Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

My W520 has arrived today along with the slice battery. Doubt I'll have a chance to open it all up tonight but when I do I'll post a photo of the slice battery for you and also one with it attached to the laptop.

 

I'd appreciate it if you could let us know what usage options there are with the slice battery. In the past I've stayed away from additional batteries because I don't like how it requires you to use up ALL of the first one before moving onto the second one. It would be nice if the power manager finally got some options to let you use them together or to use one to a certain point rather than draining it entirely.

 

Taking about batteries and charging... Does anyone know if the w520 supports "smart" charging, e.g. only start charging the battery once the charge level drops below 80%?

 

You can set whatever percentage you want in ThinkVantage Power Manager.

 

To anyone running a W520 with just 4GB ram, would you say it is sluggish?

Just wondering, whilst I am waiting for a further 8GB ram in the post.

btw, my OCZ Vertex 3 is due to arrive tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to grappling with the abovementioned issues. Thanks for the heads up.

 

For me, the sweet spot is 8 GB, I think. Right now I have the following programs running:

3 instances of Visual Studio 2010 <-- responsible for about 600 MB of RAM total
Chrome with about 15 tabs open
3 word documents
Outlook 2010
Excel
FileZilla
PowerPoint with a 100 MB presentation open <-- responsible for 250 MB of RAM
7-zip archive manager
Trillian
6 Windows Explorer windows
2 Cygwin terminals
Calculator
Task Manager
Skype
Dropbox
MySQL Workbench
+ a few other small utility programs (Gyazo, Security Essentials, AltDrag, Switcher, F.lux, Regex Buddy, Cygwin X Server)

There are NO local running SQL server services (MySQL, MS SQL, etc.), but I am running a local instance of IIS with asp.net.

Total memory usage: 5.12 GB
Total page file size: 1 GB

If I start a game of League of Legends that uses an additional 1 GB. Would I try to run all this stuff with 4 GB of RAM? Definitely not -- the computer would be paging endlessly and would be sluggish.

On the other hand, do I **need** to be running all these programs at once? Not really. It's more of a convenience so that when I switch tasks, I don't need to worry about paging and/or closing/opening programs.



I've been stuck on the problem of whether to go to 12 or 16 GB. If anyone has any suggestions with regard to that, my ears are open!

 

Anyone know if its bad (Performance wise) to run the "official" 4GB lenovo stick together with a random 4GB memory stick?

 

If anyone is looking for the 4GB Gskill ram mentioned in this thread living in Canada it dropped to 37.99 down from I think 38.49(lol a 0.50 reduction in price) (still 6.99 shipping though)on newegg.ca so 44.98 before taxes.

Newegg.ca - G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBSQ
still not as good as the U.s. newegg site due to the shipping but the best I could find

 

I Tried, to no avail.

It loads the "Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller", but I get the
"No New Devices..." message, and indeed no boot devices visiable.

I posted to Lenovo (above ref's and opened a tix w/ OCZ:
Trouble Ticket ID: 184237
Date and Time Submitted: 05-03-2011 @ 11:57:53AM
Trouble Type: SSD Drives
Trouble Priority: Information Request
-------------------------------------------------------
Short Description: OCZSSD2-1VTX96G
-------------------------------------------------------


I'd like to be able to use AHCI with my new OCZ Vertex 3
:-(

 

I'd like to be able to use AHCI with my new OCZ Vertex 3
:-([/QUOTE]

I have a vertex 3 240gb drive that i ordered for my w520 and stuck it in a t61p with no problems. i did have a modded sata 2 bios. my w520 is supposed to be here friday and if it doesn't get stuck in customs i'll be swapping drives friday or friday night. if you don't get it sorted out by then i'll see what happens with mine.

 

Should be fine as long as they're matching spec. For example, if you put a 1600 MHz stick in alongside the 1333 MHz stick from Lenovo, both sticks will run at the lower speed.

 

Does anyone know if these are these the same two products? One is listed as 10600 and the other is 10666. I have a 4GB 10600 at home here and it looks a bit different than the 10666 displayed on the NCIX site (at least the sticker does). However, web searches state that 10600 and 10666 are the same - just different nomenclature:

NCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL F3-10666CL9S-4GBSQ 4GB 1X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 204PIN SODIMM Memory - Others - F3-10666CL9S-4GBSQ - in Canada

Newegg.ca - G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBSQ

I know that the newegg.ca product is cheaper: however, I have a few things to order and once shipping, FX and all is included, I will probably buy more DDR3 from NCIX if it's the same product as the newegg.ca product (which I have in hand).

Thanks!

 

Just about to hit the button on an SSD - Does anyone actually have a Vertex 3 running successfully and at full speed?

 

I get 500MB/s seq read speeds in the ultrabay with my Vertex 3 240GB... but see below:

The main HDD bay in my W520 drops from 6Gbps to 3Gbps shortly after boot. The speed drop is triggered when I start to pass data over the port. I can take the same drive (Vertex 3 240GB) and put it in the ultrabay and I get full 6Gbps speeds. It seems pretty obvious to me that this is a problem with the SATA controller on the laptop's motherboard (my specific laptop, not the whole run; other prople have the same drive with no issues), but after arguing with Lenovo support for over a week now, a customer satisfaction rep just sent me this email:

"I was able to confirm with are technical support that SSD transfer rate for the W520 ThinkPad is 3,0GB/s (chipset has the capability but we limit it for data integrity). So, your system is working as designed.

One bay for removable devices, Ultrabay Slim-compatible, 12.7mm high, bottom access
Some: Solid State Drive (SSD) / SATA 3.0Gb/s, 2.5" wide, 7mm high
Some: HDD / SATA 3.0Gb/s, 2.5" wide, 7mm or 9.5mm high, Active Protection System™
All: removable, upgradable, supports the second disk, Shock Mounted Hard Drive"

(w/ a link to this: http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/tabook.pdf)

Obviously, these numbers refer to the speeds of the drives that Lenovo sells, not the speed that the port itself is capable of. Additionally, there are dozens of people that have confirmed that the main bay is capable of 6Gbps speeds. I also confirmed this with several sales reps before I purchased the laptop.

How should I handle this? He is going to have his tech support people call me back tomorow, but I seriously doubt they're going to be very helpful. If some people could post screenshots, etc. of their W520s running at 6Gbps off the main bay, I would really appreciate it.

edit: For people with BSOD problems on their Vertex 3 during boot, load the latest RST drivers from the Lenovo site during Windows install (dl the exe, run it, put all the extracted files on a thumb drive and when you choose where to install Windows, click the "load drivers" button). OCZ is also aware of issues with the latest RST drivers with it locking up and they're working on a firmware patch now.

 

And.. Ordered!

Thank you..

 

Hope you don't have the same problems I have...

 

That line from support goes completely against the blog post about this machine having SATA 6Gbps ports. It looks like Lenovo's right-hand doesn't know what it's left-hand is doing.

 

Is this the blog post you're referring to?

Lenovo ThinkPad W520 - mini review - Keith Combs' Blahg - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

 

Wish I hard ordered it when they were doing the better discounts. Talked to a sales rep today and the best I could do is get them to throw in the raid 0 with the extra drive and the caddy for something like $2 extra over what I was looking to spend with the 10% discount without raid.

I asked them about enabling raid later if I didn't add it now, they said no (as expected), so then I asked if I could order it without an extra drive and they said no (again, as expected), then I asked if they could help me out any since the extra cost was a bit rough when I wasn't looking to add a second drive yet but wanted the feature for the future. So he dropped $317 off the price for me.

1 SYS.4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM $1,911.65 $1,911.65
The above product code consists of the following component(s):
1 4270CTO THINKPAD W520 - 1 YR DEPOT TOPSELLER WARRANTY $1,792.65
1 0A68541 SBB ICI7-2720QM $0.00
1 45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64 $0.00
1 0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E $0.00
1 0A68535 SBB 15.6FHD (1900 X 1080) LED $0.00
1 0A68894 SBB NVQ2000M GR $0.00
1 45M4572 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM $0.00
1 45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH $0.00
1 0A68526 VBB FINGERPRINT READER $0.00
1 0A68558 SBB 720P HD CAM INT MICR $0.00
1 0A69621 SBB I RAID-CONF BY LENOVO $0.00
1 0A69622 SBB PRSATA RAID 0(2 HDDS REQ $0.00
1 0A68901 SBB DR HDDS320GB HDD7200RPM $0.00
1 60Y7204 SBB RAID VIA BAYADAPTER $0.00
1 0A68528 VBB ECS+4IN1CR+SCR $0.00
1 45M4816 SBB 9CELLLI-ION BATTERY $0.00
1 0A68904 SBB CPNAMLC+ 170W AC AD $0.00
1 0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0 $0.00
1 45M4804 SBB IN.CENT.ULTIMATE-N 6300 $0.00
1 44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR $0.00
1 0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E $0.00
1 41C9170 LENOVO THINKPLUS EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT - 3 YEARS - PICK-UP AND RETURN $119.00

Pretty steep jump from the $1400 I was originally looking to spend on an X220T. Decided to go for the extra power, using an X201T right now, will just transfer over a 4GB module from it to the new laptop.

EDIT:
Original cost, no raid, no discount: $2100ish
Original cost, no raid, 10% coupon code: $1910ish
Cost with raid, no discount: $2228
Cost with raid and discount: $1911

 

This one... Inside the Box SATA 3.0 600MB/s on ThinkPad Notebooks

It looks like you're paying a 10% premium over what I paid but even at $1911 that system is great.

 

Interesting, this is saying both SATA3 ports are fully enabled but the current drives they're shipping are SATA2. This still goes against what some people are reporting that the SATA3 ports are throttling down to SATA2 speeds after bootup. It would be nice is someone can say definitively if their W520 is running the Vertex3 in the primary bay and getting SATA3 speeds.

 

Damn... This is good stuff. I just sent this to the guy that told me it only supports 3Gbps. Thanks a bunch; I'll keep you guys posted.

Who else is reporting the ports are being throttled down after bootup?

 

OCZ Success! Vertex 3 seemed to have issues first as I didn't have the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver on hand, and then I think my issue was being caused by trying to do a clean install from USB. For some reason, it seems very fussy about the USB ports during clean installs, and finally I gave up, booted from DVD, installed the drivers from the USB, and no problems at all.

I'm looking forward to messing with it more tomorrow, but already I see a major improvement from moving to a clean install on a SSD from the stock 320gig HDD and bloat ware.

If anyone want to see any benchmarks or pics from it, just let me know what you want to see. I'm getting a ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3 , and am looking forward to testing the video.

So far, I am ONE HAPPY CAMPER!

Hey, just a quick note, I only been on this forum for a month, and I got to say this community is really awesome, and has helped me a ton! THANKS ALL!



W520, i7-2720QM, 16 gig ram, 120 gig Vertex 3 and 500 gig Momentum XT in the ultrabay.

 

Yes, please post some (screenshots of) benchmarks, assuming you have the Vertex 3 installed in the main drive bay. I want to have as much support for my case as possible for this phone call tomorrow morning.

 

Who are you referring to when you say "some people are reporting that the SATA3 ports are throttling down to SATA2 speeds after bootup" ?

Is it a thread in a forum somewhere?

 

I have threads open on OCZ, Lenovo, and SA forums (under similar usernames) about the issue, but as far as I know, I'm the only one experiencing any kind of "throttling". He could be referring to one of those threads.

 

Could you describe in detail how you are testing the OCZ drive? I'd like to compare. If you have that detailed in one of the other threads just point me to it and I'll read up.

I didn't see your test methodology described here.

Thanks

 

Seems like it's a problem for at least one person, it's a problem with the main port but the caddy port is fine for him/her.

W520: RST reports Vertex 3 running at 6Gbps for fi... - Lenovo Community

Support Question Vertex 3 Will Not boot in 6GB Mode! Drive IS NOW DEAD!! (different issue but also having to do with 6GB/s vs 3GB/s

 

I am also interested in this issue. Do you know if people are experiencing issues with all types of SATA 3 SSDs or is this an issue limited to OCZ?

Although this appears to be a different issue, I know some people are saying that they solved the BSOD issue by loading the RST drivers on a USB drive and loading them during at the beginning of windows installation. I wonder if that would help in this situation.

On a mildly related note, does anyone know how many IOPS the RAID controller for the w520 can handle? I'm wondering if the RAID controller will become a bottleneck if I decide to RAID 0 two Intel 510s.

Ok...I see that you did install the latest RST drivers. Damn, it sounds like you may have a faulty machine. However, before returning the laptop, have you considered exchanging your SSD first?

 

xml here.


Using Driver 10.1.0.1008



Using
10.5.0.1007 :


I think I need to roll back the RST driver !




BTW, where can I get the RST manager?

 

Here's some stress testing results.... ran BOINC for a good while until the temps stabilized. Here's where they sat.

As you can see both the GPU and CPU are maxed.

Fan speeds were the same whether controlled by bios or my speedfan settings. The air out the exhaust was roasting, but the machine ran stable as can be.

 

Has anyone with a w520 tried to install the intel 310 msata drive yet? I'm a little concerned that we might not get an mSata-enabled slot if we didn't actually order an mSata drive, because 1) mini-pcie slots aren't normally mSata-capable, while WWAN would not require that option, and 2) we've seen other features (raid) disabled if not ordered from the factory.

I know it works on the t420 - just curious if there's confirmation for the w520.

edit: sorry if this has already been discussed, but this thread has gotten insanely huge...

Thanks.

infinus: thanks for the temps info. Nice to know these beasts are solid.

 

I'm also keen to see if anyone has done this successfully - I was about to order the Intel 310 for my w520, but hadn't considered that it might be a problem similar to the RAID "issue".

 

Yes, I have the 80GB installed in my W520. My machine is not RAID capable. I don't want or need RAID.

 

So did you install the 310 after your w520 arrived, or did you pre-configure your laptop with the drive?

Thanks in advance.

 

I installed it after. My W520 arrived with the 500GB 7200rpm drive. It now has the Intel Series 510 in the primary bay, Intel Series 310 mSATA in the micro PCIE slot/bay, and the 500GB drive is in the Ultrabay.

 

Cool - thanks for the quick reply Thors.Hammer!

 

Hey TH:

That is the exact set up that I'm working towards on my W520 as well. I don't have the machine yet (shipped yesterday), but luckily I do have the 80GB 310 as it arrived a week or two ago before they sold out. I've also decided (finally) to pick up a 120GB Intel 510 as well, and I have the original 500GB drive that will come with the W520.

So - since you seem like a knowledgeable guy, some questions about your setup if you don't mind:

Where is the OS installed: the 310 or the 510?

What Bios are you using: UEFI or not?

How are the drives formated (what file system?)

I will have 16GB of ram for this system - are you using a page file and if so, is it on one of the SSDs or on your HDD? If so, what size is it?

Booting tweaks - I'm guessing that you have a pretty quick boot time - did you just do a straight up clean Win 7 install (as listed on a few different threads on this site)?

Are you using rapidboot?

What about user files - on the SSDs or HDDs?

HDD in Ultrabay - are you just using one of the ~$20 Ebay adapters?

Intel 510: did you need any adapters for this drive to fit into the primary bay?

Anything else I'm missing or should know?

Edit: one other question: I'm guessing that you kept the DVD installed in your W520 during the windows install / update process and then replaced it with the 500GB HDD once everything was installed, updated and working correctly?

Thanks in advance!

 

Answers inline above

 

I think I need to roll back the RST driver !

this is what i got on my old t61p!

 

Thanx a lot for the quick answer!!!

 

Has anyone installed a Crucial C300 in there w520? Has just caught my eye (on price) but reading mixed reviews...

 

Yes and it runs really well

 

I have an Intel 310 installed in my W520 to hold the C drive, and I have installed most of my programs to the D drive. The W520 is always sitting in a docking station (I have docking stations in 2 locations), and I never use it as a portable. I have an X301 for traveling.

With that setup, am I correct in assuming that I really don't need the hibernate (hiberfil.sys) file, which is crowding my C drive in the W520?

And, if that is a correct assumption, I would appreciate it if anyone will advise how to safely delete the hibernate file in Win 7 Pro 64-bit

Thanks much.

 

Thor, can you post a link or give the model number for your hard drive caddy?
TIA.

 

Which sys file did you remove?

 

What's the word on 1600MHz RAM in a W520? A sales rep told me before I purchased mine that it supports it, but Lenovo sales reps have given me incorrect information many times in the past.

 

New BIOS available today for W520..

 

The hibernat.sys file via the powercfg -h off command.

 

I purchased Amazon.com: Thinkpad Sata HD Bay Adapter 3: Electronics. It's the same as Lenovo - Laptop and desktop - Storage 43N3412 (US)

By buying from amazon.com I avoided tax, free shipping and I already had a remaining balance on my amazon account to cover it.