x220 motherboard failures

So apparantly theres a lot of x220 motherboards failing on laptops which were sold right before christmas.

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Serie...ound-power-button-flashes-every-3/td-p/659779

Anyone here order between nov and dec have any motheboard related issues yet?

 

I'd say that's speculation at best.

 

I did a general roundup of the number of people on that thread and forum who's motherboards failed and its around 40 for the month of Dec.

Very very scary! I'm slated to get my dec ordered system in march when my relative brings it. Quite worried it will die on me here in India and I wont get a replacement from lenovo as the machine was bought in the us.

 

That is why you should always let your relative "test drive" any new equipment in the original country of purchase. Sure, then it won't be brand new, and it does not give you any hard guarantees, but at least you will know that the equipment is not a complete lemon before it is brought overseas.

/me hopes that his new X220 would be okay.

 

My relative's been using it on weekends through dec and jan however she's no poweruser like me. My machines stay on 18 hours 7 days a week so I fear whatever may be the issue will pop up after some time of poweruse. Eitherways for anyone who's ordered between end nov-end jan please let us know in this thread if youve had motherboard related problems!

 

Nope my machine is just fine.

 

X220's have international warranty service.

Lenovo Support - International Warranty Service (IWS)

 

I ordered mine late October, and I haven't had any issues.

 

Yep I saw, however the horror stories ive heard from people over here with thinkpads and how they send their machines in perfect condition and they come back like they've been through a war is disturbing lol.

 

I guest the Technical know that the laptop can take some abusive, so there no point being careful to it.

 

I think you're drawing broad conclusions, for both the failures and the repair service, not supported by any hard facts nor can it be corroborated in any way. I think this does a disservice to others reading it.

 

There are a number of posts about boards with the serial range R9-HXXXX dying in a similar manner. The earlier linked thread has some responses that seem to indicate that there may be a change in the motherboards that is slowing the supply chain for replacements. It's worth a read at the very least.

Anyhow my serial is just before this range, R9-G and I've not had any problems.

 

I'm not saying anything that's not on that thread.

there are some r9-Kxxx too
mines r9-Kxxx

Whats your system model? mines 4286

 

Of course you are. You said there was a huge number of failures or did I misread it? You site the 40 people in that thread as your source, but I say 40 is an eye drop in the bucket of X220s sold in that time period.

You also site the horror stories from people who've sent their machine in as a reason to be concerned. While I'm sure there have people who've had poor repair experiences, that does not make for a trend. If you compare that to the number of notebook repairs makes every day, a few web posts hardly seems significant. You can find those posts about every manufacturer. Also people with a complaint tend to be more vocal than those who do not, which makes it appear to a larger phenomena than it is reality.

 

Mine is also 4286-CTO. I wouldn't worry about the sky falling on your X220 though, unless you notice instability or abnormalities.

I'm not really concerned about it even given my machine's proximity to the apparently affected ones, but I am keeping an eye on the reports in that and other threads.

 

In that thread one person bought 40 x220's out of which 20 died.
That's a 50% failure. Another person bought 2 machines, both died, that's 100%.
Sorry but that's huge to me and you can't convince me otherwise.

Hmm, did you buy it in end nov-dec-early jan too?

I'm not TOO worried about it but I think it's important that whoever bought an x220 during that period come across this information and stay aware of it, the more we know about it the better.

At least Mark from Lenovo replied on that thread so they're aware of it and he said they've already bolstered system board spare orders however it probably just applied for North America. One poor dude from czech republic has been waiting over 5 weeks now for a motherboard replacement, I feel really bad for him.

 

My ship date from Lenovo was October 8th.

That's all I mean - reading about it and being (somewhat) informed is about all I can do unless I want to go to the shrink and buy anxiety medication.

My guess from teh verbiage Mark posted is that there was a design or manufacturing change in the boards recently and there is a shortage since new system builds have top priority.

 

mind if I ask what bios version it shipped with and if you've upgraded the bios yet?

 

I think it shipped with 1.21 and I'm on 1.25 now. I've upgraded each time except 1.26 since I haven't found a de-whitelisted one yet.

 

I think mine will ship with 1.25. I read on the thread about something to do with if you have the BIOS in UEFI + Hyperthreading enabled (which I had) it might never wake from sleep for BIOS < 1.26.

Does that make any sense to you?

 

I didn't see anyone confirm that, but I do remember reading one post about it.

I'm not doing UEFI boot, too lazy. I only reboot once every few weeks for a kernel upgrade anyway.

 

Offtopic but how come you wanted a de whitelisted bios?

 

I replaced the intel wifi card with an Atheros HB112AGN 3x3 (HP branded) which has much better drivers for linux. My model has the webcam (no 3rd antenna) so I'm using one of the unused WWAN antennas as the 3rd.

As you probably know there aren't any whitelisted atheros cards. So I needed a hacked BIOS to be happy.

Back on topic, the 1.26 change log states:

So somebody may be confused and got it backwards, I don't know.

 

Oh yeah thats another can of worms,

x220 does not resume from sleep - Lenovo Community

some say it made no difference =S

 

Interesting, thanks. I bookmarked that, I'll have to read through it later. I've had problems crashing going into suspend on Linux that were resolved easily by automatically unloading the card reader module:

/etc/pm/config.d/00sleep_modules

Code:

SUSPEND_MODULES="$SUSPEND_MODULES sdhci"

 

I'm not trying to convince you. I'm bringing some perspective to the discussion.

 

I am actually one of these cases. Mine is also a 4286-CTO. I have made posts in Lenovo forum regarding this issue.

Here are some FACTS.

1. I had a bad experience with a Lenovo partner repair center. I got my laptop back without the repair now. I am dealing with Lenovo directly. Some people may have had bad repair experiences, but it may be the Lenovo partner.

2. When I spoke to Tier 2 tech support, he IMPLIED that there MAY be a problem with the motherboards. He never confirmed it specifically, but did mention that there were several cases reported. For me personally, my system died after updating the BIOS to 1.25 through Thinkvantage update.

3. Yes, there is a delay of motherboard shipment, which is coming from Shanghai. North America stock is supposed to be replenished by 3rd week of February (next week), and the repair time (excluding shipping your unit) will be back to normal at 1-2 days. My issue happened at the end of January, and they quoted me at least 2 weeks but no guarantees.

4. After some complaining, I reached customer relations, and they are replacing, NOT repairing, my unit with an upgrade unit. I was not happy that I will be without my laptop for nearly a month, but their replacement offer blew me away. My original unit is pretty basic, but my replacement will have everything with upgraded specs.


All in all, this started off as a terrible experience, and it got worse as I was trying to deal with Lenovo partner and tech support. This was my first Lenovo, and I had serious second thoughts about my decision. But, from what I can tell, Lenovo is very diligent with dealing with these type of issues, and if the motherboard stock was available, my laptop would have been fixed in 4 days from the day my system died. That is an excellent turn-around time. Due to the lack of MB stock, I have been suffering without my laptop, but Lenovo more than made up for it.

If you had not had a problem with your x220, I wouldn't worry.
If you currently have a problem, talk to Lenovo. They will listen and work something out for you.

 

I will post an update, once I get my replacement unit.

 

My X220 is part of the R9-Kxxx series. No problems yet.

On the topic of the upgraded unit. I'm sort of hoping mine dies now. I have a very basic configuration and wouldn't mind going back to my T400 for a month.

 

I'm one the people with X220 sleep issues. My machine is a R9-Hxxx, manufactured in October. A couple of others have mentioned similar manufacturing dates, but not a significant number (and a very small sample anyway -- yes).

I'll try and call Lenovo if this issue persists and when I find the time to do it. I'll see then if Lenovo Germany is going to handle it like Lenovo US.

 

True. That said, Lenovo did somehow completely exhaust their service repair supply of X220 motherboards, with back-order lead time quoted in weeks. Either they have gotten really sloppy (which is a possibility), or the number of faulty X220 motherboards that require replacement had greatly exceeded their projections.

 

@mtt1
If Lenovo Germany does not work out, you may want to go to Lenovo forum and seek out "Mark". He seems to be able to direct you to the right people.

He got me to customer relations (eventually), and I saw him helping someone from Netherlands, based on the messages from the forum.

 

ve been through this topic couple of times, while waiting for my x220 to arrive. the google directs here from the search of "how to check the mb serial", so...w'd appreciate if anyone can help me out with these:

1.how do you check the serial on of mb? does aida work?
2.is this issue only relevant for x220 or does this also span across x220tablets?

 

I don't know how to check MB S/N. But from what I know, this issue was for X220 manufactured in summer/fall 2011. If you just ordered a new one, it should be okay.

And I have not seen any reports of X220T having this problem in here or lenovo forums, probably because X220T will use a different type of MB.

 

I guess I am not allowed to have links to my blog post in the forum.

In any case, I had received a replacement laptop, instead of a repair.

Long story short, my laptop died and needed a repair. MB was not in stock and I complained through phone and Lenovo forum. Lenovo customer relations agent contacted me and offered a replacement with upgraded specs.

I eventually got my replacement last Thursdays, 29 days after the problem occurred.

My original X220 was :
i5-2520 2.5Ghz CPU
2GB Ram
320GB HDD
TN Screen
Webcam
Windows 7 Home Premium

My new X220 is :
i5-2540 2.6Ghz CPU
4GB Ram (1 stick)
500GB HDD
IPS Screen
Webcam
Fingerprint scanner
Windows 7 Professional
Ultrabase 3


First impression, the screen is nice. It’s not “night and day” like some people claimed, but it is definitely brighter. Because of the wider viewing angle, I don’t have to constantly adjust the screen while using the laptop. Also, extra HDD space is very good. I was running out of space on 320GB drive, so extra space is certainly helpful. I had my own 8GB sticks, so 4GB ram is just going to collect dust.

I didn’t think I would need Win7 Pro, but now I can use the virtual machine.

Also, I was surprised to find a Ultrabase in the box. It was not mentioned by the Lenovo agent as a part of the package, and I didn’t know what it was at first. I already have an external DVD drive and I normally use a laptop cooler, so I don’t know how much I am going to use this. I am considering selling it at the moment.

One thing I noticed is that the plastic texture is different on the new laptop. Keyboard is definitely different, the keys feel “lighter” if that makes any sense. I don’t know if you can see it in the picture, but the casing also have a different tint and texture. It might be because my original has “aged” for 6 months, but it was noticeable as soon as I touched it. After further comparison, it feels like the magnesium alloy lid had slightly different coating as well.

Overall, it was still not a great experience to have my only laptop go down. I had to retrieve my 8-year old laptop to get by for a month. Lenovo support or their business partner was not very helpful to answer my questions about the issue. Ultimately, they were not able to repair it in a timely manner, and offered me a replacement. Yes, I suffered for a month, but the extra bells and whistles that I got helped to ease the pain. I know alot of people will be enraged that they are stuck waiting for a repair. Or, that theirs were repaired and didn’t get a replacement with extra stuff.

Despite the one-month hoopla with X220, I still believe that this is the best laptop in the class for this price range. I really hope no one turns away from Lenovo, because they make quality computers. And this incident can happen to any laptop to any company. It is unfortunate that it happened for me and other X220 owners, but this should not change what Lenovo really is.

 

Nice replacement

 

damn...ultrabase..

 

The failure is quite alarming. Basic lenovo warranty is 1yr and after that you are on your own.

 

You can extend your warranty to 3 years.

But most major companies offer 1-year base warranty and you need to purchase additional years. Warranty issue is not just specific to Lenovo, but for most companies.

 

Says who?

 

Quite alarming for what seems to be two batches of X220's made some time in November/December. If you don't have one of the affected series, don't worry. Leave the worrying to people like me who have X220's in those series.

Anyways, for people who had their X220's replaced, how long did it take for your machine to break? Any issues before or did it just suddenly die?

 

As far as I know, NO ONE has had their entire laptop replaced. I think I am the only one who got an entirely new machine. Most are waiting for motherboard stock to be replenished. I only know about people who had theirs repaired, or are waiting for a repair.

For me, I had ZERO issues before it died. I was doing a BIOS update as per Thinkvantage notification. After the BIOS update, the laptop shut itself down to reboot, but never came back.

From what I have read, there are many different scenarios leading up to the problem. But, they all require a new motherboard.

There was someone from Japan (in lenovo forum) I believe who had this problem, and had the motherboard replaced right away, because Japan had stock.

This would not have been a big problem if there was a motheboard stock in US/CA, because it only takes 1-2 days to ship the part to service centers and a day to replace the motherboard.

 

I'm using 1.25
is there any need for me to upgrade to 1.26? mine was made on nov 29th shipped on 5th dec

It's working fine as it is, i dont wanna break it.

 

Well, the BIOS upgrade is not absolutely necessary. But, when I upgraded from 1.21 to 1.25, I got a hugh graphic performance boost. So, I thought it would be nice to upgrade to 1.26.

If you are going to do it, you may want to wait a bit until the MB stock is replenished. Then, even if it breaks, you can have it repaired with couple days.

 

I don't think im gonna bother upgrading to 1.26.

 

When I tried updating (bios, and a few other big ones) my X220 with Crucial M4 128gb, Windows started acting really wacky, to the point where it would BSOD after 2-3 minutes. I had to do a restore to an earlier restore point it was so bad, there was nothing else I could do. I went through that cycle on maybe three separate occasions since I wanted to install the updates, but every try ended the same way. Thought it was FUBAR the first time but thankfully the system restore fixed it. Any ideas why my updates aren't working like they're supposed to? Probably related to my M4...not giving that up, hell no.

 

I guess I was lucky. My order date was 10/22/11 so I likely just missed the motherboard defects. I have been pushing my x220 pretty hard since it actually serves as my personal laptop (which doubles as a work laptop when on the road), and my x220 has actually been the most trouble free of any laptop I have owned in recent memory by a wide margin (this includes quite a few MBPs which were lemons).

 

Update your M4 firmware

 

Easy as that? I'll try it tonight, thanks for the input.

edit: This worked amazingly. My firmware was at 0001, silly me, now 0309. Good call! Everything up to date finally, feels a lot snappier to boot. Thanks!

 

my pre-christmas x220 died too. I got the motherboard replaced under warranty.

however as the cpu is soldered on the motherboard the cpu had to be replaced too so if this would happen with expired warranty it would cost almost 80% of a new unit, so the question is - did any repaired x220's failed?