X220 BIOS POST time

[chris-x220]

Hm, that's intressting. My X220 came from Lenovo with a built in X25M. I don't have a HDD at hand to swap, but I would expect the SSD to be faster - even at startup. Getting more and more curious to learn about the root cause of this issue. One test I did was to take out 4GB of RAM as it seems that when TPM enabled RAM is flushed while booting. With 4 instead of 8GB RAM my POST time went down form 14 to 11 seconds. So this seems to have an impact as well. Let's wait what someotherguy will find out.

[jyeah]

Update:

So I replaced the Intel X25-M G2 160GB with a Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB and the POST time immediately reduced to 8-10 seconds. There was once that took 20 seconds to POST, but I think that's just an anomaly. I tested this out for more than 20 reboots.

Swapped back the Intel X25-M G2 160GB and immediately back to a consistent 14 second POST time.

Swapped back the stock HDD and a consistent 7 second POST time.

So I believe it's an issue with the BIOS and the Intel SSD (and it should be fixed as the laptop does come preconfigured with this SSD).

[someotherguy]

Thanks for all the great info!  It appears there are multiple issues being reported in this thread:

1.  POST time increases when TPM is in active state (compared to TPM in inactive state)

2.  POST time increases when 8GB of memory is installed (compared to 4GB of memory)

3.  POST time increases when certain SSDs are installed.

I can easily repro #1 and #2 and I think this is something BIOS team has to look at for a future BIOS release.

For #3 (SSD issue), I could not reproduce it with the Lenovo version of the Intel X25 G2.  Usually issues like this are caused by a bug in SSD firmware.  I know you said you are using Intel X25 G2, but it is the Lenovo version?  Because the Lenovo version and the OEM version probably use different firmware that could explain why you are having an issue and I'm not.

[GatorBob]

Even though the X220 is SATA 3 capable, I "think" lenovo is stil shipping as a ordered option only SATA 2 SDDs, not SATA 3 SDDs. Crucial 300's all are SATA 3 SDDS.

[jyeah]

I'm not using the Lenovo version, but I never knew the firmware would be different (since I have the latest firmware from Intel). Maybe I'll try updating the X25-M G2 160GB using Lenovo's firmware and see if that resolves the boot issue.

Maybe it is a combination of problems 1 and 2, since I have 8 GB memory installed?

I'll try taking out one slot of RAM and see how that fairs.

Where can I find the firmware update for the Thinkpad X25-M 160 GB SSD? I can find the product in the Lenovo store but I cannot find any link to firmware update.

[someotherguy]

The firmware of the Intel SSD I am using is reported on the drive sticker:  CJLA0201.  The Lenovo part number is:  45N7978.  I'm not 100% sure if this is Lenovo-specific firmware or not, but I wouldn't be surprised.  What's on your drive?

[RichardW]

I measure slightly below 6 seconds from pressing the power button until the ThinkPad logo.

 i7-2620M

8 GB RAM (DIY installed)

Intel 320 SSD, 160 GB (DIY installed)

BIOS 1.12 (as shipped, never updated it)

Intel Ultimate-N WiFi

Fingerprint reader

Sierra Wireless Gobi 3000

[jyeah]

I will have to check once I get home, don't have the Intel SSD with me right now. Swapped to the Crucial RealSSD C300.

Specs:

Intel Core i7-2620M

8 GB RAM (DIY)

RealSSD C300 256GB (DIY) or Intel X25-M 160GB (DIY)

BIOS 1.17

 If the firmware is indeed different, is there any possibility of downloading it? Can you supply a link please, someohterguy?

[jyeah]

Looks like the firmware is different. How can I get the Lenovo firmware? I'm going to see if I can update it and resolve the issue.

[someotherguy]

You can't put the Lenovo-specific firmware on a non-Lenovo-specific device.  I think you would need to go to Intel to get support with their SSD.  It's interesting that your other SSD doesn't have this problem, so I really don't think it's an issue with the X220.