Computer Down

I was going to entitle this post "Lenovo Sucks", but I'll hold off on that judgment until I finish the recovery process and see if it's a hardware or a software problem. I think it's actually the "Thinkvantage" software that's pasted on top of Windows Vista, and that the root cause is probably the inherent instability of 32-bit Windows Vista. But I don't really know.

What I do know is that I've had nothing but trouble since I bought this new laptop. It's my fourth Thinkpad but my first since IBM sold the division to Lenovo. It's also my first experience with Windows Vista.

It is just incredibly unstable. Every few days the "Access Connections" just stops working and I can't get to the internet. Then I have to "rejuvenate" the system, which means reinstall the operating system components. (That was their official solution). I was already sick of this and was looking for a more enduring solution, when today the entire system just crashed hard with a "Boot Table Partition Corrupted" error. This error was unrecoverable, so now I not only have to restore the operating system files, but also everything else as well.

Fortunately I have a backup from 16 November, so I'll only lose a couple days' worth of email, but nothing else. Well, not counting the HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS I've spent wrestling with it. Grr.....

Oh well.

Lenovo (actually, IBM support) is sending me the system recovery disks. Once I get those and get my system back up and running, I plan to do something to try to fix the system more permanently. I haven't decided whether to upgrade to 64-bit Vista or downgrade to XP. Both options are available, and I've got more than half a mind just to ditch Vista and go back to XP.

In any case I will be offline for an indeterminate period. I can check email online from work, but all the other communications applications like Facebook, Yahoo IM, Skype, etc. are blocked. And of course, no WoW.

Crap.

Mood: Unhappy
Music: Rodgau Monotones - Frach mich net (wie's mir geht)