Lenovo Issues Fixes for Major ThinkPad USB-C Issues

In the wake of reports of major issues with the USB-C ports on many of its ThinkPad PCs, Lenovo has issued a set of fixes that it says solves the problem.

The problem impacts a wide range of ThinkPad PCs, which apparently suffer from major issues related to their USB-C ports after 6 to 12 months of typical usage. All of the PCs are running a 64-bit version of Windows 10, Lenovo says.

Symptoms include:

• USB-C port not working
• Intel Thunderbolt controller not visible in the OS/Device Manager
• USB-C or Thunderbolt docking stations not visible or having connectivity problems
• HDMI output not available
• System battery not charging with a USB-C power adapter connected to the USB-C port
• Intel Thunderbolt pop-up error message
• Intel Thunderbolt safe mode error message
• BIOS Thunderbolt communication error or hang during POST

The fixes consist of a driver update and a firmware update, which need to be installed in that order. And the firmware update requires that the Intel Thunderbolt IO Controller must be enabled in the system’s BIOS. You should get the updates via the Lenovo Vantage application that comes on the PC, but you can also manually download them from the Lenovo website. (Note that the downloads differ from PC-to-PC.)