Official T520 BIOS 1.28 Thread

To those with the T520's, can you, guys and gals, please, report your experience with the latest T520 BIOS (1.28)?

I was the tester of the beta BIOS and found that the new BIOS solves the annoying 5-second fan pulsing problem but throttles my CPU. That is, my CPU goes into its lowest stepping (797 MHz) and stays there.

Despite my findings, Lenovo decided to release the beta BIOS with no changes claiming that another beta tester reported no problems with the CPU clocks (!). See the discussion here T520 fan plusing noise every 5 seconds - Page 9 - Lenovo Community

I would like to ask you to install, if you haven't done so yet, and post the following:

- Whether BIOS 1.28 solved the fan problems (both pulsing and high RPM noise).

- Whether you are experiencing the CPU throttling problem with the new BIOS. Easy ways to find out is to install the Intel Turbo Boost Monitor or any other CPU monitoring program such as HWiNFO32.

- Whether you are experiencing any other changes.

Please, make sure to also post your CPU model and other specs of your system.

Thanks much.

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Edit: Installed the official BIOS 1.28 and everything is working as it should. The fan pulsing is gone.

 

Try resetting your CMOS as posted here.

 

Thanks kirayamato. Can you, please, explain what it does?

 

I got no clue, to be honest. I heard that it just clears out the data in the CMOS stuff, and that had helped a good amount of W520 owners with the stuck on 800 MHz problem. If you can get it unstuck, try unplugging the AC without the machine being asleep and please report back on your CPU frequency, some W520 owners including myself are suffering from being stuck at 1.2 GHz (2620M) or 1.5 GHz (2720QM, 2820QM) on battery.

 

I'm a W520 owner like kirayamato26, but with the i7-2720QM CPU. My issue is that on battery the CPU never passes 1.5GHz on stressing loads. Plug the AC back in and everything is fine. Unplug and it drops back down to 1.5GHz. The weird thing is, some i7-2720QM CPU/W520 owners have been able to get past the 1.5GHz mark... so like the thread you posted, it looks like it is also happening with the T520 where it works for some, but not for others.

 

In Australia the latest bios seems to be 1.25. Yet via the USA web site 1.28 is available! (and 1.26 and 1.27). Yet the machines are the same, aren't they? Is Lenovo just slow in placing the latest bios on the Australian site? And 1.28 is the way to go?

 

My fears have been resolved. I don't know what they changed in the public release (beta BIOS and official 1.28 have different hash), but I am no longer having the CPU throttling problem with the official BIOS 1.28. The pulsing fan is gone as well.

antskip, I think 1.28 should apply to all T520 regardless of the market.

 

I'm curious... are you able to achieve at least 2.2GHz while on battery?

 

Count me in too.

 

thanks, ferganer80! - installed it and so far a huge improvement. fixed some weird sound like a frog every few seconds that tech support had no clue about.

 

Yes, as reported by both the Intel Turbo Boost Monitor and HWinFO32, CPU is working normally on battery power. Speedstep and turbo boost are on. I goes above 2.2 under load.

 

Well, congratulations then. We finally have a workable firmware.

 

Just to make sure.

Try unplugging the AC while the system is on, does that change anything?
Also try unplugging the AC while the system is off, and perform a cold boot, does that change anything?

What are your BIOS settings like for power management?

If the T520 works fine on battery, then we can tell Lenovo about it and they can make changes accordingly.

 

Where do I find BIOS 1.28 for Thinkpad W520?

I can only see 1.26 here: Lenovo Support - Download Drivers and Software (US)

 

No where. The T520 had 2 more revisions than the W520. The 1.28 for the T520 is like the equivalent to the W520's 1.26.

 

The CPU (speedstep & turbo boost) works OK in all scenarios.

BIOS settings (all settings are the same for AC and Battery):
- Speedstep - enabled and set to "Battery Optimized"
- Adaptive Thermal Management - set to "Balanced"
- CPU Power Management - set to "Enabled"

Power Manager (3.59) settings (all settings are the same for AC and Battery):
- System Performance - set to "Balanced"
- CPU Deeper Sleep - set to "Disabled"
- Optimize fan control to - "Balance all parameters"

 

Hm... OK, thank you very much.

Time to go get on Lenovo's case about fixing it for the W520.

 

ferganer80: could you please explain your choice of disabling "cpu deeper sleep"; and also "Balance all parameters" of fan control (rather than "reduce noise dynamically")?

It would be good to have a detailed description of the different options in the advanced Power Manger settings. Maybe there is one somewhere?

 

I disabled CPU C4 deeper sleep as I mainly use the laptop plugged in. It may benefit your battery life a little if enabled and if you have your laptop on idle most of the time, however, it may decrease CPU performance as well.

Here is an Intel article that describes the feature: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-028739.htm

As for the "Reduce noise dynamically", I didn't choose it as people (incl. myself) seem to have problems with this setting as it leads to sporadic changes in fan RPMs, which were quite annoying.

There is a question mark button in the Power Manager menu that says "Power Manager Help" but the documentation is very limited. I doubt there is any more detailed documentation for the PM out there.

 

thanks, ferganer80!
I think my change a few days ago from "Balance all parameters" to "Reduce noise dynamically" did reduce fan noise, but also created an annoying croaking sound every few seconds. The 1.28 bios has eliminated the incessant croaking sound, without my changing that setting. As I almost never hear any fan noise now, I will leave it be for the moment. However, going from what you say; if I find I experience the "sporadic changes" in fan speeds and sounds that you mention, I will definitely try going back to the "balanced" setting.

As for the need of a little manual/guide on the advanced power manager settings, it seems like something that Lenovo really could do with providing. I have found effects of little adjustments can be quite substantial.