T400 problems - Vista - should I return this thing?

Got my T400 a little over a week ago. In that short period of time, I must have put in 20 hours of tweaking and frustration.

1. I had problem after problem with the wifi 5300. I think I have that resolved, finally.

2. I think Vista worked very slow. I did most of the tweaks listed here on this board. Computer still seems slower in most respects compared to a 3 yr old Toshiba laptop (of much lesser power) runing XP home.

3. Yesterday, I insalled some updates from Lenovo update. I cant remember exactly, but I think there were 4 updates. A vista one, a wifi one, and two others I cant recall.

Following that install I restarted and the computer splashed Lenovo, then the little progress bar that windows was starting, but it never actually made it to Vista.

So I forced a shut down with the power button. Tried restarting again, no luck. Did this 5 times, with no luck. Finally, a screen came up indicating do you want to start windows with a last known good config or start windows normally. I chose last good. It then went to a Lenovo rescue/recovery screen, but couldnt do anything from that screen.

So I did another ard reset plugged the computer in and walked away, a while later I realized it had booted up.

So I shut down and then restarted. Now it boots up to Vista, but it takes 10:15 to boot.

This computer is driving me nuts. I shouldnt have all these problems with a $1400 machine.

Should I call Lenovo tech support, are they helpful? Or will my research on this board make me more knowledgeable than them?


I really want to stay with Vista, but if installing XP Pro will solve my problems I will do that....I will be dissapointed that I could not run the computer as ordered though.


I need a reliable computer, and so far this one is NOT it.

HELP

 

The issues is not Vista; I run Vista Ultimate on a T400 and it's as fast or faster than XP Pro on my previous computer. Something's wrong with the hardware or you equipped it with only 1GB memory and the slowest hard disk -- even then I'd think performance would be faster.

First question -- What is your hardware config and what have you done to the system in those 20 hours of "tweaking"?

 

I think before returning it you might should try just reinstalling Vista first (I'm assuming Lenovo offers a restore partition and/or disks right?)

 

Hardware is 8600 along with 2gb of ram and Vista Business 64. I have the 160gb faster hard drive. So I agree that hardware should not be the problem (assuming it is all functioning correctly).

Based on all of my research I really did believe that this T400 would run great with Vista business 64. THere are many folks here who like their machines set up very similar to mine.

As far as tweaks. I felt my system was slow as delivered from Lenovo. So I did about 65% of the tweaks from http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

I steered away from the tweaks that were not "sure things." The ones where "experimentation of settings" was necessary. I tried to only do the ones that were tried and true.

How would I go about checking my hardware?

 

Just got off the phone with Lenovo technical. The rocket scientist I spoke with suggested I increase memory in the machine from 2 gb to a minimum of 3gb and that MAY help the 10.5 minute boot time.

Is this really what I have to deal with at Lenovo? Do they have a tier 2 technical support, or someone who actually knows a little bit about computers? How do I get to tier 2 or some higher level?

 

I have a T61p with Vista Business 64 and it runs well. The T400 is a good machine and should run Vista just fine, you are just running into some bad luck, thats all. Your config seems fine. I would just backup the files you want and do a reinstall back to factory settings using the recovery disks, if you were able to recreate them, or using the thinkvantage button. Once it is back to factory defaults, check to see if you are having the same problems. If you are then start looking for a hardware problem. Run memtest86+ to check your RAM for defects and run PCDoctor to check out other parts of your machine(comes with the Thinkpad). If you find errors or don't find errors but experience similiar behavior as you did before the install, call Lenovo tech support immediately.

 

If you are indeed having issues, then you need to work with Lenovo to get them resolved.

My laptop arrived DOA in that it blue screened and never fully booted into Vista out of the box. One call to tech support and the issue was resolved.

I had suspected a hardware problem, but was relieved when it turned out not to be an issue that required a return.

I do, however, suggest that you stay on top of the issue and work with Lenovo to determine the solution.

I too would try the restore via the recovery partition to see if that helps.

 

I would run Memtest86+ to check the memory for errors. My second guess would be a faulty hard drive.

 

When I bought my T400, it came with Vista x64 and worked okay, with some Lenovo-software related annoyances. I then did some official Lenovo update thing and started to have even more problems, some almost constant. I then did a clean install and this notebook has been FLAWLESS ever since.

Moral of the story, most notebook manufacturers can’t write software to save their lives—and they actually wind up hurting their product versus providing a valuable service/function. I try to leave the job of writing software to those companies that make their livelihood from it—and I only install the Lenovo updates I desire manually now while using as little manufacturer written/sponsored software as possible.

 

I think i want to do a clean install. It seems I need a Vista disk. How do you acquire a vista disk...if your computer came with vista pre-installed?

 

I do IT for a living so I have access to almost all Microsoft’s products easily—so I have Microsoft’s original media. However, I truly feel pity for everyone else though and Microsoft’s licensing scheme with manufacturers prevents the manufacturers from including original Microsoft media—though I feel this should be an option on all computers.

 

I know of 3 types of discs that will allow you to do a clean install: Any time upgrade disc, OEM disc and Retail disc. Some options to get a cheap disc = borrow from a friend, buy a cheap copy from your college if your school has a MSDN subscription or look for an any time upgrade disc from ebay or another online store/person. It can be a little bit of a pain to acquire a disc, but once you have it you can clean install any time you have major problems, i.e. the life of the machine. One thing to keep in mind is that if you have Vista 32 bit, get any Vista 32 bit disc, if you have Vista64 bit get any Vista 64 bit disc. I did the clean install and I am very happy I did. Plus it's great to be able to have the freedom to be able to clean install whenever I want, especially since I dual boot with Linux.

 

Fire Snake you talk abot doing a clean install when you desire. Isn't it kind of a pain to do the drivers each time you do a clean install? I typically did a clean install of my XP system once a year and I think it made a big difference. Is there an easy way to get all the drivers installed?

I am looking for one of the anytime disks in 64 bit. If anyone knows of someone who has one point them my way....

 

Yes it is.

I've had to call tech support on three separate issues. on two of them, only the fourth person I talked to was helpful, but mostly by chance since he was not much more knowledgeable on the topic than I was.

I've been harped at by three guys during one call, too. And had I not known what I knew before calling them, I would have been bullied and beaten into submission.

Lenovo tech support is a joke.

having said that, is your hdd in AHCI mode or in compatibility mode? check in the bios settings.

Also, once your vista boots, use task scheduler to check what services has run in the last 1 hour. there may be several running at boot time. disable them (carefully) and reboot to see if anything changed.

also, disable indexing and see if this helps.

obviously something is wrong, since I have a similar config and vista boots in a reasonable amount of time.

last, but not least, your cpu may be locked at the lowest clock speed and this may be slowing down boot. I believe there is a setting for this in bios, as well. restore bios settings to default and then check the disk and cpu

 

When I said clean install whenever you desire I meant as needed. If your system gets hosed(ex: major disk issue, virus etc) you have the freedom to just reinstall a clean version of Vista without even having to worrying about whether you might need to call MS to activate your copy(i.e. OEM preactivated Key). You are right, it can be a pain(i.e time consuming) to reinstall everything over again. I personally don't clean install my system on a regular basis or anything, but it is nice to know I have the power to do it if I need to. Besides if you clean install frequently, you will need to download all the updates from MS till that point again. Also I run Linux dual booting with Windows on one drive, so if I need to adjust the partitions and reinstall Vista, I can.

Getting a 64 bit version of the anytime upgrade disc can be a bigger challenge than the 32 bit version, since more people are running 32 bit OSs on desktops still. I know because I had to find one since I wanted to clean install my Vista Business 64. I can give you the seller's name whom I got it from. Not sure if they are still selling or not. I will PM it to you later today. Also check out the Windows Market place site(do some goggling) and see if they are selling it by any chance.

 

Junk OEM and Bloatware will kill the innocent customers. Lol.

 

I reinstalled the system using the disks I burned when I first started my system. Everything seeeeems to be stable again. Not quite as fast as I would like, but at least I have gotten back to a normal boot up and not 10 minutes. Not sure I will ever figure out what the problem was.

As mentioned in my first post, I installed some updates from the Lenovo www site (the ones which were recommneded for my system). I noticed in the BIOS that one of the updates was new BIOS FW. My BIOS shows 11/9/08 and version 1.18. The folks I spoke with at Lenovo showed 1.15 as the latest FW for the T400....

Initially I thought the bios update may have been the problem, but now the computer seems stable, albeit, still slow. I will try running some of the tests (mem) listed above.

My ultimate goal is the clean install of VB64.

BTW, the second guy at Lenovo was more helpful than the first. This guy also mentioned the 2gb of ram. I mentioned that I was a member of this forum and many ppl run a similar set up without a 10.5 minute startup.... He actually said that the forums are a very good way to get information...he even said it was probably better than calling tech support. Gotta give the guy kudos for honesty.

Thanks again for everyones input and help.

 

One more udpate. Since this computer was new the 2d indicator from the left just below the screen was illuminated when the computer was on. It looks like an antenna.

Since the reinstall of the factory software, this particular indicator light is no longer illuminated.

 

2GB of RAM is fine, but realize, in comparison to Vista x86, Vista x64 will actually use up MORE RAM due to the nature of the x64 architecture. Vista x64 is really designed for machines with 4GB or more of RAM, but you should still get very good performance with Vista x64 and 2GB RAM.

 

The second light from the left is for Bluetooth. You likely have Bluetooth disabled.

 

Your Lenovo laptop splashed Toshiba?

 

I was previously obsessed with getting my Toshiba running....mistake on my part....I edited my original post....to read lenovo.

 

hey superduty, i currently have a T400 with some wifi problem, may i ask how did u fix your wifi problem ?

 

I did a clean install of Vista from MSDN on my t61p. I had no difficulty and obtained good results, This was a CLEAN install that used no lenovo disks. The lenovo WWAN and system mangement were added later. I added nothing that I didn't want. The additional partitions were removed. The final result was good.

 

I dont think i can point to one thing only which was my problem. I did many different things, but now my computer is pretty darn stable with my wifi. I still think XP was better, but I cant complain much anymore. Check out these threads:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=316284

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=327786

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=313196

Good luck

 

about your 10 minute boottime, my friend once had the same problem and i did a clean install for him and it worked, he had a toshiba laptop. this troubled me for a while until i talked to another friend who had a similar problem and we poked around on his laptop and realized his 2.4ghz cpu was running a 1.6 or something. it looks like his BIOS went into powersaving mode and lower his CPU multiplier. his FSB didn't chance but his multi just dropped from 9 to 6. once we changed it and disable the "powersaving mode" in his bios, the performance improved quite a bit.

i don't know if that is what happend, but just something i have experinced,

 

and i found this after i posted

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=389720