Lenovo Woes

I had hoped to go over some of the testing for the copy to device addin, but my tablet (Thinkpad X60t) interfered.

 
 

Since I got it in January, I've had nothing but problems.

1. It came with bad ram. Blue screened after about a day every day. Sent back to shop, 4 days later I got new ram.

2. The new ram was bad. 2 more days gone.

3. The docking station Lenovo sent was the wrong part: it was the X6 Ultrabase, not the X6 tablet ultrabase. Calls to tech support did no good - they insisted the part I had was the correct part. They sent me a couple of replacements, but since the tablet physically would not mate to the docking station, that only wasted more time and effort.

4. I bought a port replicator just to get a view on a reasonable size monitor. It did not work with the mouse or keyboard I have, so I sent it back for a replacement. That was 8 weeks ago, and I think it's gone forever. Haven't heard from anyone about that since.

5. Finally got a real Lenovo rep to come to my office and see that the part Lenovo says works as a docking station doesn't. He agreed the part number on the website is wrong, and loaned me a docking station.

6. The USB ports on the docking station did not work. Back to the shop for a new docking station.

7. The fan went out. 2 days for parts, half a day to install.

8. When the tech installed the fan, the clip to hold the stylus broke. Parts are currently on order.

9. Ordered a 5th docking station*, and it arrived. The CD burner works!

10. The accelerometer which determines when the screen is flipped does not work.

     
     

     
     

    Stuff that testing reveals does not work while docked with this docking station:

11. My USB keyboard. My USB mouse works fine, and the keyboard works with every other machine I have. If I plug it into the tablet, it works. It's only when I plug it in via the docking station that it fails.

12. If my tablet goes to sleep when docked, the notebook monitor shuts off and does not wake up ever. I only get video on the external monitor, and I have to undock and reboot. (In tech talk, this is a "workaround." More on this later).

13. If I plug in my tablet while the screen is on, it resets to 800x600. I have manually change it back to 1024x768. Another "workaround."

14. Audio does not unmute if I use the mute button on the tablet. I have to use the up or down volume buttons in addition to unmuting to get sound to work.

15. If I "cold boot" while docked, exactly 50% of the time I get video only on the external monitor, and 50% of the time only on the notebook. In no case do I get what I have selected (mirror the notebook to the external monitor).

     
     

     
     

    Sigh. I know other people have great experiences with Lenovo. I have not. Don't get me wrong - I love the tablet PC (and the Lenovo screen is great!) but my hardware experience and tech support has been sorely lacking.

     
     

     

    * One of the docking stations I erroneously ordered was the fault of PC Magazine. The February 6, 2007 issue had a photo on page 46 of a Thinkpad X60 Tablet in an "Ultrabase X4 dock." I don't know how that photo was made (or more likely, labeled incorrectly), but the two devices will not fit together.

Comments

• Anonymous
  June 14, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 15, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 07, 2007
  Thanks to a couple of testers (pebuaa and Joe), Jeff Cardon patched his make subpage addin to work in

• Anonymous
  February 27, 2008
  I got my Gateway to replace the Lenovo which had given me problems. The Gateway had been working great

• Anonymous
  March 01, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 12, 2008
  Even testers need to have meetings now and then, and during my 40% of the week last week, we had two

• Anonymous
  May 28, 2009
  When I got to work today this is what I saw: A missing tablet from my docking station. I was actually