This issue looks like an innocent misfeature, but not all Lenovo's firmware quirks are.
They also have a WiFi/3G card whitelist that stops you using non-Lenovo cards. When pressed they'll claim that the FCC makes them do this. When you point out that (a) you don't live in the US and what the FCC says doesn't matter; and (b) they've never cited the actual regulation in question, they'll change their story to say that "regulators" around the world make them.
Oddly, those same regulations appear to also affect HP, but not Dell or Acer.
They don't disclose their hardware lockout on their web site, sales documentation, etc.
I wrote a bit of a rant about this when it bit me a while ago. On the upside they replaced my 3G card free of charge with a Lenovo one; on the flip side, they still haven't fixed their website and the new card doesn't work as well as my old one did.
They really shouldn't be able to sell machines as "Mobile Broadband Ready" when they mean "Lenovo Mobile Broadband Card ready (approved models only, machine will fail to POST with non-approved card installed)".
Blog post with details, quotes from Lenovo emails, quotes from sales chat, etc (http://blog.ringerc.id.au/2012/06/lenovo-sales-and-support-reps-dont-get.html).
I'm about to file an ACC compliant, as I've given them long enough. Anyone else bitten by this, please file consumer protection complaints in your respective countries.
Lenovo have some other fun EFI and BIOS "bugs" too
They also have a WiFi/3G card whitelist that stops you using non-Lenovo cards. When pressed they'll claim that the FCC makes them do this. When you point out that (a) you don't live in the US and what the FCC says doesn't matter; and (b) they've never cited the actual regulation in question, they'll change their story to say that "regulators" around the world make them.
Oddly, those same regulations appear to also affect HP, but not Dell or Acer.
They don't disclose their hardware lockout on their web site, sales documentation, etc.
I wrote a bit of a rant about this when it bit me a while ago. On the upside they replaced my 3G card free of charge with a Lenovo one; on the flip side, they still haven't fixed their website and the new card doesn't work as well as my old one did.
They really shouldn't be able to sell machines as "Mobile Broadband Ready" when they mean "Lenovo Mobile Broadband Card ready (approved models only, machine will fail to POST with non-approved card installed)".
Blog post with details, quotes from Lenovo emails, quotes from sales chat, etc (http://blog.ringerc.id.au/2012/06/lenovo-sales-and-support-reps-dont-get.html).
I'm about to file an ACC compliant, as I've given them long enough. Anyone else bitten by this, please file consumer protection complaints in your respective countries.