x220 Random standby, shutdowns and reboots

Hello,

I have owned my x220 for a year and have had mostly no issues with it. A month ago I noticed that sometimes my laptop would randomly go into standby on its own, usually with no warning though sometimes it would tell me my battery is critically low (even though it wasn't). I was annoyed but didn't think much of it.

This problem slowly started to get worse and it occurred more often. Today it became so frequent that after a while I could not even boot into windows without the system trying to go to sleep or reboot. When I booted into Ubuntu, the shut down menu would randomly come up (as if I were pressing the power button even though I wasn't). I couldn't even stay in bios without random reboots.

I found some interesting things in the Windows Event Viewer.

This is from ACPI:
": The embedded controller (EC) returned data when none was requested. The BIOS might be trying to access the EC without synchronizing with the operating system. This data will be ignored. No further action is necessary; however, you should check with your computer manufacturer for an upgraded BIOS."

and here is the biggest clue, which came from kernel power:

"
The system is entering sleep.

Sleep Reason: Button or Lid"

Now of course I never closed the lid or hit any power button but the OS thinks I did. This makes me wonder if some sensor has failed and keeps telling my system that I'm hitting the power off button or shutting the lid?

Here is another thing I found in the event viewer from kernel power:

"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."


Has anyone experienced this or know of any fix? I really need this system to function as my work depends on it. I really appreciate any help with this.

 

check if any hardware component is failing using, e.g., thinkvantage that comes with the x220.
another thing is give your system a complete scan using an anti-virus software.

 

After leaving the laptop alone for a bit It was able to restart into windows (though it did randomly sleep again once). I removed TPfancontrol since I see now that it has been associated with these problems.

I'm a bit baffled by the problem since something like TPfancontrol or even a virus (which I highly doubt is the issue) should not cause random shutdowns while I'm in bios.

Anyway the system has now been running ok for about 50 minutes. Thinkvantage tools say the system is in good health, all hardware seems to function properly. Very strange since the computer was completely inoperable for the past 3 hours or so. Makes me nervous to rely so heavily on a system that will pull something like this.

 

Once I had a keyboard failure on my T60, which caused it to randomly turn-off. The issue was fixed after a new unit was installed.

Not sure if that applies to your case, though.
Still, it could very well be a hardware issue.

 

If you do an acpi_listen in a terminal in the background (in ubuntu) maybe you could find out if any signals are being sent when this happens.

 

Yeah, the problem is still happening. I am not able to figure out what is causing it still. I ran ok on battery power for an hour, I plugged it into the power adapter and it randomly died again in a matter of seconds.

 

Randomly died? Is it going through a shutdown process, or just powering off suddenly?

 

I just tried it a few times. I plugged the system into the power adapter and unplugged it a few times and watched the messages. Most of them made sense but on the 3rd time of doing this I saw this:

"button/power PWRF 00000080 00000001"

and then the Ubuntu shutdown/reboot menu popped up.

Combining this information with what I saw in the windows event viewer, it seems that my laptop randomly thinks either the lid is being closed or I'm hitting the power button. A bad sensor?

It appears to go through the regular standby process. Goes into standby, then I will wake it up, it will attempt to resume and sometimes succeed or it will go back to sleep and sometimes just reboot straight back to the Lenovo logo screen.

 

OK, well since it's getting an ACPI signal, that's at least a sign that it isn't imminent hardware doom.

You might want to compare your serial number with the ones in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/645829-x220-motherboard-failures-6.html#post8394002

It's possible that you have one of those defective EC chips.

 

Will do, I've been letting it sit for the past few minutes and the button/power ACPI signal came on by itself randomly 6 times in a row without anything or anyone touching the power button.
I can confirm that actually pushing the power button generates the same ACPI signal and the same behavior (shut down menu pops up)

BTW my warranty ran out just days ago so I'm pretty unhappy with Lenovo right now (not to forget they sent me a defective x220 before this one).
They just don't make thinkpads like they used to I guess.

 

Oh, so yours wasn't produced between Sept and Dec 2011? Your EC probably isn't defective then, at least from that batch of faulty ones.

I guess a bad keyboard could send the power or sleep signals. Keyboard removal is on P.73 of the English HMM. You can try disassembling the palmrest and then removing the keyboard while the system is powered on (unless there is a way to turn the system on without the power button - I don't know). Use a USB keyboard or something and see what happens with ACPI signals.

 

That is correct, I got it May 2011.

I can actually turn on the system without using the power button by using the finger print reader. Perhaps I can try that with the keyboard disconnected and see what happens.

Ok so I removed the keyboard and connected USB keyboard and mouse. I was able to start the system using the fingerprint reader (not sure how I could have done this without the FPR). First tried booting Ubuntu and did acpi_listen again and tried my best to trigger the power down acpi signals but I couldn't. It seemed stable. I'm now in windows and it so far seems rock solid, it hasn't been that long but it seems like it really could just be the keyboard. Will keep you all updated on what happens.

 

That would be an easy enough fix, and not very expensive. I hope that is the case. It looks like Summilux had a similar experience (not sure if theirs was a hard poweroff or the ACPI triggered one though):

 

Yeah, I'm quite glad its only the keyboard.

I now removed the plastic cover over the volume, thinkvantage and power button and cleaned all the dust. Nothing really looked or felt unusual here. I then reconnected the keyboard and am now using the thinkpad keyboard and am still not having the issue somehow.

I'm not sure what to think of that. Maybe the keyboard connector was loose and I just fixed it by reseating it (though I'm not sure why that would send an ACPI signal to poweroff). Maybe something was putting pressure on the power button? Anyway I can no longer replicate the problem, but if it does happen again at least I will know to just get a new keyboard.

Where can I order a genuine x220 keyboard? Any place where it won't cost an arm or a leg?

I appreciate your assistance with this btw.

 

Hmm, I haven't had to buy replacement parts for mine yet. My X220 is the first thinkpad I've owned since 1998 (I had some pile of garbage celeron one back then). I'll let someone else recommend somewhere to buy a replacement since I am not sure.

If it ends up being fine after reseating it, wow, that's a win!

You can always clean the ribbon connector contacts with alcohol or electronics cleaner, I've had to do that with numerous other laptops. But that usually doesn't become a problem for years, unless it's exposed to the elements.

 

This is very strange. When I use my keyboard without screwing it in, there are no problems. Ran like this for hours with no issues.

The second I screw it in, the center mouse button (used for scrolling) becomes very unresponsive (the clicks don't always register) and the random sleeping/shutdowns come back. It is as if something is being put under pressure?

EDIT: The screw that seems to pretty much disable the center button is the one that is directly below it. Things seem to run ok with just one of the two screws holding in the keyboard.