Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Yes, the 1600x900 screen on the w510 and w520 is easy on the eyes. The FHD screen is actually better, but I could live with either.

 

Can you provide pictures of the actual caddy ?

Thinking of ordering one too. Thanks.
.

 

great works.... the 1866mhz makes very better performance ?

 

I tested memory for the last few hours and this is what I found:

Code:

Memory                         Windows 7          Windows 7 SP1

4 x 4GB Kingston 1866Mhz           H,S               H

3 x 4GB Kingston 1866Mhz +         H,S               H,S
 1 x 4GB Samsung 1333Mhz (factory)

H = Hibernate       S = Sleep

Notes: "Windows 7" refers to factory Lenovo version of Windows 7 without SP1 and no other software updates. "Windows 7 SP1" refer to factory Lenovo version of Windows 7 with SP1 and all current OS updates but no other software updates. BIOS is set to defaults. Laptop was plugged into A/C adapter during tests.

Symptoms: The W520 with 1866Mhz RAM running Windows 7 SP1 will Sleep properly (or what I perceive to be proper sleep behavior). When the computer resumes, it flashes the various lights as if it were turning on from a cold boot rather than a resume from sleep operation. The power button turns green but nothing happens. Hitting the power button turns the machine "off" and turning it on results in the same situation. If the laptop is left on in this state then eventually it turns itself off. The only way to break out of this cycle is to either pull the battery or try to hold down the power button for >4 seconds.

Conclusion: Hibernate and Sleep work fine under Windows 7 without SP1 in the RAM configurations above. Windows 7 with SP1 causes a pure 1866Mhz RAM containing system to not Sleep properly. The replacement of 1 1866Mhz module with the factory default 1333Mhz module so all the modules run at a slower 1333Mhz works fine under Windows 7 SP1. Applying Microsoft hotfix KB2495523 to the Windows 7 SP1 configuration did not change results.

Temporary solutions:

* If you are running SP1 and need the Sleep function then leave one 1333Mhz stick in the bottom set of slots.
* If you are running SP1 and don't need the sleep function then leave all 1866Mhz sticks in place.
* If you aren't running SP1 then you don't need to worry about it.

Where do we go from here?

1. I'd like others on the forum to verify these results on their systems with 1866Mhz RAM and also 1600Mhz RAM.
2. I'd like us all to open support tickets with Microsoft, Lenovo, and Kingston to see if they can track it down.
3. I'd like to possibly turn this post into its own thread so we can post updates with our support experience.

 

i posted over the weekend that i had problems with bsod when i added two 4gb crucial sticks to my w520 and that i thought it was the stick. crucial replaced with new and i am having no problems now with a total of 16gb of memory. i'm posting this because someone thought there might be a problem with the mobo causing this. hope it helps.

 

Can you please post a picture of it attached to your laptop? I got a 12.7mm caddy from ebay (different seller) and it fits, but on the far right there is still a but of small gap.

Would like to know if that is the case with this one too - if not might get one .

Thanks
Anand

 

Yep I have. Patiently waiting on feedback. Will post if and when.

 

I finally got my W520 on Tuesday and started to transfer the files from my old laptop. As a result, I am "cleaning house". What is your opinion on the below? (Sorry, I know some of the questions are win7 related and not W520.)

1. I have Acronis True Image on my old laptop for backup/image copy and am thinking of getting Acronis True Image 2011 for the W520. But, I don't think I need it since Win7 Pro has its own backup/image copy software. Anyone has an opinion about this?
2. My old laptop had Comodo for firewall and Nod32 for antivirus. Some of the reviews for the latest Comodo is not good at all. Any suggestion on firewall and antivirus software?
3. Has anyone tried switching the Function key and Control key? Since they are different size, can they physically be switched? Which software did you use to logically switch the keys?
4. Has anyone experience headaches from the monitor even after color calibration? I don't know if it is the brightness or small font that is straining my eyes/causing headache (or it could be staying up late trying to get my laptop together.) But, I have to say, the FDH screen is WOW!
5. I am still looking for a way to adjust the text size without causing scrolling (had tried combinations of DPI and resolution). Anyone played with this?

 

1) Never used, so I can't help.
2) Windows firewall is good enough, assuming you configure it correctly. As for AV, I use to use AVG Free until it kept bugging me to buy the "Pro" version, so I've switched to MSE and I'm not looking back. It's actually pretty good at it's job.
3)I don't think that you could physically switch those keys, but in order to logically switch them, there is a setting in the BIOS that allows you to do this.
4 and 5)I'm still waiting for my chance to buy this laptop, so can't help you there.

 

[

1. true image 2011 works well, that's what i'm using.
2. i'm using vipre with no problems and it doesn't bog down the system
3. i'm pretty sure you can switch it in the bios
4. no headaches here
5 have fhd display and resolution is fine

 

what is the best price for a w520 with

2720qm
2x4gb 1333mhz
1000m
webcam & mic
500gb hdd
fhd display
3y international warranty

there's problem for now with this notebook ?
heat problem ?

 

You could try the Barnes and Noble member discount posted several pages ago. Could also try the codes for discounts. If you're good at haggling, you could call a Lenovo sales rep to sweet talk them into giving you a cut (assuming you're real nice and ome up with a good story/have a legit excuse for a discount )

 

on ebay i find it at 1598$ free shipping in usa... it's nice price ?

 

No, you can do better. 427637U - search for it, it's an ID for config that you posted and is available from many resellers. You can easily get it for about 1500$

 

Here we go:

 

Pics attached above. I have same gap as you see. I think all caddies do have it.

 

Thanks for pics.

 

Thanks for the pics. One more thing, does it say 1.5gb/s in your caddy? I cant make that out from the picture. The reason I am asking is I have intel SSD on my caddy and the caddy sticker says its 1.5gb/s.

With that SSD supporting upto 3Gb/s I am sort of under utilizing its speed. However in intel rapid storage app it shows that caddy drive as 3gb/s! So I am not sure at what speed the SSD operates.

Thanks

 

I can confirm my adaptor labelled 1.5Gbps runs my Vertex 3 at 3Gb/s.

 

The adapter I bought from Lenovo (with the gap) lets my Intel 510 run at 6GB/s.

 

sorry I meant 6 Gb/s.

 

where do you live ? It helps if we know because different countries can get different deals

 

italy , but i order it from usa...

 

No, it does not say anything about speed etc.

 

Regarding our Fail to "Resume from Sleep" issue:

After different testing, here is what I found using 2 DIMM:

With Win7 SP1 and Kingston PnP 1600MHz Ram:

Sleep = Yes
Hybrid Sleep = Yes
Hibernation = Yes
WEI memory score = 7.8

With Win7 SP1 and Kingston PnP 1866MHz Ram:

Sleep = No
Hybrid Sleep = No
Hibernation = Yes
WEI memory score = 7.9

'Without' Win7 SP1 and Kingston PnP 1866MHz Ram:

Sleep = Yes
Hybrid Sleep = Yes
Hibernation = Yes
WEI memory score = 7.9

I wasn't happy to see WEI score dropped to 7.8 using 1600MHz ram.

For the time being, I will use the 1866MHz Ram and not install SP1, until there is a solution.

We need either a software fix for SP1, or a BIOS fix from Lenovo.

The 1866MHz Ram works without SP1, so it is definitely a software issue I believe that can be fixed.

So how can we let MS and Lenovo aware of this problem ?
.

 

Even if the sticker says 1.5Gb/s, it's electrically the same as a SATA 3Gb/s or SATA 6Gb/s adapter. The difference between SATA 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0Gb/s is in the controllers/interface.

 

Maybe they should change the sticker then. Sure causes confusion.

 

I have all 4 dimms filled with Patriot 1600MHz RAM. That seems to have fixed the Resume from Sleep issue for me. After reading through the thread I may have had the wrong dimm slots occupied when I only had 2 dimms with the 1600 ram.

But the problem now is that the finger scanner does not work after coming out of sleep. I did do a bunch, not all, of the SSD Optimizations found here. The disable Hibernation one may be causing my issues. Will report after trying to reverse the "optimizations" I applied.

**EDIT**

Finger Scanner works now after coming out of Sleep. I re-enabled Hibernation following these steps.. I then enabled Hybrid Sleep in the Power Options Advanced Settings. Finger Scanner working again after resuming from sleep.

 

They should. They've probably lost sales at some point because of the labels.

 

When I put a Intel 510 SSD in the SATA adapter that came with the RAID W520 (no gaps), the RST software reported 3Gb/s

When I changed it to the SATA adapter I recently bought from Lenovo (with the gap), RST reported 6Gb/s.

 

Really? I'm not sure how that would have happened. I'm fairly certain that the SATA standard is meant to be backwards and forwards compatible with only changes to the interface, not to the connectors. That still doesn't explain why people were seeing SATA 3.0Gb/s on adapters rated for SATA 1.5Gb/s.

Can you see any major physical differences between the adapters?

Source: http://www.serialata.org/documents/SATA-6Gbs-Fast-Just-Got-Faster.pdf
I don't know if this info is applicable, but it could be a possibility that the adapter that was only showing 3Gb/s had lower quality internals than the new one that can do 6Gb/s.

 

I just checked the SSD (64 GB c300 with 007 firware) in the Primary drive bay and RST is reporting 3 Gb/s SATA transfer rate. Is there any way to force it to 6 Gb/s?



**EDIT**

 

I couldn't see much difference except the additional padding and cover for the gap.
I found this, but there is no mention of speed: Ultrabay - ThinkWiki

EDIT:
I just found this: "To add a harddisk (or SSD) instead of the optical bay, Lenovo recommends to use the thinner Serial Ultrabay Slim Hard Drive Bay Adapter III"
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ultrabay_Devices#Serial_Ultrabay_Enhanced_Devices

 

I have the new Intel 510 and a big problem. When I restart the system no matter from where (bios/os), it will not boot. When I turn the computer OFF and ON then it is without any problem. I have a clean fresh install. Is this issue solved? I red about this on lenovo forums too, but no solution were found.

 

Have you tried to remove the 510 and let your computer boot up? Once it's booted up, shut it down and then put the 510 back in. I had this problem when I reinstalled everything onto the mSATA. Once everything booted up for the first time, I shut down and put the 510 in and haven't had any problems since.

 

Some benchmarks with the Quadro 1000M (keep in mind I have the dual core 2620M and 1 DIMM installed, the scores are likely to be higher with a 2720QM and 2 DIMMs).

3DMark06
3DMark11
3DMark Vantage

 

Thanks for reporting this info.

Good work. This confirms the findings I posted earlier. Something in SP1 causes problems with 1866Mhz RAM on resuming from sleep. Can you please call Kingston, Lenovo, and Microsoft and open support tickets? I will be calling in an hour. Kingston will be especially interested I'm sure. Make sure you outline the steps on how to recreate the problem. This will be as simple as Microsoft, Lenovo, and Kingston getting the laptop and RAM modules. Hopefully we'll get a fix.

 

No problem.

Onto the c300 only running at SataII (3Gb/s) issue. I ran Sisoft and it reports the same as the Intel RST. It shows the chipset is Sata III, 6Gb/s capable but the drive is running at Sata II, 3 Gb/s.



Trying to figure out how to push the drive so that it works at the Sata III speeds.

 

Anyone else with the pulsing fan or a solution for it? It's not that distracting (I can't even hear the W520 if I have my desktop on, and I use pretty quiet fans in it), but I'd rather not have it if possible.

 

That's strange. I'd call Lenovo and quote the SATA3 blog post. You also should lodge a support complaint with Crucial *and* post on their forums. I figure all the Sandy Bridge Lenovo machines will be affected so it is best to start pooling online resources to finding a solution.

As far as the 1866Mhz RAM issue goes... I called Kingston's Level 2 tech support today. They are aware of the sleep issue with Windows 7 SP1 and a prior caller had already escalated the issue to engineering. I called with the second report which will be added to the prior ticket. The tech support person said they'd be in touch with any updates they get.

My advice is if you bought 1866Mhz RAM then you should call Kingston because if their engineering team cannot find a solution then they will consider swapping 1866Mhz modules for 1600Mhz modules and providing refunds of the difference as long as a support case is open. Otherwise I advise people to return the 1866Mhz modules before the vendor return window closes and wait until we have a definitive answer. People may get hit with restocking fees so I prefer the Kingston swap method. Anyway, I'll call Microsoft and Lenovo next.

 

My $20 ebay Ultrabay adapter just came in the mail so I popped the SSD in that to test. Right off the bat Intel RST is reporting 6 Gb/s transfer speed. Sisoft is also showing that it runs at SataIII in the Ultrabay. Here are the SSD benchmarks too. The Write speed did not change but the read speed jumped to the appropiate SataIII speeds.

Here are the screen caps of the above benchmarks and reporting:

Primary Bay Results

Ultrabay Results

So the drive if functioning like it should. The w520 is not.

 

I get this as well - Melp pointed it out a few weeks ago http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/566338-lenovo-w520-owners-thread-157.html#post7451184

It seems that in the Primary Bay the drive Boots up at 6 and then after a while reverts back to 3. I bought the Ultrabay adaptor - put the SSD in there and it constantly runs at 6.

 

Look one post above and you'll see my testing results coincide with theres. So it can't be an isolated incident. I'll lodge a complaint with Lenovo here soon

 

Can you open up both caddy and see if there are any differences inside ?

I am surprised the caddy (no gap) that came with your RAID enabled W520 is limited to only 3Gb/s. I would assume both caddy are the eaxct same thing.

I have the caddy (with gap) from Lenovo and it get 6Gb/s .
.

 

Weird, mine runs at 6Gb/s out of the box. Installed Server 2008 R2 and the drivers, then checked in Intel RST.

Firmware 6 on the C300 though, haven't upgraded to 7 yet.

 

Do you have a RAID-enabled system? This is certainly interesting.

 

Hey - so got my W520 this morning and have been spending most of the day getting it set up.

Made the recovery discs first, though I don't think that i'll ever use them.

Installed an additional 12GB ram - that seems to be working properly. I also removed the original HDD and replaced it with two SSDs: an 80GB intel 310 and a 160GB Intel 320.

I did a clean install of Win 7 on the 320, but when I'm looking at Disc Management, it's showing two partitions on the 310: one is a regular partition and one is a small partition of 100MB. I'm guessing that this small partition should be on the Intel 320 where the OS is?

Right now I'm running Win 7 - I don't think that SP1 is installed - at least it doesn't say that it is.

Also, my WEI is only 5.9 - my disk data transfer rate is pulling it down - everything else seems to be at 6.9 - 7.6. How do I know how fast my drives are working? My boot time is about 30 seconds from pressing the power button until I have a useable desk top - should I disable finger print to drop it a bit? (I followed most of the instructions on the SSD optimization page listed earlier). I have the feeling that the SSDs aren't working correctly - the driver is from 2006, though it says that it's updated. Am I missing something? These drive speeds should be in the mid 7.x range - no? Can my DVD burner be bringing the score down?

Secondly, like I said, I think i only have Win 7 - not SP1. However, I'm guessing that my Intel HD graphics drivers are installed, which I understood you're not supposed to do until you get windows upgraded to SP1?

a): how can I figure this out?
b): if it's set up incorrectly, how do I fix it?

Otherwise, things seem to be running pretty damn slickly. The real test will be getting some win XP x86 software up and running...

Any help here would be appreciated - thanks!

 

Ah - looks like I might have answered some of my own questions: Looks like I still have one round of updates to go through - I'm guessing that this will be SP1 as I just found a list of 29 "optional" updates, including the Intel HD graphics driver.

So, if I understand correclty, install everything APART from the HD graphics driver, upgrade to SP1 and then install the HD driver after - correct?

 

Were both disks unpartitioned at the time you installed? One way to force the behavior you want is to partition the 80GB into a single partition and format this during setup, BEFORE you select the 160GB drive. If partitions are present on the 160GB, delete them and leave the drive unpartitioned.

Windows 7 does this in order to create a configuration compatible with BitLocker (among other things). Thus the 100MB partition in order to have at least one unencrypted partition.

If it doesn't say SP1, it isn't. What media are you using? The W520 factory image doesn't have SP1.

 

Having the same problem. Got my W520 3 days ago.
Did you solve your problem?