T500 resets ethernet connection when display powered off or on

Bizarre problem here... I suspect that the source of this came from some Windows 7 updates that I loaded yesterday, because everything was working fine until then.

Whenever the display on my T500 is powered off (either automatically after 10 minutes or manually by clicking "power off display"), the ethernet connection resets, powering off briefly then immediately coming back on. This happens again whenever the display powers back on.

I have standby disabled when plugged into a power outlet, so it isn't doing that. This is a weird problem and I'm at a complete loss on how to fix it. Anyone else experiencing it?

 

I noticed this too and I strongly suspect it is the newer Intel LAN Driver update from Windows Update that seems to cause this issue whenever the Display is turned off. So far, the connection comes back quite fast that it did not really bother me that much for now. I believe that modifying Driver Advance properties or a Driver rollback should fix the issue.

 

Got it. "System Idle Power Saver" in the advanced configuration settings was set to Enabled after the driver update. Disabling that fixes it.

 

Thats cool! I believe this issue is not only limited to Thinkpads but across the board for those using the Intel Gigabit LAN and have updated their Drivers via Windows Update.