Regarding Thinkpad W530

[bandoboy]

My Thinkpad W530 has developed quite a few issues in the last two years. Despite its stellar performance ever since I bought it in the December 2013, it has developed few software issues as also those of hardware ones. While the hardware ones such as rusting of the USB ports etc are relatively lesser important, the software ones such as Fingerprint sensor's malfunction etc require due attention.

Now, the 'After Sales' for out of warranty Thinkpad products is scary in India since the larger chunk of the technicians remains unskilled to handle Thinkpad products.

As such, what might be the best possible way out without taking my machine to the service centre and remaining scared about the well being of it until it reaches me again?

Please note, I have already tried downloading the latest relevant software applications for W530 from Lenovo's website, and yet the problems in my machine remains unsolved.

 

[COLGeek]

Your laptop is approaching 5 years in your service, which is a full life in the world of tech. Have you considered just replacing this venerable rig?

 

[geofelt]

If you have hardware issues, they will not be resolved without a hardware fix.

You might run malware bytes free edition to see if you have contracted malware.

On the software side, you can reload windows and drivers to get software issues resolved.
Protect any data that you care about with external backup first.

You might also look to see if there is a bios update that might resolve some of your problems.
I encountered a strange sudden lack of mouse response on my Y700 laptop that was resolved by a bios update.

 

[bandoboy]

Your laptop is approaching 5 years in your service, which is a full life in the world of tech. Have you considered just replacing this venerable rig?

Not really!

Rather, as I see, this gentle beast might still surpass its last five years' performance if I upgrade few things in hardware such as RAM etc. The fact remains that I changed absolutely nothing in this machine barring upgrading it to Win 10 from Win 7, which came to me originally at the time of delivery.

As I could feel this beast deserves an expert hand to regain its original workability.

 

[bandoboy]

If you have hardware issues, they will not be resolved without a hardware fix.

You might run malware bytes free edition to see if you have contracted malware.

On the software side, you can reload windows and drivers to get software issues resolved.
Protect any data that you care about with external backup first.

You might also look to see if there is a bios update that might resolve some of your problems.
I encountered a strange sudden lack of mouse response on my Y700 laptop that was resolved by a bios update.

Even though the malware part has been successfully addressed, the hardware and software aspects proving to be most difficult.

Regarding the software aspect, Lenovo authorised service centre refused to format and partition the device since they might not find the original 'image' of operating system.

Then, regarding the hardware aspect, too, none of my requests were entertained leaving me genuinely confused.

I on my own effort have been updating (or at least trying to) the software drivers from Lenovo website. While doing so, I have been offered a scope of either updating the BIOS or change the model number. I preferred the former. Thus, the BIOS of the device is updated, as I believe.

Yet, most of the problems remain there as they are.

Strangely enough ever since this evening, whenever trying to update the software from Lenovo website the process stops abruptly with an error message (please, have a look at the attached image).

 

[COLGeek]

There is no image. Short of maxing out memory or swapping out the HDD for a SSD there is not a lot that can be done regarding hardware upgrades. For repairs, you should be able to replace a faulty fingerprint scanner.

BTW, that is an excellent model of yore. Built to last.

 

[bandoboy]

There is no image. Short of maxing out memory or swapping out the HDD for a SSD there is not a lot that can be done regarding hardware upgrades. For repairs, you should be able to replace a faulty fingerprint scanner.

BTW, that is an excellent model of yore. Built to last.

Being someone, who remain miles away from any technical aspects of technology, the word 'image' does not mean anything to I. However, they referred to an 'original image' of operating system and expressed their inability to locate that while performing the formatting. Hence, according to them, the formatting could not be done.

Regarding the hardware upgrade, I definitely am looking forward to extending the RAM. And, I have not been sure if at all the HDD might be substituted for an SSD.

Thanks for that info, and I shall definitely look forward to it.

Finally, could the replacement of spare parts irrespective of fingerprint scanner or else be done by myself in an inexperienced hand?