ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

It appears that Lenovo snuck in a s/w improvement for the IPS screen this March.

I do manual updates, and my last one was 20 days ago when this update wasn't there.

It seems to make a small improvement to a wider viewing angle; meaning it'd be easy to not notice it when doing updates automatically.

In Windows Device Manager, the new driver is titled: "Wide viewing angle & High density FlexView Display 1366x768"

 

That's no driver, it's just a really bad color profile. It's been around for quite some time now. (2009)

 

Beg to differ, but it looks like a new driver to me. Windows 7 > Device Manager > Monitors > Properties > shows date of 3/11/2013, version # 5.1.0.0, and provider is Lenovo.

Also it appears to be specific to the HD 3000 graphics.

What makes you think it is a "color profile"???

 

The name.

"Wide viewing angle & High density FlexView Display 1366x768" ist the name of one of the many color profiles Lenovo provides. These also show up in the update manager.

 

It's just a color profile, as 600X says. It's not new and the update has no improvements for the X220. Wide Viewing Angle & High Density Flexview display is just the name of the display in Windows.

The only thing the update actually contains is support for the X230s and T431s. Installing it only changes the color profile, and it doesn't "make viewing angles wider," that's just how lenovo chose to name the display

 

It's possible that it does little or nothing for X220 owners. See below.

I went to the Lenovo update center at Lenovo Support - Drivers & Software (US)

This update under Display and Video Graphics, i.e. "ThinkPad Monitor INF File 79oi30ww.exe 305 KB" seems like it may be the one. So it looks to me that it's intended for ThinkPad T431s,X230s,S430,X1 Carbon.


>"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN THIS RELEASE
Version 4.38

[Important updates]
Nothing.

[New functions or enhancements]
- Added support for ThinkPad T431s,X230s.
- Added support for ThinkPad S430,X1 Carbon.

[Problem fixes]
Nothing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES

- If you use the preload environment, you do not need this package. This package
is required when you install Windows OS without the preload image.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"<

 

Last night I was wondering if I had suddenly started hallucinating that time had slowed down, when I realized that the left hand side of my X220 was baking hot and my CPU had throttled itself to prevent meltdown.

My fan completely stopped... yet the EC was reporting fan speed of ~2000 RPM. After poking the EC to try and start/stop the fan, I did a suspend/resume but that didn't work either. I had to shut down completely and then when I powered it back on the fan finally kicked in. And no, it's not making any bad sounds. The fan itself seems to be perfectly fine.

Weird. This has never happened before and I use the machine 24/7. Anyone else?

 

Not that I recall on any ThinkPad I've owned or used. Maybe it was just a glitch.

 

Does anyone know if it's safe to run the X220 in Fan 64 with tpfancontrol? The fan runs at 5300-5400 rpm and I typically don't hear it ever run that fast normally.

 

Yes it's safe. My X301 Fan runs at 8100 RPM at 64.

 

Hi all. Like fzrashid I picked up an X220 with this awful TN panel. Still at £300 for the i5 model brand new (unboxed etc) you can't sniff at that eh? I've gone over the past 15 pages or so and will of course continue to go back further but...


- I obviously want a nice IPS panel in it instead of this rubbish. I found an amazingly cheap one on ebay for £46 (!) so is it worth a risk or can anyone see any immediate red flags from the listing? I notice others have bought one double the price but which is likely to be much better quality. Thoughts?


- Does anyone have WiDi working? I'm stuck with this awful Lenovo wlan card (which is infuriating as the upgrade is some ridiculously cheap amount of money, but as mentioned earlier this was an ebay jobby so no choice here). I've flashed a BIOS with card whitelisting so as far as I can see I have a choice of finding the following to maybe get WiDi working - just wondering what you're all running.

Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N + WiMAX 6250.

 

WiDi does not work. I have tried many times. Perhaps it is necessary for a receiver to already be in your possession.

There is no way of telling with 100% certainty if that screen is in fact the IPS. If you can return the screen within 14 days it might be worth a shot.

 

i also run tpf 62. on my x220 without problems.

 

That is not the X220 IPS screen. It says it's a Hydis screen, but LG manufactuers the X220/X230 IPS LCD.

 

Yup, 99% of the time when you see "for xyz" at the end of the title, it's a "compatible replacement" for xyz instead of the actual part you are looking for; don't fall "for that".

 

Cheers guys/gals. I'll hold out on the IPS then. If someone could waterlog their laptop and sell me their panel that would be awesome

I've found a compatible WiFi adapter and so if I get WiDi working at some point I'll post a full step-by-step.

 

Someone is selling the panel on the marketplace of the forum.thinkpads.com

 

Uhg, my fan is dying. It's starting to make some bad noises and not work some of the time. Has anyone replaced theirs? Any tips? There's no way I can send mine in for warranty service, it's my only machine at the moment.

 

WiDi works with the X220. I use it with a Netgear PTV2000 adapter. Such an adapter (or similar one) is required fare. I have the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 WiFi card in my X220. An Intel card is also required fare.

 

I did my X200 or X220. I can't remember right now, but I presume they're fairly similar. The fan is on the underside of the notebook, so you've got to pull the board. It's not that bad. Just follow the HMM and you should be good. The LCD is much more difficult.

 

Hi there,

Is there a working Windows 8 driver for the Ericsson F5521gw WWAN card? I have a driver installed, but it is not working.

Thanks!

 

I got an offer of $400 for an x220 tablet, i7, 4GB Ram, 320 Hard Drive. Do you guys think it is a good deal? I do not really need another laptop but it seems a very good deal.

 

If you don't need, I would say no unless you want the touch feature.

 

As a X220 tablet owner, I would suggest you get a normal X220 if you do not need touch or handwriting. The X220 is lighter, thinner and has more battery options than the X220t.

 

As another x220t owner, I complete agree as well.

 

Thanks guys! I was just wondering if it was a good deal. It is a lot cheaper than what I saw on ebay so I am very tempted to pull a trigger. This is a deal I see from Craigslist.

Does the touch on the x220t feel as smooth as current laptops?

 

Touch is not smooth on X220t and X230t when compared to the Helix, TPT2, ideapad yoga or yoga 2 pro. But the pen works brilliantly. If you are expecting the kind of touch sensitivity like on an iPad then you will be disappointed.

 

Could someone help me with information on what I need to get for my X220 to use Windows 7 wireless display with TV and thanks.

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

 

I can't get my thinkpad x220 ejected from the ultrabase 3. After I press the undock button and it turns green, even though the lock key is in the unlock position (vertical), the eject lever does not eject the x220 from the ultrabase. It almost seems as though it is still locked (my guess is that the lock is broken in the lock position).

Has anyone else had this issue?

 

Little late but this, or another Miracast device, is what you need:

Amazon.com: NETGEAR Push2TV Wireless Display HDMI Adapter with Miracast (PTV3000) Certified for use with Kindle Fire HDX: Electronics

It is not infallible - it is not recognized 100% of the time and may need some massaging to get it work at times, but once it is connected it works pretty nicely with minimal lag. However it is not the best solution for a dedicated HTPC as you will notice very slight choppiness on HD video which may or may not irritate you.

 

What is the normal idle temperature for i7 CPU? I'm getting 46-47C on desktop with a few browser windows opened. I already torn it apart, cleaned and repplied some IC Diamond thermal paste on it.

It was idling at 60C before (dried factory thermal paste).

I have a new fan on order so perhaps that should make cooling more efficient?

 

This sounds a tad high, but in the right range; what are your load temps?

 

My X220t with a i5-2520M used to idle like high 30's with ~15-17C ambient, but load the processors do get toasty, I tested Team Fortress 2, it shot up to like 92-95C.

 

66-67C according to Core Temp. Ambient temperature is around 22-23C. It's mostly browsing with 6-7 windows open with fb/flash ads/youtube in the background.

 

No, I'm asking what if you do something like Prime95, or even Prime95 + FurMark... like if that doesn't go past the mid 90s, your system is probably normal.

 

I just replaced the x220 stock HSF with a new one for x220/x230 which has identical part # but the fan design is different.

It's MUCH quieter now not to mention temperature seem to be hovering between 45-52C when web surfing. For a second I thought I forgot to plug the fan in but upon restarting the laptop and putting my ear next to the fan you can barely hear it turning.

 

That happened with my X200. The original fan was very noisy, but I replaced it with a new one and it was noticeably quieter.

 

Hi guys, quick question here, I was wondering if it's possible to install a X230 motherboard on my X220 ?

 

I would ask what's the diff? There's little practical difference between the two. The X220 keyboard will not function normally with a X230 board due to the BIOS.

 

My thoughts on the x220, bought second hand. Found the x301 getting long in the tooth, and thought of carrying something slightly smaller. Did a addition of a mSATA HDD Crucial M4 256 GB which came from my previous x301 (1.8" mSATA adapter ftw).

Battery life: 9 cell battery pack is awesome. 80 plus cycles on the one I got from the previous owner, and still 6-8 hours of usage?

Performance: Core i7, hell yea! I can watch full HD Youtube without issues now. But the speed of the M4 seems a little slow, even after upgrading the firmware.

RAM: Came with 1x 8GB, don't think i'll be adding any for the time being.

Still deciding: IPS screen swap, but what can I do with the old screen? Also, any recommendations on a whole chassis replacement? Would like to have the 'new' feeling, but if it costs too much then I won't bother.

 

You can do the upper half, but the screen probably costs less.

 

Hello i had a problem with my x220 audio combo jack and i want to replace it , i unsolder it from the motherboard but i cant find the right part to buy :/ anyone knows where can i find the audio combo jack for x220 or something similar which i can fit and work? , i dont want to buy usb headsets etc... if anyone have any info about the part please tell , thank you!

 

I've picked up one of these refurbished off Ebay. Seems amazing little machine so far - a lot nicer than the faulty elitebook 2540p it replaced.

The one thing I've noticed is that the lid open/close state doesn't seem to be registered whether in Windows or in the BIOS so it doesn't sleep or hibernate when closed irrespective of the setting selected in power settings (I have power management drivers installed, etc.). Any idea what could be causing this? As I understand it the state is tracked by the action of a magnetic sensor located next to the webcam interacting with another one under the trackpad. It's not an unbearable problem but it would be nice to know if it's fixable. I've checked the serial and the warranty on this machine does seem to last until October 2015...

 

I've noticed that there is a whiny sound from the cpu for several months now ever since I got this laptop refurbished online. I've read into the problem and I've read several solutions

• 
  Spray the vents with compressed air without opening laptop
  Open the laptop and spray on the fan holding the can air of vertically
  Open the laptop and clean the fan with a brush.

I'm afraid either static or moisture will harm the laptop

I opened the laptop today and noticed there were dust buildups in the wings of the fan but I didn't do anything (It was just an inspection for now I suppose).



This is a snapshot of some other x220 (not mine). In the upper left corner there is the cpu fan. I can access it by removing the palmrest and keyboard. I'm trying to find a way not to remove the heatsink/fan so I don't dig too dip into the laptop

What should I do to fix this dust problem?

 

Hold the fan blades (to prevent excessive rotation) and blast that area with compressed air for starters. Letting the fan blades spin freely while using compressed air can wear out the bearings of the fan.

 

what if the dust falls through the blades and like into the processor or other parts of the computer while using compressed air. Also how should I hold the compressed air (I've heard vertically)

 

Huh. No. Dust has nowhere to go as far as the processor is concerned. As for the "other parts". that's why one removes the keyboard prior to "internal" dusting.

Yes. And there are directions on the can, just in case...

 

^^^Yes.

@iceblitzed. Also do not forget to hold the fan blades of the laptop stationary while you use controlled bursts of the compressed air!

 

Thanks, the cleaning of the laptop fan went well I believe. Less noise and better cooling.
But now I got one more problem:



Night Owl

I removed by keyboard and palmrest on the lenovo x220 and put it back together however the touchpad seems to be slanted on one side and sorta "stuck". I have also noticed that using the touchpad to move the mouse results in decreased performance or sporadic movements sometimes. This is most likely due to the fact that the touchpad is not aligned properly from what I have seen. I am aware of how to remove the palmrest but I don't know how to disassemble the palmrest itself. I can't find any info on that in manuals or videos.

 

Have been trying to delete the SWTOOLS folder on my boot msata SSD after copying it to hdd but every time I restart my x220 the folder shows up on my C drive. How can I get rid of it on my C drive and thanks.