If you haven’t heard the news yet, Lenovo’s ThinkVantage System Update service has been discontinued. You will no longer be able to automatically download updates specifically for your system. Instead, users will have to go to the Lenovo support website on their own and download the files they need. Verbatim from their support website:
Lenovo is changing the way customers obtain updates for their PCs and Servers.
For our PC customers, automatic updates via ThinkVantage System Update (TVSU) are being discontinued. Customers can continue to download updates by accessing the Lenovo support site at Lenovo Support & downloads. Lenovo is pursuing alternative solutions for system updates and future offerings will be communicated through the new Lenovo Message Center Plus.
This will make updating for most users very trying if they want to stay up to date, as comparing driver versions manually is a chore. Can anyone suggest a utility that makes it easy to view all of your system driver versions? I know the old Software Installer used to do this, but they killed that one a while ago too.
The easiest way to take a look at the latest drivers for a particular model are the Driver Matrices. Just like it sounds, they are matrixes of drivers for each individual make and model of computer from Lenovo/IBM. I have noticed that sometimes not every driver is listed in the matrix, so you may need to go back to the main support page and enter your MTM to get a fully comprehensive, if difficult to assimilate, list of drivers.
One person is so disillusioned he started an online petition for Lenovo to bring it back. You can sign up here if you want to fight the good fight.
Finally, hit the links below for various forum discussions on this topic, including Lenovo’s own official forum.
Lenovo forum thread
Thinkpads.com forum thread
Notebookreview.com forum thread
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
i never really liked system updater..
and i don’t much like microsofts automatic updater for windows either..
in the old days thinkpad owners went to the ibm web site and selected the updates we wanted based on our needs..
its too easy to let software do it all and then one morning BAM! nothing works..
i like the old rule “if it works, don’t fix it”
security updates aside, of course and then those are done carefully..
Agreed
Unfortunately, I disagree vehemently with the above two comments. You can easily disable System Update and subject yourself to their website update hell.
System Update is a key differentiator between ThinkPad and their competitors. It allows your system to remain up to date which is key when running ThinkPad software, especially when using a 64bit operating systems. Without System Update my machine is ridiculously buggy and becomes a terrible to use. Furthermore, the alternative is terrible as it’s impossible to go to their website and navigate easily to updates. There’s no way to know what I already have, or whether something is important to install. In my mind, and in many others Lenovo just killed one of their key advantages over their increased competition. I can firmly say that my next system may not be a ThinkPad.
It’s quite easy and efficient to find specific Thinkpad model on Lenovo website and then subscribe a RSS feed for this custom page. This way I’m always informed about updates and don’t have to look for them manually.
This solution isn’t perfect for people loving automatic updates, of course. But still better than nothing.
Linux is really ahead on this – I use ubuntu and the updates just happen for all of the software and drivers.
Drivers all tend to support a common interface so software is virtually never vendor specific.
Pain in the butt
Yet another reason why we are replacing all Lenovo/IBM laptops with Macs
This move is stone age penny pinching at it’s very worst.
While I’m used to going to the driver matrix page when setting up a ThinkPad, for others, or just when I’ve got several laptops to do and would rather just fire up System Update (I actually preferred the old software installer myself), this at least doubles the amount of time I have to spend on each laptop. On top of that, I have to figure out all the dependencies and correct installation orders for everything.
windows, with all the diverse applications one can add to it, becomes too much of a black-box for most users to allow an application to take over your thinking for you..
i never had problems updating the drivers i cared about and not updating for trivial bug fixes on insignificant drivers..
scrooge mc-duck once said to donald while he was flipping a coin “you’re going to let a nickle do your thinking for you..?!”
but, to each his own..
however it might be that the die is cast and updater is gone..
seems to me they must have had a very good reason..
Irritating. Why on earth do I want to thumb through each file to determine what is needed to update my system? I’m not a computer expert and relied on the system to scan my computer and determine what was required. Next laptop update, HP or Mac. Done with Lenovo. My hopes are the corporate customers will put pressure on Lenovo to reinstate this system. Rediculous!
Why discontinued? no comment lenovo!
As I am in the middle of a new X200 deployment and going into my fourth hour of manually installing drivers and updates, I can tell you that I will think long and hard before I recommend another ThinkPad to my clients.
System Update was one of the major reasons why I chose Lenovo.
Very bad move…
I also appreciated the Auto Updates…..But On a Thinkpad X60 , Thinkpad SL300 & a Ideapad S10 I installed Windows Seven Beta… In every case once I let it perform all the “Auto” Windows Updates they were all Up and running with all the Needed drivers without me ever having to go to the Lenovo website…
Since lenovo discontinued system update i have set up a server with lenovo update retriever (a dedicated server that downloads the drivers/apps for the models you specify). its worth trying if you have many computers to deploy.
I dont really miss system update though…
I am very disappointed.
System update was one of the greatest thing on ThinkPads.
Why choose now the Lenovo ? Because of the ThinkLight? HDD protection ? AccesConnection or other rubish? I don’t think so .. The next choose will be MAC or Sony VAIO. They are maybee going to “discontinue” providing System recovery tool in the future. (with an advice to use “format c:” )
I am very sad and disappointed. Truly, a bad move.
I’m not going to recommend or choose any of the Lenovo products anymore.
Former customer, Tomas.
I’m in a very strange and ambivalent position on this one:
- as a personal user I did not use TVSU – I preferred to choose the drivers I wanted to install on my t43 – and I even got some of them (bluetooth/wireless/chipset/video) from their manufacturer’s website (widcomm/intel/etc) -that way I got the newest drivers and I could tinker with them as I wanted…
- on the other hand, I have a business where I have to make clean installs on Thinkpads of various kind and ages – and that’s where TVSU kicks in. For a TP the whole process is now taking up 3-4 hours of my time comparing to half an hour which it took previously
And I was always proud to tell about this feature to my customers and friends – it was a real candy
No I’m not just sad but very pissed as I’m not only spending late night hours installing machines but I also have to rethink my business modell…
Totally sucks. I just had to reinstall an older z60m and didn’t check whether the software updater would still work — you kind of expect that from a laptop that carries the IBM Thinkpad logo. I think it shows how IBM goes downhill right now in terms of support, continuity, and brand
I can’t believe they just pulled these software packages off the web and replace it with a “matrix”, that I can’t even sort or filter by operating system! What’s even worse, all of these installation packages (and I downloaded about 20 of them) install in the the “DRIVER” directory – with “Software Installer” the installation of these packages would’ve been easy, now I have to scout through cryptic folder names for the NEW installs…
Yup, that was the last time I bought a lenovo, not even with a sale or 20% rebate. But wait: Lenovo is a chinese company now. Maybe we could’ve expected that with their customer service, similar to Huawei, HTC, or else…
I am also very disappointed.
It’s takes to me a week to downgrade a x200s from vista to xp without TVSU, I tried many and many combination of drivers without success, I always get unknown driver and the famous yellow question mark.
Another big problem for me it’s the huge time of delivery of TP laptops. it’s take to me 5 weeks min to get a corporate configuration.
for those reasons I advance strongly my management to switch for another manufacturer.
(1) What should someone with only modest computer skills do? (I.e., someone who does not have a lot of experience in reviewing and selecting driver updates and downloads?) (2) Will Lenovo be using their newer “Message Center” to enable or facilitate updating?
Interesting that for Lenovo having such large business and consumer install base would eliminate this critical feature (as stated in all their advertising and marketing) without any notice or explanation. I have a small business with a mix of people with technical and non-technical skills and generally for us IT WAS the reason we went with Lenovo. Personally I have been pig headed about this in standardizing on Lenovo as others keep pushing other vendors. Now my ammo is gone. But more importantly here is what I think are reasons that this got pulled out without explanation so suddenly:
1. Greed: IBM/Lenovo license expired and one party thought the value should be more or less than the other party
2. Security breach: Someone figured out how to hack the update program and they kept it hush and just pulled it
3. Espionage!: The Chinese were invading and monitoring all Thinkpads and they got caught: Obama admin and China are trying to figure out what was exploited without creating an international crisis
Sorry all I had a fw extra minutes of time today!
I find the comments by the rugged individualists condescending. Sure I can manually figure out which drivers and updates I want/need, but it was far easier and faster to have it done automatically. TVSU added greatly to the value of my Thinkpads. It saved me so much time, and its absence makes my life significantly harder. It was a unique feature and a major reason I switched from recommending Dell laptops to recommending Thinkpad laptops. I will be switching my clients back to Dell.
I’m an old phart who has been messing with confusers since IBM 1401 days. Putting everything in perspective, VM started life at about 100,000 lines of code, MVS was a whopping 3 million lines of code because it actually had storage protection and error recovery. I’m guessing Windows 7 will come in at 60 million lines of code. Losing the update capability puts us back into the ThinkPad 760CD days and the update matrices are just as ugly unless you are used to them. At least they don’t make you use real floppy disks.
IMHO, the interrelatioships and complexities of code and iron require some facility to put on critical updates. The Microsofties have recognised this and it has improved their QA process. Put a bad fix out to a bazillion people and its likely to be job threatening so the process tends to improve itself.
If Lenovo is admitting they don’t have the intellectual capital to “do it right”, then they made the right decision, but turning newbies lose with the driver matrix won’t make friends and influence people, and there will be a revenue penalty imposed by people ho vote with their dollars.
I am very surprised and disappointed. Warranty costs will skyrocket for Lenovo. This was absolutlely one of the reasons to buy Lenovo product, and to do this without explanation to your customers is customer service suicide.
I had a choice of Dell or Lenovo from our corporate supply. After seeing another associate run System Update, I chose the Lenovo x61 rather than deal with Dell’s support web site (or our understaffed, overworked, and always-behind laptop maintenance services unit). IMHO Dell’s support is getting better again, while Lenovo just gave up without comment. I don’t blame IBM, they sold off the line and name to Lenovo. \
When this laptop is due for replacement in about a year, if there’s no System Update to take the drudgery out of running it and fixing bugs, I’ll pick a Dell next time. At least their problem descriptions make sense to someone who doesn’t spend all day (and from the comment in this thread, well into the night now without System Update) performing laptop maintenance.
I program mainframe computer system as my day job, but not laptops — I don’t want to become an unpaid Lenovo tech.
This is a disaster. With competing horribly written utilities all over the place, staying current is REQUIRED.
Not only for wifi/WWAN utilities, but docking/battery/BIOS/drivers/etc.
Everything competes for address space and function control. Without this utility, things are much harder to keep a fleet of laptops in line. You could have people run this safely and it would often solve problems with a BIOS update or something that had intermittent hibernation issues or whatever. Ugh.
Lenovo… please turn this back on.
Chinese garbage. Toss it all. Buy a Mac!
Where do you think Macs are made? Macs are for those with more money than brains. Run Windows Update and you will be fine. Thinkvantage software is just more unnecessary crap slowing down an otherwise fine system. Learn how to do things or spend double money on a Mac (which will also crap out on you from time to time like any other computer).
Хороший блог
Люблю почитывать каждое утро (ну и в другое время тоже 
).
Прикольно было почитать
Попробуем-с тоже ответить в ближайших постах.
The TVSU system has been turned back on by Lenovo for both individual and enterprise customers. Feedback DOES help!
http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=239
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348018,00.asp
Thanks IT geek, we covered that too
http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/06/01/lenovo-announces-return-of-system-update/
Good that it is back, the manual update is hell on wheels…
Lenovo turned Thinkpads into a budget line – I’m buying the biggest baddest mac I can find.
So you are comparing a mid-range, modestly-priced computer to an overpriced boutique one? Two different machines, my friend. Even the cheap low-end Macbook is a grand while you can get a nice mid-range Dell Studio or XPS for $800 (less on the outlet site). Obviously if you blow $2500+ on some overblown Macbook Pro you will get a nice machine. The question is whether you need it. If you do need it then why were you dicking around with a Thinkpad to begin with? If you don’t then why waste the money?
Never buy a Lenovo. I was working a few weeks on the road and didn’t pick the stupid thing up at my PO box , and the first time that I used it right out of the box I got a blue screen. They wouldn’t give me my money back because I had it too long. Every time you talk to tech support its some do nothing machine that reads the same BS off of a computer screen. I did all the things that tech support said like reload all the programs and soft wear. None of that helped. The blue screens got worse. 3, 4 and 5 times a day worse. After every blue screen, it would take 20-30 min. to get the thing going again. My work was suffering. It took forever to get any work done. It has other problems as well. I get booted off line all the time. My internet connection says that it is connected and at full strength, but I get booted off line about 5 times a day. Again, it takes 10-15 min. to get back up and running. After complaining for about 8 months, they sent a tech to my house. The tech guy was nice, but whatever he replaced it did nothing to help my computer. I still get blue screens all the time. They wanted me to send the computer back to them. NEVER SEND A COMPUTER BACK TO THE COMPANY! They keep the thing for months, and they never fix it when you get it back. I refused to send it in. Some jerkoff at Lenovo wanted me to write the numbers down from the blue screens so he could figure out what was wrong. I sent him the numbers and he said that I had a soft wear problem. He sent me some thing that was supposed to fix the soft wear problem. It was $49.00. It didn’t fix anything. I still get constant blues screens. I thing that I have to go to small claims court to get my money back. There is a reason IBM sold its lap top operation to Lenovo. It wasn’t worth anything.
Unlike what a lot of others might feel, I think that is a positive move. My Sony VAIO updates seriously get on my nerves and there is no way in which those can be discontinued. Once a week or so we can visit the website ourselves or set a reminder to do that. Way to go, Lenovo.
I guess Its time to Put this thread to bed , several Months Back lenovo re-instated The Thinkvantage Update system and it appears to work even better then before.. I’ve brought in several More lenovos since they have and its been a godsend to This IT Manager between Thinkvantage Updates Keeping the drivers & such Updated & the Access connections Program for WiFi & WWAN connections for My “Users” it has made life easier once again .. Thanks lenovo
Last week an update to ThinkVantage Fingerprint Reader 5.8.4 showed up. I installed it. When I checked this week, there it was again. Keeps needing to be installed, and on 5 different T61s. Anybody have a solution? I’d happily remove the fingerprint reader software–we don’t use the readers–but I tried that and the drivers and tried to turn it off in BIOS and nothing works. Everytime I run SysUpdate, there it is again. I even went to the website to try to download/manually install the update (sometimes that solves problems like this), but all that’s there is v 5.8.5. Installed that, hoping it was an update, and next time I ran SysUpdate, there was the update for v 5.8.4 again. I’d like to get rid of the update reminder, and I don’t care how I do it. Setting it for “Don’t show” is not a solution; I want the reminder gone.
All suggestions appreciated muchly.
GaryK
great post man should check out destr0yed.com its a pretty cool hacking forum
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