The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    W520 shocking news? are u guys having these issues?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by zackor, Aug 19, 2011.

  1. zackor

    zackor Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    200
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
  2. Mrbill700

    Mrbill700 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Not sure, but I guess i will find out soon enough, as I just ordered one.
     
  3. zackor

    zackor Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    200
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    As that thread mentioned that there is a fix around it but Lenovo cannot fix it.. not pretty sure if I missed something there so don't take my words..please let me know once you are done testing
     
  4. kirayamato26

    kirayamato26 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    146
    Messages:
    972
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    This is a pretty old issue... and no, there is no BIOS fix as of now, and it seems to affect a good chunk of users. I have only seen one person reporting that SpeedStep works properly on battery.
     
  5. zackor

    zackor Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    200
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    So its effecting you too...I want to buy it but this issue is stopping me..I didn't really understand the fix since I am not a "technical guy".. lol
     
  6. SPIDEY

    SPIDEY Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I am having trouble understanding the problem. The way I understand it is:

    1. TurboBoost is never suppose to kick in when W520 is running on battery. Does this mean the laptop runs super slow running on battery?
    2. TurboBoost sometimes don't work even when running on adapter power with the new BIOS update. Only way to work around it is to fool the power input somehow as described by the people on that discussion.

    Can W520 users comment on how inconvenient this has caused them?

    What about T520? T520 does not experience the same problem?
     
  7. power7

    power7 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    155
    Messages:
    531
    Likes Received:
    66
    Trophy Points:
    41
  8. kirayamato26

    kirayamato26 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    146
    Messages:
    972
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    1. Super slow? Not really. Even in its lowest performance mode (i.e. 800 MHz) it feels adequate for surfing the web and 1080p playback and whatnot. My machine gets stuck at 1.2 GHz on battery and I didn't even notice it until someone mentioned that their CPU (2720QM) was getting stuck at 1.5 GHz on battery and I went to monitor my clocks. This IS Sandy Bridge that we are talking about.

    2. If it doesn't work, shut it off and turn it back on. I haven't really experienced it not working on AC.