Thinkpad T420s Owners' Thread

Tells me the files are not available when I click the links kirillov.

 

So I just received my t420s, and whenever I unplug/plug in my power cord, the screen turns off for one second and then goes back on.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can stop this?


As far as the fan goes, it is pretty noisy, but TPFancontrol lets you limit how fast it runs depending on the temperature. So far during normal use, it's barely running at all, makes no noise, and my temps hover around 55C

- will

 

just got my t420s yesterday, been testing it out. love it, so glad I bought it. mobility was my main concern. the display was not the best and could use some calibration, but I dont mind it at all. I found the fan wasn't too bad unless it's at max rpm, but it was always on under bios setting. installed TPfancontrol and used John's setting.

I tried out your plug situation. Doesn't happen for me. maybe it's stalling in switching to the plug and unplug mode?

 

May I ask you to run "powercfg -energy" at a command line and post any errors / warnings you are getting on your T420s? Thanks.

 

I ran powercfg -energy, and there were 8 errors, 25 warnings, and 33 "informational"s

Then it said to see "C:\Windows\system32\energy-report.html for more details.

Unfortunately, I can't open the file in either chrome or firefox or internet explorer.

I've attached the file, but it seems like the only option is to open it in notepad.

- will

 

I got my T420s a couple of days ago and after doing a long and painful clean install (partly due mistakes of my own) with UEFI and GPT I finally got it all set up and running.

However, I do have one problem that bothers me very much. When I open the Power Manager and view the "Power Use" tab the GPU throttle is at a constant 100%.

Does anyone else get this?

 

How about the noise in your unit ? Do you feel any discomfort by the fan noise ?

 

To be honest, if I had enough money to buy a T420s, I would use it to buy a new Sony Vaio Z.
Can you believe that a 13 inch notebook only weighs 1.2 kg? and with a i7 cpu.

 

New Z is far more more expensive in Europe than t420s, it starts around 1800 EUR when t420s starts at 1100 EUR, almost all upgrades are also cheaper in t420s case than in Sony.

t420s with 320gb HDD, mSATA ssd, i5, 4gb cost about 1200 EUR when the new Z with i5, 128gb SSD without dock costs 1850 EUR.

 

Yeah I'm getting that too.

Is that a bad thing? Is there a way around it?

- will

 

I have no clue... Is your T420s of preinstalled state or did you do the driver installing yourself (clean install or the like)?

Perhaps someone can check this out us. It would be very helpful!

Open Power Manager and go to the tab "Power Use" (when in Basic mode). What does your GPU throttle say? Is it stuck, does it jump up or down? Mine is stuck at 100%.

Edit: While waiting for response I tried out some things...
1. When booting with Discrete card only (Intel HD disabled in bios) the PM throttle is non existant. However, HWINFO and GPU-Z seem to show that things are fine.

2. When booting with Intel HD only, the PM throttle is at 100%. HWINFO and GPU-Z doesn't show me any clock rates at all (constant 0 Mhz) so I can not deny or verify anything.

3. When In Optimus mode the PM throttle is at 100% (this is where I saw this first). HWINFO only shows Intel HD without clock rates (0 Mhz) while GPU-Z shows Intel HD at 0 Mhz and NVS4200 at same clock rates as in example #1. This suggests that the discrete is in use even though optimus is enabled??

I don't know what to make of this. Someone please help!

 

Thank you. I am a bit concerned about this:

Platform Power Management CapabilitiesCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) Disabled
PCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) has been disabled due to a known incompatibility with the hardware in this computer.

Have the same error. I hope Lenovo knows about this and will fix it in a BIOS update.

 

This is probably the GPU changing to / from a power saving setting. I recall seeing discussion of this in another thread but can't recall if someone found a fix.

John

 

there is a power setting that forces the screen refresh rate to change from 60 to 50 Hz when the computer is unplugged. Have you disabled that option?

 

Yeah I read about that, but unfortunately I can't find that option anywhere either in power manager or in the "Intel Graphics and Media Control Panel".

 

I don't see the big pause so I've looked a little further. I have just looked at the Display page in the Intel graphics control panel and the refresh rate is set at 50Hz (I'm on mains power). Change your 60Hz to 50Hz and then the automatic change to 50Hz when on battery will do nothing.

Why some of us have default of 50Hz and others 60Hz is another question. perhaps it is related to the regional settings and the appropriate mains power frequency.

John

 

Yeah pretty amazing but as mentioned for the same price you get lower hardware specs. Plus does it have something like ultra-bay battery? Don't think so and battery life will be very bad (eg. similar to T420s but no bay battery option). Also you pay extra for a dvd drive. But agreed I hardly ever use one. But I am tempted. However where I live Lenovo laptops are often sold a lot cheaper to students (30-50% rebate) which of course makes the decision very easy.

 

I assume most of you have already seen this, but I'll post it here anyway:

Lenovo ThinkPad T420s Laptop Review | Business Laptop Reviews | Laptop Reviews

It was ranked as an editor's choice: "The lightest 14-inch notebook on the market, the Lenovo ThinkPad T420s remains a truly compelling choice for business users looking for the optimum combination of power and portability. The HP EliteBook 8460p has a more attractive design, and the Dell Latitude E6420 offers longer battery life. But if you want the best keyboard, a high-res screen, and solid performance, this is the business laptop to beat."

Apparently their model didn't have any of the problems you guys are dealing with. I wonder what percentage of models have these issues...?

 

The only noteworthy problems I've run into has turned out to be self caused. I did a clean install to run with UEFI and GPT and I in the process I foolishly installed incorrect drivers but, I've sorted that out now.

Other than that I first experienced the loud fan after 3-4 days of normal use. I have no idea why it did not occur earlier, but the TPFanControll that John Ratsey linked in an earlier post fixed my problems after 15-20 minutes of customizing the speeds to my liking. Now it doesn't run hot under "normal" use and it doesn't get loud unless under real stress. The BIOS version I'm running is 1.13.

My screen did not have any issues that has been brought up. In fact I was very surprised at how good the display was after reading comments from several T420s users. I come from using a very good 15" 1920x1200 display on my previous Dell laptop, and the only thing I miss is the real estate (but I expected that from a smaller screen), the image quality feels about the same. The screen I have is a "LTN140KT03401", I'm not sure who manufactures it but I read somewhere that it might be a Samsung display.

It's very unfortunate that the overall quality of the T420s (perhaps more accurately the displays) vary so much. Hopefully they fix the fan speeds in future BIOS updates.

Oh, I almost forgot: The loose ultrabay was fixed with some Kapton tape I got from ebay (a good thing about Kapton tape is that it resists 200°C so no worries what so ever when it comes to temperature).The ultrabay doesn't move one bit now and there's no way of telling that it has been tinkered with (unless removing the keyboard). I might upload some images if someone wants to see. It's a simple fix that takes about 15-30 min. I'll be honest, it took about 2 hours total because I first had to figure out how I would do it properly, but once I figured it out it was pretty easy. It shouldn't take more than 30 min to reproduce.

 

Me too, it's really strange that so many users e.g. at lenovo forum ( to be honest, almost everyone ) complain about fan when at the same time laptopmag says it's ok.

For me the only reasonable explanation coming right now is that maybe laptopmag reviewed model with new unpublished BIOS ( because right now everything shows that all t420s issues are caused by wrong BIOS settings)

 

I wouldn't mind seeing these images. the ultrabay is the only thing bothering me with this laptop right now, other than the battery life (getting 2:37hrs at 83% under "normal" use). I was just going to use cardboard or some electrical tape.

 

I'm looking at buying this laptop. What are your experiences with 2 finger scrolling (MBP style) and 3-5 fingere gestures?

 

Compared to the MBP I don't think it stands a chance. I have tried to set up the touchpad settings according to some thread I found on this forum and it turned out to work alot better than out of the box. However, the MBP is a clear winner in this aspect. I think that this also has to do with the small size of the touchpad which is due to the small form factor of the laptop itself as well as the placement of the trackpoint.

I wouldn't recommend the T420s at all when it comes to using finger gestures, so I think you must ask yourself if the gestures are that important. Other than the lack of using gestures the touchpad is superb (though I believe it needs some setting up to fit your use) and the trackpoint is also very good.

Yeah, it is pretty annoying. The way I fixed it there is no flex at all when using the Bay Battery while there's still some flex (read: next to none) with the DVD, since it is slightly thinner. However, the DVD doesn't make that clanky (metal against metal) sound when moving because the tape works as soft spacer. I will try to upload the pictures tonight.

 

Has anyone taken out the optical drive and left that bay empty? It'll save around 4 oz. Is there a cover for the bay if I wanted to do this?

 

Other possible explanations:

1. They only used it for a short time and so didn't have enough time to encounter the problem.

2. Many people come to the forum when they have a problem and are trying to find a solution. So it's not a random sample of t420s users since there is to some extent a self-selection issue here, though obviously people like John Ratsey were on the board before they ran into the problem...

 

I'm not sure if I read this somewhere here, but can anyone confirm that the ThinkPad Advanced Ultrabay Battery II 43R9250 is compatible with T420s?

 

So now I'm getting a weird problem that I didn't used to get on my old thinkpad.

I'm running windows 7 professional (essentially the default factory install), and occasionally I'll want to copy a folder, and then rename it, but after I copy, when I try to rename, I get an error:

"The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. Close the folder or file and try again"

Now clearly nothing in the copied folder is in use, since it only popped into existence a few seconds ago. Why does this happen? The only way I've found to get around this is to navigate away, and then back to where the copy is. Refreshing (F5) doesn't help. It's kind of a minor problem, but it's annoying since I do this about once a day.

Any ideas?

- will

 

I'm using an UltraBay II battery in my T420s although mine has a different part number. IIRC someone said this was a regional issue.

Perhaps the problem is that since Windows thinks you are using the newly copied folder, it won't let you rename it. It's time to look at Total Commander which is usually well-behaved. I never got on with the Windows File Manager.

John

 

I bought a used T420s yesterday from Craigslist for cheap Everything is great except I want to upgrade already. I read that mSata SSDs work in the T420s. Which 40/60 GB mSata SSDs are the recommended ones?

 

ya I recall reading your review with a different part number. just had to check
thanks for the response, the older version is a lot cheaper.

 

I have a t420s, i7 with optimus graphics. The screen is the type B140RW02 V1, and it is hideous. It is without question the worst LCD overall that I've every seen/used. If viewed from the exact right position with the screen tilt set perfectly, it looks ok. But even small head movements badly distort colors.

Even worse, the panel ghosts worse than any lcd I've ever seen. If I run my mouse cursor around in a 1-inch circle even fairly slowly, against a dark blue background, the lcd ghosting makes a complete circle. Awful response time, the worst LCD I've ever used or seen.

I got the intel 310 80GB msata drive and I'm pretty happy with it. Boot times went from around 2 minutes to around 30 seconds, with almost no bootup or driver optimization efforts using a factory OS image.

The lack of BD optical drive is infuriating. If I wanted to lug around an external drive, I'd have gotten an X1 or a macbook air. Lenovo advertises this whole laptop as one big HD lovefest, with HD screen, HD camera, HD sound with multiple microphones, etc... Only you can't actually watch HD content without plugging in an external device. Stupid corporate marketing nonsense.

This thing is otherwise built very very well. Which is good and bad... Good that it'll last years, and bad that I'll have to stare at the crummy screen for years. It really is hideous, and I've developed a bad habit of turning the cursor ghosting into a game. When browsing online or using skype, I run the cursor around the darker parts of the screen to see how long I can get the ghosting to last.

With the bad viewing angles, this thing is worthless trying to show presentations to even one or two other people. Both vertical and horizontal look angles are very sensitive and a second viewer offset by even a foot or two is going to see severe color and contrast distortion on anything that isn't simple black text on a white background.

I should also mention that I have very good eyes and I don't see any noticeable or irritating gridlines on the screen. I suppose the other panel type has the gridlines, and my type has the crummy everything else. I'd pay an extra $500 if this thing came with a decent lcd panel.

 

If the display is that bad then I would consider it defective. Have you contacted Lenovo and asked for it to be replaced?

John

 

I have not contacted Lenovo. It doesn't seem defective, just inferior. Massively inferior. Like 10 years old technology inferior. I can think of no defect that would cause mouse trails. They've always been a problem for slow response time panels. The same for poor viewing angles, they've always plagued TN panels. The newer and better TN displays have *better* viewing angles and *less* mouse trails, but the one they used for this computer... Awful. It doesn't seem defective (brightness is pretty uniform, no stuck pixels, colors are nice if you view it from the exact right angle) so I'm not sure what I'd be able to get replaced, and I don't really want to return the whole computer for a refund.

 

My suggestion for those of you that influence your company and other customer buying behavior is to start looking elsewhere. Lenovo seems uninterested in fixing the problem. They won't even acknowledge it.

It doesn't seem like they'll change until the all mighty dollar shrinks and they start losing share in the 13-14" corporate market.

 

I've not seen any problem like you describe (I fortunately have the LG panel which seems to be the best of the 3 in use). You should be entitled to a screen that's not out of place in the 21st century and I would have expected Lenovo support to be willing to try changing the display.

The underlying problem seems to be that there are very few sources of 14" matte panels so all the notebook manufacturers share the same headache. And the market isn't big enough for someone to order a pile of 14" IPS panels.

John

 

Until my users complain about the quality of the T420 laptops, I don't plan on stopping our ordering of them. I don't see the issue in the display and I've yet to hear anything but praise for the T420 from my users (this includes the T420s).

While there is a small viewing angle vertically, it isn't enough to be noticeable once you open the laptop and adjust it for how you're sitting.

 

Long wait for a laptop -

Placed 7/10/11 with an estimated ship 8/9/11.

I'm also annoyed because my shopping cart gave an estimated ship of 7/28, and once the order (10 seconds later), the est. ship was 8/9/11. I'm currently using a 9-year old Compaq with 512MB of RAM.

T420
i5-2410
2GB RAM ($240 for an upgrade to 8GB? Really? Insulting)
HD+ Display
720P Camera
320GB HD
Intel N-1000 Wireless (too many options for my taste)

 

You've been using a machine for 9 years and now you want to complain about a couple of extra weeks?

I love the internet.

 

Actually the fan in my T60p burned out and the GPU went kaput, so the computer I'm using is 3 generations ago (there was a T22 in there also). But yeah, I don't imagine our ancestors complaining about a technological marvel coming from China in just a few weeks.

 

I just got my T420s today. I ordered it with I7, Optimus, and the Intel 160gb SSD through lenovo (which I don't recommend since it took close to two months to deliver).

I've been following the forums closely so I know what the issues some of you have had. So here are my observations:

Fan noise is nearly silent (but running). I'll keep an eye on this.

Build quality is excellent. Nothing is loose including the dvd drive. One issue that I may call about is what appears to be a cosmetic streak/ scratch across the front from the left of the touchpad through the fingerprint reader area.

One thing that I wasn't expecting was the small available hard drive space. Upon first startup, i have 97.4GB out of 132 capacity on the Intel 160gb SSD (The recovery drive says 6gb free of 15gb). Is this normal? should I disable the recovery drive?

Screen seems decent. No pixellation. (Extremely) Slight ghosting of the cursor. My LCD is B140RW02 V1. Which panel is this?

I'm also posting my AS SSD benchmark for the stock Intel 160gb. Do the transfer speeds meet expectations? Also, it's model number SSDSA2BW160G3L. Can anyone confirm if this is the X-25M or 320 series?

If you have any questions/ comments please let me know. This forum has been very helpful for me so far to learn about the T420s.

 

SSDSA2BW160G3 seems to indicate it's an Intel 320(G3: third gen): http://www.bestdirect.ca they sell the SSDSA2BW160G3 01

 

That would be nice. Although I was expecting the X-25m since the lenovo sales people still say they have no record of the 320 series being used. Also, the write speed on the benchmark seems to be higher than the max on the X-25M. Right?

 

Hey mate, I just checked my T420s, there's no ghosting issue of any sort, the refresh rate is comparable to my desktop monitor (24").

You really might have a poor panel, or just eagle eyes. You may want to contact customer support if it gets really bad.

 

I just wish that Lenovo would just release an 13-14in laptop with IPS screen or at the very least a better TN panel. They needed to acknowledge that not everyone who buy a Thinkpad are satisfied with the screen. With Lenovo current offering, you can either get a T520 which can hardly call portable or get the X220 which screen size and resolution are too small for my need. I guess I will just wait til the next refresh to see if Lenovo would put a decent screen on their 14in Thinkpad. Just to be fair most business notebook have very bad screen too, it just that Lenovo seems to outdo them (putting in a slightly worse screen) almost every year.

 

ha ha ha. I misunderstood. I get it now. I thought you had been using the same machine for the past 9 years. That would be a pretty incredible feat. And long overdue for an upgrade.

 

Listen out for it getting noisy under load and then being tardy in slowing down again afterwards.

It's AUO. which seems to be the least good of the 3 panels used on the T420s (LG, Samsung and AUO).

John

 

About to pull the trigger on an T420 but a few things have me concered. I plan on putting a fresh install on it as soon as I get it of 7 Ultimate. From a pdf i picked up on this forum it seems the install process is a pain in the . I have installed 7 on about 15 different computers for random people and all go off without a hitch and work perfectly, but it seems like a lot has to be done for the T420. Is this stuff I just never did with other computers or is that guide for people who have never done formats before?

Also the screen issues have me worried. I am currently using a 5 year old Hyundai monitor for my desktop and see no problems with it, and I am wondering if the issues people have with the screen are just picky people. The screen in my 15" macbook pro is nice and as long as the T420's HD+ matches it I will be perfectly happy.

 

I'm not sure what .pdf you are referring to, but it's wrong. Installing Windows 7 Ultimate is easy. Just make sure you have downloaded all of the drivers ahead of time. There's a couple of key areas you might want to save on the original hard drive or SSD. C:\SWTOOLS for sure. READYAPPS is the other one.

Also, keep in mind the original disk and factory load is pretty good. Very little crapware and the stuff you don't want can easily be uninstalled or opted out of on first boot.

You could simply upgrade the existing Windows install that comes with the machine with your Ultimate key. The anytime upgrade process will accept it. Then you don't need to start from scratch. The anytime process just turns on the new features. Pretty easily done.

I wouldn't change anything the first week. Get used to the machine and installed Lenovo software (and design) first.

As for the screen, they aren't bad, but they aren't stellar either. Of the ThinkPad line, the X220 IPS screen and the W520 FHD screen are tops. The T420s screen is good enough but it's nowhere near the cream of the crop.

 

I followed Lenovos own guide here (the second method). I found this guide after I had already downloaded the files from the Lenovo website and renamed them one by one (worst of all, I had already started the clean install as well). This was VERY time consuming!

To avoid my mistakes (and save yourself ALOT of time) you should burn a CD with the drivers specified in the guide, make sure you keep all the original folders so that you, together with the guide, easily can identify what's what. Lastly install the drivers in the order of the guide and always restarted when prompted - unless the guide specifically tells you not to.

Edit:
About the screens it seems to be somewhat of a gamble. John Ratsey has said that the LG screen seems to be the best. My screen, which I believe is a Samsung screen, is superb. It's not griddy at all and the colors look surprisingly good. Vertical viewing angles could be better but it doesn't really bother me. As far as these 2 brands go I guess they are satisfactory (I can only speak for the Samsung screen ofcourse)
The AUO display is the one that seems to have all of the bad traits that have been brought up countless times. Unfortunately I don't think there's a way of telling which screen you will get before you actually get it.

 

From checking the link you posted, and some others online with that model number, it appears to be the 7mm version of the Intel 320 series SSD. So I think it may be official that (despite what lenovo sales reps are saying) they are now using the 320 series as the drive when you select "Intel 160gb SSD" on the order page.