[W520]: Who is running 32GB of ram? [ Edited ]

[critical_]

Who is running 32GB of RAM in their W520? Can you please post the brand and model # of the RAM being used?

I have tried RAM from Kingston, Crucial, Corsair, and Lenovo's own in-house (Samsung) supported 8GB modules in my W520. The W520 has problems booting up when the "Integrated Graphics" option is selected (and OS detection of Optimus is disabled). It boots fine in Dedicated Graphics and Optimus modes. I have the latest BIOS. The problem exists on Windows 7, Windows 8, and every flavor of Linux.

The problem is that as soon as the graphics sub-system is initialized in Windows or Linux, the CPU gets pegged to 100% usage, the system is extremely slow, and the CPU fans are running at full blast. I have tested the RAM and CPU in system from a different manufacturer and everything is fine. I believe either the BIOS has an issue (which would be supported by lots of people having this problem) or my specific motherboard is faulty. I want to see if I am the only one with this issue so any help would be appreciated.

This post is a continuation of a problem I wrote about in this thread: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W520-Intel-HD-3000-iGPU-broken/td-p/821371

[harrisb]

I experience no issues on either system with the Crucial 8gb PC 10600 1333 MHz memory. There are 4 sticks installed in each system.

[harrisb]

What BIOS level are you currently running and what is the CPU which is installed in your W530. The Kingston 1866 memory is not compatible with the W520 even throttled down. The iGPU uses the system memory as well. I don't understand why the system runs normally in Optimus mode if it is uses the iGPU. What does the NVIDIA GPU monitor show for applications if any?

[critical_]

I am using BIOS 1.38 in my W520. I have an Intel Core i7-2960XM installed in the system.

Interestingly, 16GB (4x4GB) of Kingston 1866Mhz RAM works fine in the system even throttled down in iGPU, dGPU, and Optimus mode. 4x4GB configurations from Kingston, Crucial, and Corsair all work correctly.

The introduction of even a single 8GB stick causes the characteristic problems of sluggishness, pegged CPU, and spinning CPU fan (due to the heat). This occurs in Windows 7 and 8, Ubuntu Linux, etc.

The nVidia GPU monitor is empty in Optimus mode which is even weirder because it means the iGPU is being used. I can't seem to figure it out for the life of me. Everything says this is a hardware problem. I've run the iGPU-only mode for months on 32GB without issue. The problem popped up with the latest batch of BIOS and driver updates.

Any more thoughts on this?

[harrisb]

What level is the Intel HD3000 driver? I'm running 2761 which I installed from the Intel support site. Try that driver to determine if you have any other issues on the iGPU.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=21430&ProdId=3319&lang=eng&OSVersion=...

Just another thought here. If updating the Intel driver doesn't effect a change, then boot the system in integrated mode and uninstall the Intel driver and get things back to VGA. Then install the driver posted above. The display system works differently in Integrated mode vs. Optimus, vs. discrete. Drivers have to be installed for each mode of operation. Perhaps there is some sort of corruption in integrated mode.

[critical_]

I'm running 2761. I reinstalled all the drivers but the result is the same. I'm concerned about asking for a new system board as I'm not interested in dealing with multiple replacements or other nightmares I've heard involving Lenovo's service. I've read of quite a few people that had the SSS (sudden shutdown) issue appear about a motherboard replacement. I can live with 16GB of RAM if I need the iGPU or Optimus if I need 32GB of RAM. Either way, I don't think I'll be buying Lenovo again.

[harrisb]

Have you tried to downlevel the BIOS from 1.38 to 1.37 or 1.36? The ECP changes between those versions and perhaps the ECP has an issue since you commented that this behavior on showed up since the latest BIOS level.

[wolfindersteppe]

Running 4x8GB DIMMS from Elpida PC3-10700 (667 MHz) since November 2011, currently with BIOS 1.36 (actively avoding 1.37/38). Working flawless for my requirements (SW development, 11 virtual machines parallel running).

[critical_]

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harrisb wrote:

Have you tried to downlevel the BIOS from 1.38 to 1.37 or 1.36? The ECP changes between those versions and perhaps the ECP has an issue since you commented that this behavior on showed up since the latest BIOS level.

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You, sir, are brilliant.

I went all the way back to the shipping BIOS (version 1.06). The system was updated using the Windows Utility in dGPU mode. The system restarted with only 2 issues: 

1) The mSATA SSD had to be selected as a boot device.

2) There was an odd fingerprint reader message that flashed in between the RAID OROM message the Windows 7 start up.

Currently the system works perfectly in iGPU, dGPU, and Optimus mode. I plan to checking every BIOS and see at which version the problem crept in. I'll edit this post with links to other threads with similar issues and update it as I try each BIOS version.

1.06 (8BET30WW)1.06 (8AHT24WW) --> No symptoms. Updated from Windows with dGPU selected in BIOS.

1.21 to 1.28 --> Will not boot from mSATA SSD. Updated from Windows with iGPU selected in BIOS.

1.30 and beyond --> All the same symptoms return.

Using BIOS v1.06 is not an acceptable solution due to CPU throttling that wasn't fixed until recent BIOS revisions. The problem remains.

[harrisb]

I'm positive that memory behavior changed at level 1.37. That BIOS put a speed restriction on all memory to run at 1333MHz regardless of memory speed. Try 1.36 first and see if the problem is not present. I'll bet a virtual coffee on this and a kudo might be nice as well.