ThinkPad x200 - Windows XP x64 - Standby resume slowdown

Dear all,

I suffer a big issue with my new ThinkPad x200. I am willing to upgrade my laptop to 8GB RAM in future so I decided to use a 64bit system on it. I am old fashioned and I like Windows XP, so I decided to use Windows XP x64 (XP x64) system instead of Vista x64. The reasons are pragmatic. Less system resources consumption and better performance.

Realizing the problem that XP x64 system is not supported by Lenovo, I made long investigation and found all drivers and sorted out how to install all devices properly in XP x64 environment.

I would like to ask everyone to help me with the only issue I have on this configuration:

> When the computer resumes from standby it turns incredibly slow. CPU runs mostly on more than 80% and system is almost unusable. The system have to be restarted to work properly.

Please help me to solve this issue. Just want to mention that I work with computers for a long time, tried to search Google, forums, but without success. Any suggestion is highly appreciated. Thank you very much and have a good day.

Vaclav VESELY
deltaori.com

 

I've never experienced that problem (either Vista Business 64 or XP Pro 32-bit). My best suggestion would be to go in and out of standby a couple of times (if I ever have an issue [e.g. power consumption higher than it should be], this almost always fixes it for me).

The issue you are going to have is that very few people run XP x64. It was fairly popular for a time due to its ability to access 4GB+ of RAM. However, it has been almost entirely supplanted by the far better supported Vista 64-bit.

If you are really concerned about System Resources, you may be better off trying a Server OS (e.g. Windows Server 2008) and cutting out the server portion (e.g. the DIY Windows Workstation 2008). This is easy to get via Dreamspark if you're a student, or via MSDN/Technet. However, if you don't have access to these it will be difficult/expensive to get.

Personally, I'd just recommend you go to Vista. SP1 is stable, and as long as you have 2GB+ of RAM, it runs quite fast.

 

Download ProcessExplorer, and check if it is Hardware Interrupts that is bogging down your computer.

Also, like jonlumpkin said, very few people use XP 64-bit, and it has many compatibility issues. Vista 64-bit does a much much better job of running 32-bit applications. Vista 64-bit runs very well on my T500 with 2GB of RAM, and I have only had one application that didn't run correctly (Taskbar Shuffle).

 

Hi Deltaori,

I just bought an X200 too. I would like to help solve your problem as I want to go to Windows XP 64-bit.

However, I am stuck right at the install. Would you mind sharing where you got the SATA driver from and what you chose for it to work?

 

You can either slipstream the Intel AHCI driver (check Lenovo's site) into your installation CD with NLite; or you can disable AHCI in BIOS before installing XP, installing the driver, and then re-enabling AHCI.

 

Hi i use the xp x64 on R61 and dont have any trouble with that. I noticed that some ppl reported same trouble after installing e.g. zone alarm.
Or this could be problem that the OS doesn't clear ram properly after resume? Perhaps there is some app to clear ram?
Or it could be that clock of cpu and gpu that are slowed down during standby doesn't come up to expected speed after?
This is problem harder to track, could be more things ...

dont have that hw, so can't help much more, gl though!

 

Dear all,

The problem remains. Regarding to comment of MidnightSun. I know Process Explorer and I use it as my default tool to control processes running on computer and analysis. It is highly recommended. But the problem is that non of the processes causes the slowdown. The performance is lower in overall meaning. Normal processes take much more than usual. No virus or "bad" software.

I checked the same Windows installation on another computer and standby works well. I mostly think, something is with the S3 power mode. It seems that the computer does not leave the low power mode and for that reason the slowdown. I checked CPU frequency with CPU-Z and everything looks normal with frequency 2,4 GHZ for P8600...strange.

There must be something with drivers or so. Normally stanby mode is allowed after the graphic card is installed, so it might be graphic card driver. The strange thing is that the driver package (Intel 4500) is XP x64 compatible so no problem might happen...

I just want to mention that I am not a PC novice. I work with computer from 1992. But unfortunately unable to solve this issue.

Phamti. If you want just contact me at vesely'dot'vaclav'et'gmail'dot'com and I will send you the whole package of drivers for XP x64 and offer help if you need. The problem is that x200 is optical drive free so I used virtual machine, F6 SATA driver and finally Sysprep and Ghost to deploy...will be happy to show you. Actually I am going to have a presentation as my school project on Prague Unicorn College soon about this procedure.

Thank you all for your investigation and help.

 

Hi deltaorionis,

I got frustrated and bought an external cd-rom and had an external floppy handy and setup Windows XP 32-bit.

This might be helpful to you, I found strange problems coming out of standby too. What I did was went to my network card settings, wireless and wired and did not allow the OS to power them down.

My co-worker is trying out Windows 7 for the last month or so and just loves it. He is similar to me and most likely yourself in that we have been using XP with nLite instead of Vista to squeeze out every bit of juice on the system.

So in the end I will stick with WinXP-32 bit for now (I only have 4 gigs of RAM) and wait for Windows 7.