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    Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by zacharyp, Mar 31, 2011.

  1. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    Can't is the wrong word. It ships turned off but easily enabled. Virtualization works nicely.
     
    Thors.Hammer, Apr 22, 2011
    #1001
  2. bherila

    bherila Notebook Consultant

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    bherila, Apr 22, 2011
    #1002
  3. gottagetta

    gottagetta Notebook Enthusiast

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    Mine is REV_04 as well. Anxiously awaiting Lenovo's findings.
     
    gottagetta, Apr 22, 2011
    #1003
  4. Tokend

    Tokend Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks, nriven.

    On the chance that I'm not the only one who doesn't get this, please indulge me. I hope my questions are not straight from Using A Computer 101.
    • Are you saying that you booted from a Win7-64 disc that you happened to have, but had no intention of actually installing to the W520?
    • When and why does entering the product key under the battery come into play?
    • Once you're booted, what do you do to "re-image the full machine using that CD"?
    • If you ever needed to, how would you restore from this image?
     
    Tokend, Apr 22, 2011
    #1004
  5. BDKC1

    BDKC1 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I used Paraqon Software's Backup & Recovery 2011(Advanced) Free to copy an image of the W520's HDD to a large USB drive I have. Here is a link to their site and a brief overview of the process.

    Paragon Backup & Recovery (Advanced) Free Edition - User Manual

    1. Using another computer download the software and create a bootable generic recovery CD or USB Key. Put one of those in your new PC and also connect your USB HDD (for storing the drive image) with the power off.

    2. When you boot up, press the hot key to go into the BIOS settings. Make sure the boot priority is for the CD drive and/or the USB ports and not the HDD.

    3. The drive image software on the CD or USB Key will startup and you follow the directions for creating an image of the HDD onto your USB HDD.

    Most of these software utilities like Paragon's, Norton Ghost, Acronis, etc. use a limited Linux or WinPE environment for booting purposes and may lack the drivers for USB 3 or eSata external HDD. (I also had to plug my USB drive into the back "yellow" port on the W520, which is USB 2 only for it to be recognized)

    I like to preserve an image of the original drive that ships with a new PC and then again after I get the OS up and running with all the updates and my basic software installed. The process only takes 15-30 minutes and could save you hours if you need a "second chance" at some point. Much better than installing from CD/DVD IMHO.
     
    BDKC1, Apr 22, 2011
    #1005
  6. kevinlau

    kevinlau Notebook Geek

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    The block covering the modem port looks pretty good. I was worrying it would be something sticking out like a plug and look cheap, but instead it is flush with the housing. Now I will keep my W520 even without the modem. I haven't used a modem in ages. :)

    Missed the UPS guy yesterday, so I am staying home today. Must have it for the weekend. :)
     
    kevinlau, Apr 22, 2011
    #1006
  7. niriven

    niriven Notebook Geek

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    So what RAM modules are people recommending here or have had luck with?
     
    niriven, Apr 22, 2011
    #1007
  8. kevinlau

    kevinlau Notebook Geek

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    What is the advantage of GPT over MBR ?
     
    kevinlau, Apr 22, 2011
    #1008
  9. bherila

    bherila Notebook Consultant

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    I have just contacted my rep about this. I don't want a buggy chipset! I will let you know what the response is.
     
    bherila, Apr 22, 2011
    #1009
  10. RyanHurtt

    RyanHurtt Notebook Evangelist

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    Nevermind, figured it out!
     
    RyanHurtt, Apr 22, 2011
    #1010
  11. bherila

    bherila Notebook Consultant

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    If you don't mind my asking, what was the problem and what did you figure out?
     
    bherila, Apr 22, 2011
    #1011
  12. shashu

    shashu Notebook Geek

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    Does anyone have / has on order an OCZ Vertex 3 to go with their W520? I have seen a few threads detailing mis fit problems with the drive. I have the Vertex 3 on order but am now a bit concerned about this.
     
    shashu, Apr 22, 2011
    #1012
  13. ukieandrew

    ukieandrew Notebook Consultant

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    I'm thinking to order one. Where did you see those threads about mis fit problems?
     
    ukieandrew, Apr 22, 2011
    #1013
  14. shashu

    shashu Notebook Geek

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    shashu, Apr 22, 2011
    #1014
  15. kimocal

    kimocal Notebook Geek

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    Mine is coming back as Rev 04
    :mad:
     
    kimocal, Apr 22, 2011
    #1015
  16. kevinlau

    kevinlau Notebook Geek

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    You have REV_04, which is B2 stepping according to the other forum.

    Damd, is all the new W520 owners gonna have to RMA ??
     
    kevinlau, Apr 22, 2011
    #1016
  17. plympton

    plympton Notebook Guru

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    Request for info

    I just got off the phone with a very helpful manager at Lenovo (C. Young), who gave me the scoop on what is delaying W520 (and T520, and possibly T420s) orders. This is apparently a "Hirose Connector - Plannar Component" that is exclusive to Northern Japan, and not in supply. Estimated delivery is 5/16 and climbing.

    Request: Is there anyone who ordered after April 8th, who received their order (or it is in transit) send me your order number (Preferably as a PM) I don't think there are any security implications, and if there are, please don't. Mr. Young would like to check into the shipping queue process a bit.

    Thanks!
    -Dan
     
    plympton, Apr 22, 2011
    #1017
  18. shashu

    shashu Notebook Geek

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    Regarding the B2 stepping issue; I haven't actually read any threads where anyone is stating they don't have the affected chipset as yet.

    It seems the Lenovo rep is obtaining a complete explanation from tech support (@Lenovo forum), which we should find out about next week.
     
    shashu, Apr 22, 2011
    #1018
  19. eyu5712

    eyu5712 Newbie

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    eyu5712, Apr 22, 2011
    #1019
  20. Tokend

    Tokend Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks so much, BDKC1. It is really helpful for us who are, ahem, getting on in years to have step-by-step instructions. Cheers.
     
    Tokend, Apr 22, 2011
    #1020
  21. huberth

    huberth Notebook Deity

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    My W520 (i7-2820 - Quadro 2000 - 500GB HDD)
    WEI: 7.5-5.9-5.2-6.8-5.9 (4GB RAM)
    WEI: 7.5-7.5-4.7-6.8-5.9 (12GB RAM)
    WEI: 7.5-7.6-5.4-6.9-5.9 (16GB RAM)
     
    huberth, Apr 22, 2011
    #1021
  22. grau

    grau Newbie

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    Has anyone tried to order a w520 from lenovo.com outside the US? According to the terms and conditions they will only ship to a US address. This can be taken care of by using one of those pkg forwarders/remailers. The problem is that Lenovo only accepts US credit cards (except for amex, which I don't have). Anyone tried paying using PayPal or Amazon checkout with a non US credit card?

    The W models are not available in lenovo.ch and I don't feel like spending 50% more on the same machine if I order it in Germany or UK.

    Or do you recommend using one of the ebay offers, which doesn't allow customization?
     
    grau, Apr 22, 2011
    #1022
  23. huberth

    huberth Notebook Deity

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    There are only 2 screws with the keyboard icon on the bottom of the W520. The Hardware Maintenance Guide is correct.

    There is a video showing how to remove the T510 keyboard:
    YouTube - T510 Rem FRU 5 keyboard
    It is the same for the W520.

    The tricky part is 'sliding the keyboard'. It did not go as easily as in the video for me.
     
    huberth, Apr 22, 2011
    #1023
  24. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thors.Hammer, Apr 22, 2011
    #1024
  25. shashu

    shashu Notebook Geek

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    See about 5 mins in - "the six cell battery gets you about 6 1/2 hours of battery life, the 9 cell almost 11, and with the 9 cell + 9 cell slice - almost 21 hours" (i'm paraphrasing) - is this not ..bs?
     
    shashu, Apr 22, 2011
    #1025
  26. huberth

    huberth Notebook Deity

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    I opened a cmd window and typed in "wmic idecontroller get deviceid" and got:

    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C03&SUBSYS_21CF17AA_&REV_04\3&B1BFB68&0&FA

    This means I have "REV_04" which would indicate a B2 (buggy hardware) stepping (REV_05 is a newer stepping without the bugs)

    Per Intel's Product Change Notification, http://hw-lab.com/up...cn110456-00.pdf, the revised B3 was supposed to be shipping back in February. What is Lenovo doing sending out B2 QM67s on their high-end notebooks in April? This is very frustrating and disappointing.
     
    huberth, Apr 22, 2011
    #1026
  27. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    To me it is BS.

    Unless they qualify the statement of how the numbers are derived, I will assume the machine is sitting there idle with nothing going on and screen turned off.
     
    Thors.Hammer, Apr 22, 2011
    #1027
  28. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am not jumping to any conclusions, yet.
     
    Thors.Hammer, Apr 22, 2011
    #1028
  29. wolfindersteppe

    wolfindersteppe Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes, I have ordered two of them, one for primary and one for secondary bay, it has delayed the delivery of W520 for more then 2 weeks, now the latest information my rep gave me is about expecting the arrival on Tuesday, April 26th 2011.
     
    wolfindersteppe, Apr 22, 2011
    #1029
  30. shashu

    shashu Notebook Geek

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    thors:

    I agree that not jumping to conclusions is prudent;

    "If you have a notebook system with only two SATA ports however, the scenario is a little less clear. Notebooks don’t have tons of storage bays and thus they don’t always use all of the ports a chipset offers. If a notebook design only uses ports 0 & 1 off the chipset (the unaffected ports), then the end user would never encounter an issue and the notebook may not even be recalled. In fact, if there are notebook designs currently in the pipeline that only use ports 0 & 1 they may not be delayed by today’s announcement. This is the only source of hope if you’re looking for an unaffected release schedule for your dual-core SNB notebook." (Source: The Source of Intel's Cougar Point SATA Bug - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News)

    "Until now, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI have all published official responses regarding the affected motherboards and other manufacturers and retailers are expected to follow, all of them offering to swap the motherboards once the new B3 revision becomes available in April."
     ( How to Find Out If Your Sandy Bridge Motherboard Is Affected by Intel's SATA Bug - Softpedia)

    I would doubt anyone who has a W520/ has one on order doesn't have the B2 stepping chipset. Even so, it is unlikely that Lenovo will be offering to replace the affected boards; surely they will try to play this issue down as much as poss.

    wolfindersteppe: Lenovo doesn't sell Vertex 3 [?]
     
    shashu, Apr 22, 2011
    #1030
  31. wolfindersteppe

    wolfindersteppe Notebook Enthusiast

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    @shashu: yes, right! Since not being able to order from USA, I am ordering from notebooksandmore.de - premium equipment and they can configure "almost" anything I need. Now, please do not ask me for the price, you guys from USA are so lucky to get such excellent prices. We in EU are feeling like being "robbed" and that could be a case for EU authorities but, that is another story...
     
    wolfindersteppe, Apr 22, 2011
    #1031
  32. BDKC1

    BDKC1 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I would agree with Thor.

    It makes no sense to me that Lenovo would delay production of the new Thinkpad models with Sandy Bridge CPUs until April if they weren't making them with revised B3 stepping of the support chip with the correction affecting Sata II ports. I wonder if the "test" is really valid or just returning driver information which might not have changed in their build, which as I have previously noted is a little stale since it didn't include SP1.

    Let's not "chicken little" this until we have more definitive information.

    P.S. none of my comments are directed at anybody in a personal way.
     
    BDKC1, Apr 22, 2011
    #1032
  33. kimocal

    kimocal Notebook Geek

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    hopefully that's the case. I upgraded to SP1 last night and ran the CMD line check this morning. It came back with the Rev 04.

    EDIT

    Mark_lenovo just chimed in with some promising news in the lenovo forum.

    forum.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W520-with-B2-stepping-QM67-chips-HDD-DVD-mSATA-affected/td-p/418617/page/3
     
    kimocal, Apr 22, 2011
    #1033
  34. shashu

    shashu Notebook Geek

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    Just to update the thread; this has been posted at Lenovo forums (by Lenovo rep):

     
    shashu, Apr 22, 2011
    #1034
  35. nr2007

    nr2007 Notebook Enthusiast

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    nr2007, Apr 22, 2011
    #1035
  36. bherila

    bherila Notebook Consultant

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    bherila, Apr 22, 2011
    #1036
  37. huberth

    huberth Notebook Deity

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    From Intel.com: Solution for the Intel Series 6 Chipset Design Error

    "Q: Is there a way I can tell an Intel® 6 Series Express Chipset B2 stepping from a B3 stepping?

    A: The most accurate way to identify a B2 stepping from a B3 stepping is to read the S-Spec markings on the top of the Chipset, and either:
    -Match up the S-Spec number to the stepping information published in the Intel® 6 Series Chipset Specification Update (PDF 85KB).
    OR - Enter the S-Spec number in the "Search for product specifications" on the products page.

    Note: Tools/applications designed to report the Intel® 6 Series Chipset Stepping Revision may not properly report stepping information due to system specific BIOS configurations."

    ---------------------------------------

    Do we have anyone expert and brave enough to open up the W520 to see the "S-Spec markings on the top of the Chipset"?
     
    huberth, Apr 22, 2011
    #1037
  38. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    Anyone know where the chip is on the board?
     
    Thors.Hammer, Apr 22, 2011
    #1038
  39. huberth

    huberth Notebook Deity

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    huberth, Apr 22, 2011
    #1039
  40. hawainpanda

    hawainpanda Newbie

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    hey guys I'm looking forward to getting a W520. One question is do they have school discounts?
     
    hawainpanda, Apr 22, 2011
    #1040
  41. novice973

    novice973 Notebook Guru

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    If you have to choose between Patriot and G.Skill memory sticks, which would you picked? Newegg has the Patriot for $34.99 for 4Gb (after $5 coupon) and $72.99 for 2x4Gb (after $10 coupon).

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220476&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL042111&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL042111-_-EMC-042111-Index-_-LaptopMemory-_-20220476-L02C

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231342&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL042211&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL042211-_-EMC-042211-Index-_-LaptopMemory-_-20231342-L05A
     
    novice973, Apr 22, 2011
    #1041
  42. hawainpanda

    hawainpanda Newbie

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    For those of you who already bought or are planning on buying a w520, what were your other considerations?
     
    hawainpanda, Apr 22, 2011
    #1042
  43. marcob

    marcob Notebook Geek

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    A quick question for you guys since I am having problems with my displayport output. Is the displayport driven only by the discrete chip? I've set integrated only in BIOS and my monitor doesn't receive any signal (goes automatically to sleep). Windows doesn't detect the monitor either, so there's definitely something foul.

    Would be great if somebody can test it with integrated only as well.

    I tried to set the BIOS to Optimus but I didn't install any driver because I've reinstalled everything clean and I don't really feel like installing the bloated drivers for Optimus if I'm not going to ever use them. Anyway, even in this case there was no signal and the monitor was not detected.

    I will buy a displayport => DVI adapter tomorrow to see whether the monitor itself has a problem with the displayport.
     
    marcob, Apr 22, 2011
    #1043
  44. eyu5712

    eyu5712 Newbie

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    Last time I checked the website for the USA only had student discounts for the previous generation. I'm sure if you wait a while the discount for the W510 will turn into a discount for W520.

    Lenovo - Students
     
    eyu5712, Apr 22, 2011
    #1044
  45. bherila

    bherila Notebook Consultant

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    Yes they do, but you will usually do better by contacting a Lenovo sales rep directly. Since you don't have enough posts to PM yet, e-mail me and I will send you the details for my rep (USA only).
     
    bherila, Apr 22, 2011
    #1045
  46. hawainpanda

    hawainpanda Newbie

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    Appreciate it guys, the student discount is indeed a little better in price. I wonder if student discounts stack?
     
    hawainpanda, Apr 22, 2011
    #1046
  47. bherila

    bherila Notebook Consultant

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    (Rep info sent)

    Not usually - however if you e-mail your rep the cart with the student discount, he/she will usually be able to beat that student discount. At least, my rep was able to beat the discount I would otherwise get as a student.
     
    bherila, Apr 22, 2011
    #1047
  48. Thors.Hammer

    Thors.Hammer Notebook Enthusiast

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    If the BIOS is set to NVIDIA Optimus and you run the install at Lenovo Support - NVIDIA Optimus Display Driver for Windows 7 (64-bit) - ThinkPad T420, T420i, T420s, T420si, T520, T520i, W520 (NVIDIA Optimus models), it will install the Intel iGP and NVIDIA dGP drivers.

    After that, you can flip back and forth with the BIOS setting. Recommend you do the full Optimus install.
     
    Thors.Hammer, Apr 22, 2011
    #1048
  49. ukieandrew

    ukieandrew Notebook Consultant

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    Agree. I got 30% off the price from my rep. It was better than any 10% discount.
     
    ukieandrew, Apr 22, 2011
    #1049
  50. Deleau

    Deleau Notebook Enthusiast

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    For me, I was only going to get a Thinkpad, so my other considerations were the T series and just waiting for the Sandy Bridge line to come available.
     
    Deleau, Apr 22, 2011
    #1050
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