Is T61 e-SATA capable [ Edited ]

[nktpro]

A guy named Carl has just put up this wonderful article covering the whole issue we have, you guys may love to take a look:

http://2xod.com/articles/Lenovo%20T61%20Slow%20PCMCIA/

Moderator note: converted to clickable link

Message Edited by andyP on 03-22-2008 12:29 AM

[2xodDOTcom]

I contacted someone from Ricoh and they say the cardbus controller (R5C847) is capable of 65 MB/sec reads and 30 MB/sec writes using an ICH8 platform. Since the T61 uses the ICH8-M, the performance should be similar.

Now I am very curious to hear Lenovo's response to this issue.



Message Edited by 2xodDOTcom on 04-08-2008 08:52 AM

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

All,

The discussion and observations posted here and on TPF are noted, and this is being looked into.   The ongoing discussion and sharing of information that helps to isolate the variables is welcomed and appreciated.

I'll post again after our initial investigation, and may have some questions for the group.

2x0dDOTcom, you might want to update your location to reflect your country.    At some point, we may need to ask for a volunteer to send in a system / PCMCIA device combo that is producing these results if we are unable to replicate it here.   Being able to readily identify community members in the US is helpful in this regard.

Thanks!

[2xodDOTcom]

I have purchased 2 esata pcmcia/cardbus cards:

VANTEC UGT-ST350CB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839113007
based on the Silicon Image Sil3512 pci to sata chipset

StarTech CBESATA2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158014
based on Initio INIC 1623 pci to sata chipset

I will be posting a "round-up" style review of all of these cards, so I can also determine if the cause of this problem is my current cardbus/pcmcia to sata adapter.

Moderator Note; converted to clickable link

Message Edited by andyP on 04-08-2008 07:31 PM

[2xodDOTcom]

I've created a new page that compares various cardbus controllers and esata cards, hopefully this will be of some help to this issue:

http://2xod.com/articles/eSATA%20Performance%20of%20Various%20Cardbus%20Controllers/

[bummer]

In case this is not reported yet...

SAME PROBLEM happens on X61 as well

[nktpro]

Well, assuming what bummer posted is true, then I can conclude this problem most likely happens on every single Thinkpad of the 61(p) series (including X, T, R). This is unacceptable and only existing on Lenovo laptops! It's already been too long since the 1st complaint was put up here and yet no such answer from Lenovo with a solution.

@Mark_Lenovo: I highly appreciate your post. We're all waiting for your next reply after the investigation.


Message Edited by nktpro on 04-26-2008 09:10 AM

[shaunthehorn]

Hi, I have a T61 7664 which has a problem with the Cardbus slot which I think may be related.

The problem I have is with a Cardbus based soundcard (An RME Multiface) which has a problem where the samplerate of the card is very unstable, and lowers in pitch depending on how many output channels are active. This to me suggests a bandwidth related issue somewhere on the system. RME have suggested that the problem may be due to the Ricoh chip, as they have had mixed success with these in the past, as a lot of systems using this chip don't seem to support PCI Burst mode data transfer. Without knowing anything about the chip or how it communicates with the rest of the system I can't say whether this is the problem or not, or if it is, whether it is possible to fix it. I would however, be delighted to help out and do testing etc in order to get to the bottom of this problem as soon as possible, as I bought this system for my business and the longer it takes to get it working, the more money I am losing from it!

I am reassured to hear that Lenovo are looking into it, and I hope a cure isn't too far away.

All the best,
Shaun

[cmho333]

This is very pathetic. I spent a lot of time trying to find a good laptop, trusted Lenovo, and ended up with a mediocre laptop that kept on crashing on Vista. After downgrading to XP, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...

I just saw a very good deal on a eSATA external harddrive and I was about to buy it... and now you are telling me that T61's PCMCIA/eSATA performance is 5X slower than an 8-year old laptop. Great! I am going thru all five stages of grief.

Info: My T61 is 7662-CTO, and it has an SD-slot+empty PC slot. A 1394 port (right around the corner of the PC slots) is at the front of the Laptop.

Perhaps: But anyway, the article from 2xod.com says that T61 actually uses the chipset R5C847 (despite the fact that device manager uses the driver R5C476). I googled for R5C847 drivers, and only ended up in Japanese websites, and they are all for Vista. Since I downgraded already, I won't be able to test whether the R5C847 drivers for VISTA would make any difference.

Also, is the 1394 port at the front affected also? I can't test it either since I don't have a firewire external harddrive.

Thanks to whoever started up this topic and whoever is continuing testing this issue. I hope that Mark_Lenovo will give us a satisfying report on this SOON. And I hope this qualifies for a performance recall.

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

All,

Thanks for the reminder.   I'll check up on this tomorrow and update this thread.

Update 6/6/08 - looks like some progress - the issue is in development now.  

Probably more substantive updates available in the next two weeks.

Mark

Message Edited by Mark_Lenovo on 06-06-2008 06:25 PM