Lenovo Legion Y720-15IKB i7-7700hq, 2x8GB DDR4 2400Mhz, 500GB SSD.

Problem: laptop freezes/locks up when trying to install or check the file integrity of a game stored on an external drive (Witcher 3 GOG version). The image is frozen, keyboard/mouse/trackpad stop working, sound stops working, only fans seem to still be working when it happens. Have to hold the power button to turn it off.

Timeline:

- bought pc last night

- boot it up, set up browser etc, seems to be working alright, download uplay and watchdogs, test that game for an hour and it seems to work ok (cpu+gpu temps in the 60s seem ok at first glance, game runs at a locked 60fps maxed out).

- Today I try to install witcher3 off an external HDD, computer freezes halfway through the install. Had to turn off the machine by holding the power button, restart again into windows

- Then I choose to restart once more just to be safe, infinite restart loop begins where there's the lenovo logo over a black background and a white text below saying "Starting Diagnosis Repair". After a while it switched to a blue error screen with the error that it cannot find the boot device(or something similar). The same thing happens whenever I restart. Can't access boot menu or anything else with the F keys.

- Eventually use the novo button on the side to get the boot/recovery menu. Reset everything. Now I install all the drivers and firmware on https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/pt/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/legion-series/legion-y720-15ikb/downloads

- Once that's done I try to once again install Witcher 3 off the external and it keeps locking up about 8 minutes in, no matter whether it's running file integrity check first or whether I skipped straight to installing the game.

I searched the forum but couldn't find any solution for this problem. I'm hoping it's just a software bug otherwise I'll have to return it which would be a shame since I'd really like this package if it worked as expected.

Could you try to copy the installation files from the external location to the drives in the notebook, prior to running the installation?  See if the copying of the files completes succesfully? Does the installation work after that?

Yeah, moving the files to the hard drive first and installing from there no longer locks up the laptop.

Does that shed any light on the cause behind these issues?

My primary concern here is figuring out whether or not this unit is defective while I still have a chance of getting it replaced by a new one or getting my money back.

SSD averaged mid 50s and peaked at 71ºC during 10 minutes of Witcher 3 according to HWInfo. What would be the most meaningful combined temperature test for this laptop?

I asked you to copy the files to check if there is some sort of corruption on the external drive. Now that it copied them over and you also managed to install it just makes this a bigger mistery, unfortunately :-)

Did you try running Lenovo Vantage hardware scans?

- Start Lenovo Vantage (should be installed by default)

- Under Health and Support look for Hardware scan

- Run quick tests

This should detect if anything is out of the ordinary.

Other than this, maybe someone else from here has any ideas?

My best guess is that there could be something with the external drive and the computer communicating during the installation. Is it a regular USB 3 external drive?

Could've sworn I made another reply yesterday and it vanished.

(Mod's Comment: your multiple edits of that post tripped the Spam Filter to auto remove that post.  Sorry!)

I did run lenovo vantage and all the other diagnostics tools I could before starting the thread, they didn't point to any malfunctioning component. Although considering the infinite startup repair-> blue screen saying it couldn't find the boot device I'd wager the ssd would be a suspect, it's always quite warm under my right wrist and has reached peaks of 71ºC according to HWInfo.

The external drive is a regular 1TB usb 2 hdd that has worked fine for years and still seems to be, I checked it yesterday including running the exact same install files off that external drive with my desktop.

I've never had a pc just completely lock up when dealing with an external drive or usb stick it didn't like, doesn't seem like healthy pc behavior. 

I've only had a few hours with the machine so far so it's not like I've had time to test a variety of program installing scenarios with it from a variety of different sources, the few I've had have been problematic enough as I've spent most of my time with the machine spent dealing with lock ups and infinite restart cycle that required a full system reset/recovery. 

My concern is that I got a lemon, faulty hardware, and if I am to return it, it would have to be soon. Being unable to run or install programs backed up on external drives is a serious lack of functionality, not something to be worked around on a brand new machine. 

I'll be running some benchmarks and utilities to see if heat couldn't be an issue. If you could recommend me some more tests to run to try and find the cause of these issues or settings to change/check that could enable the machine to work as expected it would be great.

Update: it seems to overheat

I was premature in judging the temperatures were ok. Running Witcher 3 or Watchdogs now with HWinfo alongside it I can tell that 6-8 minutes into these games the temperatures climb into the mid 70s and then I can see the CPU clocks suddenly drop to around 2.2-2.4GHz with the temps then dropping to the mid 60s.

I didn't notice a performance drop previously as I was running WatchDogs at a locked 60/vsync on, without vsync I notice a sharp fps drop as the clocks drop to well under 2.8GHz.

Desk is clean, lots of space around it, ambient temp is a mere 20ºC which is unusually low this time of the year and it should climb to over 30ºC during the summer.

If I turn on extreme cooling neither the cpu nor the gpu seem to downthrottle (3.4GHz cpu allcore) running these relatively cpu-light games, yet the temps are already in the high 70s, and ambient temps are going to drastically increase as the summer hits. Not to mention that the jet engine noise makes this setting unfit for practical use (and I wonder how long the fans can hold out like that).

SSD temps during these hard drive-light games sits in the mid 50s, have yet to run any hard drive specific benchmarking programs. 

HI there

Let me give some of my thoughts, opinions and suggestions -

1) Temps for laptops in the mid 70s is pretty amazing. I believe you are probably comparing these to the desktop, a desktop WILL always run cooler than a gaming laptop. Usually gaming laptops run at 80 or mid 80s. I have a Y720 and a desktop myself, both with 1060 video card.

2) Either your external HDD is faulty or it is a windows issue or a USB port issue. If other periperals are working fine, then I'd say the USB port is fine. Have you updated windows to the latest version? Sometimes windows can lock up if you try to do things too soon with a new laptop, try applying all patches and updates first.

3) CPU clocks may drop but does that necessarily mean a drop in performance, definitely not. If you plan on running watch dogs at more than 60 fps then still I see no gain from it as this laptop has a 60hz display. Most games @1080p wont go more than 60 fps at Ultra settings.

I am not trying to patronize you or make a case for Lenovo, but setting your expectations right for a gaming laptop. My assumption is that you've not handled a gaming laptop recently (if I am wrong, then I apologize).

Please let me know your thoughts and we can discuss, if there really is a problem.

1) I think you missed the part of my post where I said that under load it's mid 70s with the cpu having throttled down to 2.2GHz, that's 20% below its base clock of 2.8GHz and 36% below its expected 3.4GHz boost clock. If a 2.2GHz quad kaby lake was enough for my needs I would not have bought the Y720. It seems to throttle down as soon at it hits 80ºC.

2) As I said in the first post the locking up issues when installing an over 30GB program from an external drive happened with both a fresh as well as a fully recovered and then updated windows and driver suite. I'll try to find another external drive where I can place a similarly large setup file on in order to test it out, even though it's working fine for other pcs.

3) A sustained drop in CPU clock directly translates into a drop in cpu performance period. Whether that performance drop is noticeable in an old game or excel is besides the point.

Your assumption would be wrong but I didn't think you were making a case for Lenovo. I'd assume making a case for Lenovo would be something in the line of telling me that the Y720 is a great machine that should perform as expected and reviewed, that it's probably just a bad paste/assembly job and that lenovo has customer care policies in place for quickly replacing/repairing a faulty laptop, especially one bought less than 48 hours ago. Telling me to lower my expectations, that I was uninformed on what to expect, that my other computer parts have to be at fault and that I should settle for underperforming and frequently malfunctioning on a recently purchased machine certainly does not sound like "making a case for Lenovo".

Edit: crystaldiskinfo says it doesn't detect any drive so I need a different benchmark/tool to test SSD performance/temperatures. Any recomendations?

Mod's Comment:  Multiple edits tripped the Spam Filter to auto removed this post again.  The post has now been restored.

I don't see your comment anymore, but i know you did post something. I agree that the laptop could be faulty.

If you are unhappy, definitely return it by all means. Unfortunately, Lenovo will charge 20% restocking fees, as far as I am aware. Honestly, with my experience with Lenovo, I dont think this is a bad assembly or paste job, the laptop is performing at par as other Y720s. Could be other hardware at fault and one thing I know is that the HDD is not the best in this laptop (5400 rpm, really?)

Its the BIOS update that probably is causing the throttle because I have not updated my BIOS and my laptop keeps going upto 85C without any throttle and I can run Witcher 3 at stable 60 fps and high/Ultra settings.

Let me know if you have more points to discuss. Thanks!!