Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

ok, it took me 2 days of research, but it is seems that it was caused by GPU acceleration of Firefox.

 

Anyone know if its possible to overclock the 2920xm not that I think I will, but could be fun if the thermals allow it in the winter

 

And most likely Flash.

 

I'd like to know this too, just for fun

 

Thanks for the reply ... so the Enhanced Experience 2.0 and the Rapidboot is embedded into the recovery copy and there's no way to check whether they're active/installed or not?

 

Uh oh, just found this on page 146 of this thread:

 

The 10Gb backup that the thinkpad software will make that you can reinstall from, is it possible to place that on a secondary harddrive? So I have that on a normal disk and dont waste space on my SSD for that, but is still able reinstall my SSD?

 

You can check to see if Rapidboot is installed by going into Control Panel and Add/Remove programs (whatever it is called in Windows 7). You'll see it in there if it's installed. They should be installed/activated anyway. You should really try to make sure you've defragmented the drive and also make sure all the caching is properly activated. In my benchmarks the Hitachi drives are faster. I can post screenshots of my benchmarks if you like.

No the i7-2920XM cannot be overclocked in the W520 and I see you've found my old post about it. In fact, with BIOS v1.24 (the latest one on Lenovo's site) all Intel Turbo Boost functions have ceased working. A temporary fix requires downgrading the BIOS to an earlier version to get Turbo Boost back but a downgrade brings back other problems.

By the way, there are currently 6 (maybe 7) outstanding issues related to the BIOS in the W520 in v1.24. It might me nice to get a few more "me too" posts to get Lenovo to fix the issues:

1. UEFI-mode doesn't work with Bitlocker
2. UEFI-mode doesn't work with FingerPrint reader
3. UEFI-mode doesn't work with RAID
4. SSD warm boot delay
5. Intel Turbo Boost completely disabled
6. Kingston 1866Mhz RAM won't resume from sleep with Optimus or Discrete graphics enabled

Item 7 is more a of feature request: Allow Core i7-2920XM to be overclocked by clearing the lock bits for turbo power and time limits in the BIOS ( MSR 0x610 and bit[63]).

 

true bios 1.25

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8buj05us.exe
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8buj05us.txt

<1.25>
UEFI: 1.25 / ECP: 1.15
- (New) Added support for a new type of the Embedded Controller.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where the expected machine serial number might not be
stored in the serial number field of SMBIOS type 3 structure.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where the VRAM size was allocated to fixed 128MB, not
up to 1GB with the Intel graphics mode on Windows XP.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where some system settings could not be changed by
Windows WMI script.

 

Installed it. I was hoping that the 1.25 update would fix the 40 second startup delay with the Intel 510 SATA III SSD --- but no such luck ;(

 

Number 4 is annoying. I wish they would fix that soon.

 

+1 - Though reading through i'm a bit concerned with this response...

So from what I gathered anyone who wants to use a SATA III SSD is on their own, personally i'm thinking Lenovo is taking the easy way out on this issue.

 

I agree. I love my W520! The W520 with a SATAIII SSD (especially 2 in RAID0) must be the worlds fastest laptop, once booted up. I challenge anyone to beat the PCMarkVantage ( 19,228 ) and PCMark7 ( 4,558 ) scores I am getting with it.

Is Your PC Fast Enough? PCMark Vantage Basic Tells You | PCWorld

Even the 9.6 pound heavyweight Alienware M17x (2011) with an i7-2820QM and a Samsung SSD "only" gets a PCMarkVatage score of 17,486, which laptopmag calls "by far the highest score we've ever seen". Alienware M17x (2011) - Benchmark Test Results

(And I haven't even set my RAID0 stripe size to 16kb as recommended by Intel for SSDs, which I am sure will help me push the PCMarkVantage beyond the 20,000 mark.)

This makes a 40 second re-boot delay very annoying, especially when installing new software and updates requiring multiple re-boots.

 

Why is this not on Lenovo's support page? Do you know if this applies to the T520 and whether it solves the pulsing fan problem? Thanks.

 

web team is currently going through a migration of system and content therefore there are delays on updating the page. They are sorting out this issue and the updated page will be up next month.
//JameZ

for T520
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8auj07us.exe
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8auj07us.txt

pulsing fan problem:
engineering are discussing this
//JameZ

 

Wonderful. Thanks DEJAD and JameZ.

 

Thanks for the advice. Yes, the Rapidboot is indeed installed ... will run a defrag. to see whether the startup will be faster or not. Btw, how to make sure all the caching is activated?

I would appreciate if some benchmarks of the Hitachi can be posted here for comparison, as all other reviews used a Seagate HDD or insanely fast SSDs. I'll also post my results here later as well.

 

Tried the new BIOS. It doesn't solve the fan pulsing and Turbo Boost is disabled unless you opt for Maximum Turbo in the Power Management settings (then the CPU stays at its highest stepping all the time). Rolling back to 1.21.

 

Doesn't solve TPM+UEFI either.

 

What's TPM+UEFI? Is there a problem with the Power Manager in the UEFI Only mode?

bogatyr, if you've tried UEFI Only mode, can you, please, confirm that the fan pulsing affects non-Lgeacy BIOS boot machines also?

 

TPM-UEFI is the UEFI-bitlocker issue I posted above. The real 1.25 corrects none of the outstanding BIOS issues I listed.

 

The OS is unable to communicate with the TPM pre-Windows. This means if you use Bitlocker on the OS drive, it cannot pull the encryption keys from the TPM to run and fails to load.

Also I believe the fingerprint reader has issues as well since they're stored in the TPM.

As for the fan, I've seen people mention this but I've never had the fan pulse. I very very rarely even hear it. I never booted in legacy mode, I pulled the raid drives out of my unit when it came and set it up with Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V UEFI first then switched to Win7 with UEFI and VMWare Server since Windows Server 2008 doesn't support bluetooth properly. So I never had the issue.

If they don't fix the TPM problem before my trip to China in two months, I'll be going to legacy mode so I can encrypt the system properly prior to my flight. Things like to "disappear" over there and I keep all of my project code and financials on my laptop.

 

What I was trying to say however is that this holdup in Kentucky (for most people) is due to customs. UPS on their website, if you comb through the fine print, states that they make no guarantees on how long a package takes to clear customs. If you had picked 2 day vs 5 day customs is customs, it's out of UPS's control. That was why I didn't recommend it. The only thing you are paying for is transit time. Nobody can speed a package through customs.

 

It looks like we'll have more mSATA options to play with soon:

AnandTech - Computex 2011: SandForce mSATA Drives & No More Supercap

 

Add my 2-cents to this 'amen'. I just really noticed this last week after reading Thors comments, and indeed its almost an additional 30 secs on the nose versus a power-off boot.

 

To follow-on to this post, I'd like to ask if it's possible to use the m-SATA slot SSD as the boot/system drive, while using the HDD as the data drive? What would the procedure be to make this happen with an after-market SSD?

(Apologies if this has already been answered, which it most likely has. This thread is fairly long!)

 

Thanks hrana for the list. Number 4 and 5 are really annoying.
5 seems to mostly affect 2720 users and a lot of people have not noticed it yet.

For those who didn't follow the issue:
If you have an updated BIOS the Intel turbo is not working as it's supposed to as posted here:

Intel Turbo problem
As posted by ibmford for 2720:

On BIOS 1.06 testing with Super Pi Intel Turbo Boost monitor reports max 3.2GHz (rarely 3.3Ghz.).
--------------
On BIOS 1.25(1.24) testing with Super Pi Intel Turbo Boost monitor reports max 2.3Ghz and rarely 2.4 Ghz.

 

Dropping back one BIOS from 1.24 (called 1.25) to 1.22 will give you back Turbo Boost.

Perry

 

No need to apologize for asking again. Yes it is possible and that is how I have my system setup. You have a few options:

1. You can simply use backup software (like Acronis, BESR, etc) and clone your current C:\ drive to the mSATA device. Change the boot order in the BIOS to the mSATA device first and you're good to go. Then just delete everything off your old C:\ drive.

2. You can do a fully system restore from the included Lenovo DVDs to the mSATA device. If I were you, then I'd take the main hard drive out of the laptop with this method. Change the boot order in the BIOS and make sure everything works. Then you can put the old drive back in, wipe it, and move on.

3. You can do a complete reinstall from scratch on the mSATA device using this guide. You can opt to use UEFI as long as you don't need Bitlocker, Finger Print Reader power-on/login, and/or RAID.

4. If you don't want to use UEFI and want the standard AHCI boot then you can use this guide to do a clean install onto the mSATA device.

That's it. Just make sure you save any data on your current laptop that you want to keep. Personally, I'd blow everything away and pick option 3 if you don't need the UEFI-related items or option 4 if you do. I used option 4 because I have RAID.

Not a problem... I'm just trying to help the community out with the things I've discovered and/or confirmed. It would be really nice if people could add more "me too" messages over at the linked Lenovo forum threads so we can get a resolution to these things. Also, opening a case with Lenovo Support will go a long way to resolve each item. Remember, we're a team in all of this so every bit of effort helps us all.

Yes, I can confirm this as well. v1.22 has given me Intel Turbo Boost back. The difference in speed is noticeable. Interestingly, the lack of Intel Turbo Boost affected the Windows Experience Index CPU score. Mine dropped by 0.1.

 

The 10Gb backup that the thinkpad software will make that you can reinstall from, is it possible to place that on a secondary harddrive? So I have that on a normal disk and dont waste space on my SSD for that, but is still able reinstall my SSD?

 

I use Windows 2008 R2 / UEFI on W520 (bios 1.22), with 2 SSDs (one in ultrabay, non-RAID), both Bitlocker encrypted with password in TPM. No problems whatsoever, so it's not a defect affecting all users, could be some configuration issue.

Fingerprint reader also works with drivers from UPEK (AFAIR Windows Update had some drivers but UPEK was fresher). Lenovo fingerprint software should not be installed, as it causes BSOD (in W7 UEFI too). Had to use just Windows built-in fingerprint UI where it's only possible to choose fingerprints for Windows login. To specify fingerprints for power on need another non-UEFI Windows 7 install on another drive (which I have anyway), and do 2 finger swipes, one for power on, another for login. Still much better than typing passwords

 

Thanks, hrana, for the fast and complete answer to my question. I like the "several options" approach.

Since you did option #4, how fast are your boot times. You mentioned that the UEFI yields a 20-second boot. That's a keeper in my book.

 

I don't want to be sacrilegious on this thread and mention another brand but I am curious if the W520 FHD screen is the same quality as the FHD non-IPS screens offered by the HP Elitebook workstations and Dell Precision workstations?? Anybody got comparison photos??

 

It will arrive soon....

1ZV6292VDG85532774 can't wait.

Will be changing to Raid 0 with dual SSD 510 120GB and upgrade to 8g ram as well.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I believe only quad cores support 32 GB of RAM, and only (perhaps) the higher end quads (2820 and above) at that. Could be wrong about the second part, but virtually certain of the first.

 

Smells like a typo to me. I think they meant to print "4 GB", not "8 GB".

 

Excellent! SSD RAID0 (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is the way to go. Fasten your seatbelt!

 

What are your reasons for needing a RAID 0 configuration? Were you aware SSD TRIM isn't supported and working for drives in a RAID volume?

 

I have been using a Sony Vaio Z11 for over a year now, which has 3 Samsung SSDs in RAID0 factory installed.

GC (Garbage Collection) has been doing a great job and there never was any need for TRIM.

Performance has been excellent, even as a desktop replacement and I only upgraded to the W520 because I wanted a) a bigger screen and b) the extra power of the new i7 Sandybrige generation.

 

Guys, I just ordered my W520 (which I'm really excited about) after dealing with an aging T43. I would like to install a mSATA drive on the laptop but I can't find any instructions here on where I would put it. Anyone got it running on the mSATA as a primary? If so could you point me out to where it goes and recommendations on a drive I would appreciate it?

 

Do all of the current generation drives from Crucial/Micron, OCZ, Intel, etc. handle this properly now in a RAID volume?

I was under the impression that wasn't the case with the Intel X-25M and later when used with Windows 7 or server R2.

 

The mSATA drive plugs into the mini PCI-E port on the motherboard I believe. That is why you cannot have it and the WWAN card installed at the same time.

Someone here please correct me if I am wrong on this.

 

That's correct.

 

Yep, the user has to make a choice between tiny SSD and cell connection.

 

Check out this Intel 510 SSD RAID0 Review:

"The Marvell controller does support TRIM and idle garbage collection which seems to work very well. After hammering on the drive for hours, the drive performance was nearly back to full form after a few hours of idle time."
Intel 510 Series 250GB SSDs Reviewed in RAID 0 - Capacity, Final Thoughts & Conclusions - Legit Reviews

 

I take it that I have to open up the KB and just slide it in. That should be easy enough. I'm looking to get the 80gb Intel Soda Creek but newegg is out. Anyone know of another reputable seller that they have purchased from that carry's it?

 

I can confirm that too. You can definitely see the speed increase. I hope their next BIOS update doesn't break sth instead of fixing the issues.

I agree with the first part but I think all quad cores will support up to 32GB.

 

It's pretty quick. I have RAID so the Option ROM pops up for it on boot up which is a bit of a pain but I'd say 20 seconds is about right. With BIOS 1.06 (Intel Turbo Boost working) the boot up times rival my desktop overlocked Intel quad-core with an Intel X-25M G2 160GB drive.

I believe the Marvell controller has idle garbage collection BUT (if I'm not mistaken) he could always schedule the SSD optimization in the Intel SSD Toolbox as frequently as he likes.

Yes, open up the keyboard. I posted a picture in this thread somewhere in case you want to have a look. I got my mSATA from ShopBLT. They have a real-time inventory system that is accurate so check them every day. They expect more in on June 2.

Apparently Lenovo responded to me on Twitter about the issues. Hopefully that'll light a fire under their backside to fix the problems.

 

Is it possible to connect a 3D capable monitor (120Hz) to the W520, and have the laptop send the signal in 3D (120Hz), disregarding/disconnecting the laptop monitor?

2nd question: the above connected to the minidock plus series 3?

According to Nvidia website, the Quadro 1000M or 2000M are capable.

I found the following technical Graphics specs for the W520 which are not promising:

NVIDIA® Optimus™ technology, auto-switch between discrete and integrated graphics,
Intel HD Graphics 3000 in processor, and
NVIDIA Quadro® 1000M or 2000M, PCI Express® x16, 2GB memory,
external analog monitor support via VGA DB-15 connector and
digital monitor support via DisplayPort (supports single-link DVI-D via cable 45J7915);
supports three independent displays;
Maximum external resolution: 2560x1600 (DisplayPort)@60Hz;
2048x1536 (VGA)@85Hz; 1920x1200@60Hz (single-link DVI-D via cable 45J7915)