Lenovo Y500 freezes, always aprox 1 minute after startup

Hey there,

I have a big problem with my 2 weeks old Lenovo IdeaPad Y500-MBG2BMH (bought in The Netherlands, Im Dutch): Windows 8 freezes completely after a fixed time of aprox 1 minute after system startup, regardless of loging on with my user account. I have about 20 seconds to work in Windows after user logon, so for example I cant un/reinstall drivers. Some more specifics:

- Holding the power button is the only way to turn off the system after a freeze.
- I can move the mouse after a freeze.
- CTRL-ALT-DEL doesnt do anything.
- Shutting down explorer via the task manager within the 20 seconds doesnt help, the system still freezes, so its more than explorer that freezes.
- After a hard shutdown (power button), the system doesnt recognizes that the system didnt shut down properly, because Windows starts without prompting me the option for advanced boot options ( this). When I hard shutdown the system before it freezes, it does recognize it and I will get in the advanced boot menu, working properly without freezing.

When did it go wrong?
- The first freeze happened during the installations proces of the lightweight and trusted program called Speccy by Piriform, so imo its very unlikely this caused the issue. I think I could have happened anytime. In the 2 weeks I have the Y500, I have not used it 'normally' but Ive only been busy with installing software / updating drivers and creating a system image after Ive set windows settings right. Earlier on the day of the Speccy setup, I only installed Google Chrome and Drive.

What I have tried within the 20 second of time I have in Windows before freeze:
- Deleted Speccy's install files.
- Closed explorer (mentioned earlier)
- Taks manager > looked at performance. HDD is running fully, which might be a problem or is normal in the startup period of Windows? See: (picture of after factory reset).

What have I tried within the advanced boot options of Windows 8?
- Startup problem checker of Win 8.
- Restore point of 12 hours earlier.
- Restore point of 2 days earlier.
- Booted in Safe mode -> Before Windows started it was checking/fixing the C: drive or something, then it started Windows 8 NOT in safe mode .
- System image recovery from my external USB HDD of about 1-2 weeks earlier.
- Factury image restory (OneKey Recovery).

Nothing worked so far! I still get the freeze.

I called Lenovo, they told me to send it for repair (takes 2 weeks). But I REALLY need the laptop in the coming 3 weeks, so Im desperately looking for a solution myself, hoping you guys can help me with it. What to try next?

Currently, a friend is using Ultimate Boot CD to check run some hardware checks, but nothing found yet.

Help!

 

Sounds like your hard drive might be shot. Try cloning it to a new drive and see if that fixes anything.

 

Microsoft support told me it might be caused by the set Lenovo drivers. So I installed a clean untouched Win 8. The laptop works again! Shame on Lenovo, but Im relieved I can move on.

 

LOL this is why I always perform a clean install on any new laptop I get. This freeze you were getting was due to the ridiculous amount of bloatware in the Lenovo factory image. It all loads at startup by default and basically grinds your entire system to a halt by thrashing the hard disk for several minutes, which you confirmed with the Task Manager screenshot. Compounding the problem is the fact that Superfetch also fires up at roughly the same time. Before I did my clean install it took several minutes after pressing the power button before my Y500 was actually responsive and useable. Just goes to show you how much junk Lenovo preloads on this machine.

 

ive had the y500 for about 4-5 months now, and i experience the same exact issue, 100% the same. I'm a semi-noob when it comes to computers ESPECIALLY notebooks/laptops... and i'm also very cautious and afraid of doing something wrong and permanently destroying my computer as pansy as that may seem... but i have 2 VERY important questions and i absolutely have to have the answers to them.. if you guys could possibly help me i'd greatly, GREATLY appreciate the advice and support...
ok so here are the quetsions
1. how does someone perform a fresh clean install of windows 8 on a y500 seeing as how it didn't come with a windows disc OR a serial number?

anddd for the second question, the part that really scares me...

2. once i do a fresh install of windows 8, will doing this stop my novo key from working? i.e. onekey recovery? and also, will it stop any other parts in my system from operating? and how would i go about getting onekey recovery back?? along with any other important windows/lenovo software? and what would those important programs be??

i've been trying to find the answer to these questions for so long... please help me you guys i'll forever be in debt to you. haha :'[ .....

 

Please? Someone? :-[