T-61 Thinkpad randomly goes into sleep mode

[rodneyc]

I have a T-61 and it's just started to randomly go to sleep when it wants.  This is very frustrating as it may wait a few hours before doing this or do it multiple times.  I have done a lot of searching on the net and have found a possible link to newer versions of thinkpad power management software.  I removed this app and the driver and went a few weeks without incident, but it just started happening again out of the blue.  I use this laptop at work and can hardley get anything done due to it randomly going to sleep on me.  I don't know why there are hardly any cases of it in here, but just do a google search and you will see there are others having this exact same issue.  Please help or give further suggestions.

Thanks,

rodney

[NoTime4Naps]

Me, too.

I've got a T61p running

Vista Ultimate 6.0.6002 SP2 Build 6002

Lenovo 7LETC6WW (2.26) BIOS

What else? AC connected, battery un-installed, WiFi network connection

Seems to run fine in Safe Mode and Safe Mode with Networking (although I don't use either mode for too long, maybe 30 minutes)

I saw a lot of posts on T400 shutdowns elsewhere on the site, but this is definitely sleep mode. The laptop has been relatively stable since I bought it in ~12/07. For the past ~2 weeks, it's been entering sleep mode randomly and frequently. I've tried System Restore to pre-sleep issue restore points, but it doesn't help.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

--Brent

[sushiserv]

The issues most likely lies with hte GFX card.

Try hplies.com and nvidiadefect.com to read up on the issue. Even though you don't have HP laptops, teh defect still aplies t oyou.

[NoTime4Naps]

Thanks for the leads, Sushiserv. I'll look into them. On first glance, it looks like the Nvidia chips in question are 8400M/8600M. I'm running a Quadro NVS 140M and plan to google "NVS 140M defect" in the morning. Thanks, again.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

this could be due to overheating in the CPU/GPU.

Download TPfancontrol to monitor the temperature on these two components, then use prime95 (free download) and see whether you can force it thermal overload.

[NoTime4Naps]

So I downloaded CPUID Hardware Monitor and see that my GPU is 93 degrees C! From what little I've read, that's a little high, to put it mildly. Again, thanks for the leads, everyone. I'm still blacking out regularly, but at least I've got some ideas to pursue for resolution. 

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

try cleaning the heatsink if you haven't already done that. Do you have warranty still? If not you can get post warranty warranty extension, or try to reapply the thermal compound (this should be done only if you do not want to pursue warranty resolution).

Also, it would be wise to use the TPfancontrol to see whether the heatsink still works properly, at this temperature your fan should be spinning at around 3500 rpm or so.

Make sure to check that, there is a good possibility that the heatsink is the culprit of the problem. 

[sushiserv]

Actually for me, my laptop had the defect ive 6150 GPU.

On HPlies, after summing up a lot of stuff, we determine that the defect gpus were:

Um there was a list - these are named in the lawsuit that was made private by nVIDIA:
G86, G86A2, G84, C51, G72, G72M, G73, G72A3, MCP67 and NV42
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42472/118/

http://www.nvidia.com/object/mobogpu_nb.html

Now here is what they are...
G86 -> GeForce 8600
G86A2 -> GeForce 8600 Rev A2 (I presume...)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8600.html

G84 -> GeForce 8400
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8400M.html

C51 -> 6150/6100 GO with nFORCE 410/430
http://www.nvidia.com/page/nb_6100_tech_specs.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4 ... 11.09.html

G72 -> GeForce 7200
G72M -> GeForce 7200 Mobile?
G73 -> GeForce 7300
G72A3 -> GeForce 7200 Rev A3

MCP67 -> nFORCE 650M / GeForce 7150M
http://www.nvidia.com/object/mobogpu_nb ... specs.html

NV42 -> Southbridge used with GeForce 6800 boards

After searching on nVIDIA's website...

So... the 6xxx, the 7xxx, and the 8xxx series are affected with all the 8400 and 8600 being pieces of poo.

Additionally, nVIDIA's insurance company is suing them for not releasing information on hte fact these were defective in the first place.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/31/figuring-out-which-nvidia-gpus-are-defective-its-a-lot/

This one states of reports that the 140M is defective. No HP laptops have hte 140M, so that is why HPlies disregarded it. I may be wrogn about some of those chipsets up there.

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

Notime4naps,

I think Lead_Org is on the right track here...generally I would think unintended suspend / sleep events are either going to be related to power management / software problems, or an overall system overheating condition.

I have seen T61 systems load up with dust, and it is the CPU, not the GPU that overheats at 95-99C triggering the suspend condition.   I would try the temperature monitoring software to get a handle on what the CPU is doing, clean the fan and heatsink fins with compressed air, consider removing the old thermal paste and re-applying artic silver.  (This assumes you are out of warranty and want to debug this yourself).

I would then take a look at the software again.

sushiserv,

I believe you are trying to help in this discussion, but I really don't believe the Nivida issues apply in this particular case, even though the system may have an Nvidia chip.  This is not exemplary of the Nvidia fail condition due to the solder bump / crack issues.

Please don't repost these further.

Thanks,

Mark

[NoTime4Naps]

Thanks, Mark. ...I'm still under warranty, actually. I just figured this was a driver/software issue initially, so I was trying to sort this out myself. Will cleaning the fan void my warranty?