Lenovo U410 Owners Lounge

Hi,
I just recieved a 1600x900 matte LCD for my u410 hoping to get higher resolution. I ordered product ID 570938 from laptopscreen.com.

The connector (a 40 pin lvds I believe) fits perfectly and so replacing the screen was no issue. However, when I power on with the new screen, the display has a blueish tint and has many vertical lines missing. In fact only every second vertical line is displayed. This happens right from the start of the boot, when the Lenovo logo comes up.

An identical problem was reported here (superuser.com) but with no answer.

Since screen replacement has been discussed in this thread, I was wondering if anyone has any idea of what's going on? Is there a way I could fix this? Maybe some adaptor I could use?

From what I've read, it could be an issue of single vs. dual channel LVDS display connector. Does anyone know how I could determine which type the u410 has?

Thanks!

 

It is an issue of a single channel LVDS - you are missing every second row of pixels - it means the second channel LVDS is not connected.
(Blue tint is coming "from the air" - it will disappear as soon as the channel receives data)

You have two options to make the screen work:
A) Find a dual channel video cable as a replacement (best bet is to research which similar series laptop came with it, find the p/n and order it)
B) Modify the current cable - the problem is 8 missing leads, and it is technically possible to graft them into an existing cable, although pretty tedious.

Good luck!

 

I looked into doing the same thing but chickened out. Please let us know if you're able to get it working, and if you use LSB's advice re ordering a replacement double channel LVDS cable, please tell us that, too. Thanks for being the pioneer on this one, I really love my maxed out u410 and the only thing that bothers me is the weak display.

 

Several months ago, I upgraded my mSATA with the 256gb Crucial M4 and updated ram to 16gb. I installed Windows 8 and apps on the mSATA.

Everything works fine once I disabled the Remap Memory Above 4GB option in bios. This avoids the conflict when Optimus is selected.

Forgot to mention, I have the older non-Touch model.

 

iCracked, thanks for your help. I ended up springing for a Plextor PX-256M5M mSATA drive but not going for the 16GB RAM.

However, I have an updated question for you since you successfully installed an mSATA drive in your u410. I did the same thing, but remember having hell with the UEFI settings...but somehow...some way....I did it. Well, recently I borked my computer while using Windows 8 so that it just sits there at the splash screen and want a clean install on my mSATA drive. The problem is I can't even get the USB drive to come up as a boot option unless UEFI is enabled!

My process is like this. I go into the BIOS under "Boot", Select Legacy Support, Legacy First, USB Boot enabled, and then move the USB drive up to the #1 in the boot sequence. I also go under "Config" in the BIOS and make sure USB Legacy Support is enabled, and under "Exit", just to be safe, I turn the Defaults to Other OS from Windows 8. When I restart my computer it just automatically boots to the (broken) OS splash screen. Then I go back into the BIOS and while all the settings are the same, the USB device is moved back to its original spot! What gives? When I enable UEFI it gives me options for what to boot into but when I choose the USB drive it won't let me (obviously).

Any options? I'm about to throw this laptop!

 

Hello everyone,

I'm having what's possibly a strange issue with my U410 and its RAM. I got the one with an i5 and 4GB single module RAM. I will upgrade the RAM but currently I'm suffering from a RAM shortage which seems a bit strange to me. If there's an obvious explanation, please offer one.

The problem is, the active processes in task manager do not account for the total physical RAM occupied. I restart the computer and all the startup programs (Skype, GTalk and Dropbox) load and take about 1.8GB of RAM. Then, after a couple of seconds the total occupied RAM jumps to somewhere around 2.8GB, without any new process/application being started. Then I'm left with only about 1GB of free RAM.

I have set the system to manage paging file and even though the computer is sluggish only when I abuse it with open browser tabs, Photoshop and what not, the 'lost' 1GB of RAM is really bugging me.

 

Just wanted to jump into this thread to say that I just picked up a manufacturer refurbished U410 touch for $360 at the Lenovo outlet, and I'm really enjoying this laptop so far as a replacement for my ancient Dell M1530. It's a much nicer design, much lighter, and with the 710M it's actually much better at gaming than the Dell. Only the lower screen resolution is disappointing (and the learning curve of Windows 8 after never moving past Vista). Maybe there are better laptops out there at the moment (Y510 ect.) but for the price I paid I'm thrilled.

Also, quick question, probably a stupid one. This laptop came with the 500 gig HD and 6 gb RAM. I'm looking at my computer and I see that there is a secondary 25 gig HD showing with nothing on it, but I'm not sure if this is just a partition or if this is the SSD that can be swapped for a 256 gig model? How easy is that swap? I'm pretty clueless with newer laptops.

 

I believe this partition is a disk cache. There is probably a 24GB Msata somewhere in that laptop.

 

Wow what I coincidence, I bought the slightly upgraded version for $410 with the 3337U 1TB and 8GB ram, my notebook makes a clicking sound which I 90% sure comes from the fan, its not very loud so you may not have noticed. I will be returning it.

 

No unusual noises from mine, and no wireless connectivity issues either (other than getting slightly lower results on average on speed test compared to my dell and my wife's MBP).

 

I take back what I said about no wireless issues... I couldn't hold a steady connection in a class room this evening. I checked speed test from the same location on my iphone connected to wifi. The phone was at 50 mb/s, the laptop peaked at 12 and averaged 9. Mind boggling that my phone could be built with a far better wifi antenna than a laptop. Still not a deal breaker, but annoying.

 

For anyone that reads this thread, just wanted to say that I solved my wifi issues by opening up the laptop and swapping the 2 antenna wires connected to the wifi card (most people say black and white wires, mine were black and grey). My download speed on speedtest went from 14 mb/s sitting on my couch in front of the router to 23 mb/s, which is identical to my older dell and my wife's MBP. Too bad I already ordered a cheap USB wifi adapter...

 

Did you ever have any luck with this?

https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/model/ibm-lenovo/IDEAPAD~U410~SERIES/

These HD+ Displays claim to be compatible but I dont really want to drop the money until I know if I need to find another cable too.

 

The Service Training link is null. Can anyone redirect me to the location of the disassembly video for the U410? Thanks.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sGwQBiGw-Y

 

Perfect. Many thanks for the link.

 

First, thanks to the folks on this thread who have provided high quality input. I have wasted many hours at other sites.
Issue seeking input: my 32 gb mSATA SSD is failing the SMART test and needs replacement.
Machine: Lenovo u410, 1 tb HDD, 8 gb RAM, not touch screen, Win8x64bit, no wifi problem.
Me: somewhat computer hardware repair savy and after watching the service video am confident in personally making this repair.
I can either order a duplicate replacement part, Samsung 32 gb mSATA SSD, or for about the same money go to a 64 or 128 gb unit. It seems smart to go ahead and get the extra space.
What issues will I encounter? What issues require special attention? e.g. other posts indicate some problems with the Intel fast boot program being factory installed on the SSD; etc. What steps do I need to follow to make a successful install?
If I go with the larger unit and it works out well, I will probably purchase Win7-Home Premium and do a clean OS install to it and leave this crappy Win8 to fade into distant memory.
Thanks again for the quality input on this thread.
BTW, i was wondering if others have experienced failure of the factory SSD?

 

Hi everyone,

How can I check if my Lenovo U410 Touch has a mSATA slot without opening it? (still in warranty)

 

And will adding RAM, replacing HDD or adding mSATA void my warranty?

 

It should not, but should you ever send back the laptop, be sure to put in the original components.

 

Many thanks to all who contributed to this thread. It was very helpful when it came time to upgrade my U410. There wasn't much else out there. I never had issues with my wifi, although it was a little weak. An R8000 router easily fixed that issue. I have the non-touch screen i5-3317.

My upgrades are as follows
-256 GB MSATA Samsung Evo
-16GB Ram (Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 CT2C8G3S160BM
-2TB SAMSUNG Spinpoint M9T
-Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

A few side notes. I used icracked's method to install the RAM and MSATA drive. Once the OS was installed I went into the bios and re-enabled the Nvidia graphics card and turned off the Memory Remap.