T420 Problems with randomly freezing.

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but the problem has gotten to such an annoyance that I wonder if there's a solution to this problem.

I own a Lenovo Thinkpad T420
Important specs are here:

So the problem is:

My computer randomly freezes. I have these 3 symbols next to the T420 logo, which indicate
1. Wifi is on
2. Bluetooth is on
3. Hard drive is loading something
When my computer freezes, the 3rd symbol will be green (meaning it's loading something), but it won't flicker or flash in and out, it'll just STAY green.
I can still hear sounds, but sometimes the sound will loop what was just played (like if I'm playing a game, it'll say "blah has been slain" over and over again)
Sometimes I can still move my mouse around, sometimes I can still change windows, but then it'll all eventually freeze. However, sometimes my entire screen does freeze, and I can't move my mouse at all. In addition, sometimes sound will keep playing, but sometimes it'll just stop playing as well.
These freezes usually take about 75 seconds to unfreeze. Once it unfreezes, all the commands that I was trying to do before it freezes happen (like if I open a window, change a window, etc.)
Sometimes I get disconnected from the wi-fi, sometimes I don't.

If anyone has a solution to this, please let me know!! I know 1 minute+ of freeze isn't really much, but when I'm playing a game it seriously inconveniences me because I also disconnect and have to reconnect and that takes even longer. Time is vital in LoL!!

 

Does the freeze happen only when you play a game or does it occur also when you have a normal session? Plus is this coming from a stock Lenovo image or have you done a clean install of Windows on it?

I would first try updating the drivers if you haven't done so to see if it remedies some odd glitches. When you run the game also keep an eye on the temperatures to make sure it's within reasonable range and not throttling, use AC power if you haven't done so as it may be using low power settings causing things to go slow and freeze on intensive stuff. If they seem OK but with no luck then try do some stability testing such as Memtest86+ to rule out any bad RAM issues.

 

What type of SSD?
Are you using the machine with the battery inserted?

 

It will freeze even on regular sessions. Usually when it freezes once, it won't freeze for awhile, unless I close my laptop or restart it. When I do, it'll freeze randomly again.

I believe I have updated all the drivers, and this is Windows 7 from Lenovo. I haven't done any changes to the OS. The heat is fine, the AC power is fine.

It's an SSD coming from the Lenovo manufactures. I haven't done any special customization other than when I first ordered it online, and yes I use my laptop with the battery inserted.

The freezes didn't start until probably a few months ago. I got this laptop July 2011, so a little more than half a year ago. The only extensive thing I've probably done on it is livestreaming LoL.

EDIT: @Hearst, I tried looking at the memtest86+ but I'm not sure how to download it? Could you explain it?

 

If you want to use memtest86++, I'd recommend that you run the passes for a long time to find out if you have faulty RAM.

Prerequisites:
1 recordable DVD/CD
T420 power on
at least 50MB of space (the install files total to 3,136,443 bytes which is a little less than 4MB)

Instructions:
0) Get MagicISO Burner ( here) or any DVD/CD burning application and the Memtest86++ iso image ( here).

1) Install MagicISO and extract Memtest86++ v4.2 (mt420.iso) from the .zip archive file using Windows Explorer or a external software like WinRAR to a location like your Desktop.

2) Insert a blank recordable CD/DVD into the drive of your computer.

3) Start MagicISO and go to its file menu to find an option which allows you to select an ISO image and burn it to your disc. Select the mt420.iso file and burn to disc.

4) When the application acknowledges that the burning was complete, close your other work on the computer (assuming that this was all done on the T420; however, if this was not done on a T420, just remove the new Memtest86++ disc) and shut down the T420.

5) Start your T420, but press F12 (it might be another key) while the computer shows the lenovo Thinkpad BIOS screen to access other boot options. Select the option to boot to your CD/DVD drive.

6) You are now booted into Memtest86++.

 

Hmm. If the third light stays green for the entire time that the system is frozen, it is related to the SSD. Just to be safe, you don't have Active Protection System installed, right? If it is, you'll see a green play button with a hard drive icon in your system tray. If it is installed, uninstall it (you don't need it with an SSD) and see if your problem persists. Theoretically, an SSD would ignore the "park head" command, but you never know, I suppose.

 

Oh wow, I didn't know about this feature!! I looked it up on my START menu and read that it'll freeze the Hard Drive if there's any big shocks.

The thing is.....it freezes just RANDOMLY, like I wouldn't be doing ANYTHING intensive with my laptop and it just freezes! In any case, this was a really helpful tip and for now I'll lower the sensitivity and see what happens.

Do I really not need it with an SSD?? I'm kind of nervous because what if I do accidentally drop my laptop...

As for the memtest, I don't have a blank CD that I can run the ISO on
So I can't really run it at the moment..but thanks so much for the tips!

I guess if the problem comes again, I'll come back to this post or make a new post about it. If not, then thanks so much for the heads up! Lenovo definitely gave me a bunch of programs that I haven't bothered looking at all. Really good tip on this one haha ! I'll let you guys know if it freezes again later, can't really determine it now because it just froze randomly like half an hour ago when I was writing a program >_>

 

Hi, I posted this from awhile ago, but the problem never desisted. I tried to disable the Active Protection System, but it STILL froze my computer. The problem is stated in the first post, does anyone know why my laptop randomly freezes???

 

Try disabling Intel Rapid Storage "LPM-Feature"
Solution: C300 Disk Freeze-ups in Windows 7 solved... - Crucial Community

This would solve freezing issue... in most cases that are not "Intel SSD"

 

Hi, I have a T420s with a factory Intel 160GB SSD, Win7 x64, with random freezing problems that start in May 2012.

I have not yet found a solution, but have done some testing that might useful to this thread.

I think the timing issue suggests something with a software update. I'm resistant to going back to system restore that far back, because I do so much with this machine.

Interestingly, the same behavior happened when I cloned the SSD to HDD, so that ruled out the SSD, which was my first thought.
I updated all my drivers to latest versions.
MEMTEST checks out.
Keeping Resource Monitor open shows active RAM and CPU loads (1-4% CPU), but zero disk and zero network. I would expect some I/O, even minor.

So, I'm back to disk. But what?

Hopefully this helps somewhat.