Hi there,

I've been working with my new t61p, received last week, that has the following specs:

• T9300
• 4GB ram
• 160GB 7200rpm (Seagate)
• 1GB Turbo memory
• Nvidia FX570m
• 15.4", 1680x1050 matte screen
• Intel 4965AGN 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN
• Bios Version 2.12
  

It came with only the 32bit version of Vista Ultimate installed, so I clean installed 64bit Vista Ultimate .  I loaded up all the latest drivers and registry patches from the driver matrix page - except that I used the latest chipset and turbo mem drivers direct from intel. I then also allowed Vista to update the system to SP1, and also allowed it to update the Nvidia driver (I resisted this for awhile but then tried it to see if it would fix an issue with Bioshock for me - it did).

The system was running fine - I did lots of stress testing on it, with no issues (apart from Bisoshock not running, which the Nvidia driver update fixed). 

I then added a webcam and its driver (MS lifecam vx6000).  After that I loaded up the System Update software (no crtitical updates were indicated), and let it throw a few things on my system , including the Power Manager software, and updates for WinDVD.  I tinkered with the power settings (to high performance, and changing the power button to shut the machine down, and to adjust the battery management), and that's when I then experieneced my first BSOD crash.  At first I thought it might be the webcam drivers so I rolled back to a sytem restore before the drivers were added.  I loaded System update, let it put power manager on my system, and the winDVD update... and, after changing the power settings again I had another BSOD crash. I rolled back, and this time loaded the webcam driver but not system update, and stress tested the machine for an hour or so.  No problems.  Loading up system update, and just the power management software, I experienced another BSOD crash - again after tinkering with the power settings.

Now, at this point I thought it was the power management software.  So I rolled back to prior to the installation of system update, and the system was running fine for over an hour of stress testing.  However, I then started to adjust up the built-in advanced power settings in Vista (setting the power button to shut-down instead of sleep, and turning the wireless power down to medium setting), and the computer BSODed again.

That's when I called it quits last night.  I did a system restore this morning, again adjusted the power settings, and have had it running without problems so far today... I think what I will try now, is again load up system update, and the power manager, but not adjust anything (apart from changing to high performance) and see if it runs fine... possibly isolating the problem to being something to do with tinkering with the advanced settings - but I'm open to suggestions on what else to try!

Update - well it ran fine for me all day... and just BSOD crashed.  I never did add the power manager utility back on.  I also ran it through all kinds of power situations, cycling the batteries once, and hibernating and sleeping it well on battery, as well as on mains.

It crashed while just sitting there plugged in and running BOINC and Skype with webcam on.

I'm now wondering if it is an issue with Turbo Memory, so I'm going to disable that.

I'm also going to run Memtest all night, to check the memory.

ummmm.. I am getting a video memory error report from PC dr.. anyone else getting this?


Video Memory Test
Event Type Description Time Test Started - Monday, March 31, 2008 11:34:10 PM Error Message Internal Exception in DiagModule::start():
Structured Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION
Stack Trace:
file: pcdr2d3dvideo.p5x
instruction offset: 00013127

(end stack trace)
***** NOTE *****: Use stacktraceparser.exe to translate the instruction offsets into function names.
Monday, March 31, 2008 11:34:11 PM Test Finished Internal Error

I tired disabling ready drive and ready boost in the turbo memory control panel, to see if my issue was related to the turbo memory related crashes (as I have 4GB and am running x64), but it still crashed a few hours later.

Using the recovery discs to put it back to the original Ultimate 32bit install and checking the stability under that.

*sigh*

So it ran fine for over 10 hours back in its 32bit environment, factory install condition.... this would seem to imply an issue with some 64bit drivers.  The only ones I had installed that didn't originate from the Lenovo support site were the Intel chipset drivers (which I think Lenovo has posted the latest version anyway), a Nvidia driver installed through Windows update (which fixed a Bioshock issue I was having), and MS lifecam drivers (which have proven to be really crappy and buggy drivers to begin with).

So, as I would really like to actually make use of all the ram in this system, I'm going to do another clean install of 64 bit Ultimate, but stick to stock drivers, and see how things go... then add drivers as needed, thoroughly testing for stability (running BOINC over night for example) after each install.  Should have everything installed in a week or so at this rate!

Not sure what the monitor.inf file would have to do with anything - but yes, it is installed (it actually shows up as an update through Windows Update)

I have 64bit Ultimate reinstalled with the official Lenovo Nvidia drivers (which bioshock and crysis seem to have issues with), and that fixed the error that PC Doctor vid test was reporting (the memory access issue that showed up when I allowed Windows Update to update the Nvidia drivers). I have not installed the Power manager application (driver yes, application no), nor have I installed the active protection application... but I stil was getting BSOD.  However, for me, I was only getting BSOD crashes in Skype video calls (Bioshock and crysis just don't start, they don't crash the system)... I tried switching to a different webcam (a quickcam fusion, from a MS Lifecam), and still experienced crashes... I've since updated to the 3.8 Beta for Skype... and so far it has only crashed once in the last couple of days (as oppposed to once ever hour or so of call time - I'm remote from the family, and the cam usually sits on for hours on end)

I run Skype on 64bit ultimate on my desktop, and have no issues there, so I speculate that it is something to do with the interaction between Skype and one of the drivers on this system.... as I can run the cam in a test mode through Skype for hours, I'm inclined to believe it is the intereaction with the audio driver that is causing the issues - I've noted that others have reported BSOD crash issues with Skype and certain audio drivers on the Skype forums, but those were old realtek drivers, and the T61p uses Soundmax (I am using the latest 5.10.1.5670 version for the drivers.)

Sorry, I meant version 6.10.2.5510