thinkpad x61 freezing too often with vista business

[wehttam0]

I was having a similar problem of vista business hanging up or freezing while using routine programs. The computer would not completely lock up but I couldnt start task manager or open any other programs. I could click things and my start menu would open but that was about it. My only fix was to hard boot my system. Well after researching the problems on many different forums i found that it could be the auto update feature. Well i disabled that and it didnt help at all. But then some had posted something about the auto shock detection tool for the hard drive. My settings for the hard drive shock were on high. I changed the level to low which is the lowest setting and i havent had any hangups since ! I recommend if you havent already trying to set your hard disk shock sensor to low. You can find this setting in control panel--->Thinkvantage active protection. Its the first option inside. I hope this helps and i would be interested to know if it has helped anyone.

x61 Tablet
2gb ram
1gb turbo ram
wireless agn
SXGA
1.6 core2duo
Vista Business OS
Student

[rbmoorehead]

Since purchasing my Lenovo X61 7675-CTO in December, I have had a similar problem with system freezes. My frustration with this problem cannot be understated, as this has cost me countless hours of work and this forum has not provided any solutions nor have I found any documentation of this issue on the lenovo.com/support. I live in Mozambique and sending the machine in for a replacement - what I would have done months ago - is out of the question.

I have recently located a solution on another forum. Here I will document a description of the problem, the solutions I attempted, and the solution that eventually (and imperfectly) resolves the issue.

Problem Description: The system frequently freezes (not BSODs), up to five times per day, requiring a hard reboot. The mouse remains responsive but no programs respond, and a CTRL-ALT-DEL produces no result. I hard reboot is the only option. This is a problem which has cost me countless hours of lost work and one entire day for a system restore, when the windows registry was corrupted beyond repair.

Solutions Attempted: I have read of similar problems with this machine on this and other forums.

1. I have read that many users have ordered a Windows XP disk for $50 from Lenovo and downgraded their systems. Unfortunately, I am living in Mozambique and obtaining these disks through the mail is out of the question. Besides, I did not purchase this computer to run a five-year-old OS.

2. First, I followed the recommendations for a similar problem (with BSODs) from a sticky topic on this forum, and upgraded the drivers for the Intel Turbo Memory Controller and the BIOS. I upgrade the former to v1.5.0.1013, and the BIOS to v2.07. As of the date of this post, these are the most current drivers available on lenovo.com/support.  This did not resolve the issue.

3. Following a post on Tech Support Forum, I disabled "Windows Hybrid Hard Disk Power Savings Mode" in the "Balanced" profile, and all other power profiles, for both "plugged in"  and "battery." This did not resolve the issue.

Solution found: Following a recommendation on a post on TablePCReview, I disabled "ReadyBoost" and "ReadyDrive" in the "Intel Turbo Memory Console."  This successfully resolved the system freeze problem.

Conclusion: The most current drivers for Intel Turbo Memory provided by Lenovo simply do not function for my laptop. I have to disable a valuable feature in order to use my machine, which I find frustrating. I hope that Intel and Lenovo techs will resolve this issue soon, and that a knowledgebase document will be published to facilitate other users (and there are, clearly, many) with this problem.

---

Follow-up, 29 May 2008: Following the recommendation of another user, I have downloaded the Windows Vista SP1 that was just released. After installing SP1 (and all the prerequisite driver updates) I was able to enable the Intel ReadyBoost and ReadDrive features. Finally, problem (truly) solved.


Message Edited by rbmoorehead on 05-29-2008 10:41 PM

Message Edited by rbmoorehead on 05-29-2008 10:41 PM

[monkey_boy]

its nice to know that there is other solution to the problem of the laptop freezing up... my own problem was solved by downloading the latest drivers for the hardwares; limiting the system resources (not using vista areo option); and disable the "hybrid hard drive" option... not to also mention downloading vista SP2 to maximize peformance and battery life...

[monkey_boy]

sorrie... its vista SP1... its available for manual download, although it is a bigger file than the one that will be made available automatically with "windows update"..

[waroonh]

I Think 1 Gb of Ram on Vista is Very OK

Have no IDEA

but my X_61 with Vista Business (Very Custom Recovery) 

Use It Over 16 Hour per Day

and have no problem ??

May The Problem come from Vista ?

After Load this and look inside Service Partition

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=TVAN-ADMIN#TBSA

I Found a lot lot lot of Vista Patch

that mean when recovery with R_R equal

install first version RTM of Vista

and Patch ,Patch ,Patch ,Patch .....(install KB ... from Microsoft)

and then Install Driver

and Lot of Application

first time i create Recovery Disc (1 cd 1 dvd) and test recovery it

all progress time is more then 3 hour (I CANNOT Accept this)

after i Customize and Deploy Custom Step of Recovery to Service Partition

to install

- Vista RTM

- Require Patch (Eg. RTM Activate Fix, Freez 10 Sec on Boot Progress , ect)

- All Driver

- Some Tool (Recover Write, Active Protech, Ect but not all) 

- Not install 3rd Party Application (Norton , DiskKeeper Ect)

all progress ~ 1.5 hour

and after Recovery install Vista SP1 RTM (I Know it Priate on Torrent but after install

many many time this version work great than Load Multi language ver of SP1 on MS Site

or Auto Update)~ 20 Min

and Manual Close EDIOT Feature ,Service of Vista 

by Look inside Task Manager and Click Right on All time consume CPU

Task select Go to Service - Stop it and Make not Auto Load on Startup

(not worry to Stop - 80 precent of vista auto service is useless process)

U can Try Manual Close EDIOT Service First maybe Lucky

by Manual or Search Vista Slow Working on Google

If Do - All of This and It's Still Freezing

on Your Machine Install 2 Card of Ram in Both Slot ?

Try Use only 1 Card

or Try Install XP SP2 (I Think this not Rigth Soultion and Why Down Grade OS Require Pay Money ??)

[djaar]

Same problem... I am on SP1 and all drivers are updated...

X61-Tablet 7675-CTO

[Confederate]

Check out these links for Vista performance on Thinkpads.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-68156.html

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-70660

I wrote them so they are valid.

[djaar]

Just did all of what is suggested and the first thing that happened after rebooting was... freeze!

[jschultemd]

since you appear knowledgeable regarding this, are you aware of any problems having Windows Defender and macaffee security center enabled at the same time on my Lenovo T900 running Windows Vista?