T61p Graphics Problems with 3D Gaming

Hi Folks,

I just ordered a T61p with gaming in mind (at least for a good % of the intended usage). I am awaiting delivery. Unfortunately, I see on another Thinkpad forum a hugh debate going on with the problems they are enountering with the graphics FX570 card in 3D gaming applications.

Refer to: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=47755&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

It sounds like a major unsolved problem for gamers. Interestingly, I don't find on this forum any similar discussion. (Maybe my search missed the discussion?)

I do see useful recommendatons on this forum on using laptop2go, Lenovo, or Nvidia graphics drivers......but no major issue similar to the other forum.

Any comments by anyone? Thanks for any inputs.

 

Well, I've played Half Life 2: Lost Coast, Team Fortress 2, and World in Conflict demo on my laptop without any issues on stock drivers.

That's not to say there aren't any problems, I just haven't encountered any.

 

Ah, Imark841, that's good news. Your PC specs are similar to mine too. Which FX570 driver are you using? I know you mention stock drivers....but do you have the #?

And, what date did you buy your T61p?

Thanks.

 

I am using the drivers straigh off of Lenevo's site, whatever the most current version is. I don't know the number off the top of my head.

I ordered my T61p back in September or so. I think it took about 2-3 weeks for it to arrive.

Funny thing is, I actually called to cancel my order, and the laptop showed up like 2 days later.

Anyway, as I said, gaming has been fine for me. A lot of people will run gaming drivers too with a modified file to work the the 570m. There are threads around it, just gotta search for them.

Anyway, hope this helps.

-Mark

 

Thanks, 841. Yes, I have found many good threads on different drivers.....but not threads associated with the FX570 stability problem. It might be more associated with heavy and more recent games. I have been playing HL2 and HL2 Deathmatch with an old Nvidia 5200 with no stability problem....but the other thread had talked about more recent games and the poor stability.

Thanks again.

I will await my new PC and test the heck out of it.

Alacrity

 

The only thing I notice when gaming is that things get really hot.....CPU up to 80C along with GPU, not unusual, just very warm.

 

I wonder if the people reporting problems are the same people installing customized drivers, trying to get their Quadro FX 570M to show up as a GeForce 8600M, to squeeze a little extra gaming performance from it (gaming/performance drivers made for the 8600M behave/perform differently than CAD/engineering drivers made for the 570M).

I've played plenty of World of Warcraft, TeamFortress 2, and Portal on my T61p (ordered Nov. 3, received Nov. 7) with the stock nVidia drivers, and I haven't had any problems at all. It does get hotter during FPS games like TF2 and Portal than it does during WoW, but I think that's understandable. I haven't had any unexpected game crashes or anything with it.

 

Thanks for your feedback. I am getting less nervous. The other forum talked about the heat then the BSOD and shutdowns with 3D intensive gaming. Many PC returns to the depot and email exchanges with the Lenovo tech folks. One common problem was that the gaming only worked when folks took out one of the two DIMM memory sticks....didn't work with two sticks. Lenovo started to replace the PC panels and returning the units to their owners. So, sounded like hardware problems not GPU software issues.

But, your inputs are reassuring and since it didn't affect all PCs, I am hoping my PC works as yours does.

Alacrity

 

refer to my post here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=179172&page=13

And Alacrity, since you just ordered the laptop, I think it will be fine. Keep in mind though that this is not a new problem. I have heard people with T60 that have similar problems. Since Lenovo is now realizing how serious the problem is, I think they will do more testing before they ship it out. So relax.

 

Thanks, Snakejw. Your comments and the thread you reference are welcome inputs.

Actually, some of the same posters on the thread you mention are on the other forum and posting similar comments.

And, the PC Doctor v5 post you made was interesting and also on the other forum as well.

Looks like a wave of inputs to Lenovo is finally cresting and being heard by Lenovo as serious.

So, I think you are right.....Lenovo should be doing more testing to avoid their own expense of having to ship and replace motherboards in repair....very expensive proposition for them.

Tell me, what game demos are a good test of the video capability? And, I assume PC Doctor v5 video testing is also now a good test. In your case, did your GPU do poorly in some games and the PC Doctor test?

Thanks again,

Alacrity

EDIT: I am half way thru reading the entire thread you mentioned. Excellent info. Thank g_d for forums like this! Great work everyone is doing to troubleshoot and this must be helping Lenovo track down the cause of this issue.

 

Don't waste your time arguing with people who want to try and downlplay the issue and try and tell you it's a software problem or that it's user error or something. There are so many ridiculous theories out there about installing different drivers, or doing a clean install of Windows, etc. There's no point speculating and pointing fingers. Talk to people like me who actually have had this issue and had it resolved. It is a hardware issue that only a very small percentage of T61P's made have. Such a small percentage that it took Lenovo a while to even realize this issue existed, because most T61P buyers were having no problems. So far, experience has shown that the fix is a new motherboard. A bunch of us now have had this problem, got the motherboard replaced, and the problem is gone. In my case they actually gave me a whole new computer. They gave me a T61P with identical specs to the original one, and I kept my original hard drive and placed it into the new computer, and the problem was gone. That is just to emphasize to you that this is NOT a software issue, I made no software changes, I just got new hardware.

What is your particular involvement in this issue Alacrity? Are you a T61P owner who is having these problems, or are you just considering buying a T61P but worried about the problem?

If you are a concerned potential buyer then I would suggest to you, don't worry about this issue. Chances are if you buy a T61P it probably won't have this problem, but if it DOES happen to have this problem, Lenovo will fix it for you. They are aware of the problem.

Every brand and every line of laptop has a percentage of defective units...

 

Hellbore,

I only just finished reading the 13 page thread on this issue and I feel like sending you a donation for articulating this problem so well.

Thank god for the forum.

And thanks for the reassurance. I just ordered two days ago the T61p with 2.6Ghz cpu 2x1gb ram fx570m video and XPP. Struggled with the XP decision but wanted speed and simplicity....and it looks like it partially helps in this situation as well.

I used to buy all my stuff at Fry's Electronics in CA or Neweggs but I really liked the high end possibilities of the Lenovo and the double December sale discounts of 38% was the final push I needed.

BUT....I love gaming and saw the threads in both forums....so got concerned. Thanks for your reassurance and thanks to you personally for helping to force or move Lenovo in the right direction. A lot of smart people on the forum....almost seems like a subsidiary engineering work force for Lenovo.

Just tell me where to send the donation.

Alacrity

 

So wait, is the problem a GPU problem or a 4 GB memory problem? I was under the impression Alacrity was asking whether anyone had GPU problems, and that the issue you had (Hellbore) was a stability/crashing problem with having 4 GB memory installed?

 

It seems that the problem occurs when playing 3d intensive games with both RAM DIMMs occupied. As a temporary solution, you can take a stick of RAM out. As for me, I ordered a 2GB stick and plan to return my 1GB to newegg.com .

Does 3GB of RAM make a noticeable performance gain in games coming from 2GB of RAM? Actual games, not benchmarks ...

 

Fignuts,

After reading many threads in multiple forums, it doesn't look like there has been a definitive cause to the problems with intensive 3D gaming.

So.............................if there is no publicized cause.....it would be pretty hard to say what the best solution would be.

Those who took out one RAM stick and had no problems kind of points to some type of hardware issue.

And, some of those who sent their PCs back to the depot for repair got them back with new Motherboards and the problem resolved....which points to a hardware issue.

It could be something as simple as a cold solder joint.....very hard to find sometimes at the depot level.

Lenovo does appear to have created a PC Doctor v5, though, which tests the PC at a 3D intensive level.....and so hopefully this means Lenovo is testing at this filter level before shipping new units.

Alacrity

 

I haven't seen this new version of PC Doctor, do you know if it's possible to download it separately, not through the Thinkvantage software?

I did a clean install of Vista and didn't install Thinkvantage but I would like to download PC Doctor separately if possible for testing.

 

That input was posted by Snakejw in two different threads including one of your theads in this forum:

Re: Who has 4 gigs of RAM in their T61P?
Ok, here is something new.
I ran the system update today and one of the updates is a newer version of PC Doctor 5 for windows. So I gave it a try, and about 20 or so mins into the video card test, the thing power off again. I would like to hear what the tech suporrt will say this time. They can't use that " if you passed the PC doctor test then it's not a hardware issue" as excuse anymore I guess.

I don't quite catch which part of the test cause the machine to shutdown, I think it's the "GPU Pipeline data test". All I remember it's a test with two pipes at the end and in the middle there were some green lines flashing, then it went dark. The whole thing just died. It has become somewhat unstable during the lighting test already.

I hope this could be helpful to Lenovo engineers in pin pointing the problem and finding a solution. But if it's indeed a hardware issue, I guess me and those unlucky ones will have no choice but have it fixed by lenovo.


Hellbore,

I would be interested in your testing results of v5 but I don't personally have the T61p yet so you may want to pm Snakejw or google.

EDIT: PC Doctor v5.1 download @ http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/

 

Yeah I meant to post that question in a different thread, the one where Snakejw was talking about PC Dr. Oops! I think I had 2 windows open or something lol...

That link is to some other program though called Spyware Doctor, I was looking for PC Doctor which is a program from Lenovo. I'll see if I can find it on their site.

 

whoops! sorry about that. thought that was a little too easy.