Gripes on an IBM ThinkCentre computer

The computer is suffering machine checks according to the on-line Microsoft error reporting service. Microsoft KB article 329284 says this is by design when the following errors occur: System bus errors, Memory errors, Cache errors in the processor or hardware and the like.

The computer comes with a hidden diagnostic partition on the hard disk. At one point I invoked it (F11 at startup time) and it starts to run. However, before it finishes and before the initial recovery screen is displayed, the screen goes black and the computer reboots. Yes, the diagnostics got interrupted by the same hardware problem (so its obviously not a Windows/software problem).

The real problem is that Windows XP is crashing with STOP errors. It reboots without showing the Blue Screen of Death because that is the default action for Windows XP. Entries in the system log with event ID 1001 say:

System Event log

There are a number of System Errors on the System Event log. They are all Category (102) and event number 1003. The details are:

Error code 0000009c, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 8054da70, parameter3 ae000000, parameter4 20010189
Error code 0000009c, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 8054d370, parameter3 ae000300, parameter4 20020135
Error code 0000009c, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 8054d370, parameter3 ee000301, parameter4 20020135
Error code 0000009c, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 8054d370, parameter3 ae000302, parameter4 20020135

There are also a lot of Application Popup entries in the System Event Log with Event ID 26. These are tagged as merely informational items. The readable data is "Machine Check: Regs". I even see three Machine Check entries from times when the computer did not crash.

0000: 00280000 008c0003 00000000 4000001a
0010: 00000008 4000001a 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0030: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0040: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

0000: 00400000 00a40003 00000000 4000001a
0010: 00000000 4000001a 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000 0000000c 00000000
0030: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0040: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0050: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0060: 00000000 00000000

0000: 00380000 009c0003 00000000 4000001a
0010: 00000000 4000001a 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000 00000001 00000001
0030: 3a0a75b4 01c58595 00000000 00000000
0040: 00000000 00000000 20200137 ae000300
0050: fee000f4 00000000 0f000401 02c70000

Dumpchk

I ran a dumpchk command on one of the generated mini-dumps (a file with a name such as Mini071405-02.dmp). This had to be done on another computer, as the machine with the problem did not have the dumpchk command installed. It reported:

ExceptionCode. . . . .0x80000003
ExceptionFlags . . . .0x00000001
ExceptionAddress . . .0x8053331e
****************************************************************
** Register Dump For Processor #0
****************************************************************
eax=ffdff13c ebx=8054d370 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=20020135 edi=ae000300
eip=8053331e esp=8054d330 ebp=8054d348 iopl=0 nv up di pl nz na pe nc
cs=0008 ss=0010 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=0030 gs=0000 efl=00000086
****************************************************************
** Stack Trace
****************************************************************
ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child
8054d32c 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0x8053331e

Support

July 27, 2005. Executive Summary: IBM/Lenovo has no technical support. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

You can't just contact IBM/Lenovo technical support. First, you have to first decide if you need hardware or software support. It is no trivial thing to determine if a problem is hardware or software. I started with hardware because the problems were machine checks and happened with two different operating systems. I was lucky.

I told the first support person that I had the event logs and the mini-dumps with all the details on the errors. Useless. You can't send them a file. Hard to believe, but you have to read error message and error codes to them over the phone. This is disgraceful, there is no other word for it. You can not do technical support by speaking to people on the phone. Trust me. You need data about the problem and often pictures too (they truly are worth a thousand words).

I offered to put the files on my web site where the support person could download them. Instead, I was instructed to download a bootable floppy disk with diagnostics on it. Although the person wrote down one of the error messages (I had many more to read) he was obviously not interested in it at all. I mentioned the problem (see below) about the "pcdr kernel mode service helper driver" but it went in one ear and out the other.

The diagnostic boot floppy is PC Doctor for DOS version 2.0.1360. It has abut 30 different tests. Which one(s) to run? Lenovo didn't say. I ran the "normal test". Everything passed except that external cache was not detected. It said "cpu is in protected mode, unable to test". Is this a problem? After talking to another support person, I don't know. She didn't know.

After running these diagnostic tests, PC Doctor lets you save the results. I did; into a file called something like "results.log" (I forget the exact name). The program only gives you the file name, not the full path to the file. Where does it save the file? Beats me. It wasn't on the floppy disk and I looked on the C drive and couldn't find it there either.

There is no telephone option to call IBM/Lenovo back on an existing problem. You can report a new problem or check the status of an existing problem. But calling back to continue an existing problem is not a choice. This is a bad sign. As an FYI, the correct option for continuing an existing problem is the one to open a new problem. I ran into this same gripe over a year ago when dealing with an IBM (at the time) ThinkPad computer. One time I tried the option to check on the status but the person who answered the phone said I was in the wrong area.

The clinching blow (as in my deciding never to deal with Lenovo again) was when the third support person I spoke to said, they don't do error messages. I am not making this up. All her group does is troubleshoot hardware problems and to that end she wanted me to remove the ram. Reading the many errors from Windows is not her job. They can't do it, or so she said. Of course, Microsoft won't do it either a fact we both agree on. Then again I ask her why she can't deal with Windows error messages. They don't that. Period. I said then I must be in the wrong area and I'll open a problem with the software side of the house. She said the software group does not look up errors either. Really, that's what I was told.

Not believing that, I called back and opted on the phone for software tech support. When asked if this was a new or old problem, I mentioned the pre-existing hardware case number and was told that I needed a new problem record/case number to deal with them. Fine. I gave the person the serial number of the computer and was transferred. Guess where? No really guess.

I ended up at hardware, speaking to the exact same person I had just gotten off the phone with. She recognized my voice and asked if I was the person she had just spoken to.

At this point I can take a hint. There is no tech support. So be it. The computer is less than 30 days old and will be returned.

Who handles the return? Well, some document that came with the machine said "you must call Lenovo at 1-866-96-THINK to obtain a return-authorization form". But the tech support person said to call 877-999-7115 and select option 1 for Customer Care.

Insult to Injury

July 27, 2005. The Lenovo telephone system says that you can deal with a service call on the web by going to www.ibm.com/support and selecting Open or Manage a service request. I try it. There is only a link to "open a service request", nothing about managing one. I click on it and it fails with "The page you requested can not be displayed". This was after a warning from Internet Explorer about the certificate revocation information not being available. At the bottom of the page it said "500 Internal Server Error".

This happened a few times with two different web browsers. I reported it to Lenovo.

Fan Design

I'm no expert in PC hardware, still, every computer I've seen from the rear has a round air vent with a fan inside the vent. This ThinkCentre A50 has the round air vent, but no fan.

After opening the case on my new problematic computer, I noticed there is a fan blowing air through the power supply to the outside. The power supply is near the CD-ROM drive and all the ATA cables were tied up and clipped behind the CD-ROM drive, thus blocking to a large extent the input to the power supply fan.

The processor fan is even worse. It blows air away from the heat sink over the cpu and into the case, not out of it.

Strike three is that the hot air coming away from the cpu is is blown right over the RAM. Worse still, the cpu hot air is expelled right underneath the intake of the power supply fan, so the little air that fan gets is hot to begin with.

Kernel Mode Driver

Also, as shown here, Device Manager was not happy without this driver. Whatever this is, it must be pretty rare, as there was only a single Google hit on it and no hits at all on four other search engines. Again, Lenovo tech support showed no interest in this.

A reader of this page wrote that she too, had this problem, but with a ThinkPad model R51. She was told by Lenovo technical support to re-install Windows and that fixed the problem.

And

The Rescue and Recovery partition (F12 at boot time) runs a program called PC Doctor. It reported that the machine has a video card with 32 MB of RAM - an Intel 82865G. However, in Windows, the properties of the video adapter says it has 64 MB of RAM. Then again, Windows reports there are 248 MB of RAM, not the 256 the machine really has, which means the video system was using 8 MB of ram. Someone must be wrong: 8, 32 or 64? How much RAM does the video system really have?

IBM/Lenovo provides a backup utility called Rapid Restore Ultra that makes disk image backups (competing with Ghost and Drive Image among others). It crashed on me while I was configuring the backup options. Also, can tell it not to backup some files, but it always backs up pagefile.sys. Go figure. If there was ever a file that doesn't need to be copied, this was it.

IBM/Lenovo also provides an Access IBM utility. In the section on Protect and Recover, there is a link to Find Security Solutions. The web page it points to is not found. In the Diagnostics section, under Automated Solutions, I experienced 2 problems with every one of the automated solutions. First, there are errors about blocking active content, that seem to be from IE. Then, there is an error about the program not being signed by IBM. These errors persist, even if you run the same function multiple times.

After booting, Task Manager showed program python.exe using most of the cpu cycles. It was running out of an IBM directory and eventually shut itself down.

After booting the machine while it was off-line (no Ethernet cable plugged into the machine, no phone line either) the IBM Messages application had a new message for me - an ad to extend the warranty. At the time, the machine had not been online for well over a week. The message could not have really been new, it must have been pre-programmed into the IBM Messages application. The actual message was:

Returning

July 28, 2005. When you call to return a PC, the telephone recording says to have your six digit order number ready. The computer was ordered on the web and, at the time, I was given an 8 digit web order number. Later, via email, I was assigned an "On-line Order Status Order Number" that was 6 characters, but not 6 digits. It consisted of 4 letters and 2 numbers. Turns out that was the "number" they wanted.

The phone call to Lenovo to create an RMA number and authorize the return of the computer, was excellently handled. Short, quick, no problems at all. They even arranged for UPS to pick up the machine and UPS will have a pre-printed mailing label. You couldn't ask for better treatment. If only tech support was handled nearly this well.

FYI: Seems my experience is typical with IBM/Lenovo desktop machines. Quoting from a PC Magazine reader survey, reported in August 2005: "... once again, they're terribly critical of desktop reliability, so much so that Lenovo's overall score for desktops ties with HP/Compaq and eMachines for the worst score in our desktop survey."

FYI: The hard disk buffer was 2MB. The power supply was 230 watts. Due to the integrated graphics, Windows had 248 MB of ram, not 256.

IBM ThinkCentre Gripes