ThinkVantage System Update Failing

[F0l2c3]

Hello,

I currently have ThinkVantage System Update 4.01.0015 installed on a ThinkCentre M90. When I go to run the ThinkVantage System Update it says "Your copy of System Update needs to be updated. Click OK to begin updating System Update.

I click OK.

I then get a message that says "System Update failed to download. Make sure you have an active network connection and retry" The only button to press to move foward is "close"

I click Close.

Another windows pops up and says "System Update failed to install. try again later. If you continue to have this problem in the future, you cal also insall the new version of System Update from www.lenovo.com/support.

I currently have an active internet connection as I can navigate out to http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-73695 to download System Update 4.03.

After downloading System Update 4.03 and running it I get prompted with a message that states "A version of System Update has been detected on your system. For this installation to continue the existing version must be uninstalled. Would you like to Uninstall the existing version?

I have two options, yes and no. I click on yes as I would like to uninstall 4.01 so I can install 4.03.

I then get prompted with a Windows Installer message. See screen shot below.

When I go to Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features and try to uninstall System Update that way, I get prompted with the same message.

How can I remove ThinkVantage System Update 4.01 so I can install 4.03?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[parkerjnc]

It appears that the msi from the previous version is not being found to perform the uninstall.  A suggestion from someotherguy is to get the installer for the old version you have and run it again and you should get a modify/repair/remove option.  Choose to remove it and then you should be able to install the new 4.03 version. 

I believe the old version you have can be found at http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/thinkvantage_en/systemupdate401-2011-7-25.exe

[F0l2c3]

Hi parkerjnc,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I downloaded systemupdate401-201-07-25 and tried to install it. I was again prompted that I already had a version of ThinkVision System Update on my machine and that that version had to be uninstalled before the version I just downloaded could be installed. After that it prompted me with the Windows Installer box just like before.

I also tried going into programs and features and right clicking on System Update to see if I could change/modify but I could not.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[parkerjnc]

That is strange. I've never seen TVSU get into such a state. Sorry you are having this trouble.

Here's another option that is kind of complicated and requires editing the registry.  If you're up for it....

Run the installer again for the old version (4.01.0015).  You will get the prompt again about an existing version.  Don't click anything.

At this point bring up Explorer and go to C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Temp\

Sort the view by date and you should see a pft****.tmp folder that was just created after launching the installer.  It will contain the setup files for System Update.

Copy this folder to another folder in this same Temp directory.  Select it and then Ctrl-C and then Ctrl-V will work.  Note the folder name of the copy. 

Now that you've saved a copy of that folder you can click "No" to cancel the 4.01 installer.

In the registry under...

   64-bit:   HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{25C64847-B900-48AD-A164-1B4F9B774650}

   32-bit:  HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{25C64847-B900-48AD-A164-1B4F9B774650}

...find the InstallSource value and change it to the full path of folder copy you made in the Temp folder.

(e.g.  C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Temp\pft7C33.tmp - Copy )

Now try running the 4.3 installation again and see if it is able to uninstall the 4.01 version for you.

[F0l2c3 · Accepted solution]

It worked! (with some extra fiddling)

So I did just like you said, ran the 4.01 installer, saved the pft****.tmp folder to another folder in C:\Users\\Appdata\Local\Temp then navigated out to HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\Curren​tVersion\Uninstall\{25C64847-B900-48AD-A164-1B4F9B​774650} and edited the InstallSource value to the location of the pft****.tmp folder.

After doing this I ran the 4.03 installer. It popped up a text box that basically said something to the effect of "Something didn't go as expected, things will continue to install, but stuff might be broken." I went ahead with the install anyways. TVSU installed and when i went to launch System Update the splash screen popped up like it was going to launch, but didn't. I then went to Programs and Features, uninstalled 4.03 successfully, then reinstalled 4.03.

After a reboot everything is working perfectly.

Thanks for all your help parkerjnc. I hope others can find this forum thread if they expereince similar issues.

~*F0l2c3*~

[F0l2c3]

Tried this same process on another machine, this time on an x201.

Everything is the same except instead of copying the temp file lolcation into the InstallSource I copy and pasted it into the UninstallString.

When trying to copy/paste into the InstallSource I would get the same error as before. Once I copy pasta into the UninstallString it worked just like before on the M90.

Just a heads up to the community.

~*F0l2c3*~