Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Something is strange... BIOS 1.25 shows up as 1.24 after installation.

I just downloaded and installed BIOS 1.25, but at the boot-up post, it shows 1.24.

I go into BIOS and it also shows 1.24, not 1.25

Embedded Controller shows 1.14

Has anyone who updated to BIOS 1.25 getting this also ??

 

Yes, my bios also shows 1.24

 

Nice... I've had one 8 year old hard drive out of my old laptop die completely today. It sounds like little pebbles tossed into a running food processor. This was the laptop that wouldn't power-on which led me to buy the W520. Luckily I had that drive backed up. It's too old to RMA so this drive is gone.

Then I have one Hitachi 5K3000 2TB desktop drive in my file server that is click-clacking. Funny enough I was backing up the W520 onto that drive over the network. This drive is only 2 months old so it's a bit surprising. Hitachi won't cross-ship a new drive and they have some crazy requirements on how returned drives should be boxed but I'll RMA that on Monday.

Then I noticed a 'hiccup' on the W520 so I ran a SMART monitoring tool on it which shows the 2 RAID'd 320GB drives have several reallocated event counts. I called Lenovo support and they won't replace the drives until I install the ThinkVantage Toolbox, run diagnostics, get a code, and then call back. Only then will they replace the drives for me. I was already annoyed that I lost 2 other drives and now I lost 2 more but Lenovo support could have been a bit more helpful.

I'm done ranting.

Edit: This machine is less than 3 weeks old and the numbers keep climbing on each zero-fill pass. Apparently this is not enough for ThinkVantage Diagnostics to throw a failure *AND* Lenovo tech support says that they don't plan to do anything until they have a code. I must say this is one place where Dell is much better. I would have been scheduled for a drive replacement already. Screenshots attached.

 

Received and tested the replacement SODIMM from NewEgg and it passed Memtest86+. I now have 1 Samsung and 3 Crucial for a fully populated W520. Happy for now.


Question for everyone,
Have you tried your e-sata on a thermaltake duet or another device that uses port-multiplier? Mine only seems to detect one drive. I saw a spec for a mini-itx motherboard using QM67 that said "Intelо QM67 PCH built-in SATA controller, supports total 6 ports. 2 x SATA (3.0) 6Gbps+ 4 x SATA (2.0) 3Gbps ports (2 FIS based Port Multiplier)". Wanted to know if any one else has been successful or otherwise?

 

Edit: This machine is less than 3 weeks old and the numbers keep climbing on each zero-fill pass. Apparently this is not enough for ThinkVantage Diagnostics to throw a failure *AND* Lenovo tech support says that they don't plan to do anything until they have a code. I must say this is one place where Dell is much better. I would have been scheduled for a drive replacement already. Screenshots attached.[/QUOTE]

humor them. they have rules about these things and they have to be tested with the ibm/lenovo tools. once you do that they replace parts without a problem. be thankful it's not a mb or lcd that's crapping out

 

The trend with the numbers looks like what I had after I beat up my poor 320GB Scorpio Black (except I had stuff in the 500's). Probably some random particulate matter in there wreaking havok. Maybe try posting on the Lenovo forums? Or run SpinRite on it?

 

This is one spot where the slice battery comes in handy! For whatever reason, with the slice battery plugged in, the machine will always boot with turbo boost ENABLED.

 

BIOS update gave me a "no operating system" message.

going into BIOS showed that the original boot order had been installed.

After correcting that all is well. (My C drive <SSD> is in the Ultrabay).

Perry

 

Yes - I also downloaded and installed BIOS 1.25, but when I go into BIOS it shows 1.24, not 1.25. Embedded Controller shows 1.14

 

Windows shows the same for me, 1.24 after installing 1.25:

Code:

PS C:\Users\(removed)> Get-WmiObject Win32_Bios


SMBIOSBIOSVersion : 8BET44WW (1.24 )
Manufacturer      : LENOVO
Name              : Default System BIOS
SerialNumber      : (removed)
Version           : LENOVO - 1240

 

I was wondering if it is advisable to install a newer Nvidia driver directly from the Nvidia site. I did some searching and found this:

T410 - need latest Nvidia driver - Lenovo Community
"If you have an Optimus switchable model, then it may not be able to use NVidia's stock drivers; Lenovo's implementation seems to be slightly different from most Optimus implementations, and thus may render stock drivers incompatible."

Can anyone confirm this?

 

They will if you call, they just don't have that option on their website. I just used the packaging they sent the replacement drive in to send the bad one back. Oddly, the packaging they send replacement drives in doesn't meet their requirements, but they took it anyway

 

Interesting that "while on Battery Power the clock rate is set to 800 MHz, and only rises a bit every now and then."

 

I'm looking to upgrade my system drive, and wanted any input in choosing between the Intel 250GB 510 Series and the Corsair Force Series™ 3 240GB.
I had just RMA'd the OCZ Vertex 3 (120gb) due to really poor performance, and am thinking I'll make a switch versus replacing the defective OCZ.

The Intel 510 seems to have nothing but solid reviews, but the upstart Corsair looks promising.

Which would you choose?

 

It's ultimately a decision between reliability and speed. Check out the reliability scores here: AnandTech - The Intel SSD 510 Review
According to the above, an Intel SSD is 4 times less likely to fail than the other brands.

I chose the Intel 510, since I need reliability (especially in RAID0). I am also hoping Lenovo will eventually offer and support the Intel 510 as their SATA III SSD of choice.

Aside from the 30 second warm-re-boot delay (which I hope Lenovo will fix soon with a BIOS update and which I avoid for now by always doing a hard reboot), I am very happy!

 

I was wondering if anyone else was having problems installing the Intel HD 3000 graphics drivers. It tells me that my computer does not meet the minimum requirement and the installation does not start.

This is using the windows 7 64bit driver package.

 

Do you have the Optimus system? If so, I don't believe you can install the Intel drivers, you need to install the Optimus drivers.

 

Ahh, okay! Thank you very much. I will give that try!

 

If you want very high reliability, get the Intel 510, or any Intel SSD for the matter. They are still damd fast drives, just 2nd or 3rd fastest.

If you want the fastest SSD bare none, then use the OCZ again or even the Corsair with the Sandforce controller. SandForce is not known for reliability.

It is why almost all enterprises and corporations pick Intel SSD for their machines, including Lenovo.
You will not see OCZ offering from Lenovo anytime, if ever.

 

I Think I'm going with the Intel....
So, what Crystal DIsk marks does that set up get you??

One last thing, when doing a clean install onto the Intel, do you need to have the RST f6 drivers on hand, or does Windows 7 recognize the drive natively.

 

Hmm... I noticed something weird in Ubuntu 11.04. For some reason, Unity would only turn on if I set my GPU to the dGPU, and when I do, I can't adjust the brightness. Anyone else having this problem? It's not a huge problem as I mainly just need Linux for g++ and some other stuff, but I thought I'd screw around with the new UI (without killing my eyes with the screen at max brightness).

 

You don't need the RST drivers. I just did a native install with my new 510 250GB and Windows picked it up straight away.

 

kirayamato26: You will need to add

Code:

Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"

to the Device section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If you don't have that file, you can generate it by running (as root)

Code:

nvidia-xconfig

 

Reminds me of .ini files and Windows 95.

 

Thors.Hammer: I prefer .ini files to the registry

 

See Crystaldiskmark scores attached.

But more important for me are the PCMarkVantage scores, which reflect the real world tasks I do on my PC:
A W520 with a regular hard drive has a PCmarkVantage score of about 9,970
When I tested the W520 with a single Vertex-3 I got 16,006 and with a single Intel 510 the score was 16,302) (I sent the Vertex back,)
By putting 2x240GB Intel 510s in RAID0 I now get a PCMarkVantage score of 19,000 with 1333MHz RAM or 19,228 with 1866Mhz RAM
(For comparison: The 9.6 pound heavyweight $3,300 Alienware M17x (i7-2820) with a 256GB SSD, which Laptopmag calls
"by far the most powerful notebook we've ever tested" gets 17,486)

 

For the record, the gnome 3 shell (Fedora 15) runs just as fast with the integrated graphics as with the discrete GPU. Perhaps thats a graphics detection bug in Unity? Discrete graphics essentially doubles your power usage, but then, its still pretty good.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought considering that my friend's netbook can run Unity.

 

I have a couple of questions about hard disk power management in win 7.

If I have the ssd in the main bay and a 7200rpm hd in the ultrabay, how can I tell windows to selectively turn off the ultrabay drive when idle?

Which also makes me wonder: 1) how long does it take for a ssd take to wake up from idle vs a hd and 2) does anyone know if the hdd will still draw power in its 'off' state?

i tried googling but didn't find any definitive answers. hope the experts here can help! thanks!

 

SSD isn't mechanical so it doesn't have the latent spin up or down time. Just use the hard drive settings in the power profile to put the drive in the Ultrabay to sleep.

 

OK, so while I'm still in the return grace period, let's sort these things out:

1. My GPU makes noises when I put load on it, is this normal?
2. My touchpad doesn't work for about 1 second after using the TrackPoint (or any TrackPoint button) and for about half a second after hitting a key.

Edit:
3. The Reallocated Event Count on the HDD is growing (currently 68).

 

Does anyone use the swiss synergy backpack for this laptop? Or does anyone have any backpack recommendations? Also, should I install all the optional lenovo updates when i run a lenovo driver update check?
Thanks in advance

 

I can't speak for everyone else but I do not experience any of those issues. It could be a driver issue...are you using the latest lenovo drivers?

 

Yes, I am.

 

The only reason people recommend you never turn SSDs off is so that they can perform garbage collection when your computer is idle to help maintain performance. However, with Windows 7 and TRIM, as long as you aren't running a RAID configuration, I don't think this is as important as TRIM is much more effective than GC and Windows 7 will manage TRIM automatically for you.

 

Yes, I have that backpack and the W520 fits perfectly in it.

 

I use the Oakley Kitchen Sink backpack, fits perfectly with all my I.T. tools and even my gym shoes/clothes.

 

Have your performed any tweaks to your system or made any changes to your BIOS? If so, have you tried to restore everything back to their defaults?

If not, I would contact Lenovo and see what they say as I don't think your laptop is exhibiting normal behavior unless other people here report that they are experiencing similar behavior.

Another option would be to create the factory disks and restore your computer back to its factory state and see if that helps but this could be time consuming and might not help.

 

Only changes I've made to the BIOS are disabling 2 of the 3 beeps. I restored my OS just yesterday as I installed Ubuntu alongside it.

Edit:
Just rolled back my UltraNav drivers to factory default, it works fine now.

 

How do you enable 2 monitors when the W520 is in the Dock?

I have a VGA connection from the dock to my external monitor.

When I first used the monitor a screen popped up to configure the 2 monitors.

I did it and all was good.

Now for some reason it is showing the same thing across both monitors and the NVidia software seems not to have a way to organzie a dual monitor situation.

Perry

 

Does your GPU still make a whirring sound?

 

Right click your desktop, choose screen resolution.
Change multiple displays to "Extend desktop to this display"
Click "Apply"

Now click on the Identify button to see which displays are which numbers. Then drag the displays around in the window to match where they are physically located (i.e. if display 2 is on the left side of display 1, drag 2 to the left side to match). Then click OK.

 

It makes a sound if I press my ears close to my chassis where the GPU is. The sound is very similar to what a HDD would make, and the HDD is near the GPU so I'm not 100% sure now that it's from the GPU.

 

The T420 that I returned also had the same issue. I know it wasn't a W520 but it sounds like the same thing. Whenever I would start up Half Life 2, it would start making noise similar to a hard drive but a bit louder. I posted about it and a few people chimed in stating they couldn't hear anything. Noise is always subjective and honestly I could only hear it if I turned my ear toward the laptop and got about 6-8 inches from it. Still annoying at the time but honestly it might be normal. I returned it because I was very unhappy with the screen considering what I payed.

 

My Vidock with a GTX460 made a semi loud whine when I loaded up folding@home so maybe its just when they get stressed (Even though thats annoying)

 

Could it be the fan making the noise, haing to work harder when load is put on the CPU and GPU?

 

Mine has been doing the same in a RAID configuration. I called Lenovo Support on Friday or Saturday night and they wouldn't even talk to me until I ran ThinkVantage diagnostics. I called back a few hours later without an error codes and they again refused to take back the drives. Finally I called again yesterday and said that I want to either get the drives exchanged or return the machine because this is unacceptable. Then again, I wouldn't expect anything different from how bad Seagate's drives have been for me in the past 2 years. The support tech gave in and is sending 2 new drives as customer-replaceable parts.

I've included screenshots of how quickly the number climbed. I pushed the number higher by running "preclear_disk.sh" under Ubuntu for 24 hours. I got it up to over 100 but ThinkVantage wouldn't throw an error.

 

Anyone used the onboard VGA out at high res? (1600x1200) the output is terrible, uneven whites and wriggling the cable results in the image wavering. The same cable outputting from my desktop exhibits no such issues.

 

Anyone have a USB problem? I received a 'flag' in my Lenovo 'Toolbox' and under a device manager alert it is saying i have a:

driver problem on : "unknown device" reinstall driver.

When I click on the link 'reinstall driver' it comes up with a message in the unknown device status that 'Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (code 43).

I tried going to a link someone posted earlier and looked for a link to the USB driver and think I downloaded it and installed but it simply went through the motions and the alert remains.... Anyone have any ideas?

 

Try pointing the Driver Install Location to the SWTOOLS folder for the drivers and see if it detects it then.