Fingerprint Problems

Just got my new T60p. Generally love it. But I can't get the fingerprint reader to work. When I run the Fingerprint software, if I slide my finger over the reader like the video shows, it is generally very difficult to get it to read anything (it sits there waiting as if I haven't swiped my finger yet), and if I do it enough times (maybe 10), it will eventually say it was a bad read. I suspect my unit is defective, which is frustrating, but curious to know if there's any obvious mistake that folks think I'm making. Lenovo customer support has no idea, but the person I spoke to there was clueless so I thought I would try this forum before pursuing a return.

 

You generally need to start at the last joint of the finger and slide straight down slowly and lightly, no pressure. If you still can't train the unit using that method, it's probably defective.

 

Like Brian said, you have to swipe slowly, maybe you are doing it too fast.

 

It's been my experience that the fingerprint reader requires a little pressure. The read should start just behind the joint--maybe a 16th of an inch from it (a 16th of an inch from it on the knuckle side).

The swipe really needs to be without an upward curve at the end. And the swipe should be timed to take about a little less than a full second. (It's not a fast swipe.)

These things really work.

 

Mine must be defective. Alas. It takes 30 or so swipes to get the reader to recognize anything (most of the time it doesn't identify there has been any swipe at all), and when it does recognize the swipe, it is only to say bad data. sometimes it seems to think there is a swipe when there hasn't been one. I've tried everything on pressure, angle, where to start, different fingers, etc. If it were really me, I think it would at least be registered that there has been a swipe half the time (probably all of the time).

 

The fingerprint readers can be somewhat tempermental. My T43 seems to have problems when new fingerprint software is updated.

 

the fingerprint sensor is very sensitive to its surrounding which have been discussed many times here and other forums. Try unplugging any cables attached to your Thinkpad then swipe. After plug each cable one by one to find the culprit. Most common problem arises when a modem cable and though rarely a network cable is attached.