w510 - sudden freezing, slow - Is it NOT the Hardware when PCDoctor Tests run successful?

[l1metric]

hi all,

I have a 6-month old w510 laptop and since recently major stability issues. These issues occured since i began using wifi more often and a 90w power adapter instead of the recommended 135w brick.

When first some performance issues (read system almost hangs) occured my first thought was that it might be related to the power adapter , so i played with running just with battery and that seems to perform a bit better. Lenovo support tells me thought that the only affect a 90w power adapter should have is that the battery charges slower...

Then the screen froze several times over several days. Laptop was completely unresponsive to any userinteraction. I had to reboot forcefully. I read up on this in the forums that it seems to be a problem also other users have.

So I contacted Lenovo support and they got me to execute a PCDoctor Full test from CD. I did that and all tests executed successfully.

After that Lenovo support tells me: Then it must be the OS / Software and that I should reinstall the OS. This is obviously a major issue with all the programs and customization I did.

So my quesitons apart from how to possibly solve this (I tried downloading the all newest drivers from the thinkvintage tools, especially WIFI and Nivida: until now no freezes anymore, but Performance still slow, especially startup.):

• If PCDoctor doesn't detect any errors in its tests: is this a garantee that the hardware works correctly?
• And if I would need to replace the systemboard would i have to reinstall the OS from scratch?
• Has anybody some suggestions for this  kind of problems ?

My Laptop was running fine with the factory settings. Problems occured after installing software and all. So I just do not want to go over the major setback of reinstalling everything juts to find me in the same situation 1 month from now, and then eventually have to send in the laptop.

• So my major concern it how to isolate hardware issues?
• And then in a second step driver issues.

Thanks  for any help

My system config:

OS Name    Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Version    6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description     Not Available
OS Manufacturer    Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer    LENOVO
System Model    4389A15
System Type    x64-based PC
Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU       Q 720  @ 1.60GHz, 1600 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date    LENOVO 6NET72WW (1.32 ), 25.08.2010
SMBIOS Version    2.6
Windows Directory    C:\Windows
System Directory    C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device    \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale    Switzerland
Hardware Abstraction Layer    Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
Time Zone    GMT Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory    7.93 GB
Available Physical Memory    5.16 GB
Total Virtual Memory    15.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory    12.9 GB
Page File Space    7.93 GB
Page File    C:\pagefile.sys

GPU:

Name    NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M
PNP Device ID    PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A3C&SUBSYS_214517AA&REV_A2\4&1BEA6A37&0&0018
Adapter Type    Quadro FX 880M, NVIDIA compatible
Adapter Description    NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M
Adapter RAM    1.00 GB (1'073'741'824 bytes)
Installed Drivers    nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version    8.17.12.5738

[don820]

I don't care what anyone says -- this laptop will not work right with a 90w power supply. Never run this laptop on a 90w power supply, or it will misbehave exactly as you're describing. You can spend hours and days messing around with BIOS, OS and Power Driver manager configurations -- OR, you can just run the laptop with the power supply it's supposed to (135w).

The fact is that the 880m is a 135w video card. Trying to run it at 90w is just asking for trouble and Lenovo completely messed it up in their attempt.

Walk away, give your 90w power supplies to friends, go buy a bunch of 135w supplies and save yourself soooooo much time and grief.

[Jimbo]

---

don820 wrote:
The fact is that the 880m is a 135w video card.

---

I think you accidentally added a 1 to the max power spec, Don820. From:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_880_m_us.html

Quadro FX 880M Specifications:

...Maximum Power Consumption: Up to 35W

Although the max power budget for the processors alone is 90 watts for the W510 (with i7-920XM CPU + Quadro FX 880M GPU). Note that the machine can and will draw power from the battery, if needed, while plugged into AC power.

[don820]

Good catch Jimbo, I stand corrected. I went back to double check the place I read that and it does say 35w too.

[shidevil]

It's not the GPU that takes 135W.

It's due to the whole cirtuitary in the W510.

having 135W activates the intel turboboost, without 135W it just runs normal without it.

So a 90W works fine

[don820]

I have 3 90w adapters.  None of them "work fine".  They all cause my system to run unacceptably slow.  Not sure what your configuration is, but on my system the 90w adapter is for absolute emergencies only.

[shidevil]

Are you serious?

I have 2 90W adapters and all of them works well.

Compare using a 135W and 90W, yes the 90W run slow but not REALLY that slow. It's just that it's without turboboost, but the i7 cores are using fully.

There is no configuration. I dont use power manager, uninstalled and disabled the services.

because if u use 135W, sometimes it doesn't automatically on the turboboost due to powermanager conflict with windows 7 built in battery manager.

[andytane]

I also have a W510 that is having trouble.    During boot up, there is a message displayed before the Lenovo bios logo appears stating that I should only use the 135 watt power supply which came with the system.      This message appears BEFORE the operating system boots, so I know it`s definitely not software related.

So, i figure that after 5 months, my 135w power supply is pooched.    I order a replacement.

When I receive it, I unbox it, plug it in, and boot my system....     The SAME message appears.     It seems that something is wrong with my motherboard.

I contact lenovo support.   They suggest a BIOS update.    After the BIOS update, it still comes up with the same info, however the BIOS 135W power supply warning now has an option to not show this warning in the future.  

So, when my Lenovo W510 is plugged into either 135W adapter, my system is running at reduced performance.    If I need higher performance, I unplug the adapter and run on Battery power for a couple hours.    There is a HUGE improvement in performance when I`m on battery power.

Go figure.

[don820]

In some of the earlier power manager versions, I used to have to do the same thing -- unplug the 135w power supply and run on battery to get decent performance. Very inspiring for sure.

[HyperSprite]

I thought I was the only one.

My w510 works all day on the 135W or battery but  on the Lenovo brand 20V 90W, it gets a little quirky. Some things lag like opening a RAW image in Photoshop (even though they open fine on battery). Then for no reason it just freezes and the only thing I can do is hard power it down.