Thinkpad T420s Owners' Thread

I have encrypted both mSATA SSD (primary drive) and HDD (data drive) with BitLocker, and performance impact is negligible, probably due to Core i5 2520M and its AES instruction set. UEFI + GPT with the latest BIOS is compatible with BitLocker, TRIM works as well.

 

I haven't updated them since I received my computer about a month ago.

I'm assuming that means they're not up to date?

- will

 

What is LinX?

Are you really referring to Linux? If so, which distro?

 

It's a CPU benchmark / stress testing program.

I'll also take this opportunity to point out that there are updates to the audio software and Power Manager.

John

 

The bug is not fixed: My T420s just hibernated by itself due to "critical battery" - very surprising since I was running on the mains power! I work it up and the battery was at 93%. I am running BIOS 1.25 and the newest Power Manager software and driver.

John

 

Because I am curious was the T420s in question a 1600x900 and how was the performance in WoW?

-DO

 

WoW plays pretty good. You can't max settings, but you can have them at a medium level. 30FPS.

 

I was looking in my system log using Event Viewer and see some interesting events:

(a) Usually once per day there is this warning: Kernal-Processor-Power, Event ID 37:
"The speed of processor 3 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for xx seconds since the last report."
(These are in groups of 4 warnings, one for each virtual core, the xx seconds is variable between a few and tens of thousands).

(b) Not every day there is this warning: ACPI, Event ID 15:
"The embedded controller (EC) returned data when none was requested. The BIOS might be trying to access the EC without synchronizing with the operating system. This data will be ignored. No further action is necessary; however, you should check with your computer manufacturer for an upgraded BIOS."

Are other people also getting these warnings?

John

 

Yep, I get this. I assume it has to do with throttling for battery power.

I don't get this one, however I'm running bios 1.09 and not the latest one.

 

It's described in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...ou-get-stress-testing-your-thinkpad-linx.html

I have just confirmed that the T420s with i5 also hits 97C with LinX, which is essentially the same as my X220 with i7.

With the Intel integrated graphics card, the performance is grim - unplayable framerates with system recommended fair settings. I had to lower everything except texture and perhaps something like projectile, view distance etc. In a 5-player dungeon (ZA) it's only around 30 fps with such pitiful settings.

 

does anyone know if it's possible to get access to the t420s fan by yourself?

Recently, the fan has been making a really annoying soft but just noticeable clicking noise, as if some of the blades were catching on something. The clicking also varies in intensity depending on how you hold the laptop and if you're accelerating the laptop.

Does anyone have this problem? I'd like to be able to fix it myself instead of sending it in to lenovo, since that'd probably require me to back up my hard drive.

 

so I removed the keyboard, turned on the computer, and nudged the fan a little, and now the annoying clicking noise is gone.

On the other hand, I accidentally touched the little tab beneath the keyboard that seemed to be a heatsink for the cpu (or for something at least). There was some sort of gel on it. Hopefully that doesn't cause the cpu to overheat too much.

 

and sure enough, the clicking is back, and the cpu does seem to run a couple of degrees hotter.

ugh.

 

I'm having some trouble with recording at "720p"@30fps from the built in webcam.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/604369-recording-720p-30fps-vids-t420-s-webcam.html

I know Lenovo didn't advertise it at 1280x720 @ 30 fps, merely "720p", but recording at ~10fps is pretty annoying. I'm using virtualdub, recording to a ramdisk, with i7.

Any bright ideas anyone?

 

Does anyone know if the 433710U dock is compatible with the t420s, it says it is but on the image of the dock the connector is on the left but on the t420s its on the right.
Can anyone confirm its compatible

 

The tabook says that the dock is a T420s accessory and the tabook is usually correct.

Are you looking at your T420s when upside down? The dock connector on my T420s is towards the left side (ie nearer the fan) when open.

John

 

Thanks, you are right it's on the correct side, does someone has any experience with it?

 

I have almost decided on buying the T420S but had a couple of queries that i was hoping you folks could help with

1) How much additional weight does the bay battery add on top of the approx 4 pound the laptops weighs

2) The Harddisk options are pretty limited in terms of capacity. I saw a number of threads with addtional\alternative HDD sources. What is the recommended way to go about it. Ideally i would like the SSD but its capacity is way too small. Minimum that works for me is 320 GB

3) I believe there is no HDMI port?

 

Answers inline above

 

From my review of the T420s:

2) The Harddisk options are pretty limited in terms of capacity. I saw a number of threads with addtional\alternative HDD sources. What is the recommended way to go about it. Ideally i would like the SSD but its capacity is way too small. Minimum that works for me is 320 GB[/QUOTE]A popular route is to put a mSATA SSD in the WWAN slot and set that up for Windows and programs then keep the stock HDD as a data drive. Alternatively, if you are feeling rich, then the Intel 320 SSD is 7mm thick when the spacer is removed (or may be available without the spacer) and is available in up to 600GB. Also, I think Hitachi have now released a 7mm thick 500GB HDD.

John

 

This really helps...

Is the Option of using the msATA SSD supported by Lenovo officially?

 

does anyone know if arctic silver 5 is good for the t420s?

I unattached the keyboard, and unfortunately accidentally wiped off some of the thermal grease that was on the little rubber cpu heatsink.

I ask because it looks the thermal grease looks nothing like the metallic arctic silver stuff, and the heatsink isn't the usual copper heatsinks that come with desktops.

- will

 

They provide the technology to support this option and many people are using them.

See pages 94-96 of the T420s Hardware Maintenance Manual. The chip you can see if you remove the keyboard is the I/O Controller Hub. I presume that the rubber heatsink is a simple solution to dissipate a limited amount of heat (it may also support the keyboard). The CPU and real heatsink are on the underside of the mainboard.

John

 

Hi guys

I've just joined the forum after a few months of reading the boards, making my mind up which laptop to choose to replace my aging X301. It's great to see so much knowledge accumulated in one place.

Right now, it looks like it's going to be the T420s, but I'm still on the edge about the screen. For the X300/301 owners out there, how does the T420s fare against the X300/301, which does not have a great screen to begin with? I would love the Sony Vaio Z, but it's double the price here in Switzerland, plus the keyboard cannot compare. There's also the Samsung 9 Series, but it has a low-resolution glossy screen.

 

The X301 has an LED backlit display which was, in my experience, the last general improvement. I wouldn't expect the T420s display to be better. Initially, it might look worse but then you will get used to it and perhaps do a few tweaks. That's the case with my T420s.

Did you also look at the new Samsung 7 Series? The range includes a 14" 1600 x 900 model. The drawback is that they aren't on the shelves yet.

John

 

Thank you, John - I might have the chance to take a look at the T420s in a couple of weeks, and I'll tag my X301 along to compare them side by side. The Samsung looks good, too.

 

My T420s with the Intel SSD 320 (160Gb) has presented freezing problems since I bought it.

The brief freeze (10-20 secs) is always followed by an unexpected shut down.

The lenovo software and drivers were always updated.

I wanted to report what seems to be a solution (I'm still monitoring to confirm): the freeze seems to be related to the power manager. The storage drive shutdown feature seems to cause the crash. The solution was to uninstall lenovo's power manager and use only the options built into win7. I have turned off the option in win7 that makes the disk stop after a period of inactivity.

 

I have had no problems with the Intel 320 in my T420s and wonder if the problem lies in the power management settings. Did you manually check for updates (including the BIOS) or rely on the ThinkVantage update?

John

 

I have an X301 and T420s. Ignoring the 16:9 aspect ratio, the screen on the T420s is 'better'. I do however, prefer the lighter weight of the X301.

If you're really worried about the screen then the X220 with IPS is the way to go.

 

I spent most of yesterday running on battery (main + bay). Later, when I checked the recharge status, I noticed that the main battery had been recharged to 80% and the bay battery was charging. Once the bay battery was full then the main battery was topped up.

It's possible that this was a one-off glitch in the power management but there is a logic to this charging strategy: Do the fast part of the main battery charge (the recharge rate reduces as the battery becomes full) then go and top up the bay battery.

John

 

Is anyone here running a T420s with 1600Mhz DDR3 (8GB) ?

Google seems to turn up a general "yes" to the question, but I'd like to hear a definitive answer from some T420s owners.

The memory I'd be looking to get is the 8GB HyperX kit... Newegg.ca - Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 HyperX Plug n Play Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3P1K2/8G

There's also this HyperX kit that seems to be the same, with the exception that it has an X at the end of the part number indicating that it supports XMP
Newegg.ca - Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX

Any advice? My T420s should be here in about a week.

 

I'm sure the 1600MHz will work since the internal hardware is essentially the same as in the X220 where various users have tried this RAM. In fact, I'm planning to try these modules when I'm next home to see if I can observe the same performance improvement claimed by some X220 users.

John

 

Great! Please report back.

From scouring the net, it seems that Sandy Bridge (at least the i5/i7) support 1600Mhz DDR3, but Lenovo does not report support due to the fact that 1600Mhz is not a JEDEC standard.

Anyway, even if Sandy Bridge can support 1600Mhz DDR, does the Lenovo BIOS allow one to see memory speed manually?

If not, and 1600Mhz is not in the BIOS table, then even though Sandy Bridge can support it, we might not be able to get/see 1600Mhz.

 

1600MHz works in mine. I have those exact same modules in mine. The only issue is that they're hard to seat due to the heatsinks.

 

Which ones do you have -- KHX1600C9S3P1K2/8G or KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX ?

Did you have to do any modifications to get the RAM to sit properly?

 

Quick question, does the T420s ship with a sleeve? What about some sort of lint padding for putting on top of the keyboard to protect the LCD?

 

No sleeve is provided as part of the package. So far (> 4 months) I haven't had any problems with the keyboard marking the screen while I'm carrying the notebook (and it's quite well squashed into a shoulder bag).

John

 

Does any find that closing their lid causes the wifi to cut out? I have the Intel 6300 wireless card.

I've gone through all the software settings I can think of in power options and disabling power management in device manager.

I notice whenever I close the lid and move between various floors or just closing the lid without moving the machine will result in stopped wifi.

After opening, I click the internet/network tray icon then it'll reconnect to my router.

Very annoying. My T60 (Thinkpad ABG) and x201 (Intel 6200) never had this issue.

My drivers are up to date.

Thanks

 

I haven't received my T420s yet, but there must be an option in either the Wifi drivers of in the Thinkpad power manger as "Instant Resume" is supposed to be a standard feature...

See here: Inside the Box ThinkPad T420s

 

Thanks for your tip, but I checked my Power Manager and under the Global Power Settings, Events, Instant Resume is not even enabled (greyed out).

I want to permanently disable all software that messes with my internet connection. If I'm connected to a remote machine, I do not want to find out it was disconnected after I closed the lid.

I never had a problem with my x201 and that's a pretty recent machine using the same power manager. I'm just worried it's hardware related (the antennas get cut when lid is closed, etc).

 

Only thing i can think of to check is the adapter power mgmt properties. Are they set as follows?

 

My T420s just arrived yesterday and I was lucky to get the LG screen over the AUO, but damn, I can't look at the T420s without getting angry. I am completely disgusted with the screen on the T420s!

I've NEVER seen such a horrible display on a laptop before. My 5yr old dell has a better TN panel with MUCH better saturation and viewing angles. Everything on the T420s looks washed out. I've tried to play around with the colour saturation settings with the Intel HD panel, updated the drive etc... but to no avail.

If this wasn't bad enough, you then have to deal with the damn screen door effect. After reading posts, I never really thought it would be that bad, but it is. It's probably worse that I imagined.

I'm going to send this thing back and fight with them replace it with an X220. If not, then I'll probably buy a Dell XPS.

There's no point having the best built laptop if you can't look at the screen for more that 5mins.

Maybe I'm not the norm, but I've got three Dell 22" Ultrasharp's (IPS) in front of me that I use daily and so just looking at the T420s, I can spot the difference immediately.

In short, DO NOT BUY the T420s.

 

Not that the screen is great, but to compare it to IPS screens is a little unfair no? I have a NEC 2490 (H-IPS, 'professional' screen) and of course I can spot the difference in my T420s (which has the AUO). Does it bother me? Not really. Laptops have crap screens. My T61p, T41, Latitude something (work computer), and old HP Pavilion all were no better than my T420s.

It might be just a mind trick but for whatever reason the screen seemed better when I did a clean install (I believe others on the forums said the same thing).

Either way if screen quality matters alot to you like it sounds you should probably go with a consumer laptop. Especially depending on why you went with T420s over X220 in the first place.

Good luck getting an exchange/refund!

 

That's not a fair comparison - desktop IPS screen vs low power thin and light notebook screen.

Did you try fiddling with the gamma in the Intel graphics control panel? I think that was the change that made my display much more usable. My gamma is at 0.8.

John

 

That's the unfortunate part. I've pretty much only ever used IPS panels. The Dell Inspiron 700m that I've been using for the past 5+ years was an exceptional TN panel and I got used to that as well.

I picked the T420s as the Inspiron 700m has too cramped a keyboard and so I was extremely afraid that I would not be able to live with a tiny machine. That definitely does not seem to be the case now. It feels like once you go IPS, you can't really go back to anything else.

I think that over time one could probably adjust to the washed out colours, especially if you adjust the gamma, but what makes it absolutely unbearable is the screen door/grid lines. I just can't seem to get past it.

I honestly could have lived with crappy saturation, but not the damn screen door effect.

I had a 24" Dell IPS before that got sent back for other issues, but it too had a matte screen and instead of having a screen door effect, it had a sort of dirty look, where if you stared at the screen for a little bit, you could make out the millions of pixels present. I'd definitely prefer that than to see the damn spacing between the pixel grids on the T420s.

I'll try reinstalling Windows and see if that helps...

I don't think I'll have an issue with them taking the machine back, it'll just come down to a fight on the restocking fee. It's their choice really... they can eat the shipping fee back and gain a $1000 or then can stick to the restocking fee and lose the entire sale.

 

No issues here either. I'm running the 120GB Intel 320 on a W7Pro clean install (never even booted the original OEM drive before). No ThinkVantage or Lenovo Power Manager. Things are working nicely. Only tweak I performed was to enable HIPM+DIPM. Details here:

AHCI Link Power Management - Enable HIPM and DIPM - Windows 7 Forums

 

In my experience with all laptop manufacturers, once you have ruled out the sound as being HDD noise, a clicking noise (even if it is only a faint click) is the first sign of a dying fan. You can possibly alleviate this by finding a way to lubricate the bearing in the fan. This would of course require removing the fan completely from the machine.

All laptop fans die. It's only a matter of how long it takes. I still suggest having this serviced. You should be able to send the notebook in without the hard disk. My only reservation on having service done to replace a dying fan is the possibility of the depot (or onsite tech) damaging or destroying other parts in the process of repair.

 

Yep, that was one of the first things I checked. I have to leave my lid open all the time now...

 

I been lurking here for a few weeks, and just received my T420s yesterday (scored it off the Lenovo outlet site). I upgraded the RAM to 8GB, but am curious what that area above the RAM slots and to the right of the mSATA/WWAN slot is, anyone know?

 

It's a heatsink and two heatpipes. Underneath it is the CPU, which is soldered to the motherboard.

T420s ???, Wireless, 3G Module/mSATA | Flickr - Photo Sharing!