Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Do yourself a favor and open the box. You'll love the W520.

I ran the diagnostics for 24 hours in "stress" mode as soon as I received the unit it to be sure all is OK.

(My W520 came with a strong toxic "smell", so I put it in the cellar while it ran the stress diagnostics.)

 

I agree with Huberth here, you never know unless you try and use it. Sure no product is perfect but I think most owners here are generally satisfied with their W520 and typically ThinkPad owners are a discerning bunch!

 

eaglez, this thread has over 1 million views, and still, you can barely find reports about the shutdown issue! Just start using the W520, it is an extremely reliable machine, you won't have problems with it.

Note: never ever touch any Sandforce based SSD, use quality RAM, if you can afford buy tested RAM from Lenovo or Kingston, and install a clean windows with the newest drivers and without the Lenovo "stuff".

 

Any other opinions besides those who have installed the two finger program... I'd really like to know if its worth doing.

 

Perfect...I was thinking the same thing about having over 1,000,000+ views (2,000+ views/day which is unbelievable) thats why my heart sunk when I stumbled upon a lenovo thread where they made it seem like every laptop had the issue!

I'm going to be using a 120gb OCZ Agility SSD then will probably install an 80gb mSata drive in the next couple weeks. I know there not the greatest, but they had awesome reviews from Newegg so crossing my fingers...

 

eaglez, is it Agility 1 or 2 or 3? I think 1 and 2 are fine now, but the 3 is the number one reason for BSODs, so if you experience any instability I'd suggest you to immediately install an other drive. BTW, is there any chance that you were using this drive in the Dells which you have returned?

 

Did you follow a certain checklist for reinstalling windows? Do you have a guide or anything you could link me to? I'd like to clear out all the lenovo crap. (I already backed up the drive and its partition onto other drives via ghost).

 

That's because most of the reports have been in the thread at forums.lenovo.com and if you think there isn't an issue, think again. The problem ranges from several times per day for some folks, to once every 4-6 weeks for others. Lenovo has not resolved it and it has now been 12 months.

So roll the dice on a W520 if you want to, but you were warned. Maybe you'll be in the majority of owners and never see the issue. I was apparently in the minority.

 

No checklist, just that basically don't install anything you don't need. I only installed Power Management Driver, Hotkey and the drivers which were not recognized by windows. Use ABR Backup and Restore, or Advanced Tokens Manager to save the activation data from the original install, before you delete it.

For tweaking I remove indexing and disable the following services with a bat file (might be a bit extreme for some):

Code:

sc config "Themes" start= disabled
sc config "UxSms" start= disabled
sc config "defragsvc" start= disabled
sc config "WinDefend" start= disabled
sc config "CscService" start= disabled

 

Yes, I am using an OCZ Agility 3 SATA III 2.5' drive, I am very glad you made me aware of that.....and yes I did have it installed in my first Dell XPS 17 and it seemed to work great...is that a bad thing?

I guess I'm just going to put it in and see how it works for the first couple weeks....I can't believe I have to worry about an issue like this, not what I was expecting when I decided to spend some extra money to get reliability....I'm going to feel like an idiot if I bring another laptop into work and have my coworkers install the programs on it just to have another issue!!!

 

Seriously, have a look at the official OCZ forums and see how thousands of owners are suffering from Agility III and Vertex III drives (and the Sandforce controller behind). It can give you the craziest stability problems, like computer pausing for a few seconds or things like this, which you would never think is actually caused by the SSD. If I were you, I'd use the W520 with the original HDD until you can sell and buy an other SSD (good ones: Crucial M4, Samsung 830, Intel 520)!

Vertex3, Agility3, Solid3 and Synapse caching drive support and discussion forum

 

^^Thanks..I'm going to pick up my new system today after work, so thanks for the quick replies. Thats exactly what I'll do, might as well save up for a reliable SSD....What do you guys think is a fair price to sell a basically brand new 120gb OCZ Agility originally priced at $160? I might just suck it up and buy a new one and just leave this collecting dust, because I have no idea where to sell one of these things

 

Why not try the marketplace in this forum? There is a price check subforum too.

 

Well since the drive is opened already why not try it out? Just make sure to make frequent backups of your work.. which you should be doing for important data anyway regardless of drive. I had bad experiences with vertex 2 as well... but bsod only happened when I resumed from hibernate or very rarely from sleep so I just backed up my work files, and used it normally 99% of the time. Then, it died all of a sudden and I had to RMA it of course, but I had my files safe and prices of ssds had dropped by a lot in the 6 months I used the drive for. Of course, if you are afraid of all the hassle involved with reinstalling windows then you should get a more reliable drive. Some of the ones recommended above have a good track record so far (crucial, intel, samsung etc..) but not all sandforce drives are a lost cause. I recently picked up a 240gb mushkin chronos deluxe and it seems to be holding up pretty well (of course, there is not enough long term reliability data for ANY ssd, but at least it isn't plagued with all the ocz drive issues and has been running fine so far.

Anyway I'm going a bit off topic, but when/where did you get the agility drive from? I'm sure if you got it from a bigger store and you get some BSOD you can return it on the grounds of it being 'defective'...

 

Great idea Rabbitz....I bought it from Newegg....I'm going to return it and just say it had BSOD

 

Since eaglez is looking for a reliable machine, I would strongly advice against "trying out" the Agility, since Sandforce problems show up in totally random moments, possibly nothing will happen in the first few days and he will only get a BSOD once he has all the programs and everything installed on the machine!

 

What are these diagnostics that you run in stress mode? I would like to do the same with my machine.

 

I am planning on getting Crucial 4gb 1333 memory to upgrade mine to 8gb. Is Crucial a good one when compared to Kingston or the one that comes from Lenovo (probably Samsung)?

 

Why wouldn't it? Shouldn't any mSATA device work in that slot?
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/samsung/docs/HS12VJF.pdf

 

Crucial is a good brand just like many others that offer lifetime warranty on their modules. It's a bit subjective to say one RAM brand is better over the other, I had bad RAM from Crucial, Corsair and Kingston before but from experience their customer service were great and offered a new replacement modules without hassle. So overall just choose whichever is cheapest that offers lifetime warranty for peace of mind.

 

Just set up my new lenovo w520 and it is a thing of beauty.....completely ripping through all of my work applications. I thought I was using powerful desktops at my office but this thing is much more powerful, I'm thinking this has alot to do with the 2000m quadro card. And the best part is...I'm only using 4gb of ram..still have another 8gb to load in

I'm really hoping I do not experience any issues (mainly BSOD), I decided not to install any SSD for a couple weeks then I can assess whether the SSD caused the BSOD or the original hardware.

Overall awesome laptop so far...really sleek looking, I can't believe so many people dislike the looks.

 

They are in the Lenovo Tool Box

 

Are you talking about the hard drive and memory tests? If so, what do you mean by testing them in stressed mode?

 

In "Diagnostics" you'll find the options:
- Quick Hardware Check
- Full System Test
- System Stress Test

 

Look carefully at the device at Newegg.com - Intel 310 Series 80GB mSATA mSATA (mini PCIe form factor) MLC Enterprise Solid State Disk SSDMAEMC080G2C1 - Enterprise SSD

That is the form factor SSD designed for the PCIe WWAN slot in the current generation ThinkPads.

 

Thanks for help!

 

I am sorry but I'm not an expert, and I expect most people reading these forums aren't either. Can you please explain to us, without being condescending, what the PCIe WWAN slot in the W550 is and why other MSATA drives won't work in it?

(edit)
The answer is that it's a totally different plug/interface. But thank you TH for pointing this out so well, we all know that we can trust the photos posted by our local retailers ;P

Take note that running TPFanControl with the Lenovo battery manager installed causes the system to randomly go into hibernate when running off the battery. Many people have confused this with the reported BSOD issue, even though they don't get the BSOD.

I've used both the newest lenovo drivers and twofinger, you don't need to un-install anything, just turn off the scrolling options on the lenovo touchpad driver or it'll act erratic. But yes, twofingers kicks , not as good as the mac but 100x better then the standard drivers.

 

There is something very strange I just experienced. I am connected to the docking station and every time I choose shut down from there Windows menu, the machine restarts instead. I tried multiple times and each time it restarts instead of shutting down!

 

if it's the exact same model/capacity and FRU number then this would work.

apologies for not seeing your reply sooner.   these owners' threads are massive and individual conversations become easily lost.

 

No problem! I definitely understand. Yes, it is the same machine W520 and same HDD capacity 500GB and RPM (7200) but the machine itself has different specs from the old one but I do not think this would matter. I wish I had not sold the original HDD but anyone, that is how one learns!

Thanks again for follow-up

 

Sure. I will try anyway. The WWAN PCIe slot is designed first of all to be a small slot for a cell phone card type adapter. The devices that plug into the slot are very small form factor devices. I don't know exactly what the specifications are but the device isn't much larger than an inch square (actually rectangular) and a few millimeters thick.

Someone came up with the bright idea to use that slot for a SSD style device in a similar form factor. I think it's a brilliant idea except for the fact I want a device in the slot that has a capacity of 160GB.

On my original reply I started to reference wikipedia.org but there are problems with the term mSATA. Some folks want to call it mini SATA, others micro SATA.

Take a look at SATA-IO Confirms New 'mSata' Drive Standard - News - Trusted Reviews. The device that goes in the slot is pictured at the right. Compare that to the popular Intel SSD at Newegg.com - Intel 310 Series 80GB mSATA mSATA (mini PCIe form factor) MLC Enterprise Solid State Disk SSDMAEMC080G2C1 - Enterprise SSD

Pay particular attention to the interface which is much like a tradition PC card you would push down into a slot in a desktop machine. It looks nothing like the SATA interface connectors we see on typical notebook 2.5" sata drives.

The press release for mSATA (mini SATA) is at SATA-IO to Develop Specification for Mini Interface Connector talks about the birth of the mSATA "standard".

The drive you referenced, the 1.8" HDD, can be used on some Lenovo ThinkPads. HDD is less common due to the slow speed. 1.8" SSD is more common and found in the X301 and T410S. The 1.8" SSD's look like a PCMCIA card in size. The micro SATA connector on a 1.8" drive looks like a small version of a connector on the typical 2.5" notebook drive.

 

Hey guys,

Just read that OCZ released in firmware for their SSD's
OCZ brings big performance upgrade for old Vertex, Agility, Solid2 SSDs - TechSpot News

I'm wondering if this means they may be more stable? I really want to put this 120gb Agility drive into my w520 and am thinking I should just go through with it and count on OCZ and Lenovo releasing updated BIOS/Firmware to improve any existing issues....is this a bad idea??

 

I had an OCZ Vertex II 1.8" 180gb in my HP2540P that worked great. Could not believe how fast it was. It's SATAII, but it seemed faster than the Samsung 830 I have in my w520. A few weeks out of the blue it just died, year and a half old. RMA'd it this week. That's my experience with OCZ. So far I've had no problems with the Samsung830 and a Mushkin Chronos (desktop)

 

Your drive and the drive mentioned in the article has absolutely nothing in common, except the OCZ sticker. If you want a reliable system, don't install the Agility III.

 

I have a question that may be very silly for some people here, so please do not make this start you

I just wanted to know if more RAM can make the W520 faster in general and in what aspects (if you can specify)? Also, can it help with the throttling issue to balance the CPU throttling? I am just trying to decide whether or not I should go for more than 8GB. Just FYI, I do not do graphics or video editing and do not play games

 

If you have to ask, you don't need more than 8. You can assess you memory usage easily via resmon or task manager. Most people can run nicely in 4GB. People that need more than 8GB are typically running several operating systems via virtualization, or other huge memory consumers like Vegas.

Like I said, people that run those types of workloads typically know what they need. Most of the consultants I know are now using 32GB of RAM.

More RAM won't help throttling.

 

Whats the cheapest, most reliable, mSATA or SSD (~120gb) that would work well with my w520? Those prices on intel SSD's are skyhigh and I already have this 120GB agility drive collecting dust so I can't drop too much more cash.

I'm thinking about purchasing this one.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...odeId=1&Description=solid+state+drive&x=0&y=0

 

I'd look at either Crucial or Samsung drives. For mSATA, I'd check out MyDigitalDiscount's mSATA drives.

 

I seem to have rather slow graphics performance on my brand new W520 with the nVidia Quadro 1000M graphics card. Things like minimizing a window in Windows 7 happen kinda choppy rather than smoothly. Power settings are set to maximum performance, and I've updated to the latest drivers available through the Lenovo update program. The Windows Experience Index for Graphics only shows 5.5 and lists Intel HD graphics rather than the nVidia, even though the nVidia card shows up in the hardware profile. I'm trying to figure out if this is normal and how I can check if the graphics card is working properly. Any ideas?

 

Are you on AC or battery when this happens?

 

The choppiness is definitely on battery (but that surprises me too - with this powerful a computer you'd think it can minimize a screen smoothly even on battery, right?)
Still, it's odd that Windows Experience Index for Graphics only says 5.5 and that it lists the Intel HD for graphics rather than the nVidia card.

 

Just my guess, but when you run WEI there isn't any other graphics power needed so the 5.5 is with the Intel chip. Try disabling Optimus in the bios then run WEI & see what ya get.

I agree with private jarhead - Samsung or Crucial.

 

I don't like fiddling around with the BIOS too much, but yeah, what you say makes a lot of sense. I'm still just surprised that that Windows Experience Index thing doesn't take the graphics card into account. You'd think it'd try to put the entire system through its paces.

 

So I'm getting a Crucial m4 128gb SSD delivered tomorrow and I am going to do a clean install with Windows Professional......I really don't need any files or programs currently on the laptop and don't want the extra garbage Lenovo has pre-installed.....so my question is..how do I install the drivers without a Lenovo Driver disc or internet driver? Or can I just put the Lenovo drivers on a disc and pop that in once my OS has been installed (If so, where are they located)

Thanks for any suggestions

 

Lenovo Support - Download Drivers and Software (US)

I'd also keep the Lenovo PowerManager. Very nice piece of software.

 

A bit more advice please - when I get my W520 I want to install the Intel 80GB mSata SSD. can I do this:

1. Fire up machine & make rescue discs
2. Remove HDD
3. Install extra RAM
4. Install SSD
5. Fire up machine with rescue discs in and recover onto SSD
6. Re-connect HDD and delete everything on HDD
7. Reboot machine and install linux as dual boot on SSD

I particularly want to use the Lenovo rescue discs rather than do a clean install as I haven't used Windows in earnest for years (I'm coming from a Mac). Am I working along the right lines .

I've nearly read through the whole thread & it's been really useful - Thanks!

 

I'd start with checking if the SSD is on the latest firmware, 0309. If not, create a USB disk to flash it.
Crucial.com Product Downloads - Firmware Updates

For the drivers, just download all of them from the internet, and install one by one. Start with the Intel chipset driver and a full restart. 2nd Intel GFX, restart. 3rd nVidia latest Verde from nvidia.com, restart. The order of the others doesn't matter. Only install the software you need.

 

You'll be doing fine.

As long as you feel the 80GB SSD will comfortably host both your Windows and Linux environments.

 

The ThinkPad drivers are in the C:\SWTOOLS folder on the current HDD. Copy that folder onto a USB flash drive. When you go down the list in Device Manager to install drivers, insert the flash drive, point to that folder and tell Windows to search down the subdirectories.

For a new or recent ThinkPad, it is convenient to use the SWTOOLS folder: you don't have to go to Lenovo support page to download the drivers one by one.

It is helpful to read the Hearst guide and/or the Lenovo guide.

 

In this case, it's much easier. If you are confident in linux, just you a cloning live CD to clone the HDD to the SSD and you are done!