x120e Owner's Thread

From the AMD CCC, turn off Vari-bright from the Powerplay tab. Restart the laptop and the flicking should be gone.

 

That worked. Thanks.

 

I know this has been covered but the search function on this site appears broken...
I can't get my screen brightness control to work. This started after I did the Lenovo auto update. Now after the computer goes to sleep (it works after a fresh boot) I can't adjust screen brightness using the FN+Delete/Home combination. Did Lenovo fix this issue?

 

Reports from this thread: x120e Funtion keys for brightness not working? - Lenovo Community seem to indicate that the latest BIOS has fixed the problem... though I'm uncertain if the Windows hotfix is still required.

 

Thanks! (added characters)

 

I still get the issue with missing brightness control, but all you have to do is close the screen and open it again (with shutting lid set to do nothing in windows) and it comes back.

 

I have few things that load with the Windows too. Microsoft Security Essentials, Dropbox, Virtual CloneDrive, Trillian, and mdesktop. I don't know.. 45 seconds really bother me.. It boots up pretty quick to me..

 

I didn't mean to criticize your setup, I was just expecting a bigger boost from the SSD. I think that perhaps the boot process might be CPU limited... my desktop with an SSD boots in something like 25 seconds, but the BIOS initialization takes 15 seconds :-/.

 

this still occurs even with the vari-bright off and a restart. Just while browsing the internet right now, it continues.

 

Flashed my X120e to BIOS Revision 1.12 from 1.11, and I've confirmed that it resolves the issue of changing AC/battery power state disabling the screen brightness keys.

Does the flickering you describe consist of white horizontal lines that play across the screen? If so, you should post in this thread on the Lenovo forum and let JameZ know that the issue still exists with the latest BIOS and GPU revisions.

 

have not flashed to 1.12, damn i miss a few pages and this happens. i'll report back if i see something after i do this. also, i can't post on lenovo forums, i dont have access too. I'm registered but i dont have proper allowances...its a few pages back with all the skype talk.

 

Oh no, I didn't mean to be harsh that post. I was kind of rushing through the post and it seems like i was a little direct/harsh. I meant to say 45 seconds does not bother me..

I mean come to think of it, all the things that boot with the system are basic programs. What optimizations do you perform after a clean install?.. I have the latest drivers all around, so step number one is done

Edit: So the boot latency was caused by trilian.. Waiting for to connect servers kept the system going for 20 extra seconds.. Disabled Trillian, and you see the result

 

Aside from the drivers, I just prune unnecessary startup programs (boo java updater, adobe updater, AMD catalyst control center), disable the AMD video driver services (ATI External events -- do I need another hotkey poller? and ATI FUEL service -- I can updated my drivers manually thanks), and disable the AMD drivers from logging into event log (if you check your event log, it'l probably filled with thousands of AMD events).

And yea, 30 seconds is a lot more in line with what I was expecting for an SSD .

 

I have eliminated few services, and took Dropbox out of the startup and got low as 22 seconds.. I kept the FUEL service, because it serves as the CPU Power functionality in the CCC. I play with it once a while, so it doesn't bother me much.. Enabling UEFI Only certainly helped.

 

Do you have a source that explains what the FUEL service does? I was trying to find out, but when I searched, it was supposed to be related to automatic updates for CCC.

EDIT: Never mind, I finally found a source ( http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/146236-amd-external-events-service.html). Strangely, neither that service (AMD Fuel), nor the AMD Reserevations manager, are included in the Lenovo package of the video driver (which I have installed on my x120e currently). Thanks for pointing out that the FUEL service is actually useful though .

 

I have a question for you guys if you don't mind, your help is really much appreciated. I am currently deciding between an X120e and an E220s as both of them are ultra-portable and I am having a hard time picking one which has best overall balance in terms of performance and battery life. So judging from your experiences is it worth to pick the X120e over the E220s? I am concerned about the cpu performance of E-350 and the video performance of i5 2537M as well.

My sister is now visiting US and would be coming back to singapore by this sunday so i have a few days to decide and for her purchase anyone of these notebooks. Thanks in advance.

 

If she has to order the machine from Lenovo, it's not going to make it before she has to leave.

I think it largely depends on how you plan on using the machine. Internet browsing, office apps, watching videos -- you don't need more than the x120e. If you need to use more processor intensive apps, then the x120e may not be fast enough -- for example, I sometimes need to compile some hardware designs. It takes a little more than 2 minutes on the x120e, compared to about a minute on an i5 laptop.

The Intel HD graphics are also pretty good -- it will accelerate video playback, and it's not too bad in games, though the x120e's graphics are faster (but then you're limited by the CPU for most games).

However, the E220s is about $300 more than the x120e, and it's not much cheaper than an x220. If I was buying a main laptop, as opposed to a secondary machine, I'd probably jump up to the x220.

 

Thanks for the reply, i guess an X120e would do. Actually, this notebook is not for me but for my kid so mostly she will be doing web browsing, music, youtube videos, flash games. I actually pulled out my pentium 4 1.8GHz notebook and fired it up just to get a feel of how sluggish a slow cpu would be but I was still surprised it was not that sloppy as i thought it would be so I guess an E-350 would still be good enough.

I would have wanted an X120e but it wasn't available at Best Buy (online). Luckily an HP DM1z is available for a really great price at $379.99 and I think my sister could get one for me either today or tomorrow.

 

ridney: $380 is a sweet price at retail for a DM1Z. Just make sure to upgrade the RAM, as you'll only have about 2.6GB usable after the GPU takes its cut. If your daughter plays a lot of media, you're going to want 4 or 6GB. 8 would be overkill, but depending on memory deals, might not be much more costly.

I think you and your kid will be pleased with the Fusion platform. Applications like Word, IE, and such won't be too much faster than on your P4, but multimedia will be night and day. I've thrown 720p, 1080p, Youtube, and Netflix at this thing, and it has been smooth. The battery life also isn't terribly reduced by streaming media -- the display brightness really is the biggest factor.

FYI, I bought an X120e for my wife from Provantage here in the states. I received it next day and the shipping was free. If you really want to buy an X120e, there is still time.... just not direct from Lenovo.

 

I installed Lenovo's package once, and it seems like they are following 2 releases back. And it also seems like a base installation, CCC + Driver. I like FUEL service because it gives you the ability to change the CPU scaling right from the CCC for Pluged-In and AC modes. Other then that, i am not quite sure what FUEL Service provides.

I am not quite sure why, but i really do not like the way D1MZ looks. I am well aware, its the same platform but built quality and extra features that Lenovo provides well worth the extra $50~100. But again, this is more of a personal choice..

 

I have my X120e set to dim the screen after 20-minutes when connected to AC. It does this, but some time later (I haven't timed it), the screen will return to full brightness without any user activity. Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

If any X120e owners use linux it would be cool if experience with linux on that hardware could be shared over at thinkwiki (even if everything works). The X120e page is still quite empty..

 

Actually, it has not resolved the issue--I still get it intermittently, and now it's more unpredictable, unfortunately. The previous workaround (change power state on AC) doesn't necessarily work for me now. Strange.

 

I don't know about you guys and gals, but my Lenovo X120e came with BIOS 1.08 and I've had ZERO issues with it.

No AC power state brightness issues, nothing.

What problems were you guys/gals seeing???

 

The 1.08 bios had the issue with the audio stuttering with power manager installed. 1.11 fixed that issue, but then caused the brightness problem.

 

Not yet conclusive, but after reverting to BIOS v1.11, this issue hasn't reoccurred. Perhaps I'll try v1.12 again tomorrow to confirm.

Edit: Spoke too soon - it happened again.

 

AHHH OK, which hasn't been an issue because I don't have the power manager installed.

Cool, thanks!

 

Maybe I missed something in this thread, but does anyone know how to disable the "feature" where the trackpad is disabled when typing? It is actually very un-obtrusive, and I have no complaints with it during everyday use (in fact it's pretty useful) however there are instances when I'd like to disable it (games, for example.) I've hunted through the settings and can't find anything...

 

sorry for the off topic question, but can you use the original X120e wireless card (ThinkPad b/g/n) on another laptop (Hp)? I tired putting it in my hp laptop,but it didn't recognized it. I flashed the hp's bios too.

 

Both HP and Lenovo whitelist their WiFi cards, so an HP will need a special HP-whitelisted version of a WiFi card. A Lenovo-whitelisted one will not work.

 

I am paranoid about flashing my z120e since I just bricked it due to a bad flash. MY X120E has been fixed so I do not want to brick it again. I really do not know why my original flash went bad. I had the AC adapter connected, reboot the system, disabled the AV, then run the .exe. Everything went they way they should until the last step, and then the system just froze. I waited for about 30 min. and then rebooted. System is dead like a door nail.

I assume that if I flash with a USB DVD drive with the ISO file, it would be safer. But I am real paranoid now. Something wrong with my x120e?

I am curious about how you guys do it. I did read the instructions in the text file.

 

I've not been able to ever apply the BIOS update from windows (I get a driver initialization error), so I've used the ISO for the past 2 BIOS upgrades.

 

Thanks clicq, I just bought a Samsung dvd usb burner so next time I will use the ISO method. I wish that I know what Lenovo-Ibm did to recover my laptop. It does not look like the MB was replaced.

I still don't know why my bios upgrade went south. I received no error message. I had 4 GB of ram instead of the 2 and that was the only change made. RAM tested OK and runs fine. May be I should put the 2 GB ram by Lenovo back in. It just seems crazy that it has anything to do with bios upgrade.

 

I had good luck just using the Lenovo install software that works in Windows. I suspect Lenovo can connect to some test pads or other thing on the MB and reflash the BIOS using external hardware. After all there was nothing broken in your BIOS just bad code that kept the computer from starting. Use an external device to program the BIOS and all is well again.

 

husky, i have a Win7Live Boot CD. I usually update the bios on BootCD Environment instead of Live Windows environment. It's just one precaution i do..

 

Windows just informed me today that the factory Lenovo Win 7 Pro install is not genuine.... The only hardware change on this machine was a move of the original partitions to a new drive, but this was well over a month ago and without issue since.

Windows Security Essentials has been installed from day 1 and updated regularly since -- plus it's unlikely that an websites or software I have installed has altered the OS.

Is anyone else just finding this issue?

Did anyone receive a Windows certificate with their order? I don't think that I got one.

Right now, I will do a Windows Home Server restore of an image from around 3 weeks ago.

...

Nope...same issue from a 3 week old image. Will now put in the original drive & OS that had bare changes to it before imaging to the new drive.

 

Certificate? You mean the code on the sticker inside the battery compartment? Yep.

 

Correct...inside not on the outside.

Doing a product recovery now and then will try the MS validation test before and after updates.

 

I suspect you are right. My HD was not touched, all my files and installs were the same. I did not disable the AV MS Security Essentials during the bios windows upgrade. that might have caused the freeze at the last step. No additional firewall were installed. I came from the old school where I always install bios via a DOS environment, i.e. floppy disk or CD or USB stick. The last few years I got lazy and used Windows upgrade instead. This is the first BIOS crashed I had in a very long time.

 

assuming if you got the software installed to use hot keys you press fn+f8 and disable the trackpad. alternatively you have to go to the mouse options.

 

Ahh, maybe my wording wasn't clear, but I don't want to straight-up disable the trackpad, I just want to stop the computer from disabling it when I type. Meaning I want to be able to press keys and use the trackpad at the same time.

 

need a quick reply from all of you x120e owners. I just got my x120e i love it so far. However i have a concern about the cover or i mean the back cover. the one behind the lcd screen? not the bottom one. the one that has thinkpad....

so question is are your guys x120e lids like bulging a little? i mean its not plain flat right? cause mine is kinda bulging at the middle part of the lid. It looked like clamshell like... i dont know if this is normal or not. I tried looking at pictures and videos about x120e could not verify this.

Thanks for the replies so i can ask a replacement if its not normal.

 

It is normal, at least it bulges on my X120e.. I know that the real Thinkpad had the bulges to help with dealing with pressure, this might also be true for the X120e. I do know that the bulges seem to protect my screen when I put some weigh on it (X120e on button of bag with a bunch of text on top of it.

 

Awesome quick reply man! I got a bit paranoid with it lol didnt want it to be a defect.

Appreciate it man. Im loving my x120e!!!

 

Mine is also slightly domed. That is likely a design feature to make the thing more robust.

 

Yep, pretty much all Thinkpads since the T61 generation have a slightly domed lid, to help support additional weight and prevent excess pressure from cracking the screen. If you look at the lid of a T60, for instance, it's perfectly flat.

 

do you guys find that the e-350 is fast enough for your needs?
ie. web browsing, ms office, 1080p videos

 

is it better to wait until the zacate chip hits the 2ghz barrier?

 

For those uses, the E-350 will be perfectly fine. This is exactly what I use my x120e for, and it's perfectly suited for that.

You'll likely only think the E-350 is slow for anything CPU intensive. For example, when I compiled a fairly big package, on my quad core desktop, it took about 15 minutes. On my x120e, it was close to an hour.

 

Most of the time the thing feels fine. I think the good graphics really helps. I only notice the speed when asking the computer to do something that is very CPU intensive like run Matlab.