Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Sometimes, when I go back home and connect my W520 to an external Samsung HDTV through HDMI (using an adapter to convert DP to HDMI), it keeps using the internal speakers of the W520 and does not show the HDTV display speakers. It does happen from time to another and I am not sure what may be causing that. Any advice here?

 

Quick update and a question. W520 has been running great. I've been getting cpu whine (I think that's where it's coming from) lately, happens sporadically though. Other than, still wonderful battery life, everything works great.

Except Sony Vegas!

I have tried every tip on making Vegas (64 bit) live preview run smoothly. The strange thing is it did run real smoothly when I first got the machine.

So I'm wondering if anyone who specifically uses Vegas has any tips on the best way to run this machine. Turning off optimus and just using discrete graphics, turning off speedstep... anything like that will help me greatly.

I'm doing a lot 4 cam multicam edits, so I realize it's tough. I am using an Intel SSD. The thing is, the live preview is slowing down even on 1 camera SD footage!

I did try both the demo for Adobe Premiere AND Vegas Movie Studio and loaded in 4 tracks, did some crossfades- ran perfectly. Sadly I can't switch because I bought all my plugins specifically for vegas pro and I love the workflow of the program since it's similar to Reaper (audio program).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated

 

I have been running Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 (32-bit) without any issues.

 

So frustrating! I could switch if only Neat Video and PluralEyes worked with it

 

Did you try the 32bit version of Vegas Pro 11 build 595?

 

Hello -

This is my first post here, I recently purchased and received a W520. So far very happy. My question is, which of the updates listed in Thinkvantage are necessary/useful to actually install? I have an SSD.

The options are:

Access Connections for Windows 7
ThinkVantage Communications Utility
ThankPad Power Management Driver
Intel PRO/1000 LAN Adapter Software
Conexant Audio Software (What does that even do??)
ThinkVantage Active Protection System
Synaptics ThinkPad UltraNav Driver
WiFi Driver for Intel Cards
ThinkPad Video Features (this is a 690 MB update - do I really need it?)
Lenovo AutoLock

This is not really explained anywhere that I can see. Thanks in advance !

 

Thanks for your help Kaso/zsero - any idea how much space the Windows environment would take up and then if I clone the HDD onto the SSD I'll just need to change the boot order in the BIOS?

 

If you are very careful, you can install windows to 40 GB and linux to 40 GB. In Windows it will mean that you will have to install big programs (Adobe CS5, MATLAB, etc.), to the HDD, not to the SSD. So you will have a folder like D:\Program Files, where you'll keep your big programs. Those programs will start slow though. From almost the same money of a 80 GB mSATA, you can buy a second hand 256 GB SATA, I'd recommend that way for dual boot.

 

The "environment" includes the OS and your applications, so only you can decide. Windows itself occupies around 28GB of disk space and a Linux distro about half that.

(My Windows 7 Ultimate environment, which includes many applications "suites," takes up ~48GB.)

When you're cloning the HDD onto the SSD, the HDD is still the primary drive from which you boot Windows and run the cloning program. Once the cloning is done, shut down, cut power (main and battery), remove the HDD and set boot order in the BIOS.

 

Hey Guys,

Just about to do a clean install and am wondering where to find the latest SSD drivers for my Crucial m4 SSD 128gb. Hearst's clean install guide says to goto the intel website below to do it, but is this only for intel SSD's or does it cover Crucial as well?


http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...Intel®+Rapid+Storage+Technology&lang=eng#help

 

That's actually the Intel Rapid Storage Technology AHCI SATA driver so it is advised to install it. Be aware Crucial SSD's can be a bit fickle with the Intel RST drivers so you may need to implement the LPM fix to stop stuttering issues.

For your SSD firmware you should go to here.

 

I don't think LPM fix is needed with Crucial M4. I haven't experienced any stuttering using M4 + latest firmware.

 

Thanks zsero/Kaso - a stupid question but .... if I get an Intel 510 SSD instead of the mSATA do I need to bung that in the primary bay and then put the HDD in the ultrabay or can I leave the HDD where it is and use the ultrabay for the SSD? I haven't phrased that very well but hopefully you know what I mean!

 

Yes, you can use an UltraBay caddy to house the boot SSD and leave the OEM HDD in the primary bay for storage. (One of my ThinkPads is configured like that.)

Various forum members seem to like the caddy sold by nimitz on ePray.

 

Yes, the nimitz caddy is good value. Still I would keep the SSD in the primary bay (it is literally 1 minute to swap the HDD to SSD), just because it's kept in place with screws, while the ultrabay is only kept with a plastic securing mechanism.

 

In my previous W520, when I was using HDD and memory diagnostics, the machine was getting stuck at some point (usually during the hard drive check knowing that I have M4 SSD 256GB). I put the original HDD back in the machine and it does not do that. I then tried to put the SSD in a different brand new W520 and it caused the same problem. Could it be that the diagnostics software not designed to deal with SSDs? Should I get concerned about my SSD and is there another way to diagnose if it has any problem?

 

Hi Guys,

I registered a license for an expensive program on my original stock HDD. However, I forgot to de-register the application and now after I installed my new SSD the programs is saying I have used the max number of licenses for the program......my questions:

Can I just put in the old HDD and de-register the program, then put the SSD right back in...or once a new harddrive is installed can you not switch between the two?

Thank you!!

 

Yes, it is absolutely fine to switch the hard drives as you want and everything will be OK!

 

Thanks for your help zsero/Kaso - just need to count the pennies now & see if I can afford to buy this weekend because Lenovo UK have got a 10% coupon (EASTER10)!

 

I agree with zsero. Unless you have an external optical drive (USB or eSATA), you would have problem using a CD or DVD (on rare occasions you need to) if you use your boot drive in the ultrabay. Having the boot drive in the primary bay makes it easy to switch the disk in ultrabay.

However, you can feel slight vibrations on the palm rest if HDD in the ultraby is thick.

 

Very rare, almost never, especially USB flash drives and USB external devices are so commonplace.

For certain needs, as in my case, swappability is precisely the reason for having the boot drive in the UltraBay caddy: I have different operating environments (OS and project-specific applications and project-specific settings) on separate physical drives.

 

Hello;

I've had my W520 for a few weeks now, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had trouble with the eSATA not properly recognizing devices? I have a SATA PCMCIA reader that works perfectly with an ExpressCard eSATA adapter in the W520, but will not work with the eSATA connection on the Thinkpad.
Any suggestions?

 

What make and model reader? Have a URL to the device page?

 

I haven't tried 32bit yet, but I decided to just reinstall Windows 7- still had the same issues. Installed Vegas 10, not having the same problems... That works for me because I have some editing jobs I need finished soon!

One thing I noticed when reinstalling Windows (i'm sure there has been covered on this forum before) But I changed Text to small "100%" and it was absurdly small.

I reinstalled the Nvida graphics drivers and the text is back to normal. So if anyone isn't using 100% because of how absurdly tiny the text is, you might want to check to see if you had the same problem!

 

That's a bug in the theme fonts. All you need to do in order to fix it is switch themes. They get re-scaled. Then you can switch back to your fav theme.

 

Just a warning: I installed the latest Nvidia driver the other day and had all kinds of problems until I reverted to the latest Lenovo Nvidia posted driver.

 

I'm using the latest driver from Intel and the lastest driver from nVidia and I have absolutely not kind of problems. What kind of problems do you have?

 

Hey guys, a few more questions from a new W520 owner:

1. I just noticed the "Allow Remote Assistance" box is checked under System Properties > Remote. Is that something Lenovo does, as part of their support, or is it a Windows 7 thing? I always feel suspicious about these features that allow remote control of any kind, so I'd rather just uncheck it --- think that's okay?

2. I thought it was odd that the optical drive was set to be off until manually activated (e.g. by opening the tray). The drive didn't even show up under My Computer. A few days ago I stumbled across the setting that changes this, so now the drive is active and shows up even when not in use... and now of course I realize it made sense all along to have it off, but I can't find how to change it back! Couldn't find it in Device Manager or anywhere else. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

3. I use my laptop on AC power 99% of the time, and I understand it's possible to run it without the battery. What's the best way to store the battery? I've been told to put it somewhere cool with about 40% charge. Is that right? Should I occasionally pop it in and charge it, and if so, how frequently, or is it best to just let it sit unused until I really need it?

4. One more: the ThinkVantage Autolock thing is nifty, but I have no use for it. I can't find any option to disable it, so can I just uninstall it, or is that a bad idea?

Thanks in advance...

 

1. Yes
2. It was always there, you just didn't notice it
3. Charge it at 40% and keep it in a cool, DRY place, not in the fridge. But mostly, it doesn't matter
BatteryCare - Proper laptop battery usage guide
4. You can uninstall it.

 

Thanks! Re: 2 - what I was actually asking is how I can set it up again so it's shut off unless activated? I don't suppose it uses a lot of power or resources, but I figure it makes sense to have it off unless needed anyway. I just can't find where I changed that setting.

+1 Rep

 

The main one I had (don't have the problem anymore since I reverted back to the old drivers) was when I clicked on the ThinkVantage Toolbox icon on the taskbar it kind of swooshed to the right side of the screen then disappeared. Really weird. It was open in Task Manager, it showed that it was open on the taskbar. Right click on the open icon and click on the program and swoosh it would go across the screen then disappear. Tried opening from the start menu, same thing. So I remembered that the only thing that had changed was that I had installed nvidia's newest driver. Uninstalled, everything worked fine. I was also having some problems with the themes, can't remember exactly what they were.

Strange, I know.

 

It's there, but it doesn't use any power, unless there is drive activity going on (reading - writing discs, detecting media). As an alternative, you can take out the drive and keep it in a drawer until you need it. It makes the laptop about 0.2 kg lighter as well.

 

I was having a dead silent W520 with Core i7 Quad 2.5 and 8GB and 256GB Crucial M4 SSD. I have exchanged this with the 2.4 processor and same exact specs otherwise and all what I did is putting my SSD in the new machine but the machine is hotter than I used to with the old one and the fan is always ON. I also remember that there was an option in the BIOS to disable "Fan Always ON" but I do not see this option in the new machine. Would you please advise what settings should I check in the new machine to make sure everything is alright regarding the heat and fan? Could putting the SSD from another machine with already installed Windows, drivers, and software be a problem?

 

I think the question is how to put it back to this original mode (off until activated by activity). Unfortunately, I do not have a answer yet because I have the same question.

 

Hey guys,

I want to download Skyrim and am wondering if my quadro 2000m and 2760qm will be able to handle it? I do need to run it on crazy high settings, but I do not want to play a game with any lag going on....

Thanks!

 

It should be playable as long you don't go for the ultra high settings in full 1920x1080 mode. This video should give you a bit of an idea though this one was running on the Quadro 1000m GPU instead. Of course if you're not happy with that then you can always go for the eGPU route instead.

 

I have successfully swapped SSDs between W520s with different processors (2820 and 2920).

 

I can run it at High with my 1000m with graphics improving mods, you may want to look in to a dll mod the improve the FPS by at least 20 if not more (it is not compatible with FXAA injection Mods) i did this with my old computer had a AMD HD 2600 512mb and it ran it on high when i only could get med before.

FilePlanet: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Skyrim Better Performance Mod v1.1a

 

Something is not right with new machine with the lower processor (actually expected less heat and noise). The higher processor was dead silent and no heat at all at my palm rest. Also, with putting in my SSD with already installed software, I have some weird stuff. For example:

1. The finger print no longer alerting me to use it at startup or when waking up. I made sure that it is enabled but it still would not work.

2. I get a message at the startup to choose which program to use to open a file that I do not recognize named in my name and I checked msconfig and nothing odd seems to be there!

It is really annoying that I have heat under my palm rests both the right and left sides and also under the keyboard!

By the way, I have nothing open except Firefox and that is it and I still have this heat/noisy issue

 

I'm thinking of removing my Intel X25-M 160GB SSD from my T500 and put it in the ultrabay of my W520 as I already have a Corsair 250GB performance pro SSD in the primary bay.

If I put my VMWare images on the Ultrabay SSD, will I/O of the VMWare Images be as fast as when the images are on the primary bay?

 

Should be no difference in bandwidth performance as they share the same SATA port interface, but the Intel X25-M is a SATA II drive anyway so won't fully utilise the SATA III speeds on offer.

 

It may not be as fast like Hearst said but it will see a boost sense windows wont be running off it as well, is it worth it, i dont know, might want to do some benches to see if it gets a boost. that is worth it.

 

For an SSD it almost doesn't matter if windows is running from it or not. The difference between a modern drive and the G2 is much bigger. I'd move the less speed-sensitive data (photos, music, etc.) to the G2 and keep the VMs on the primary drive (it seems your drive is almost identical to the Crucial M4, what is a really nice drive for VMs!).

 

I guess it depends on how many VMs your running and their nature I have brought SSDs to there knees but thats not normal use cases.

 

Anyone know if the Killer 1103 NIC works in W520? Just wonder if Lenovo uses whitelists for NICs

 

Hi All,

I'm getting a green bar on top of the video screen when I'm watching internet stream video such as Youtube or any videos on sites (eg sky news, foxnews).

Any solution?

 

Do a search on "green bar on top of the video screen" (your own words).

 

Switch off hardware acceleration in Flash player settings.

 

Thanks zsero,

I've seen the Flash Player Settings Manager under control panel, but there is no option for hardware acceleration

 

Right click during a flash video.