W520 is disappointingly slow

In May 2011, my new W520 was delivered with the i7-2720QM, 4gb RAM, and 500gb 7200 rpm hdd. I bought 3 additional 4gb sticks to bring the RAM to 16 gb. I had expected speed on this laptop. But since day 1, I was not impressed. My friends’ had bought other laptops with i5s and they seemed to run faster than my W520. My husband just bought the Envy 17 with i7-2760QM. He got it with 80gb SSD (told him to get that since everyone said it is much faster) + 1tb 7200 rpm hdd. Everything works so much faster on the Envy than my W520 (scanning pictures with HP Solution is faster, viewing pictures using explorer is faster, MS Office programs run faster, etc). My W520 seems to be constantly i/o-ing. When I close my laptop, it takes a few minutes for the hd to stop writing (I mostly hibernate and shuts down maybe 3 or 4 times a month). Sometimes, I am so frustrated with the waiting, I just put the laptop in my bag and go. Every time I do something, it feels like there is a lot of i/o going on. 9 cell battery lasts about 3 hours before requiring charging. Just writing this post is a pain. I would type and sometime it takes a few seconds of the letters to appear on screen. Don't know if it is the website or my laptop. The disk light is constantly flashing. Is it because I don’t have a SSD? I do have the Lenovo bloat ware on the laptop, will a clean install be the answer? If yes, please advise on how to do it. I don't have Window 7 cd. How can I make this laptop run with the speed it should be running? Thanks.

 

Is there any chance that you received a faulty HDD?

If you're looking to do a clean install, follow the links/steps in my signature.

Make sure you read and you'll be fine.

 

Lenovo ships their laptops with an unusual amount of their own custom apps that are redundant to Windows 7 native functions.

My first suggestion is to remove the Lenovo Power Manager (unless you are really getting something from it) and the Thinkpad Toolbox thing. If you don't use Simpletap, dump that too.

Go through Programs and Features and review anything you never use. I think they use CorelDVD or something, I typically remove that from the T520s at work. Those laptops are very fast when they are tweaked up.

You could have glitchy hardware, I think they come with diagnostics with the blue button on powerup.

 

Thank you for responding V Chip. SMART indicates a healthy drive. Is there a tool you would recommend to test the HDD?

If I want to do a clean install, is there a quick way for me to see all the drivers on my laptop?

 

System Update.

 

The drivers are in the C:\SWTOOLS folder. They came with the machine as delivered. You can choose to update them later.

Copy that folder to a USB flash drive. After the clean install, go down the Device Drivers, point to that folder and tell Windows to search its subfolders for the right driver for each device.

It may be helpful to read the Hearst Guide.

PS. Constant drive access may possibly be caused by antivirus software. In general, check the Startup list (msconfig.exe) and Processes list (Task Manager).

 

Thanks everyone. I will make an image copy and follow your instructions for a clean install Will let you know how things go.

 

I don't recommend clean install. It's a waste of time. Uninstall the software you don't need. Toolbox, maybe access connections. You should keep power manager. Disable unnecessary programs from starting using msconfig.

Why wouldn't you expect your friend's computer to run faster than yours? It has a solid state drive. A Core 2 Duo computer with a solid state drive can load programs faster than your computer with its normal hard drive. You ought to replace the hard drive with a solid state drive.

Why do you hibernate the computer all the time? Hibernation is slow; standby doesn't use much battery life at all. If you hibernate, you end up frustrated, put the computer in your bag, and then as you carry it, you're jostling the hard drive so it's having a difficult time storing data. Have the computer go into standby.

As for power usage, you should watch what's using your processor cycles. Battery life is bad when things are using that powerful processor. Your usage habits may be bad for battery life as well.

I think your expectations should be different. A really fast processor won't make programs load that much faster. You'll be able to process things faster (e.g. compressing a file), and the quad core enables better multi-tasking, but it seems the slowness you're talking about is because you're using a mechanical hard drive.

 

Of course it will take a while to hibernate.

16GB at a generous max of 100MB/s sequential write will take 2.73 minutes to write completely. Compression and empty RAM will help somewhat, but if your hiberfil.sys is heavily fragmented, it won't write nearly as fast.

The 9-cell will last 6-8 hours under reasonable usage for me. Make sure you're not running CPU intensive programs like iTunes, Chrome, Skype, etc. Find resource lighter variants like foobar, IE9, or Trillian. Also make sure nothing is running on the discrete GPU when it shouldn't: Optimus test tools finally in users hands - News - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

And do defragment that drive regularly. Use MyDefrag (free) or UltimateDefrag (paid) over the Windows defragmenter.

You can get a software hybrid drive solution too, if you have some spare SD cards lying around and RAM to spare.

 

+1 for system update with one suggestion. I would advise against letting Windows update the BIOS if needed. System update will divide what drivers and updates it has found into critical and recommended (or suggested). I have found that a BIOS update will show up under one of the options. On the Lenovo support website there are bootable ISO images you can download and burn to a CD. This in my opinion is more reliable and less prone to be problematic judging from many threads I have read over the years about bricked motherboards from letting Windows update the BIOS. I've used the burn to CD images on several ThinkPads and they've gone smooth and easy. I hope you get your W520 in tip top shape!

 

I concur. I'll add that you should never update a BIOS after your warranty expires. If it isn't broke, don't brick it.

 

I would inspect all running processes - to see if something eats your resources. By default, Lenovo ads tons of automatically starting rubbish utilities that you may want to kill. See also:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...20-what-eating-cpu-resources.html#post8498815

 

I highly recommend keeping Power Manager. Yes, it could be a more lightweight program, but at least on my T500 and X120e, it really does not add much overhead and does not affect performance.

On the other hand, it allows you to maximize your battery's lifespan by setting battery thresholds (I don't think there are any third party tools that allow you to do this) and control a large array of Thinkpad-specific power settings.

 

I'd try switching off the that 'airbag' (or whatever they call it) shock protection for the HDD.

 

There might be viruses because they usually gather and may slow your computer. So, you should update your Windows Defender and get Microsoft Security Essentials ( here). Manage your software wisely: Norton (or any other spyware scanner), fragmentation, and software updates may contribute to the slow performance of your computer. If you are a internet user who keeps multiple tabs (20+) open, your computer would also slow down unless you manage tabs that aren't needed (watched videos on youtube take up RAM). Burn a copy of memtest86+ ( here) and boot to the CD/DVD during bootup to test your newly installed RAM for problems which may cause issues with hibernation, performance, etc.

 

I couldn't agree more. There are a lot of Lenovo apps I don't run, but Power Manager is one of the most useful, and one of the few I keep. It really doesn't have a lot of overhead.

The one question I would ask the OP --the laptops you are comparing to, do they have SSDs rather than mechanical hard drives as the boot drive? An SSD will always make a laptop feel faster.

The W520 is a great laptop, so I'd have to say there's something either in the software configuration, or possibly your comparison systems are running from solid-state disks rather than a hard drive.

 

My 2 cents:
If you can afford a SSD, get one, most of the poor user experiences you are describing would be resolved by this upgrade. Not sure about the typing thing, that shouldn't be lagged.

I personally do a fresh reinstall of windows on every system, but it’s not as necessary for the 520 as some systems I’ve seen in the past. It’s pretty lean and the hardware can easily handle the few extra programs it loads on boot. But if you upgrade to a SDD I would go ahead and do a clean install, Lenovo has a great utility for updating all your drivers once you have loaded the os.
ThinkVantage System Update 4.03

Some people don’t like it because it runs in the background, but you can always uninstall it after you use it to update all your drivers. Also keep in mind that reloading windows 7 can take upwards of 4 hours after all the windows updates that need to be downloaded.

Don't use hibernate! If you plan to use your computer again in a short time and will be near a plug-in, just put it to sleep. If you are done for the day or plan to be working off the battery and want to keep it charged up for that, then save your stuff and shut it down. Personally, I only ever use the sleep option. I have it set in the power manager to “shut it down” automatically if the battery gets below 7%. I’m always near a plug when I use my laptop so I don’t have to worry about not being able to recharge it if I’ve left it in sleep mode all day.

If you want the advantage of an SDD but need the cheep storage of a traditional drive you can buy and install a MSATA SSD that has its own spot under the keyboard. Use it as the main drive that runs windows and all your other programs, and use your current hard drive to store all your data and files. There are plenty of threads about this option if you search the forums. This would also make hibernation faster if you insisted on using it.

 

Thanks you all for your suggestions. I am sorry it took so long to respond, home and work life prevented me from working on the laptop. To reply to a few comments:
1. system updates are done when I am notified
2. all systems I compared had regular hard drives, only my husband's laptop had the SSD
3. I do want to get a SSD but am waiting for a deal before buying one...anyone know of one?
4. I run NOD32 as the antivirus and scan my laptop once a week, so I don't think I have a virus
5. I have online backup for some work files and maybe that is causing the constant I/O on the disk

I hope to get some work done on it this weekend.

 

Your online backup may very well be the culprit. Check to see if your settings would cause constant use of the HD. And check the task manager to see if it's your CPU as well as your HD. If it is, track down what specific process is running when you notice a slowdown. On a computer like yours, what you type should never lag when appearing on the screen.

If that doesn't solve it and the performance is really that bad, I would restore, either from recovery discs that should have been created when you first got the system, or by doing a clean install of Windows. The latter is preferable if you have the time.

I'd use Windows Defender over any other anti-virus system as Microsoft keeps it well updated, it's basically integrated into the OS, and it's light on resources.

 

Task Manager and Resource Monitor (resmon) will both let you look at what is going on in the system (reading the disk constantly) as well as look at the network traffic. If you have a large set of work files going across a slow link backup, that could be part of the problem. However, if the network is the bottleneck, it doesn't make sense to me that it would be dogging the rest of the system unless you have perpetual indexing taking place from the search indexer, defrags, virus scans, and all sorts of other stuff fighting for disk contention.

As for Microsoft Defender, I hope you really meant Microsoft Security Essentials. You're right. For a free product it rocks.

 

Agreed - constant indexing or updating to the backup is definitely what I was referencing. A rogue backup program could easily be the culprit.

Yea, that's what I meant. Guess Defender is the name for a related but obsolete program.

 

Novice, you need two things:
1. Buy an SSD drive now. I'd recommend Crucial M4, Samsung 830 or Intel 520. Buy at least 120 GB.
2. Do a clean install to that SSD.

That's it. You will have a laptop what is day and night compared to what you have now. Also, you battery life will be better and your system will run cooler. + lot of thing will be fixed because you'll be installing the newest drivers. Trust me, you'll never recognise your computer if you do the above two things.

 

Got a few questions regarding the SSD drive.

1. I want to keep my HDD and put the SSD in the mSATA slot. But the SSD seems tbe setup for replacing the HDD. Do I remove the casing on the SSD to put it in the mSATA slot? How tough is it to remove the case?
2. I read that sometimes the SSD dies for no reason and that the manufacturers are still trying to "figure it" out. Did anyone have issues with their SSA?

Thanks.

 

Buy a reliable SSD (from the 3 I linked) and you won't have problems. If you want to use a normal SSD and keep your HDD, you'll have to put your HDD in the optical bay with an adapter like this:
2nd hard drive Caddy F Lenovo Thinkpad T420 W520 T520 | eBay

Going mSATA gives you the opportunity to keep the optical drive in place, but mSATA drives are much more expensive and are slower. Also, with mSATA you cannot have mobile broadband / GPS.

I'd recommend buying a 128 or 256 GB Crucial M4 and buying the caddy from eBay. This way you will actually have a mobile SATA slot for your laptop!

Also, mSATA and normal SSD are totally different standards and are not compatible! There is no such thing as taking an SSD and taking off the casing to make an mSATA drive!

 

Only mSATA ssds fit in the mSATA slot... they are usually much more expensive + slower. Get a caddy and use that.

SSD prices are dropping pretty fast... in canada we had the 256gb crucial m4 for $199, the 240gb mushkin chronos deluxe for $189 and some other deals on the vertex 3. I wouldn't go with a 128gb ssd seeing how prices are dropping pretty quickly. The way I see it, 64gb is 'barely enough' and does little more than make your system boot faster. 128gb is 'satisfactory' and enough for the OS and maybe two or three applications.... it is good for people who would opt to save a bit of money and spend a bit more time rearranging their programs often. 240/256gb SSDs are a good compromise between cost and peace of mind... of course I would still recommend that you put all your media files (pics, videos, songs, etc...) on a traditional hdd but you won't really need to do any application 'shuffling' between the ssd and hdd.

As for ssds suddenly not working... most of the problems have to do with the sandforce controllers in the older sata2 drives so newer sata3 drives shouldn't give you too much trouble (of course, you should still back up your essential files). If you don't want to deal with those, you can get a non-sandforce drive. Samsung and intel drives have very good reputation, and if you don't want to spend that much I've heard that the crucial and plextor drives are pretty good as well.

Personally, I have a mushkin chronos deluxe 240gb in my t520 (sandforce) and it hasn't given me troubles so far. I put my old crucial m4 128gb in my desktop and that has been pretty solid as well. However, I had a 160gb vertex 2 (sandforce, lots of problems) before all that and it worked fine for 8 months with no indication of problems. One day, all of a sudden, it was fine in the morning and dead by the afternoon. Unlike traditional hdd, which might throw up occasional bluescreens or make weird noises before dying, the ssd went from perfectly fine to dead in an instant so make extra sure to have backups in place.

 

Re surprising slowness: While not responsible for the OP's problems we should also remind people to use the correct power bricks. I just ran my W510 with a 90W brick and it's nasty.

 

If I put the HDD in the optical bay, then I won't be able to play DVD or CD. I guess I will just have to put the HDD in an enclosure and use it as an external drive.

 

How often do you really play/rip/burn a DVD or CD?

I took that question into consideration when I purchased my current notebook 2 years ago. In that amount of time I have barely needed to use an optical drive. External ODD in my situation.

All depends on what works better for you.

 

You are right, I don't watch DVD's on my laptop much and most software, I download the latest. So, maybe it is a habit to have an optical drive...guess it is going the way of the floppy.

Which external optical drive did you get...might as well start my research from there.

 

Novice, double check if you really need the external optical drive! If you just need it occasionally, you can just swap the HDD to the optical. It takes no more than 5 seconds!

You can also buy this: http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49_51&products_id=471

 

True.

You can use an Ultrabay caddy adapter to install a second HDD, then use an external adapter/enclosure to reuse the ThinkPad optical drive (for those rare occasions).

Look at this, this and this for ideas.

 

Note that slow is relative, however. While an mSATA SSD may be slower than a SATA model, it is still so much faster than a hard drive. I think when it comes to SSDs, many people are splitting hairs when it comes to performance, unless you have some very specialized need.

I like using mSATA because I can still use a hard drive for storage then. I use symbolic links in Windows 7 to keep my user profile folder on the hard drive, which makes reloading the OS easier without data loss, and also increases security, as SSDs aren't quite as simple to erase if you need to replace them.

This is partially true, but not entirely. It really depends on your usage patterns. I work in IT; for me, it pays to have an optical drive handy if I need to create media to service another system. Not every system I work on is USB-bootable, and in some cases, I need to create something custom quickly that might not work with a flash drive. While I have the T420 in my case, I have the best of all worlds, IMO: an mSATA SSD for boot, a reasonably fast hard drive for storage, and I still have an optical drive.

 

Hi. It took a while but I finally bought the Crucial M4 and was going to buy the adapter. I did a search on Ebay and found this:

NEW 2nd SATA Hard Drive Bay Caddy 12.7MM for Lenovo Thinkpad T420 T520 W520 | eBay. It is less expensive than the other adapter that had been mentioned. Do you think this will work on the W520? I sent an email to the seller to confirm but want the expert opinion of the forum

 

Buy the nimitz one! You have a W520 and you are sparing on a few dollars? That one is the perfect size and works well!

 

will this fit the w530?

 

That's what I use in the T420 and W510 12.7mm UltraBay. Unless Lenovo changed the W530, it should work.

 

OK, will get the nimitz. But, the advertising on the other one made it sound like this is the one to use.

 

i think i'm gonna get this instead:
Newegg.com - MASSCOOL UHB-2233 Aluminum 2.5" Black USB 3.0 External Enclosure

 

I'd recommend buying enclosures with an internal interface that is SATA III (if possible).

 

whooops, i guess i messed that up. so the stock w530 drive will be sata3, will it work with this enclosure just at slower speeds?

 

^^^ Yes, SATA is backward-compatible.

 

SATA II versus SATA III won't matter much when using HDD's. If you intend to use SSD's in the future, you might as well look closely at the specs and buy a case that supports SATA III. There's aren't many but it doesn't hurt to look and try to find a decent deal.

 

Just want to give an update. I bought the Crucial, the Nimtz caddy, and the Silverstone external enclosure. I was lazy and wanted to see how fast the PC is by just cloning the HDD onto the SSD. Wow is all I have to say. So fast! When I have more time, I will do a clean install. Here are some observations:

1. Nimtz caddy fits well but not 100%. There is a slight gap on both sides. I have to really squeeze the HDD drive in. So, I didn't bother with the 4 screws into the HDD to anchor onto the caddy since it was such a tight fit. Do you think I should put in the screws?

2. The Silverstone comes with a HDD/SSD caddy. But, it does not fit as well and the face plate doesn't fit at all.