y550p crashing/freezing

[botnet]

I suspect a hardware issue as my 3 month old Ideapad y550p has begun crashing and freezing often across mulitple operating systems.  On Windows, I recieve an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x0a Stop error (bsod), and on Linux I get total system freeze (hpet timer error "compare register readback failure").

I suspect faulty RAM and will run Memtest86+ accordingly as soon as I have the time.

I purchased this laptop through Newegg on January 30, 2010. 

I do not want to RMA this laptop, but fear that may be my only recourse.  Should it come to that, what would the procedure and conditions entail?

[botnet]

ran memtest for about 7 hours, no errors ran windbg on the crash dump, lead back to a probable error with the wireless device, updating drivers did not prevent another bsod pointing to the same problem (NETw5v64.sys) additionally, in linux i get this error: ata2: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0xf t4 which points to a bad hard drive In the three months that i have owned this, it has barely moved from my desk, never dropped, no sudden power outages, no overheating, and this is not a virus issue. It just suddenly began crashing and freezing indicating some type of hardware failure. will someone from lenovo please respond and inform me whether this is covered by the warranty and how to proceed in rectifying the issue?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

hdd does fail, which is why backup is a good idea. If hdd never fails then there is no point giving warranty on these parts.

HDD failure is covered under warranty, but i am not sure whether you have to send the laptop into depot to get it changed over. 

[botnet]

No comments from anyone at Lenovo yet?

Is it advisable to attempt to update the BIOS while it is so unstable?

I imagine it would be bad should it BSOD during the update.  But it's already pretty unuseable for any extended period of time.

Would really like someone from Lenovo to reply.

[Cleo_Lenovo Administrator]

Hi botnet,

Welcome to Lenovo Forum!

Thanks for your sharing. I'm trying to understand a little more about your situation.

Did you mean Windows experience only BSOD all the time while Linux just merely system hangs without seeing any cursor movement? What were you doing when it happened? Any programs were running which may cause BSOD and system hangs? Maybe you may try to run in safe mode without networking.

Btw, i advise to flash the bios only if you have the issues stated in the change history of the bios. Try memory test as well.

Regards,
Cleo

[botnet]

Thank you for the reply.

On Windows, I get a bsod which entails typical blue screen behavior.  All programs crash, screen turns blue and lists some debugging info including IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL STOP 0x0000000A, then reboots.

I then run windbg on the crash dump in MiniDump folder as Administrator which everytime points to NETw5v64.sys as the cause of the problem.  Previous to this, I have not once changed the drivers for my wireless card. This behavior just suddenly began occurring earlier this week,.  Since this, I have tried updating the wireless driver from Intel's site, as well as updating from Lenovo's site. Both have not stopped the BSoD's from occurring.

Previous to this I have not installed anything outside of occasional Windows updates, and had not installed any updates immediately preceeding this behavior.

On Linux, the system simply freezes.  All programs freeze, music stops playing, mouse and keyboard are unresponsive, and even the Alt+SysRq+r-e-i-s-u-b sequence used to control low level kernel halting has no effect.  The touchscreen navbar above the keyboard however will still light up when I activate it, but otherwise, only holding the power button for several seconds will have any effect.  There is sometimes a mention of an hpet error in the system log, but I recompiled my kernel without the hpet timer, and disabled all hpet events from the boot loader, and the freezing persists, only without anything in syslog..

I have run Memtest86+ for 7 passes (about 7.5 hours) and no errors were detected.  I have used S.M.A.R.T. disk diagnostic software and there are no errors reported on the hard drive.

I have never dropped the laptop, nor done anything unusual with it.  It has never overheated, and according to MSE there are no viruses present.  The machine ran fine for about 2.5 months during which it never left my desk.

All available debugging/diagnostic tools point to a problem with the wireless NIC.

[botnet]

Sorry, forgot to include.  It will happen when I am browsing the internet, usually. But I say usually because that is what I am often doing on it.  It has frozen on linux while simply sitting at the console (e.g. after I have logged in, but before I start the X server) meaning it will freeze up regardless of if I am even connected to the internet.  I have not tried Safe Mode without Networking, yet. However, disabling the internet does not appeal to me as a solution.

[Cleo_Lenovo Administrator]

Hi botnet,

Yeah i agree with you disabling wifi is not a solution. However, a check with it is necessary. Have you encountered any BSOD/system freeze when wifi is disabled? Let's see how it goes. I googled and notice there are quite many computer useres facing this problem with NETw5v64.sys as well, but i'm not sure it would help you in your scenario for i notice there are a lot of similar cases in different forum without a certain answer.

Microsoft Answers - Windows 7 x64 netw5v64.sys driver issue causes BSOD

Regards,

Cleo

[botnet]

I will try that now.  It's a bit after 2am here and I ought be getting some sleep anyway. 

Thanks again.

[Cleo_Lenovo Administrator]

botnet,

Please check my edited message above. Thanks, and good night

Regards,

Cleo