Y500 Owners and Questions Thread

Well Lenovo.com has free shipping too, but they tax to every state. And Amazon also charges tax to a bunch of states now including California where I am. Since I plan on doing CPU-intensive tasks besides gaming I wanted the i7.

 

They dont charge tax if you buy from another seller on amazon ,that is how i bought mine.

 

Hi


i know Optimus is disabled at bios level in y500 so it runs on the nvidia card on battery. Now whats the gamong performance on battery? Can we play old games like cs 1.6, cs source, fifa etc ON BATTERY?

I know this machine is a beast when plugged in what about on battery?
And are we able to watch a 1080p HD movie ON BaTTERY?

Thanks

 

Updated nvidia driver to 314.07 and gw2 starts giving problems, crashed 3 times. Upgraded to 314.21 beta and all is well again, gw2 looks smoother at close to max settings

 

Oh nice! Wasn't aware of that. I also had $700 in amazon gift cards, so I pretty much had to buy through them, or I would be calling lenovo right now

 

Is the i7 version worth the extra $250 if all im doing is gaming?

 

From the benchmarks/threads I've seen when researching, it wasn't worth it to me. Not a significant improvement.

 

Not worth it, only if you get instead of the i7 the graphic card with ultrabay mode

 

Depends on what kinds of games you play and at what settings. Believe it or not, most cutting-edge game engines nowadays are threaded to take advantage of four or more physical cores, so you'll get noticeable performance increases even in supposedly GPU-bound situations, i.e. with high resolution and settings. Crysis 3, Far Cry 3, BF3 multiplayer, and the new SimCity are some games that will benefit from a quad-core. Crysis 3 and SimCity (large cities) are very CPU-dependent and FPS almost doubles when you move from a desktop i3 to an i7, which is a similar leap from a mobile i5 to i7.

And if you do rendering and content work, the i7 is a no-brainer.

 

just got my y500 its awesome laptop
OMG OMG..it doesn't have subwoofer...
i thought it has sub woofer...
dell xps and some asus laptops comes with jbl speakers..i thought this one comes with subwoofer since it has jbl speakers.....i love bass very much....but no bass from my y500 dissapponted
sorry for noob question...does subwoofer really makes difference??
really need to know this..
does xps laptops sounds better than this one...??

 

Does anyone know how to do a clean install of Windows 8 with the legit product key?

I have some Windows 8 iso's already. Correct settings for the ei.cfg would be great

I got my serial from RW Everything and my SKU is Core

 

I keep posting this every couple of pages. Feel like I'm repeating myself but oh well. The key is baked into the BIOS, no more needing to put it in during installation. Follow this link's instructions: Methodology to create Recovery Media and reload a Lenovo Think system with Microsoft Windows 8 preload

 

Forget the subwoofer; this laptop has one of the clearest set of speakers I've heard period. Blows my former ASUS G73Jh out of the water and that had a subwoofer. If you care so much so much about bass this laptop can still pump out a decent amount if you fiddle with the equalizer in Dolby Home Theater v4.

 

is it!!!!
thank you for ur reply now i can take some breathe..then what about dell xps laptops..???
will this one can compete with them..??
or those ones are way good from these y500 speakers?
and finally are you saying bass is less in this laptop although it has clear and loud sound?

where can i download Dolby Home Theater v4...will u please give me a link for it i googled it..but no luck..i couldnt find any installable file
thank you in advance bro

 

The Y500 uses the exact same JBL speakers as the Dell XPS 15 and XPS 17. Even without a subwoofer it has very good bass, and you can give it more by adjusting the equalizer. I find that most subwoofers on notebooks tend to produce bass at the expense of mid- and high-range clarity and generally muddle up the overall sound.

If you care so much about speaker quality go get one of those overpriced and flashy MSI gaming laptops then; they have the best notebook speakers. Or better yet, plug in a real surround sound system through HDMI. I don't think anyone who got the Y500 was buying it for its sound system. You should be happy as the speakers on this thing are way better than the majority of laptops out there.

Assuming you didn't do a clean install, Dolby Home Theater v4 should've already been preloaded by Lenovo from the factory. You can find it under the Dolby tab of your speaker properties in Control Panel.

 

Hey dude how did you get all those options . The only thing I see is the movie.music.game buttons.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

Are you using the Y500 or some other Lenovo laptop?

If you don't have the advanced options, then you probably have an older version of Dolby Home Theater v4. My Y500 didn't have them either until I updated my Dolby. I got the updated version here. It says it's for the ThinkPad S430 but I'm pretty sure it works for all Lenovo laptops that come with Dolby. Just run the executable and it will update, no need to uninstall the previous version on your system.

If you're not using a Lenovo and try to update using this file it probably won't work.

 

Hey everyone,

I am planning to buy new y500
Amazon.com: Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black): Computers & Accessories
(or the 16 gb ram version)

I am planning to replace 16 gb mSATA with something bigger. I found those:

Amazon.com: Crucial m4 128GB mSATA Internal Solid State Drive CT128M4SSD3: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: Mushkin Direct Atlas Deluxe 240GB mSATA SATA III Solid State Drive MKNSSDAT240GB-DX: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: MyDigitalSSD 50mm Bullet Proof 4 BP4 50mm mSATA Solid State Drive SSD SATA III 6G (240GB): Computers & Accessories
Would those mSATA drives work? Or do I need something else? I am a little confused because crucial is the most expensive and this bullet proof is almost 2 times bigger with difference of only $50 in price. Is there any difference in quality? Which one should I pick?
My next question is about migration of the OS. Let’s assume that I installed right mSATA (will 128 GB be enough for OS and few basic programs?) how do I migrate W8 from HDD to mSATA without "destroying" OKR? Do I just use some software to transfer files from HDD to SDD and then just format (somehow) only one partition with OS files?

Thank you,
Lukasz

 

I'd still get the Crucial m4. And even the 256GB m4 isn't much more expensive than the Bullet Proof if you look around. Thing is, you're gonna be a guinea pig for this SSD that no one has heard of while the Crucial m4 has been out for a long time and has a proven track record of performance and reliability. It's still the best mSATA SSD on the market in my opinion.

 

Hi Y500 SLI owners! I've got a problem with the 170W AC adapter I just purchased and would like to hear from you. Please take a look at my thread here.

 

Hey,
thanks for the answer! I will buy Crucial m4 than. I just have to think if i will get 256 or 128. Other than SSD, is it possible to do migration of OS from HDD to mSATA SDD and still have one key recovery working? I thought about moving OS and cleaning HDD without disrupting partitions.

Best,
Lukasz

 

Did you take a look at this? I didn't read it but it might be what you're looking for.

 

Thank you,
it is helpful but that not exaclaly what I was looking for. I don't want to do clean OS install (dont have 16g storage device and since Y500 is SLI no potical drive) I just want to migrate OS from HDD to mSATA SDD. How do I do this? And how can I clean HDD without messing with OKR (do I just delete or format partition with OS files and everything will work like a charm?)? or do I have to follow those instructions after I migrate OS?

 

I cloned my hdd to my ssd using Macrium Reflect Free Edition. Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

The biggest hurdle for me was figuring out how to shrink partitions enough so they would fit onto the SSD. If you go back through the posts in this thread, somewhere this was discussed and someone gave directions. I think. If you need help just post back on here again.

 

I couldn't locate those directions. I have not ordered my mSATA and y500 yet, so I probably will be back here asking for help shortly.
So in few words my plan is to migrate OS from HDD to mSATA SDD and then I want to clean HDD (part with OS) and not mess with OKR. Assuming I just use software to transfer OS, do I have to do anything with OKR to make it work?


Thank you,
Lukasz

 

I am having trouble installing 310.90 drivers. Any time I start it up it just says no graphics hardware is compatible. I did a registry sweep of nvidia and I really prefer not to do a clean windows 8 install.

 

that mydigitalssd is not an unknown brand. their an official rep on these boards. please search mydigitalssd on here their performance and support are excellent. hate when people say stuff that they know nothing about.

 

happened to me once. turned out i was installing the desktop version drivers

 

I can't remember which one I tried but I will make sure to download the notebook version on my next go around.

 

Does anyone also have a touchpad that does this?

 

Mine does go in a little, but certainly not that much.
I got my touchpad replaced (or fixed, dunno), but it still isn't very accurate...

 

Pretty sure they all do that, it's just how the clickpad was designed. But nobody in the world uses their touchpad with that much force so you'll never see it yield that much unless your unit really was defective or something. I can do the same thing on my machine if I stood up and really dug my thumb into it like that reviewer did. It's a stress test and totally not a realistic usage scenario.

 

Hey didyour y500 come with drivers in the D: drive? I just bought it and there arent any drivers. Do i have to download all of them again or should i call lenovo nd ask for a dvd if the D: drive is supposed to have drivers?

 

Did your Y500 not come with a D: partition at all or is simply missing the drivers? Not having the partition at all seems very strange since OneKey Recovery saves the backup system image to it by default. The drivers that are supposed to be there are the exact ones that are already preloaded on your system and stored in the hidden recovery partition, so if you're not gonna do a clean install there's not point in downloading them. If you do need them for whatever reason you could always get them off Lenovo's website, although I'd recommend going to each component's website and downloading the latest ones.

 

Yea it had D partition but it was completely empty.

later, I used the win 8 reset to default (from charm bar > pc settings > general) but i was stuck in bootloop so i restored using one key recovery and now it doesnt recognize my graphics card (the adopter settings say something like basic microsoft display), bluetooth etc. I cant even change the brightness or resolution
The bloatware was reinstalled btw -_-

 

Sounds like the factory image used by OneKey Recovery got corrupted or something and is missing the system drivers so it didn't install them. You could always get them from Lenovo's support website or go to Nvidia, Intel, etc. for the latest versions.

Oh yeah, if you try to restore the system either through Windows or the OneKey program (they do the same thing) you're always going to get the bloatware back. The system image they point to is saddled with the bloatware and the only way to do a clean install is with Windows 8 installation media on a DVD or USB drive.

 

Does anyone know if the Y500 has a CMOS battery and if so where it's located? Also if anyone else knows how to clear the bios settings with out being able to POST, I'm all ears.

 

thanks @octiceps i downloaded the drivers....

well guys now i think i have another problem. Can someone confirm if their adapter settings is the same as mine?



and also check what does the "monitor type" say (next tab to adapter)... mine says Generic PnP monitor. Is this ok? i am asking because my window crashes when i set the refresh rate to 60hz

last thing, my gpu-z says that my gfx card supports dx11 where as this topic says it supports 11.1??
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/670304-nvidia-gt-650m-benchmarks.html

 

None of these are problems. They're just reporting errors.

There are no custom display drivers so all laptop displays show up as Generic PnP Monitor. Windows also reports my refresh rate as 59 Hz but mine doesn't crash when I try to change it to 60 Hz; it just reverts back to 59 automatically as soon as I close the window. That's because the actual refresh rate is technically 59.94 Hz and Windows is rounding down. It still shows up as 60 Hz in Nvidia Control Panel and HWiNFO64 and my games Vsync at 60 FPS so nothing wrong there.

About GPU-Z showing DX11 instead of 11.1, that's due to the latest version (0.6.9) changing that reading for all Nvidia Kepler cards. Read the release notes:

0.6.9

Fixed shader count on AMD Radeon HD 7790
Added support for AMD Radeon HD 8870M
Added support for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost, GT 415, GT 750M
Changed NVIDIA Kepler DirectX support to 11.0
Fixed OpenCL detection showing double error message
Added tooltips for GPU vendor logo, save bios, render test, screenshot button

Your card still supports DX11.1 just fine and you'll get that reading back if you use an older version of GPU-Z. Not sure why they changed that.

 

Ohh alright.

Thanks mate you were of great help

Thank you

 

after upgrading to windows 8 pro and installing new updates from windows updates my dolby home theatre not working....no difference switching on and off...but before i can fell huge surround difference...is this thing happened to anyone..please reply me guys

 

You're welcome that. I've got GPU-Z 0.6.8 and it's displayed correctly. You can also check in Nvidia Control Panel and it should show DX11.1 support as well.



And just FYI, GPU-Z shows that the core will boost up to 835 MHz but that's not true. Lenovo has disabled GPU Boost for the GT 650M in this machine regardless of single GPU or SLI so you're maxed out at 790 MHz unless you overclock.

 

I'm assuming you're using the Dolby Home Theater v4 with the advanced menu? Did you install the actual sound driver (Realtek HD Audio) before installing Dolby? Maybe update to the newest one on Realtek's website if you're still using Lenovo's preloaded driver although my Dolby is workig fine with them. Dolby is not the driver, it's just software to that adds a lot of (very good) post-processing to the sound.

 

yes i have realtek hd drivers lenovo preloaded...with out them dolby hometheatre not evenopens...but here in my case it opens..u can set everything up...but no settings work....equilizer sounds are changing but no any change in sound effect as before
is it working well with you after upgrading to win 8 pro??

 

I don't have Windows 8 Pro yet so I can't test, but I may be upgrading next week so I'll see. In the meantime, I can't think of anything else you can try beside reinstalling Dolby, which you've probably done, or upgrading your Realtek drivers to the latest ones on their website.

I know this might sound kinda weird, but maybe you're not listening to the right material to hear the difference that Dolby makes. For me, it makes a dramatic difference, especially the default "Movie" profile. Try listening to this YouTube clip and toggling it on and off. This is the clip I use to tune my sound and having Dolby turned on greatly increases the maximum volume, ambient noises, and dialogue clarity.

 

yes bro i had felt a lot difference before with toggling on and off the dolby sound...
even now also i am testing with ur youtube link(lord of rings thing)...but no minute change at all..trust me...i can really identify the change in sound...infact i love dolby...
but its suddenly not working after updating to windows 8 pro...now itself realized after googling that so many people having this problem
...lost their dolby driver i think(not gui thing)
really i am dissappointed with this...hope there will be a solution
anyways thak you for your replys mate

 

Hmmm strange. So you're saying the Dolby program is compatible with W8 Core but not W8 Pro?

 

Does anyone know what voltage the 650m run at? Is it possible to increase it?

 

You can check for yourself. Just fire up FurMark and look under VDDC in GPU-Z. My Y500 is showing 1.025V at max load.

It isn't possible to increase the voltage on the GT 650M unless you mod the BIOS, which nobody has done yet for the Y400/Y500 to my knowledge. The 650M already overclocks very well on stock voltage though, not that you would need insane clocks for that 768p screen of yours. SLI, especially with OC, is overkill for such a low-res screen and your probably gonna be CPU-limited in all but the most demanding of games.

 

I don't have my system yet its been shipped. So should be no need for me to overclock gpu or replace the cpu with a 3840? What are safe clocks for the gpu? Just want to make sure the system running at full potential.