Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Nope, 128 is simply BIOS control.

 

Dang. Got my W520 and it's warped. One of the feet is lifted up and isn't touching the table. Ugh. I'm debating calling them and asking for another. I probably will.

 

For those who have the color calibrator, what profiles do you use? Any tips on how to utilize it best?

 

Here too (PCH Version: 4). What chipset is: B2 or B3?

 

What version of windows/other OS are you running?
And did you download the Intel AMT Management Engine Firmware from the link I provided?

 

Is it just one of the rubber feet missing or is the whole plastic case twisted? That's messed up man I would definitely be asking for a new one!

 

I am using Windows7 pro.

 

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7392/20110810001.jpg
Anyone having any ideas...? BSOD's started after OCZ Agility 3 120GB. They're not too common, maybe once in a week, but I think than one already is too much... I've done also some suggested tweaks for the SSD in registry.

-Aleksi

 

Im using Windows 7 Home Premium, and yes, i do (download).
''/

 

The whole case is twisted a little. I was hoping it was just a rubber foot was missing, but it wasn't

 

Here the same thing happened. I think it may be the memory.

 

You mean RAM or SSD? Have also installed additional 8 gigs of RAM making it total 16GB but it shouldn't be the problem...

-Aleksi

 

Hey guys,

I just flashed my BIOS to 1.26 recently, expecting to fix the throttling issues I've had on 1.25. However, when I run CPU-Z, it still shows my i7-2720QM running at 797.5MHz, instead of the ~2.2GHz I was hoping for. Does anyone have suggestions on how to fix this? I have Power Manager set to Max Performance.

 

I believe if you remove the AC and battery and then press the power button 10x, holding each press for about 5 seconds that should fix it.

 

Boot time was surprisingly quick, but when I was in Windows and loaded up CPU-Z after following your steps, it would flash up to ~3GHz a couple of times, but then stabilize at 797.5MHz again, only occasionally going back to ~3GHz (2990-point-something exactly).

More information that might be useful:

BIOS --> Config --> Power
SpeedStep (Enabled) {AC --> Max. Performance, Battery --> Battery Optimized}
CPU Power Management (Enabled)
Adaptive Thermal Management {AC --> Max. Performance, Battery --> Balanced}

CPU-Z
Core VID: 0.776-786 idle, sometimes goes to ~1.206
Core Speed: 797.5-797.6MHz
Multiplier: x8
Bus Speed: 99.7MHz

 

if you're not running anything that stresses the system it wil not run up to max speed. run pcvantage and see what your score is.

 

Dang, they don't have a replacement and don't consider a loop-sided laptop as a defect though they'll be more than willing to accept the return. It'd be kind of a pain to wait for another deal. Though in truth, it's not badly loop-sided. It only rocks a little on one corner where the foot of the laptop doesn't make complete contact with my desk. We're talking a couple millimeters.

At this point I guess I'll stick with it for awhile and hopefully it gets better. Maybe during shipping it got a little messed up and will right itself. If it was really bad, I'd return it right away.

 

Just ran both 3dMark11 and PCMark7, and I feel that both scores are pitiful considering the hardware I own... Neither test recognized my Quadro 2000M, marking it as a "generic VGA video card" instead (I disabled Optimus and used the Quadro for testing). While my 2720QM seems to overclock during benchmarking, I'd still rather it idle at 2.2GHz instead of 800MHz while on AC power. Should I contact Lenovo about this issue (and the issue about my Quadro underperforming, as seen below), or what?


PCMark7: 4282 Marks

3dMark11: P1399 Marks

That last test worries me since it might mean my Quadro 2000M is acting weird. Those FPS scores weren't from 1080p mind you, but from 720p... A card this powerful should at least be getting 60fps or higher....

 

PCMark7 4,282 is an excellent score! Not to worry about. (I get a bit more, (4, 568) but I have 2 SSDs in RAID.)

 

Your issue doesn't involve memory issues, rather your network driver ( here) is failing. You should install the latest ethernet drivers from Intel (32-bit is here, 64-bit is here) and the latest wireless drivers from Intel (32-bit here, 64-bit here), install it with administrative privileges.

 

Alright lol, that's good to hear. I'm not familiar with benchmarking scores since I usually never do any of that. What explains the extremely low FPS rates though?

 

i agree, i got 4500 but i have the 2920 processor. looks like yours is working great. i've got 16gb of ram too.

 

So even with the 1.26 BIOS update, I should still expect idle speeds to be around 800MHz, right? I was hoping that idle on AC would be a bit higher lol...

 

i just idles until needed. kinda like running your car, it would be a waste for the engine to run wide open all the time. the lifespan of the processor should be longer too.

 

You might want to wait until they release 1.27 BIOS. I just got my laptop and it came with that BIOS. I'm guessing they'll release it soon enough for everyone.

 

According to JameZ from Lenovo:
"BIOS 1.27 is for some production purpose at factory level. The V1.27 is practically equal to the V1.26."
W520 TurboBOOST not working on battery or after up... - Page 38 - Lenovo Community

 

Ah, okay. I wonder why they did that

 

Wondering if anybody has had a problem with the left/right click buttons on the bottom of the trackpad feeling "loose" when pressed? Not loose as in it's going to fall off, just doesn't feel very solid.

 

Can anyone else with a Quadro 2000M see if they get a similar score to mine? I feel that P1399 is low, since plenty of cards I saw on here averaging at least P4000; I would expect a 2000M to get a score or around P3000 at least. Maybe it's a driver problem and 3DMark'11 wasn't designed for professional cards? (Or maybe I don't know a lot about GPUs and how X compares to Y, which I'm guessing is the case).

 

Thanks for the tip! I installed both of those and will see if BSOD's keep coming.

-Aleksi

 

I just ran it and got P1430, it's probably because the card is driven toward professionals instead of the video game market.

EDIT: Nevermind, I just noticed that it ran with the integrated Intel graphics instead of the Quadro...now I'm searching how to enable the GPU.

 

I've searched for an answer to this question but not found it clearly answered, though it has been discussed a few times. Will intel's SRT (ssd caching) work in a RAID capable W520?

People have suggested that it may not work in a W520 without RAID, and people have argued about whether it is a good idea at all, but I haven't seen anyone say positively that it can be made to work. If you've tried and succeeded or failed I'd love to hear about it. Thanks.

Frank.

 

Yup; correct. I'd setup one of my profiles with this some time ago, but had forgotten exactly what '128' is used for by TpFanControl...

 

When you turn the computer on and the "Thinkpad" screen flashes, press F1, then go to Config --> Display --> change Graphics to Discrete instead of Optimus. Save changes and reboot into Windows.

 

I just did a clean win7 x64 install and did all the updates. The only thing that doesn't work is the ThinkVantage blue button. I read that I can patch it or something. Any help?

 

Picked up an extra W520 to replace a work laptop with the last B&N + discount deal.

1 4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
0A68541 SBB ICI7-2720QM
45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64
0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E
0A68535 SBB 15.6FHD (1900 X 1080) LED
0A68893 SBB NVQ1000M GR
45M4572 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM (upgraded to 12)
45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH
0A68526 VBB FINGERPRINT READER
0A68558 SBB 720P HD CAM INT MICR
0A69620 SBB I RAID-NOT EN
0A68552 SBB 320GB HDD7200RPM (replaced by a slickdeal obtained SV100S2/256GZ SSD)
0A68547 SBB DVD RC8XMXDLLRULTEHATA
0A68529 VBB ECS+4IN1CR
45M4816 SBB 9CELLLI-ION BATTERY
0A68904 SBB CPNAMLC+ 170W AC AD
0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0
45M4804 SBB IN.CENT.ULTIMATE-N 6300
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR
0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E
0A68537 SBB FINGRPRNT READER

$1,299.73


Came with Bios 1.27.
Everything seems to work pretty well so far.
WEI
Processor 7.5
Memory 7.6
Graphics 6.7 (Default Driver though, didn't try new one yet)
Disk 6.9

CPU is a steady 2990.7 MHZ


One MAJOR bummer though, 4" from left and 2.5" from the bottom is this very glaring cyan stuck pixel. Sigh. Debating what to do.

 

I would like to know this as well. So far I have power manager, but I'd like to have all the thinkvantage tools that came out of the box.

 

According to this article AnandTech - Intel Z68 Chipset & Smart Response Technology (SSD Caching) Review it should work with a RAID capable W520. (I don't think it will work with a non-RAID capable W520 however, since SRT requires the BIOS to be set to RAID mode.)

Quote: "With the Z68 SATA controllers set to RAID ( SRT won't work in AHCI or IDE modes) just install Windows 7 on your hard drive like you normally would. With Intel's RST 10.5 drivers and a spare SSD installed (from any manufacturer) you can choose to use up to 64GB of the SSD as a cache for all accesses to the hard drive"

 

This might be what you're looking for?

-Aleksi

 

can I just say, I love my new machine.

fin!

 

although not sure why the pcmark test is showing Intel HD Graphics rather than Quadro...... :/

 

I just turned off the Intel graphics and solely used the Quadro when benchmarking.

 

What was the score with Quadro? Also..how did you do that?

 

As privatejarhead had posted his score here, you should check previous postings. Switching btw IGP and GPU can be done with a restart>>F1 (at the Thinkpad logo)>>Config>>Display>>(Your choice of graphics).

 

I was looking this up too. I read a post on Lenovo's forums where one of the admins said it will never work with a clean install. There's something Lenovo adds to Windows 7 itself that gets the button to work. The only way to reactivate it is to do a recovery/install with Rescue and Recovery.

 

I'm running a clean install on Win7 and my ThinkVantage button is surely working. Haven't done any special fixes for it, though I have installed all the things I need from the SWTOOLS folder of the original installation.

-Aleksi

 

Huh, because this is the post:

Problem with T61 - ThinkVantage Button not Functi... - Lenovo Community

He posted:


uwhuskies, welcome to the forum,

How did you upgrade; with an upgrade cd or clean install? Have you tried pressing F11 at start up?
If you just upgraded and kept the Lenovo ThinkVantage utilities you could probably still create recovery cds. Instructions on how to do this can be found all over the forum. Another possibility would be to run the R&R Repair Disc.

If you made a clean install and deleted the service partition you will need to order recovery cds.

Andy


I'm guessing they changed it? There are also other posts that mention it only working with R&R. Like this one:

T400 ThinkVantage Button doesn't work - Lenovo Community

If I can get it working again, I'm definitely going to try. It'd be nice to have it back.

 

Anyone know if there will be any more back to school sales? The price on the W520 got raised just before I was going to buy it, I'd much rather it be a little lower....

 

DRCOOL, give them a call man and tell them that Dell or any other company have offered you xbox and stuff.. usually the reps will give you a huge discount, did you call Lenovo reps and tried?

Keep pushing.. and they will give u the deal on the older price at least or even less!

 

25% off coupon in Canada right now.