W520 will not wake from sleep

[wabisabi2004]

Hello,

Sorry if it's been already covered, but I ran into a weird problem with W520. The issue is that it will not wake up from sleep. Basically, I close the lid, the system enters into the sleep mode. After I open up the lid, the system tries to turn on (I see HDD light up), but the screen stays black and the system just shuts down, then it all happens over again. I am forced to remove the battery to boot it properly. No BSOD or anything, just the system can't wake up.

This may be somehow connected to the docking station, as it most frequently happens when I close the lid in the docking station, but open the lid when undocked. Also happens when laptop enters sleep disconnected, but I dock it and then open the lid.

I tried BIOS upgrade, but no luck. Anyone seen this before?

Thanks so much.

[PanEuropean]

Wabisabi:

I've experienced this same problem in the past with other computers - put it to sleep (or hibernate it) in the dock, then wake it up not connected to the dock (or vice-versa) and the computer gets all confused and doesn't come back to life normally.

I'm going to guess that there are just too many variables involved for the OS to cope with (the sudden addition or disconnection of all the different devices that are connected to the dock). So, what I learned to do long ago is to just shut the darn thing off whenever I remove it from the dock, or plan to put it back in the dock next time I want to use it. This is, I think, the easiest and most pragmatic 'fix'.

My current computer (a W520) is a pretty trouble-free machine, but occasionally I will put it to sleep or hibernate it when I am away from the dock, then stick it into the dock and press the power button to start it up (forgetting that I had put it to sleep or hibernated it at last use, rather than turning it off). About half the time the computer gets all pissed off and confused and does not boot properly, the other half of the time, it boots normally. So, what you are seeing is not uncommon. But, honestly, I don't think there is enough time left in either of our lifetimes to track down and identify all the possible hardware permutations that could be causing this problem, and then resolve them.

Michael

[wabisabi2004]

This is great, Michael. Thank you so much for your reply. I understand where you are coming from but hoped that may be it's a known issue. This is very sad that such corporate monsters as Lenovo are having hard time polishing such an important use case as computer going to sleep. Next time I think I will just pay the extra charge for an Apple laptop... They won me over

[biznatch]

Does Apple even make docking stations?

[PanEuropean]

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wabisabi2004 wrote:

...This is very sad that such corporate monsters as Lenovo are having hard time polishing such an important use case as computer going to sleep. 

---

Hi Wabisabi:

My guess is that the cause of the problem lies more with the operating system (Windows 7) than with the manufacturer of the hardware (Lenovo).

Years ago, in a previous version of Windows, there was an additional command available from the shutdown menu that was entitled "Eject".  This command was available whenever the OS detected that the computer was in a docking station.  I don't know if this command was something built into Windows by Microsoft, or built into the ThinkPads by Lenovo (IBM at the time).  In any case, when this particular command was executed, the computer electronically detached itself from all the devices it was connected to via the docking station, and then went to sleep, ready to be removed from the dock.

It appears that this command is no longer available.

Michael

[ZipZap]

Hi, guys,

    I have experienced the sleep/hibernate problem, but no longer have this issue. I have a lot of devices hanging from my dock / USB hub, and yet no sleep/wake problems in either direction.

    I suspect this may have something to do with the upgrade I did from BIOS 1.06 to 1.30, but I'm not sure. I wonder what the difference is in our configurations.

   I'm with Michael on this one, as I've seen the problem before on my old Dell notebook under Windows XP. The problem could well be in the O/S. Who's to say?

                                                            ZZ

[wabisabi2004]

Thanks everybody for the feedback. It looks like it might be an engineering problem, as W510 series has similar complaints:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W510-does-not-wake-up-when-it-goes-into-Sleep-...

Here is what they say in the solution:

"This issue was initially raised to engineering however they weren't able to replicate the problem at their end so they have recommended customers to update the Lenovo drivers and Windows drivers."

This is plainly ridiculous as the meaning of the above is this: "We don't care to properly investigate and find out why this is happening, so we just give the catch-all-advice". I would accept this from Acer, but Lenovo?!?

[ColonelONeill]

Huh. I had it happen three times to my W520. I don't have a docking station either.

I would open the lid, and see the system try to start itself up, then fail, then loop until I hold the power button down and cold boot it.

In general, it seems to happen only when the laptop experiences a significant shock while in sleep (I throw my backpack around a lot).

Not entirely sure they're related.

[7637247]

I have this exactly same issue, and I hate it so much. I am looking for a way to slove this issue too. However, sadly I haven't found any. I called their tech support, they want me send the machine back, then they can fix it. But, this is the only computer that I have. I gotta use it everyday. I can't afroid the time to wait for it.

[lwh]

This is happening to me too but I run Linux. Maybe 1/4 of the time it will start to wake up, print a bunch of kernel messages about ACPI battery variables then freeze.