Picking up T430s & SSD and system shut down

[LotF]

Hi,

I have the following problem:

A T430s with a Crucial M4 9,5mm SSD installed, which barely fits in the 7mm slot, but it fits without any changes on the drive case. Within the last 2 weeks I realized that I can bring the system to shut off when picking up the laptop on the left front corner where the drive is installed. That happend 4 times already and the first 2-3 times I had to remove the battery to bring the laptop to power on again. Yesterday night and today I had the same issue again, but with a slight change: the SSD was not recognized in the BIOS anymore and thus the system would not boot. Yesterday I thought the SSD died somehow. Then I figured out that doing a Windows (8) repair with a usb stick brings the SSD back in the bios, which was a help for me today as well. Still it is a very anyoing thing, because I do touch the corner a lot when moving the laptop. The crucial support said that - since there are of course no movable parts in the SSD - pressure on the drive case does not effect the drive at all. Therefore, I would really like to hear from Lenovo what they think, but sitting in Germany and Lenovo not having any tech support option on the weekend (horrible!) brings me here. Does anybody have or had the same problem and got it fixed somehow?

Thanks in advance for any post!

[hausman]

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LotF wrote:

A T430s with a Crucial M4 9,5mm SSD installed, which barely fits in the 7mm slot, but it fits without any changes on the drive case.

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The T430s is not designed to accept 9.5mm thick drives. The specifications say 7.0mm. I suspect the problem is related to this, i.e. that forcing the thicker drive into the bay makes for a poor electrical connection. Thus any flexing, such as by picking up the notebook causes one or more pins to lose contact. This isn't a Lenovo issue because they don't support 9.5mm drives in the T430s.

Crucial makes 2 variants of the M4 series drives, one 9.5mm and the other 7.0mm. AFAIK the 9.5mm drive is really a 7.00mm drive with a 2.5mm spacer. You may be able to remove that spacer from your drive. However if you do so it may invalidate the warranty. I would post about both issues (spacer removal and warranty) on the Crucial support forum.

P.S. Lenovo's Personal Systems Reference (PSREF) spec sheets for the T430s say for the SATA drive bay, "Some: Solid State Drive (SSD) / SATA 6.0Gb/s, 2.5" wide, 7mm high. Some: Hard Disk Drive / SATA 3.0Gb/s, 2.5" wide, 7mm high, Active Protection System™" and for the Ultrabay, "One modular bay for interchangeable devices (right side), 9.5mm high, bottom access."

Another option would be to replace the DVD drive with an Ultrabay Adapter. These adapters do accept 9.5mm thick drives. The SATA bay could then house a conventional HDD for extra storage.

[ThorsHammer]

It sounds to me like you are putting so much pressure on the SATA connector it is faulting.  It also sounds like you could damage the machine and connector, permanently.

Why would you try and force the use of a 9.5mm drive in a 7mm bay?  The dimensions for the bay on the T series has been a well known and documented spec ever since the change from the 1.8" drives in the T410s.

I'd recommend using the designed storage units.

[LotF]

thanks for the prompt response! I am aware of the 9,5mm vs 7mm situation. (tbh: got a very good deal on the drive before getting the laptop and did not know about the 7mm, was guite happy that the drive then fit anyway). That's why I explicitly mentioned it and also contacted the Crucial support asking about pressure on the drive may causing some sort of trouble. As I already wrote: they said the pressure cannot be a problem. The 9,5mm drive fits, it tight but it fits. I cannot imagine that the pins move through the(stress) pressure of picking up the laptop. They are quite long compared to movements within the laptop when picking it up.

ThorsHammer: the only part where the drive does not "fit" is on the rounded edge in the very front of the laptop. So yes: it does cause a bit of pressure of course, but it is no plain "force".

[hausman]

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LotF wrote:

As I already wrote: they said the pressure cannot be a problem. The 9,5mm drive fits, it tight but it fits. I cannot imagine that the pins move through the(stress) pressure of picking up the laptop. They are quite long compared to movements within the laptop when picking it up.

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Regardless of all this, Lenovo is not going to help you for at least two unrelated reasons:

(1) you didn't buy the SSD from them or from an authorized dealer

(2) the SSD doesn't conform with their specifications, i.e. it's thicker than 7.0mm

FWIW I have a T430s with Crucial M4, 7.0mm. I've travelled extensively with it, picked it up and put it down many times while it was operating, and never had the sort of difficulties you experience with shut downs.

[ThorsHammer]

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LotF wrote:

"they said the pressure cannot be a problem"

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Clearly this is wrong.  I suggest returning the drive and getting a 7mm drive like the Samsung Series 830 or 840. I know for a fact that works.

[hausman]

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ThorsHammer wrote:

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LotF wrote:

"they said the pressure cannot be a problem"

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Clearly this is wrong.  I suggest returning the drive and getting a 7mm drive like the Samsung Series 830 or 840. I know for a fact that works.

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What they mean is that pressure on the case of the SSD cannot be a problem, as it would on a HDD. (I'd argue that even that is incorrect. I doubt an SSD would survive an asphalt roller )

It's possible that when a 9.5mm drive is forced into a bay designed for 7.0mm drives, then even a small amount of flex in the notebook, as may happen when the ThinkPad is picked up, causes an interruption of one or more electrical connections. While the mechanical fit may seem snug the SATA pins could still be slightly out of alignment with the socket in the bay and thus the electrical connection may not be quite as solid, especially when there's flex.

In any case there's no need to look at other makes of SSDs. Crucial's M4-7.0mm SSDs work just fine in ThinkPads, including T430s. I know for a fact that they work

[LotF]

hausman,

maybe my posting was a bit unclear. My question was not "t430s not running and lenovo isn't helping - **bleep**?" I heard there are companies out there, which do help the customer even with this kind of trouble. And if Lenovo says "there is a great possibility that your drive causes this error" (as you all did) - fine, I will try a smaller one (I already am in fact - downsized the 9,5 an hour ago, because of the other posts).

thorshammer,

thanks for the advice, but returning is has not been an option. As mentioned above I am trying the tip of using the drive as a 7mm. I also tried to reproduce the issue - without any "luck" so far. Seems like this was really it. Eventhough, I believe Crucial support may be right an not the pressure on the drive was the problem but as someone said earlier: the stress on the connector and motherboard caused by it. We will see and hope for the best

EDIT:

hausmann,

that's what I think, too. As I said: the 9,5mm was such a good offer that I bought it in advance of the laptop and just didn't know and think about that a "normal laptop" would need a 7mm drive. Of course: my fault. But returning the ssd is not an option and if the system runs with the modified M4 now I am happy I took the plastik out, taped the top from the inside and both parts together and then put the drive in the hdd metal sliding thingy (whatever the English term for that is...) and the rubber protectors on the sides around the entire thing. Fits perfectly and seems very stable.