X220t and UltraBase problems, crashes, ...

Hi,

I've got a new X220t with UltraBase and as I liked it at the beginning ... I have problems but nothing but problems with that stuff :-( I found that Lenovo software is very unstable, losing display settings, problems with Fn buttons (light dimming etc).

But my actual problem is not to ignore anymore: In many cases, when the laptop is in standby and I put it into the Ultrabase (with connected AC supply at the UltraBase), it just crashes! I can see when the moon-LED (standby mode) goes off exactly when putting the device into the dock. When starting up, Windows starts from the beginning (incl. the message that it hasn't shut down properly).

Furthermore, I frequently get just blank screens: Laptop is running, volume buttons work e.g., display light is on but the screen is just black and nothing happens. It seems that system is freezed. After pressing the power button (just for a very short time) the device switches off. The next start, Windows starts from the beginning (incl. the message that it hasn't shut down properly).

That makes the whole stuff barely unuseable and me very angry and unhappy.

Is this really normal? I plan to use warranty but which device should I give back? UltraBay? Laptop?
And (according to my experience) they may just return the same laptop because they were not able to reproduce the problem (that's the issue, it does not happen always but just frequently). Is there a way to prevent this happen?

Thank you!
divB

 

download HWINFO32 and check system temperature for CPU.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the pointer but temperature can't be the issue. It (especially) happens when I come home or to the office, laptop is in standby (and cold!) and plugged into the UltraBase. (I still run hwinfo32 - all temperature is below 50 - however, systems runs for some time now).

Any other idea?

divB

 

do you have a grounded power plug? could it be short circuit or build up of statics?

 

It is grounded (i.e. it has three contacts).

I already tried to reproduce but it is difficult. In my last tries it happened sometimes when the AC supply was plugged but never when it was not plugged.
However, as I said, it is not perfectly reproducible.

divB

 

have a look at the dock's connector contacts to make sure there is no oxidation or any foreign substances on them.

 

Oh no, it just happened with the AC unplugged. So it is not the AC connector. And it seems to me that it becomes more and more reproducible. The connectors are both absolutely clean (all devices are brand new) ...

 

That was happening to me for a little while, but I narrowed it down to my Ultrabay HDD that I had connected in there; I had to change its Policies to Quick Removal. Haven't had a crash since.

If you don't have an HDD connected in the Ultrabay then I'm not sure what the problem could be. Faulty Ultrabase?

 

No, no HDD but DVD/CD-RW.
But it seems to happen with *two* UltraBays ... the one I tried now is used from eBay but the one is the office is completely new (as the laptop).

EDIT: Please remember that I put the laptop in standby mode into the dock when the moon LED gets dark. So I do not think it is a software issue (no driver etc should be running at that time)

 

Not sure about your other problems but the above issue with the screen going blank and the laptop no longer responding, could be caused by faulty memory.

Run a program called "prime95" (64bit if you have more than 4GB ram), run it for at least 1hr on it's default settings. See if your computer crashes or if it detects any errors when you stop it running. This will test both your CPU and RAM for any potential hardware issues.

Try run it both connected to the UltraBase and disconnected from it. Let me know what you find.

My computer had the same blank screen problem and it turned out to be faulty ram, swapped it out and everything is very stable now, no more problems.

 

Hi, thanks ... the mersenne prime number calculator? I've run it for two hours without issue

 

Did you try removing the DVD/CD-RW from the Ultrabay slot? I have had similar crashes with an ultrabase HD, that only went away when I reinstalled windows. :-/ (This was on X200T)

 

Hmm, I will try this now too. But in any case, this can't be the solution!

It definitely happens now with two different UltraBays (both the new one and the used from eBay). As I said, this is not the only thing which does not work (just the most serious one), I encountered multiple problems like: Pen suddenly does not work any more (Wacom device disappeared in device manager, Wacom panel says no Wacom device found on system, only reboot helps), blank screens, docking icon sometimes does not disappear after undocking, ...

I use the laptop daily and I started a journal on 16th where I log all crashes and defects. Guess what, there are already 4 (!) entries. I will collect some entries and then hand the laptop in for warranty. this can't be normal and I hope the list will help that I will NOT get the same device back. I can't imagine that my device is OK and was OK (since it is brand new!). Please comment if you have different options.

 

I had some Ultrabase issues with my X220 until I updated the BIOS from 1.04 to 1.16. I am now using 1.35.