W520 shuts off intermittently, no BSOD or shut down

[mib]

Hi,

I didn't browse the whole thread, so I'm not sure whether someone else reported a similar problem.

I also have sudden shutdowns once every 2 or 3 weeks, but in my case all of them (11 so far) were preceeded by exactly 30 seconds of complete system freeze.

I have the model 4276-37U, but I replaced the HDD with Crucial M4 256GB.

I know that some SSD drives used to cause freezes and I applied the LPM registry fix, it didn't help.

I'm hoping that maybe this 30 seconds freeze before shutdown could give you a hint on which component might be failing in my case. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[christopherlang]

Hi. It's a lot mib, but you may wish to glance through all of the thread. I don't have SSS and your issues sounds like SSS but it seems you have an additional symptom with the 30 second system freeze and then shutdown. I recall it is a more spontaneous shutdown, more like flicking a light switch off (e.g. no hangs, but your lockups and then shutoff could perhaps still fit this failure). What do you get in the event log? So you are working, the system freezes ~30 seconds, then just shuts off? Anything of interest in event manager around when this happens? Any other symptoms, issues? Depending on your answers, you may wish to create a new thread for your issue, and then come back here if you need to. Could you write on what your memory slot cover looks like (see the last day or so of posts). Do the metal tangs along the sides of the cover make good contact with the metal that run along the sides of the slot where the cover fits in? Do the EMI (was looking for 'emi' lol), do the EMI pads look ok? Everything snug and making good electrical contact? Very little effort or cost to check this and it could be the resolution to one issue at least.

[christopherlang]

If true, Too bad we are only discussing in the w520 forum (unless I've missed something).

[mib]

Hi,

Nothing in the event viewer around the time of shutdown, also no other sympthoms. When it happens, sound goes silent, the screen freezes and 30 seconds later the system powers off without BSoD.

Thanks for the suggestion on memory slot cover, I'll check it later today.

Apart from SSD, the only non-factory component I have is an USB TV tuner from AverMedia. It was attached during all crashes, but I disconnect it very rarely. Is it possible that some kind of power spike from my cable TV could cause this problem?

[christopherlang]

Hi Mib. Ok thanks. Hmmm could be some sort of static still but the '30 second' freeze is getting me.

[huberth]

Are you using the latest RST drivers?

Lenovo has just posted a new version this a few days ago.

[christopherlang]

Hi Huberth. His problem is the shutdown.

Cheers

[Tom-H-PIC]

Hi

I'm having the exact same thing as mib!

The system will just freeze for about 30 seconds and then just turn OFF totally.

There is no info in the event log other than windows stopped without a shutdown.

This would happen about 2 times a week when I first got the W520 for the first 3 month.

Then it was gone for 6 to 7 month and then is returned about 2 month ago.

Has anyone tried the new RST drivers?

One other issue that I have is when I boot my W520 at work or at home either location.

It finds HP printers on the network and tries to load some type of hardware driver for them.

The driver installation fails every time and I don’t know what driver it is trying to load.

This will not happen on a public network either.

I have an icon on my desk top to device manger and I will go in every day and delete them.

Thanks

Tom

[christopherlang]

Hi. The consistent ~30 second hang and then it shutting off gets me. Seems you and Mib could have another issue. It might be a good idea to go back through this thread to see how many others have a system shutoff problem preceded by ~30 second hang. Seems others with the SSS issue just have the sudden shutdown symptom. Perhaps Huberth's suggestion regarding the RST drivers might be helpful though I would be surprised if it resolved your problem. Funny you say that about your HP printer (sounds similar to a netowrk one that I have, it is HP's buggy drivers/software in my case lol (some sort of SLP and device driver problem. I am always stuck with a disabled device in device mgr POS lol and HP won't fix it). Cheaper to toss the printer than hassle any more with HP, printers like cheap cellphones..actually HP printer support of these cheap printers is also like cheap/throwaway cellphones heh.). Anyway you may need to evaluate how you approach the shutoff issue. I don't think you or Mib have a static electricity induced shutoff issue.

[ThorsHammer]

About half the time my W520 croaked, it would hang then shutoff.  Other times it seemed instant.  I'm not really 100% sure on that because after the 1st instance I moved it to a secondary role and off to one side of my desk.  So I wasn't touching it half the time and didn't know for sure if it had hung up or not.