Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Has anyone tried to upgrade the Video card to Quadro K2100m and is it possible? I know dells can do it, but how about the W520?

 

It's not possible since the GPU on most ThinkPads is soldered to the motherboard.

 

Even workstations? I tohught they used MXM-a

 

Nope.

The last ThinkPads with swappable GPUs were W70* series.

 

Zbook 15 G2


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I went to the W550s from the W520 and it is workable with CPU intensive software but slower as expected given the dual core vs quad core difference. I love the battery life of the newer machine. That and the lighter weight make the loss of performance worth it. But the W520 is a really good machine, and I am keeping mine up to date. It just doesn't leave the house any longer due to the battery life (and smaller brick) advantage of the newer machines.

 

Hello all,

I am hoping to get some help installing Windows 10 on my W520... I have been trying for many days now to get a seccsuful install of Windows 10 Pro X64.

My problem is that It keeps hanging up on the windows logo as soon as it boots from CD or USB.

Oddly I have no issue at all installing the X86 version.

I have tried everything I can think of.

-Upgrade from windows 7
-Upgrade form windows 8
-Fresh install
-Many Bios settings (As recommended by people from google and lenovo themselves)
-Boot form DVD
-Boot from USB

Nothing seems to get past the initial windows logo except is I try to install the 32 bit version...

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Are you trying to install Windows 10 via UEFI mode? Plus do you have any existing partitions because from my experience Windows 10 setup tend to have issues booting should there be more than one primary partition existing already (I had to convert that drive to a logical partition and that solved it for me).

 

I tired to do UEFI mode and it does not seem to do anything... When I boot in UEFI mode I just get a boot selection screen and whatever I select it just flashes and I get the same boot selection screen again.

The HDD is a single partition plus the small ~100mb partition that windows creates for whatever.

 

If you have the Windows 10 ISO try using Rufus to create your UEFI USB stick and see how it goes. Make sure you use the GPT partition scheme and format the USB flash drive in FAT32 file system along with the default cluster size.

 

Already tries using Rufus to treate a UEFI USB and it was indeed set to the GPT and Fat32

 

As well I just tried re formatting the whole drive so that there is only one partition and I made sure it is a logical partition. Booting from USB that was created from RUFUS as stated above. Still hangs up just the same at the windows logo.

 

Reset the BIOS to default settings and try installing from scratch.

 

I have also been unable to update my W520 and it was correctly pointed out to me that Lenovo calls the W530 and W540 Windows 10 compatible but does not list the W520 as being Win 10 compatible. Don't have any idea why but I have tried it from a bootable USB and about every other way anyone could suggest. So it will remain a Win 7 Pro machine.

 

The reason why Lenovo doesn't list W520 as being W10 compatible is the fact that Intel officially doesn't support SB systems in W10.

With that being said, quite a few folks have been running W10 on ThinkPads much older than *20 series - I've personally tested it on a T61 and there are reports of T60 units running it as well - so my best guess would be that the problem is somewhere else...

 

Upgraded (inplace) my W520 without issue from Win81. This was after a scratch test.

 

Hey guys,

My W520's fan has stopped working. Regardless of what I do, it simply wont spin up. I just wanted to ask if the fan used in the W520 is a fairly common fan and if I will be able to get it from computer repair shops rather than having to order off ebay. In the middle of a project so need to get back up and running as soon as possible.

There are ads on ebay that have listed w520 and another dell laptop as having the same fan.

 

in a jam you can try to check the fan connection under the keyboard maybe it got loose somehow. Also try to spray a can of air in there. The whole heatsink and fan is one FRU. It is not common at a store. You maybe able to separate the fan from the heatsink and just replace the fan if it's the right size, connector etc. Me I'd buy the oem heatsink/fan combo because the oem fan has never failed on me and I own a number of w520.

 

Bahaha there is no reason why a W520 shouldn't be able to run W10, Sandy Bridge is still more than capable of running pretty much everything out there today.
My T60P ran W10 for a little while when it was in beta, but I set it back to Windows 7 since I like the UI better on W7.

 

For anyone having problems installing windows10 on a W520 or any other laptop for that matter, please use UltraISO (trial version will do) to create the bootable USB. Its the only software I know of that was able to create bootable windows USB's for systems that were causing lots of headaches due to the usb not being created properly.

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Also, I am about to work on some video production work that requires Final Cut X (cringing as as I type this), however, instead of giving apple more money for being the way they are, I would prefer to install Mac OS on my trusty w520.

Now googling has lead me to some useful links but I feel that they are a bit outdated and there are some contradictions in the instructions. So I wanted to know,

What is the best guide on installing Mac OS on a 240 gb mSATA with windows 8 already installed on it? (dual boot).
I will most likely use an external drive formatted to the mac os compatible format to use for projects. But for now, need to know how to get dual boot running on an msata with windows 8 already running.

2820qm, FHD, 24 gb ram (8 x 8 x 4 x 4)
Q2000m
1 x 256 gb msata (win 8) > wish to install mac os here.
1 x 650 gb 7200rpm
1 x 320 gb 7200rpm data drive.

 

I don't know about best but I've run osx inside as a virtual machine in vmware workstation, the free version virtual box or vm player should have a similar way. I'm not sure the w520 is a good candidate for a hackintosh (though I've never tried). Just the vm works well for me.

 

EDIT: Got El Capitan to run in a VM. I have a 2820QM which supports Vt-d and x. Is there any way to allow hardware passthrough to get access to GPU acceleration in the VM?

Thanks for your response. I came to this place first as this forum has consistently been the quickest wit the most helpful responses.

With that said, googling did turn up some things:

- There is a proper guide by one of the forum members from here on another forum:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/273621-guide-os-x-lion-on-thinkpad-w520/


- Another dude seems to have gotten the W520 to function exactly as I hope to have it function in Mac OS. I have PM'ed him and waiting for a response but he has not been active on the forum since June.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/285336-hackintosh-laptop-for-editing-and-vfx/?p=1881674

My w520's specs are:
2820QM, 24 gb RAM,
1 x msata (240gb with win 8. I hope to dual boot mac OS off of this drive)
1 x 650 gb hdd with an old install of win 7 on it
1 x 320 gb hdd in ultrabay.
bios 1.34

 

On SB system, don't try to boot from a USB 3.0 port

 

You can't vt-d passthrough the vid card to the vm with a win7 host and an osx guest. At least not last year when I did it. Now I've done it on a desktop with an ati card but this was when it was running on a bare metal hypervisor.

Problems are the main OS and the optimus driver setup. Last year or two ago the vm saw my vid as vmware vga adapter(I didn't care as I did no video editing in the vm, but the performance led me to believe it was not using the nvidia) In your shoes I'd force set the bios display settings to discrete then in preboot display settings of your vm I'd check the accelerate 3d graphics.

 

Thanks for the detailed response. If I understood correctly, I should try disabling optimus, enabling only discrete, then try to enable 3d graphics in the VM?

I've been doing a lot of googling lately into this whole hackintosh thing. Unfortunately, one needs to install osx BEFORE installing windows and ideally on a separate drive. The other option I have is to remove all drives (i have 3, msata, hdd port and one in optical drive bay), have just one drive in there (already partitioned), and install OSX on that drive, later attaching other drives and then setting up multiboot within mac os.

The only issue in all this is it possible to boot from the drive in the optical bay?

 

Yes try bios and 3d option first. I can't see why you can't boot from the optical bay. If you press f12 when you boot you can choose msata, regular or optical bay.

Have you tried the vm performance? Is it satisfactory? I prefer it in a vm as I can take snapshots and go back in 15 seconds. Much easier to backup a vm and put the files somewhere else for me.

 

I too would much rather use it in a VM and assumed that with Vt-d I would be able to use it.
Something that confuses me for a bit is the core count in VM. It asks how much processors and cores.

I can allocate 16gb ram easily. With a 2820QM, how many cores and threads should I assign to the VM for optimal VM performance?

I am working with a client that insists on using Final Cut X and has put me in a bind. All I need to do is to assemble a very rudimentary rough cut that is not very demanding on the machine.

I will give it another try through VM with discrete enabled and optimus disabled and see what happens.

EDIT: Upon some further googlefu, I've seen two other possible solutions to a prepostrous dual boot that requires me to mess up my current ideal setup:

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/

This is a free bare-metal hypervisor, that to my non-techie ears sounds like is run through a linux custom kernel and could easily be installed to dual boot with windows 8/10?

Is this what you were referring to?

 

I would not try to vt-d passthrough the video card on a laptop, I think google will has some not so pleasant results. Specifically someone got an nvram error by doing that. Too much risk IMO. If you only want to use final cut the vm should work. Just set processor at 1 and core per processor to 4 or 6 and try that first can probably go up to 8 even Should run everything normally but I've never really used final cut.

 

Hello folks, first time Thinkpad owner here. I purchase a W520 quad core today and after reading around a bit, I saw some scary reports from users about motherboard failures and their consequent costly repairs (since I'm not under any warranty).

I have used Dell Latitudes for years without issues and the reason for buying the W520 was so it would be a rock solid companion for years to come.

After reading these reports, my confidence has shattered a bit and I'm thinking of canceling the order. Could someone please chime in with their experiences? Is this a common issue?

If so, I'll most likely end up with a Precision M4700/M4800 instead.

Thank you!

 

Well, I've had mine since May/June 2011 and the motherboard has never given me issues.

 

Thanks. I just hope it isn't a thing with the W520's.

Also, I asked the seller which power adapter he's including and he said the 135W. The Thinkwiki mentions that the 135W works with the W520 but it was intended for the W510. I wonder if the 135W adapter might cause any issues?

BTW I notice you're selling yours, if you don't mind me asking, why?

 

Odd... IIRC the standard option was the 170W brick. I wouldn't know how the 135W performs as I only have the 170W.

My W520 used to be my "daily driver", but battery life isn't what it used to be (~4 hours on the 9-cell, running Linux) and I don't need that sort of compute power for what I do. Figure it could be of better service to someone else who'd make use of all those cores and the Quadro .

 

I think I'll just buy the 170W.

Do you think the battery life is because of the battery health or something else?

Out of curiousity, how much are you asking for yours, what condition is it in and is it still available? I ask because I noticed you're at Clemson and I'm an hour away. I went to school there.

 

Haha, so I assume Greenville then?

I have a selling page here ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/fs-lenovo-thinkpad-w520.782113/). It does have minor cosmetic damage, though nothing that affects how it runs.

 

I'll check out the listing.

Are you in CS? I have put in my share of time at McAdams.

 

Guilty as charged. Though some of the classes have been moved around to odd places. Of course there's Daniel, but I have my networking in Tillman, of all places.

 

Yeah we had those in different buildings as well, never Tillman though. McAdams was basically the base station.

 

My current order shipped already so I think I'll stick with it, but good luck in your sale. Shouldn't have too much trouble selling to someone on campus.

Does CCIT buy stuff back?

 

I bought mine straight from Lenovo, and back then CCIT was almost-exclusively selling Dell Latitude/Precisions. If I end up not selling it, I'll just re-purpose it as a home server or something.

 

It's too nice to be a homeserver though.

 

It's just an idea . Besides, I could have it run Folding@Home while doing other things.

 

Mine has survived a motorcycle crash. I had to replace the cracked screen but other than that I use it every day. Mine was a Day 1 CTO.

 

Sounds good. My config's going to be the same as yours. Curious, how much battery life are you getting under various loads and settings?

Hope the crash didn't break anything other than the screen.

 

Unfortunately I have to send the laptop back, having some issues with the screen. For whatever reason, it makes me sick almost immediately.

I took a comparison video between that and the E6510:



I understand it may have to do with the shutter speed syncing up with the screen refresh rate or the PWM frequency or something, but any explanation welcome.

 

Been a while since i came here.. I installed 10, it works well BUT issue with media keys:

On 7, pressing (for exemple) next track would works even if player was in background.

On 10 it must be on top. Big issue for me! Anyone know how to fix that?

Always quote my messages so I get notified quickly!

 

Three years and running strong. I've managed to get great mileage out of this, to the extent that I have no desire to upgrade except maybe to the p70 in maybe a year or so.

 

As stated in the title, I am looking to get fast and reliable AC networking running with this machine. I tend to have a lot of drives and cables plugged to this laptop and sometimes like to stream content off this to my tablet.

So what is the best wifi solution that can be hooked up to this laptop?
Highest priority will be for an internal solution.

I might go for a USB implementation as well but ideally an internal solution would be best.