a new R61 and was updating things, but cannot get Vista SP1 through Windows Update. This seems to be because the Lenovo supplied video driver for the X3100 / GM965 graphics is out of date. See: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=948343

Has anyone got SP1 to work through Windows Update? Did you use the Intel driver from intel.com, and if so, how? I heard that refuses to install. Any problems with it?

I presume this issue also affects T61 users.

Just unbelievably bad support that Lenovo cannot get SP1 working with all the advance warning from intel and microsoft. Color me unimpressed.

 

I haven't been following this too closely since SP1 has been available to volume customers like me for some time -- but what is to stop you from just downloading SP1? It may not be generally available through Windows Update yet to anyone...? But I read it can be downloaded directly.

 

I had the same issue, only I DL'ed SP1 through the standalone installer before realizing that I had driver issues. If you want to fix the the X3100 problem here are two links that will help.

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-022355.htm

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=230933&page=3

If you have a driver issue with the fingerprint scanner, here is the link:

http://www.upek.com/support/downloads/drivers/windows.asp


What I would suggest you do, (that is if you can't wait until Lenovo releases the drivers), is to update the drivers and then check to see if SP1 shows up in windows update. If, it doesn't then I would suggest you definately wait until the driver issues are fixed.

You can, at your own peril, try to install through the standalone installer. Luckily, nothing happened to my computer. However, some other people that have forced the install through the standalone installer are having major problems with their computers as a result.

 

Thanks for the pointers. The experience of ari_m in that thread seems like a nightmare -- I was going to go that route (installing the official Intel driver via .zip) until reading that. Now, I think I will just wait for Lenovo to display some sort of competence and release their stupid driver. Very frustrating. I want to avoid using the standalone SP1 package, for now.

 

I actually had 0 problems installing SP1 on my R61. Didn't even have to install the new Intel drivers.

If you want to install the Intel drivers though, you need to do what you should always do when installing drivers. First uninstall the previous drivers then install the new drivers. That's the safest and surest way to install drivers. If it still gives you problems, run the driver install as administrator (right click on install file, select Run as Administrator).

 

Chem, why don't you just try it? Many people are able to install SP1 even on their Thinkpads. Just follow the guidelines people posted above and you should be good to go, ie. update the drivers manually and that will allow the SP1 update.

My machine didn't get messed up at all through my attempts - SP1 just won't install! I opened a ticket with Microsoft and they are busy looking at the issue. (They already suggested to disable all items in startup and services my using msconfig, but that didn't help.)

 

After getting everything updated except SP1 via ThinkVantage/Windows Update, I had a system that could not run chkdsk (due to ThinkVantage R&R), could not install SP1 (via Windows Update, as stated), and could not even boot to safe mode (failure/hang at crcdisk.sys, a SATA driver -- google for other reports). Insane.

I ended up biting the bullet, finding some OEM discs from our department, and performing a fresh install using the guide from these forums. I used the official Intel chipset, matrix AHCI, and graphics drivers. I added a few other Lenovo drivers. Avoided ThinkVantage.

The system now boots about 3x faster, is much more responsive, can run chkdsk, can boot to safe mode, and is installing SP1 via Windows Update as I type this.

Lenovo's crapware is a ridiculous shame. I like the hardware, but will probably not be buying another Lenovo.

 

I usually do a fresh install on almost all machines I buy/build so software conflicts usually aren't an issue for me unless I screw it up myself. Fresh install FTW . All that matters to me when I buy a laptop is build quality, price, performance, and battery life. To each his own.