Lenovo W510 with 90W adapter - Reduced Performance

[cacocoash]

there is one way that can slightly improve performance with a 90W adapter. Well, sometimes...

take the power cord out (i.e. let it run on battery) and put it back in.  the power management may reset itself.

to check you can look at the power consumption, in the lenovo power managment utility.  when the consumption goes down in idle then i noticed that the performance improves.  it doesn't solve video performance that is still very poor.

i wonder if there is a way to make lenovo address the issue.  Maybe a lot of comments?

[Davidvf]

I also have this issue. I invested significantly in the ultraslim 90W adapter (which I used for travelling with my ThinkPad W500). Now I am forced to lug this massive power supply around with me with no real option but to put my ultraslim adapter in the drawer and forget about it. Surely there must be some way that the BIOS could be adjusted so that the user has the option to have the laptop run at maximum performance despite being powered by 90W power supply (after all it does so happily when it's running on its own batteries).

[mtissington]

I agree and want a solution from Lenovo ....

Why do I get better (much better) performance on battery alone than when I have a 90W adapter plugged in.

That's just crazy.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Most Thinkpad design and bios implementation are done to maxmise stability of the system, there is usually a safety margin built into the power manager system to ensure that laptop would never shut itself off due to the lack of power from the adapter.

Also, there is usually a fraction of the power from the power adapter that is especially reserved for battery charging. Regarding taking power from the battery when the 90 watt adapter proves to be inadequate, this would complicate the firmware more than it is necessary.

I don't think Lenovo would provide a bios modification to accomodate the 90 watt adapter in W510, especially when it can cause problems for other users.

But the 135 watt adapter is slightly unwieldy for travelling, i guess lenovo should provide a more portable option, like a slim adapter that is capable of supplying 135 watt of power for those whom need to travel with the W510.  

[rsambuelli]

Might be late to join this topic, but anyway...
Anybody knows if it really needs 135W? There are a few "portable" third-party adapters capable of 120W.

[twu2]

You can see how many Walt used in Power Manager (basic mode).
Usually, it never reach 90W in CPU full loading for my W510.
So... it depend on the efficiency of the adapter.. for 80% efficiency 120W adapter, it should work fine with W510, but for 70% efficiency 120W adapter, it might not offer enough power for full loading.

PS. I never test any 120W adapter... just my guess...

[chupacabras]

A guy over at thinkpad forums tested a 120w kensington adapter and unfortunately it performed the same as the 90w lenovo.

[don820]

Yup -- after much testing, I am convinced the power manager / bios for the w510 is incapable of properly running off anything other than 135w power supplies.  I have not had a good experience with anything less.  Sometimes things are fine for an hour or two -- but undoubteldy I have to pull power and reset through the day to keep the system running at proper speeds.

[sunhongyi18]

sorry for my pool english...

just read this topic...

i also have this problem before, but only after a hardware modification this issue can be easily fixed...

!!!Modification at your own risk!!! 

1) remove the keyboard, there is a 7 pin power connector nearby the cooling plate upper left.

the cable color from left to right are:

1blue 2red 3red 4red 5black 6black 7black

2) short the 1blue and 7black cable to disable PSU dectection.

warning, this modification i have only tested on my w510 (System model: 4391W3U), after this modification my w510 identifies all attached PSU as original 135W PSU, but i can't garantee this modification won't damage any hardware.

good luck!

Best Regards!

SUN

http://sunhongyi.outuo.net/w510/2.jpg

http://sunhongyi.outuo.net/w510/1.jpg

Moderator Note: Image size > 50k, converted to link.

[w510-cto]

Have you tried HP 135w AC adapter?