New T420 crashes intermittently

Hi

I recently purchased a T420 and it is crashing intermittently. Any help troubleshooting the problem would be appreciated. Here are the details:

* 64bit Win 7 OS. i52520M, 8GB ram, 64GB Crucial M4 SSD, Intel HD 3000 graphics
* computer freezes then reboots every hour or so, sometimes more, sometimes less
* no BSOD and no crush dump files are created. Event Viewer logs a 'Critical' Event ID 41.
* crashes occur both with and without the power adapter plugged in.
* crashes occured on the original configuration out of the box (250GB hard drive, 2GB ram, pre installed Win 7 64bit) and also with the new configuration (all new ram modules, new hard drive, fresh Win 7 install)

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Are you still using the original pre-installation of windows?

 

No I did a fresh install when I put in the SSD

 

Ok. I would suggest if you haven't done so, to run an updated virus scan first. If you have and you're clean, and since you said you have the same symptoms before and after your hardware upgrades, I would suggest giving Lenovo support a call.

 

Thanks Roger. Just scanned and there were no threats found.

I was hoping there might be a simple fix rather then calling Lenovo...

 

heres how to generate a full crash dump the next time it occurs:

The NT Insider:Getting Crash Dumps to Appear in Win7

 

If the Crucial M4 is based on Sandforce controller, there is your problem.
I had a Sandforce SSD and it sucked hard on the T420, lots of crashes, blue screens, sometimes wouldn't even boot, never resumed from sleep.
Sent it back to Amazon and bought a mSATA, never had a problem with it and its been over a month since it has been installed.

 

If you haven't done so try updating the firmware on the Crucial SSD to see if that stabilises things, also when people do a Clean Installation it can be easy to forget adding the Intel Rapid Storage Technology AHCI driver on the system, some Crucial drives perform better with it so ensure you have this on too.

 

He said he's been having these problems before and after the hardware upgrades, that's why I'm thinking it's not related to his SSD.

 

Thanks for the replies.

blinder - I followed the steps in your link but it still didn't record a crash dump.

sprtnbsblplya - the crashes happen on both my SSD and regular HDD so I think it might not be the SSD's fault.

Hearst - I have the 10.6.0.1002 version of the RST driver downloaded from the Intel site. I notice that the RST driver on the Lenovo site is a little older 10.1.0.1008 do you think I should use this one?

 

@therealkamino,

And you've definitely set these two reg keys mate?:

\HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ CrashControl\CrashDumpEnabled DWORD value to 1

\HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl\AlwaysKeepMemoryDump DWORD value to 1


try the following two commands from a command prompt if you like (they will prompt for overwrite if the values exist already):

reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl /v CrashDumpEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1

reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl /v AlwaysKeepMemoryDump /t REG_DWORD /d 1

if you've got those two - you should see C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP on the next boot after your crash, and from there it's pretty easy to see which driver is causing this.

 

Could be that you have defective RAM. Have you tried to a run a memory test on it yet?

 

This man is on to something.

Seriously, run memtest86+ before you try anything else. It'll rule out defective memory pretty quickly...

 

blinder - I had \HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ CrashControl\CrashDumpEnabled DWORD set to 2 instead of 1. I made the change and will see if this works when I get another crash.

I thought a RAM defect was unlikely since it crashes with the original 2GB module on its own and also with the new 2x4GB sticks in it now. I'll try memtest86+ if I don't get a crash dump next time.

Thanks

 

! latest update !
Crashed again this morning but no crash dump was saved (i think because it is a hardware related crash?).

Ran memtest86+ and it passed the tests so we can rule out RAM now.

What would be the next course of action? I think I will start a similar thread on the Lenovo support forum too.

 

I think your best bet if it is still possible is a return/exchange. This is not expected behavior and it definitely should not be occurring if the machine is in a completely factory stock state (original memory, HDD, preloaded image, etc)

 

I was hoping not to have to return the machine as I live in Australia but purchased it from Lenovo USA. I would be up for freight costs plus a lengthy delay before I got it back...

I will look into the warranty fineprint and see if Lenovo Australia will fix it.

Has anyone had experience returning stuff to their local Lenovo when it was purchased in another country?

 

The ThinkPad T420 should be eligible for IWS (International Warranty Services) so you shouldn't need to send it back to the US. You can double check by typing the machine type of your system into this site. If it does qualify then you can call up your nearest service centre in Australia to have your T420 repaired.