Thinkpad T420 Owner's Thread

My machine just arrived in Alaska thirty minutes ago. Most likely, it will be a direct flight to Boston from there.

 

Ah, mine did too. Can't wait to unbox it! Is this your first ThinkPad, XX55XX?

 

Anyone have any accessories recommendations? Sleeves? Cases? I was also hoping to find a clear "skin" to protect my new T420, but no luck so far. The closest thing I could find is a leather texture skin on eBay. It looks okay in the photos, but I wonder if the adhesive will cause problems with the T420's rubber finish. It also doesn't help that the vendor folds the product to fit into an envelope (he claims that the crease will disappeared upon application).

 

^Not sure if this is within your price range, but this is the exact case I own for my T400. The inside is composed of High-resistance polyurethane, which apparently helps your laptop better absorb shocks and whatnot.

However, I'm not sure how well it will fit the T420, since I'm still waiting on mine to be delivered, but the 14" sleeve fits my T400+9Cell quite snug.

Amazon.com: Zeroshock III 14-inch Notebook Case

 

Not my very first. I had a Thinkpad i-series (the Acer ones) machine around ten, eleven years ago. It was used, and my father passed it onto me as a gift of sorts. It had Windows 98 on it.

It died in 2004. I bought a MacBook Pro 13-inch in 2009, but decided that I wanted to upgrade to Sandy Bridge. And I thought I would simply go back to a Thinkpad.

 

Also, another question for those of you who replaced the stock CPU:

I am reading the repair manual, and the manual mentions that one must remove the keyboard bezel, but there are a mass of wires that one must remove underneath. The diagrams are somewhat vague, and I am afraid of touching these delicate ribbon cables. Any tips or pictures available?

Everything else I think I can do.

 

When I replaced my CPU (i5-2410M to i7-2720QM) from the keyboard bezel the only thing you need to be weary of is the touchpad cable connected to the system board but it is relatively simple to disconnect (the cable).

You don't need to take out the right speaker, just the left speaker to make clearance for the CPU heatsink. Also you don't have to to take out the LCD screen as instructed from the hardware manual, you can leave it as it is.

So in summary:

- Take out the Keyboard.

- Remove Keyboard Bezel (Bit tricky but take your time on this one).

- Remember the wireless connections and disconnect. Gently guide the wires away from the CPU fan.

- Unscrew the left speaker, you don't need to take out the right.

- Unscrew the CPU heatsink and fan and you'll have access to the CPU. Should you remove the heatsink its best to reapply a fresh set of thermal compound again and that means cleaning off the existing set of compound using TIM cleaners or Isopropyl Alcohol.

 

Ah, everything must be done except for full speaker disassembly and LCD disassembly? Hmm.

Also, I bought a unit without Bluetooth nor a fingerprint reader, so does that mean I need to disconnect one cable?

I'll check it out when I get the unit here tomorrow.

 

The Bluetooth attached shares the same cable as the touchpad underneath the keyboard bezel so you don't need to worry about them being separate. But yes you will need to remove both the keyboard and keyboard bezel to physically have access to the CPU.

 

Ah, so that was just superfluous information on Lenovo's part. So, just taking apart the first cable underneath the touchpad would suffice?

 

Yes all you need to do is just disconnect the touchpad cable so you can fully remove the keyboard bezel.

 

What are these wires?

 

I think they are wires that connect to the antennas on the display for wireless networking. You connect those wires to a WLAN or WWAN card that you plug into that mini-PCI-E slot there.

 

The laptop came with a 6205 which has been giving me an awful time, should they be connected to it? (I assume it is in the under the keyboard slot).

 

no it's for 3G card.

 

Yup, they're for the WWAN card. If you add an mSATA SSD you just curl them up close to where they come up through the circuit board. There's just enough room to do it.

 

The flexible coax is kind of fragile. But if you use the mSATA for an SSD instead of a WWAN card, who cares if the coax gets bent a little?

 

Question:
Can I use the 2.1 Bluetooth from my T400 and use it on my T420?

 

Can my T420 (Home Premium) handle 8GB of RAM?

 

Yes, I have this configuration and it works fine (assuming Windows 7 Home Premium is 64 bit).

 

Scheduled Delivery Updated To:
Monday, 08/01/2011, By End of Day

 

I decided on a T420 with these configurations:

Processor: Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.50GHz, 3MB L3)
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Display type: 14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics: NVIDIA NVS 4200M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory
Total memory: 4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Camera: 720p HD Camera
Hard drive: 128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)
+ 3 yr. onsite warranty

Total (with taxes): $1300

I just put the notable upgrades I made to my laptop. Considering my upgrades and everything else, I'm getting a decent deal, right?

 

@Gillatorby: you might want to buy with the cheapest hard drive and buy + install the SSD yourself. It's usually cheaper that way. Plus, you get to choose which SSD you want if you do that.

Same thing goes for RAM. Buy with 2GB then either upgrade to 4GB for half the cost, or if you need to, upgrade to 8GB for the same cost as upgrading to 4GB on the config page.

 

Can someone explain to me exactly what is a powered usb port? Does that mean I can charge my iPod using the USB even without the computer on?

And are there a lot of products that use USB 3.0? Do you need a specific type of USB device to use the 3.0 port?

 

Well, I'm deathly afraid of attempting to install an SSD on my own and in the process killing my computer.
And as for the RAM, it came with the 4GB? I'll upgrade to 8GB on my own though. Upgrading RAM is easy enough, even for me, haha

 

All you do is pull the hard drive caddy out of the side, take the hard drive out, put an SSD in, and reinstall Windows on the SSD using either a recovery disk or a DVD made from one of the legal download links.

 

I think I can manage with the hardware installation...
But how do I get a recovery disk? Does it come with my laptop?

 

You'll able to make a set of recovery disks using Rescue & Recovery which is preloaded on the factory install. You just need 1 blank CD and 3 blank DVDs to complete the backup procedure. It should be the first thing you should do when you have your system.

 

Let me get this straight...

1) Make recovery disks
2) Remove HD and replace with SSD
3) Boot computer.
4) Insert CD and DVDs and install?

 

That's pretty much it, I have tested reloading the recovery disks on to a brand new SSD and found no problems, it even aligned itself correctly without intervention.

 

Hmm...I'm still a little skeptical, haha.

Can anyone direct me towards a step-by-step, comprehensive, and SIMPLE guide? One with pictures or a video would be terrific!

And finally, if I did decide to install the SSD myself, what would be a good one for my T420? Looking for about 120-128GB.

Thank you everyone for the help

 

If its the hard disk drive you want to remove then it is one of the easiest component to replace. If you're still hesitant then you can use Lenovo's service training videos, the video though based on the T410 is pretty much the same for the T420. See FRU Removal/Replacement then the Hard Disk Drive tab for details on this section.

 

Actually, what my reservation with installing the SSD on my own is successfully creating and installing Windows. I'm looking at some instructions...and there are some mysterious verbiage being used (BIOS, ISO, etc). I'm reading about getting the most up to date firmware (whatever that is) and installing it on the SSD so that it'll run properly. And about people getting blue screens from incorrectly installing it.

 

If BIOS and ISO are mysterious terms then perhaps you'd be better served paying someone to do it for you.

 

Well, I just missed UPS today, believing that they would show up later. Now I have to wait until Monday for my package, or possibly schedule a pickup.

 

T420 has arrived. Looks great. Keyboard is solid. Screen is bad when viewing at an angle, but it is perfectly fine when you look at it for normal use. Big change from my T400 16:9 to the T420 16:10, looks shorter, looks a little more awkward (a lot of plastic between the base and display).

 

How do I make the recovery discs?

I installed Lenovo Repair and Recovery
but in the maintenance folder, there is an option for "create repair discs"

Which one do I use?

 

I think you can use the built-in Windows Backup and Restore to create a recovery disk.

 

No, you use the Lenovo utility first. That will dump 3 DVD's worth of software onto discs (have blanks ready). Those can be used to restore to factory defaults. Once the discs are made it will give you the option to delete the software restore partition (about 15gb).

Regular windows backup does not do this.

 

is there a way to turn off the ultraby hdd automatically instead of going through safely remove all the time?

 

Well I received my new T420 but didn't get a chance to open it until this weekend. I had already had it 23 days counting the 6 day transit time. I was side tracked with my new job and studying for the CCNA. Well I powered it on and immediately noticed two very bright red stuck pixels. I was so mad especially with the issues I had with my first T420 from an ebay seller. So I called up lenovo and they gave me the run around about the return policy. I let them know I didn't realize that the transit time was counted in regards to their 21 day return. I was very nice about it (arguing that it had been in transit for 6 days before I even got it) and the customer service rep stated they would make an exception. I had to send a picture of the stuck pixels and then reorder another T420. The customer service rep got the picture and stated that it was clearly not acceptable. So I am waiting for a credit on the old T420 (which they received last Friday) and should have my new one on Thursday.

I am very impressed with lenovo so far (we shall see how the credit and new one looks) because it was clearly my fault that I didn't check the laptop out right away. At the same time, I definitely don't think it was fair to include the 6 day transit time as part of my 21 day return (at the same time though I believe most places have the same policy). Oh well, hopefully it works out in the end.


Also, can anyone recommend a good sleeve for the T420 with the 9 cell battery? I haven't really been able to find anything that is decent.

 

I just eject it using the switch underneath without doing anything else, as long as Win7 isn't accessing it you're fine.

I just use my 500gb ultrabay drive as a Lightroom 3 photo library storage disk and for my movies, so as long as I'm not in LR 3 or watching a movie I eject it, no problems so far.


Got the MyDigitalDiscount 64gb mSATA 50mm SSD in last week and installed it, works great. So much better than a Sandforce based drive as far as stability.

 

Sorry, I'm not following you here. You mean you physically eject (remove) the ultrabay drive? Or leave the ultrabay partially inserted in its place?

 

Hey guys, I finally got my T420 today.

First impressions:

1. How do you access the BIOS? Or is a boot selection screen all you get? I pressed F2 and DEL, but I can't find it.
2. No dead or stuck pixels. Good.
3. Build quality is better than my MacBook Pro.
3. Even though I bought the PC-DOS version, my hard drive came bare. No PC-DOS in sight. Installing Windows right now.

 

I created the backup disks yesterday, but only had to use 1 CD and 2 DVDs, did I do something wrong?

Now that I have the CDs can I remove the Lenovo Recovery Partition?

 

Hey guys, how do I install RAM on my T420? I've tried several times already, but apparently, the system is not recognizing it. Can anyone show me a picture of how properly installed RAM on the T420 looks like?

EDIT: Nevermind. Figured it out.

 

Great work putting this all together Hearst! I have run into an error tho: I downloaded the drivers (all *.exe's), and copied them onto a thumb drive, BUT when I go to do the custom install and browse the thumb drive I cannot find any drivers?!?

"No signed device drivers were found..."

 

The executable files alone is not the driver, you have to run the executable files so it extract the drivers into a folder on the hard drive which Windows then can use.

 

Thanks! Will I be able to remove the Lenovo Recovery Partition once I have created the Rescue & Recovery disks?

 

If you go into bios, you there's an option to disable power to the ultrabay.