Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

I dont know if this is related to the laptop or somthing else. Quite often after I start my laptop up and go into internet explorer it gives me the message (dont remember exact words) but it is basically that internet explorer closed suddenly and it asks me if I want to restore the session. If I click yes it use alt +tab it shows a ton of copies of my home page like more then 5. However if I go to reopen last browsing session in IE9 it will do it properly

Any thoughts

 

I haven't experienced that exact same problem as the one you described but I've had a wierd error where after I intentionally close Outlook, I get an error message saying Outlook shut down unexpectedly and that Windows is working on a solution. And after about 5 seconds, Outlook opens back up. It's kind of annoying but it only happens intermittently that I haven't bothered to look into it.

 

Hi,

I am a long time reader and now a new member of NBR. I want to thank everyone here for sharing their knowledge and experience. I am a current T60 owner and was finally able to order a W520 and a X220, here are my configs:

W520:

Intel Core i7-2820QM Processor (2.30GHz, 8MB L3) USB 3.0
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit w/Windows 7 XP Mode
15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
Color Sensor
4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory
UltraNav with TrackPoint & touchpad plus Fingerprint reader
720p Camera
500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD recordable multiburner
Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader & Smart Card Reader
9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++
Bluetooth 3.0
Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250

---> $1,701 + tax

X220:

Intel Core i7-2620M Processor (2.7GHz, 4MB L3, 1333MHz FSB) USB 3.0
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit w/Windows 7 XP Mode
12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 2x2 Antenna
4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Fingerprint Reader
720p HD Camera
320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
ThinkPad Battery 29++ (9 cell)
Bluetooth 3.0
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)

---> $899 + tax

Can't wait to get these.

 

Has anyone on this thread been able to power 3 external displays w/ their W520, but w/ their FHD internal display disabled.

 

I am buying from U.S. I don't know a thing about 21 Day Price Protection, but I had a long time waiting quote -- including Barnes&Noble discount + some eCoupon + a great Rep. who did everything he can to hold the price and made a last minute discount -- so I was finally able to order. I am not sure these prices will be available now, but I can give my rep. info to anyone, just send a pm.

I am sure he (I mean THE Rep. ) will do everything he can about the price, payment, shipment, anything else. He's very helpful.

 

Scratch that, thanks for trying to help. As my previous post, has anyone got 3 external displays w/ their W520, but w/ their FHD internal display disabled.

 

Nope. It isn't possible.

 

This one as I reported here

 

That's the only way I have been able to search for things. I made a bookmark with that search right under the w520 Owner's thread bookmark. It comes in quite handy.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/566338-lenovo-w520-owners-thread-238.html#post7528090

 

Nice find! I also grabbed a copy to try out.

 

Assume I set maintenance to full charge to 100% a get the battery all juiced up.

Then put it on the dock, and set batter maintenance as detailed below. turn on the laptop for the day.

At the end of the day, my battery remains at 100%, indicating it is not drawing down.

The indicator shows "Plugged in not charging" anytime I glance at it, but it can't be 'not' charging as the percentage doesn't drop.

Is this behavior normal?

 

I'd jump on it today if I could use it to remotely turn on the web cam....

 

Both the Computrace and LoJack products can be used to turn on a Webcam and photograph the user in the event of a theft investigation. But unlike the old LANRev, only Absolute engineers can track devices and activate recovery features. Company policy, according to Midgley, prohibits them for doing that until a police report is filed. "For us to begin a theft recovery process, we need a case file from the police," he said. Two of the recovery methods are GPS and Internet Protocol location tracking. Absolute tracks the location of devices every 24 hours, but once a device is reported stolen it increases to once every 15 minutes
Many ways to activate Webcams sans spy software | Safe and Secure - CNET News

 

Hi all. I've been lurking for awhile and I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on a W520 with the specs below. I was wondering what types of prices other people have been quoted. thanks

Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor (2.20GHz, 6MB L3)
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 English
15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Keyboard US English
UltraNav with TrackPoint & touchpad plus Fingerprint reader
720p Camera
Internal RAID - Not Enabled
320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD recordable multiburner
Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader
9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++
Country Pack North America with Line cord & 170W AC adapter
Bluetooth 3.0
WiFi wireless LAN adapters ThinkPad b/g/n
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable
Language Pack US English
Fingerprint Reader

 

If you set it to stay charged at 100% Power Manager will attempt to honor that preference. My understanding is, however, that this is not the best thing for the battery. The second option is to set it "Automatically Optimize for Battery Lifespan". That's what I've set on my Thinkpad and I have the same battery I bought with the machine five years ago, still holding 75% of its full charge. And it almost always is charged to the full 100%. I do pull the plug once in while to have it run on battery for some time if I have not taken on the road. The Optimize for Battery Lifespan choice is the best one, in my opinion.

 

Is default software on laptop worth to use? I'm asking because whenever i buy a laptop i format it after 10 mins and install clean windows. When we make clean install which softwares must we install(lenovo softwares)

There are many posts in w520 owners thread. I'm too lazy to read that many pages Do you have a most important things todo when we get laptop?
For example i see many posts about bios etc. Thanks for answers

 

It comes with a surprisingly clean image. There is very little to uninstall.

 

any update to intel 510 start delay/warm start issue?

 

This config plus the 2 year top warranty and the smart card reader is my exact config. I got it for $1680 (+tax) using the deal on the mastercard marketplace web site.

I've only had this laptop for a couple days but it is fantastic.

 

Not that I have seen. I think this will require a bios update on the part of lenovo and those haven't exactly been coming out at a rapid pace.

 

I got that configuration but in addition I had the intel centrino ultimate 6300N wireless card and a 500gb hdd for $1562. I've heard of some people even getting a 3 year warranty thrown in at this price too.

This deal was the result of talking the salesperson down as well as a corporate discount. But I've heard that people who signed up for the Barnes & Noble gold account got a similar price. good luck!

 

I ran Portal 2 (nVidia GPU in optimus) at 1920x1080 showing the frame count using "cl_showfps" on my Thinkpad W520 w/ the settings below.

Anti-Aliasing: 16X
Filtering: Tri-linear
Multicore: Enabled
Shader Detail: Very High
Effects: High
Model/Texture detail: High
Page Pool Memory: High

I got consistent 60 fps in gameplay, where is my companion cube....

 

!!! i forgot about that game! I said i won't be using mine for gaming, but i guess i'll make an exception for that one

 

Thinkpad machines come with a relatively small amount of bloatware. On a brand new machine you can even opt out of such things as the Norton AV. The only way to know which software you want to use is to allow the default image to run for a while. Some people like and use some of the software, others use other or none at all. Instead of just wiping it from the get go, I'd take a look at the default image, then decide what you like and what, if anything, you don't like. Make a list of the things you want to keep. If the list is very short, then do your wipe and install those things you like; if the list is long, then keep the default install and just uninstall those things you don't want. That's what I have done.

 

If I'm reading you correctly, then yes this behavior is normal. When you're docked or when you're running on AC, the battery is not used so it will remain at 100%. As time goes on, all batteries drain at a steady rate when unused so you'll see that 100% drop slowly. Whether you let it drain by not using the battery or by using the notebook without dock/AC, the battery will never go into charging mode until it drops to 11%. Once it hits 11% the notebook will begin charging whenever it is docked or connected by AC. It will continue charging until it hits 68% or when you undock/disconnect AC. I believe if you undock/disconnect AC anywhere between 11% and 68%, then the battery will not charge until it drops to 11% again. For example it's charging and you disconnect at 12%. When you connect it won't charge until you drop to 11% again.

 

Without opening up the system, is there a way to verify the number of DIMM slots that are present in the W520? I read somewhere that some systems came with only 2 while others 4.

 

All of them have 4, the dual cores have dummy cards inserted into 2 of the slots, though. You can't use the slots with dummy cards in them (yes, you can take the cards out).

 

Was just about to edit my post since I confirmed it via ThinkWiki

Code:

2 DIMM slots on dual-core models (up to 16GB)
4 DIMM slots on quad-core models (up to 32GB)

and with your post now it's extra confirm! Thanks!

 

I got mine for around ~$1500 with B+N and haggling. However, I paid full price for the warranty, though it was on sale (plus the discount form B+N).

 

*Slams Palm Into Face*

Doh!

Thanks!

 

Though, it will slowly drain over time. Slowly as in like, maybe 1% every 2 weeks.

 

Is this possibly a new BIOS?

CHANGES IN THIS RELEASE
Version 1.25

[Important updates]
Nothing.

[New functions or enhancements]
- Added support for a new type of the Embedded Controller.

[Problem fixes]
- Fixed an issue where the expected machine serial number might not be stored in
the serial number field of SMBIOS type 3 structure.
- Fixed an issue where the VRAM size was allocated to fixed 128MB, not up to 1GB
with the Intel graphics mode on Windows XP.
- Fixed an issue where some system settings could not be changed by Windows WMI
script.

Not listed here, but if you go here, you'll see under BIOS Update that there's 1.25 released on June 16, 2011. Looking at the txt file also refers to the previous update as 1.24 and this one as 1.25. Not sure if it fixes any of the bugs listed in this thread, but anyone at their W520s willing to try this update and see?

 

that's strange because i dw 1.25 over a week ago, and not the 1.24 that was listed as 1.25. i found it while searching for something else and it's been working fine. 8bet45ww (1.25) 05/18/2011 is what shows up in msinfo32.

 

Do you happen to still have the file you downloaded? Was wondering if you could do a compare of your file and the one listed... I'd give the update a shot, but I'm not in front of my system at the moment.

 

i thought i had the file but i can't find it. my v3 ssd bsod'd and i had to reload an image from 5/17. my 1tb hitachi backup drive started squealing and i couldn't get my backup data off.

 

VERSION INFORMATION

The following versions of UEFI BIOS and ECP (Embedded Controller Program) have
been released to date.

Package UEFI BIOS (BIOS ID) ECP (ECP ID) Rev. Issue Date
------- --------------------- ---------------- ---- ----------
1.25 1.25 (8BET45WW) 1.15 (8AHT33WW) 01 2011/05/27
(8XHT33WW)
------- --------------------- ---------------- ---- ----------
1.24 1.24 (8BET44WW) 1.14 (8AHT32WW) 01 2011/05/17
1.22 1.22 (8BET42WW) 1.13 (8AHT31WW) 01 2011/04/28
1.21 1.21 (8BET41WW) 1.09 (8AHT27WW) 01 2011/04/20
1.06 1.06 (8BET30WW) 1.06 (8AHT24WW) 01 2011/03/25

Summary of Changes

<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.

<1.24>
UEFI: 1.24 / ECP: 1.14
- (New) Updated Computrace ROM to version 80.895.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where some security settings in ThinkPad Setup could not
be changed by Windows WMI script.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where the computer might not be booted from the hard
disk with Linux installed if there was no active partition there.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where the computer with large-capacity memory installed
might fail to resume normal operation from standby/sleep state.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where a particular AC adapter might not be detected.

<1.22>
UEFI: 1.22 / ECP: 1.13
- (New) Added support for Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit, 64-bit.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where the display switching function by the Fn+F7 hot
key might not work after resuming normal operation from standby state
on Windows Vista.

 

All that sounds that the new bios is likely a new bios but after their major screwup on bios 1.25 (loaded as 1.24) that took away completely the W520's ability to go into turbo, I am not going to be the first one to try this one if it truly an update. And given their inability to correctly list bios updates I am not certain this is really anything but the old broken bios.

 

Let's just say that a crazy guy (a.k.a. myself) ordered a wonderful w520 but chose the standard Thinkpad 1x1 wifi. Now, let's just say that it is too late to have the order changed. Is upgrading as simple as buying a 6300 off of ebay and swapping it in?

 

WiFi cards are usually whitelisted in laptops, so in order to get an aftermarket card to work, you may need to do some BIOS hacking (if you are comfortable with that). Otherwise, cancel your order and reorder with the 6300.

 

I've just installed Bios 1.25. I can confirm that Turbo boost appears to be working.

 

Is this really Bios 1.25 or the misnamed 1.24 from several weeks ago?

 

Ever heard of Bitcoins??

I have just attempted some mega calculations and this is my success:

CPU Use: 13 MHash/sec
GPU Use: 27 MHash/sec

Now the fun part - Temperatures:

After 10 minutes of calculations, pressing my i7 2720qm w/ Quadro 2000m:
(According to CPUID Hardware Monitor)

CPU Max Temp: 97'c/206'f (Average between each core)
GPU Max Temp: 84'c/183'f

Turned it off quite promptly as I really don't wanna burn it out...yet

Huzzah!!!

 

Finally a brave soul! Thanks for reporting, now to hurry home to update mine! I found it interesting that they made no mention of the Turbo boost issue in the txt file...

 

BIOS Version/Date LENOVO 8BET45WW (1.25 ), 5/18/2011

It appears that it is the new Bios 1.25. The system came with 1.24 installed when it was built on 6/1.

 

And thus a new gold rush starts...

 

We need more people to confirm if Turbo-Boost is fixed or not.

I downloaded 1.25 (not the 1.24) almost 3 weeks ago via a hidden link, and that did not fix the Turbo.

 

What CPU does your W520 has...

2720QM or 2820QM ?

 

I have stated this before, but I guess I'll restate it: my Turbo Boost has always worked, regardless of BIOS version (mine shipped with 1.21 and I've used every BIOS thereafter). As well, everything works just fine without the battery plugged in on AC. I think the AC throttling problem has something to do with the power requirements of the system, and the broken Turbo Boost with the 2720QM is just a lousy BIOS coding job.

 

I can confirm that .. did the same, with the same result.