Serious Problems with Pen Drivers and Pressure Sensitivity [ Edited ]

[fightingfordays]

I'm trying to fix my roommate's Lenovo X220 tablet laptop and I've been battling this particular problem for months. I tried to install the Wacom Tablet PC drivers like some suggested: nothing. I tried to update the Lenovo drivers. Nothing. I tried to install the penabled drivers, and still nothing. I tried to uninstall, update, and tweak. I CANNOT get the thing to work.

The Problem

Like many, there's a serious problem where the pressure sensitivity seems to want to work ok in something like Art Rage (where it seems alright with lighter and darker shades according to pressure but not size), but not in another program, namely Painttool Sai. Where it doesn't matter what you tweak in-program, it's never anything but at 100% pressure. Through all of my battling I've never been able to get it to work in that program or Photoshop CS4. It seems like it might be the issue of the drivers being messed up and they require an inhumanly light touch to get anything but 100%, as one person put it, but personally that doesn't seem to be what I'm experiencing. (And, frankly, he's regretting that he ever bought the Lenovo in the first place.) Nothing I do is fixing the problem despite spending days crawling around forums and sites and trying everything I can.

Some Trouble Shooting

I thought it might be a hardware issue because I can't get the screen to calibrate correctly to save my life, either. When I try to calibrate it and it asks me to tap the crosshairs, it's still about 1-3mm off depending what part of the screen you're on (lower left is the widest gap) no matter how many times or how meticulously I calibrate it. But that seems to point towards drivers.

I tested the pen on another laptop with Wacom components and it works great. But still, that leaves me at a complete loss.

Any other suggestions? I've got a wager on the table that if I can fix it my roommate owes me sushi. So, c'mon... help a nerd girl out with some sushi!

[Chimuel]

Mine works just fine (Photoshop CS5 and CS6, Windows Journal, Office Suite - OneNote/Wor/etc), I am inclined to say that this is a hardware problem.

Do you know which firmware is installed for the digitizer? Can you tell us the software versions as well?

Lastly, the X220Ts are notorious for having accuracy issues at the edges of the screen.

[fightingfordays]

Thanks for your input. I actually ran across that shortly after posting this. And I've written that off as something I can't fix. I've recommended that my roommate return the laptop for an exchange or refund as it's still under warranty and we haven't done much to it. I similarly suspected a hardware issue but was looking for any way around it to try to fix it because my roommate uses it as an art tablet and he makes a portion of his income from art. So, obviously, sending it back would be more than just an inconvenience. But it's what we're gonna have to do! Thanks so much!

[Chimuel]

Before you guys send it in I would highly recommend bringing it to a local certified ThinkPad repair center... I had problems with my screen and they overnighted the part and the next day I brought my laptop in and I was out after an hour.

Good luck to you and your roommate!