Y500 Owners and Questions Thread

Those sites are really obscure right now. Some sites say the y500 has a fhd screen but when you go to the full specs it only has an hd screen I've only found online stores... They all say that it'll be in stock in at least two weeks so I don't know what will be faster...

Glossy screens have more vibrant colours than matte screens but that advantage dissapears in a place with a lot of light because of the reflections. I have been waiting so long for this laptop so waiting another 2 or 3 months for a matte screen isn't worth it for me.

 

Aah okay. Well I'll be using it indoors 99% of the time so I don't really have any need for a matt screen anyway. I don't really want to wait either.

 

Hi Dragonoak,

Thanks so much for the reply! Yes, I unfortunately do have the touchpad problem, as do several people on the Lenovo forums (and not just with this model). I have upgraded to a later driver and tweaked settings like crazy and it is better than it was before. It's something I will insist on having fixed in the replacement, but there's one guy on the forums who is now on his third replacement, same problem. It's a shame because other than these two issues I really like the machine. It's solid, has a lot of kick to it, and the display is awesome. I haven't done any customizing yet, since I will be sending it back, so I haven't put it to the full test.

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum and here's wishing a happy, healthy New Year to everyone!

Judy

 

If you are ordering from Canada, I suggest you call and tell them to give you the standard US keyboard or you will receive the crappy french keyboard layout by default.

 

buuuuuuh really?! that seems ridiculous

 

yea its dumb, now they have to send me another ><

 

Can you call/ask for a replacement keyboard? Or do you have to send your laptop back to a maintenance center, in where they'll swap it?

 

I asked them for a replacement keyboard, but no dice. My only option was to send me a new one.

 

Hi all,

I was wondering if it would be possible to replace the regular 16 GB mSATA SSD with a larger one and then install the included Windows 8 into it?

The new drive would be something like this: Newegg.com - OCZ Nocti Series NOC-MSATA-120G mSATA 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (not the latest one, but my options are a bit limited because of the location)

 

Should definitely be possible although some users had trouble recognizing the drive.

 

One issue you should be aware of. It was intended that the recovery drive creator would be a suitable replacement for a recovery disc burner except the problem is, at the point of recovery, it will not recognize a blank drive. This is an issue with most ideapads. The thinkpads apparently aren't affected :/ Be prepare to either clone or install from an illegal windows 8 basic iso and install the drivers yourself. So yeah, ssd upgrading is an issue. Been fighting tooth and nail to get the issue fixed.

 

Hey Judy In NYC,
Somebody posted this thread in the Lenovo forum. You may have already seen it, but it has to do you the WiDi on a P500, and how you can get it installed. Maybe this works on your Y500 also. Check it out.

P500 WiDi - Lenovo Community

Cheers

 

Hello guys, I´m going for my y500 in couple of hours and I´ve got few question. Fist, what are things a should do after buying it? I´ll have SLI version, so how can I make recovery dics with W8 copy and finally, is there something I should be aware of? Thanks for fast reply

 

That depends really, quite a few people here start by swapping the 16gb ssd/mSata for a larger SSD. You'll have to mess around a bit though, just like tmsmith mentioned above. But I believe there are a few tut and short guides on how to get it to work.
Boot up the laptop and play around with it a bit, if you need the extra SSD space swap it. If you're fine with the caching SSD, just leave it as it is.
One thing people here might be interested in, the Benchmarks for the SLI version.
Also, I'm rather curious but which kind of Keyboard do you get in Czech? I still don't really know if Lenovo ships with Qwerty only or different for each region.
Could you upload a picture of your keyboard?
I want to get the SLI version but it's not available here, so I might have to import it. Germany is delaying the SLI version already and I don't feel like waiting another month.

Ohh and I really hope you don't have any touchpad issues, which a lot and I mean A LOT people seem to have.
Have fun playing around with your Y500, and share your thoughts with us ^^!

 

Thank you for advices, I´ll swap for larger SSD later.. I should get it with czech keyboard in it, at least I guess.. I´ll keep you informed and updated

EDIT: How can I do recovery to USB? How big one is needed?

 

I'm not really sure, though I believe you don't need a large USB stick.
I assume you want to use it as a bootable recovery drive?

 

I dont think 256MB is enough to make recovery/clean install disc/drive

 

Anybody having a problem with DVD/BDray drives? Mine stopped working today, I couldn't eject it. I restarted the first time but nothing happened, restarted the second time and it seems to have fixed it for now. I'm worried something might be damaged since the laptop traveled a long way before it reached me.

 

Okay, so I got my y500. First impressions after year and half with Asus G73... It looks great, feels great sounds great... Display is better than Asusm built quality too (imho). Only thing I´m not sure about is W8.. I´m completely lost.. I need to get used to it and I quess it´s gonna take a while.. So I´ll report some performance stuff later on.. Wish me a luck to fight with Windows

PS: keyboard layout is czech

 

I just received my Y500 tonight and can completely agree with being lost one Windows 8. First thing that happened was my wireless stopped working, but eventually I found the troubleshooter and that did fix the problem. Then as I tried to post this message it happened again, hope that isn't going to be a regular occurance. Oh, and now I can't hit enter while typing in this box. Seems to be a forum problem, haha. And I agree with the above poster about being lost in Windows 8. Here I thought I would get Civ loaded on the computer and start up a game tonight, at this pace I doubt it...

 

Yeah, I thought about some playing too.. well, it didn´t happen I need to do clean instal of W8 now, because it has stupid partitions from stock. (450GB windows partition "C" - ?).. so that´s what Im gonna do today.. Just one question.. how can I do that Lenovo recovery partition then, after clean install?

 

This part is not working for me.. I put generic key in, click on next and then is says it´s not avaliable now (we are unable to connect right now) I need my win8 instal USB.. damn.

EDIT: Ok, I´ve put im my own product key, but it just said now that "I can use this product key for instalation of W8 retail version".. (
EDIT2: What cooling pad would you recommend for y500?

 

Are you looking to use the laptop on your lap or a desk? The CoolerMaster U2 or U3 get great reviews for use on a desk.

Honestly, this computer is being very frustrating to me.
1. For some reason, I couldn't select "My Computer" in Explorer to get to my C Drive. It would just act like it was loading and never get to the end. Great, Restart.
2. HW monitor crashes my computer when I try to run it, after it took me forever to install due to needing to set administrative privileges. I either couldn't get to my C Drive, or Explorer would crash when I tried to right click files.
3. Installing Civ V did not work, I had to download two Direct X dll files and put then in the steam folder. See #1.
4. When using the trackpad It often flips me back to the last app I had open while trying to click on a link.

Anyone else beginning to hate Windows 8?

 

I have to say, Im bit pissed of too.. And finally here is my another problem - my microphone input is not working.. It´s even little problematic to put jack in. Build in is working, but I guess mic connector is f***ed up.. I´m sooo happy.. :/

 

Wow what is actualy not defective on this laptop? This worries me.

 

It´s sure, mic connector is dead. I´m gonna RMA it tomorrow.. hope they will just swap it for new one, because it´s great notebook anyway.

 

Ok, got some things working. Civ V needed the launcher .exe set to Windows 7 compatibility mode. Chalk that one up to Microsoft I guess. Trying out Borderlands 2 now, hopefully it goes much smoother.

It has been much smoother today, I am sure part of my problem was not updating Windows 8. I guess it works the second time you hit "update and restart", as 19 updates were installed then.

Bad luck about the MIC connector, I better check mine out. Edit: On board mic works fine, Borderlands 2 works fine on first try. Thank goodness. Now enter key is doing nothing in this window, but that is an IE10 problem. Hence why my edit is on the same line

 

My hands on review with benchmarks and questions.
Lenovo Y500 Full English Review and Benchmarks - YouTube

 

Sweet vid.
I am still unable to get the SLI model. I'm running out of patience.

 

Just ordered my 500!!!

due to arrive early next week- hoping my touch pad works and my only problem is the learning curve on win 8!

 

This key you provided doesn't unfortunately work (at least not anymore) so i'll have to dig the key from BIOS to do a clean install.

Could anyone recommend a trustworthy way / a program which would be of use here?

 

hey guys the brightness issue with the graphics driver update is fixed in the new 310.90 whql drivers ...
i can confirm that the issue is resolved and games are working in a much better performance

 

Guys need help.. Need to activate VT-x from BIOS, but I cant get there.. :/ any advices?

 

Thinking of modding my Y570 with a Y580 back-lit keyboard. Both are exactly the same fit and layout except the back-lit keyboard needs a power source which I can get from soldering in the last mini pcie slot on the Y570 (reserved for models with TV tuner) and using 3.3/5v power source from the 2nd mini pcie slot to light the back-lit keyboard.

If I go ahead with it, I'm also going to add a on/off switch fitted to into the kensington lock. Only thing that's stopping me right now is the fact the the Y580 back-lit keyboard is all black (not really fit the look of my Y570) and if I'm up for the task (it's a drag).

Edit:

Thanks for the Windows 8 drivers links Bearfight , even though Energy Management is still not working like it's suppose too (no on screen display of functions and touch panel still does not work) at least I think the fan now spins correctly on my Y570 with Windows 8.

 

@dom...
charms>settings>change pc settings> general> scrolll down to advanced startup click restart now>navigate to uefi settings

 

I have windows 8 running for a month now on my Ideapad Y470 and power management work perfectly fine... install the original windows 7 version for the Y470/Y570... and the touch controls will work like they should...make sure to disable lenovo onekey theater ( it conflicted with my win8 drivers working properly on my Y470) and one key recovery doesn't work with win8 ( at least the last time I checked)..

 

Great news, downloading now.

 

Me to really need to the a clean install. It's annoying that they made it this hard to reinstall an OS. No problems yet on this device.

Touchpad works well with latest synaptics drivers on their website.

No problem on the keyboard too, too bad some users have problems with it,

SLI has better performance on 310.90 driver. Brightness fixed too.

hope someone can make a bios hack for this so that i can change my WiFi card to Intel. ( currently have atheros. does not support Motionjoy on bluetooth./ weak signals compared to my 2 other laptops which has the Intel condorpeak cards)

overall thats all my problem with this device. ( oh yeah, kinda weak battery life because no optimus support too! :/)

 

Hi dwjgr330, have you received your laptop yet?

I just checked my order status, and it said it would be shipped on 1/21, instead of 1/13 which it used to be

 

yeah just got mine (on it now) but got one with a twitchy touchpad- not too thrilled- luckily I like to use 'real' mice... will have to see what happens with first rounds of updates to go through!

but yeah overall awesome machine for sure

 

People should stay away from the Lenovo store, and just get the laptop at some other seller.
I ordered mine in the evening, and it got delivered the next morning. UPS express service did the trick.

 

Where did you order from & are you in USA? Lenovo online store is the only store I can find in the USA by using google.

 

Sorry to speak for you artwork.
He ordered from germany.

 

Same thing here. A quick boot up time vid.
Don't mind my accent/English. Deal with it

 

Haha that's okay. I would have almost missed the reply.

 

so are you guys ready for a crazy fix to the jittery track pad?? a friend of mine suggested cleaning the pad with the isopropal alch. since the pad might night be getting good heat to work. I tried it and the mouse has been behaving properly. (about 15 min- previously it would be out of whack in 30 seconds)

I will update if things turn for the worse...

UPDATE: Not working again- so i think i have no option but to exchange it.

 

Ok, was hoping there is another place to order in the USA than lenovo site.

 

Good Day Everyone!!
Question:
What happens if i use the SLI GPU with only the 120w power adapter?
Can someone tell me the P/N or model number of their 170W adapter? If you can post a pic, that would be nice! :thumbsup:
Thanks a lot

 

This laptop has fast bootup time even without the SSD. I swear to God its as fast as my last laptop with Corsair Force 3 GT. MIne boots up 15sec without th caching SSD. only standard 5400rpm HDD

 

Playing F12012 at 1920x1080 at Ultra setting.
Benchmark test minimum : 72fps, average : 90fps

GW2 at high setting 1920x1080.

Am a happy man.

Seems a bit weak at FarCry3 though, only can play smoothly at medium setting, not sure if it is due to my 120w adapter not sufficient power or what?