X270 generic freeze?

[niconuma]

Hi all,

I got a X270 here that has been freezing a few seconds every so and on and it is giving me headaches.

The symptom is screen freezes for a few ~ 10 seconds but mouse and keyboard inputs are accepted. After the freeze is resolved, all inputs are shown. The frequency varies; 3 times within an hour or non in a day. Happens at least once a day. Googled it, came across the term "generic freeze" but the solution given didn't solve mine. 

I've read about turning off Link Power Management. Check, still happens

Read about ESET conflicting with Windows Defender. Defender is disabled, check. Still happens.

Anyway, here are the specs:

OS: Win 10 Pro x64 English Build 16299 (1709 Fall update) (US)

Core: i7 7600U 2.8GHz (Don't know if overclocked or not, did not touch any CPU settings)

Storage: SAMSUNG NVMe 256GB, factory item

- Model: SAMSUNG MZVLW256

- Firmware: 4L7Q, Lenovo storage device firmware update utility says it's the latest version

WWAN: Sierra Wireless EM7430 LTE

RAM: 16GB x1, factory item

All updates are patched.

I ordered this custom model online from Lenovo Japan, but there's this few second freeze happening straight when I first received it. I've sent it back for check ups and repairs for three times already, and the repair reports came back the following:

1. Issue acknowledged, reproduced, replaced the faulty SATA-NVMe (or the cable that connects NVMe to motherboard) cable

2. Issue acknowledged, reproduced, replaced the faulty NVMe

3. Issue acknowledged, CANNOT reproduce, sent back as is

The issue still exists and I can't figure out what is causing it. I've bought this machine for about 3 months however the three repairs above took more than a month cumulatively. Not in the mood nor have an usable spare machine to use to send it back again.

Most parts are solid so I doubt the freeze is something that is similar when using a HDD under shaky environment.

Got any ideas?

Thanks,

niconuma

[Jan_Lenovo]

Niconuma-san,
sorry to hear what you are suffering about X270, would you mind to share your system serial number first ?
and any special application insatlled ?
if possible can take a picture about scenario when issue happen ? thank you

BR
Jan

[niconuma]

Hi Jan,

Thanks for the reply.

My S/N is *.

My applications are mostly general web developer stuff; PuTTY, VS Code, Sublime Text, Office 2016, and so on.

I don't think I have any "special" applications installed nor them having anything to do with the freeze as it happened right away out of the box.

The issue happens randomly on any application/scenario therefore I can't pinpoint when and how to reproduce.

However I have successfully taken two videos of it.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Uut4f8fDTTb2Ppq82

(First one isn't that clear but you should see the clear "jump" in the second video)

Thanks,

niconuma

Moderator edit by bananaman: Masked serial number to prevent mischief. Please use the private Message (PM) feature instead. Click on the member's name>Send this user a private message.

[belacsapo]

Hi niconuma,

There was any solution/answer for this issue?

We have two X270 at the company, and both have same issue and all lenovo test went well , no memeory etc issues.

Thanks,

Bela

[niconuma]

Hi Bela,

Unfortunately not yet.

I have updated my BIOS to v1.28 which seemed to significantly decrease the times of occurring, but not completely eradicating it.

Jan is helping me out behind the scenes but he's probably having Chinese New Year break now so I'm giving him some time to relax and come back later.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of installing Ubuntu to see if it is a Windows thing or hardware thing.

Signed,
niconuma

[niconuma]

I might have found a solution for this so I'll answer it myself.

The cause seems to be Intel HD Graphics and Intel Display Audio driver together.

I read this post and thought I might give it a try and it worked.

As for X270, it comes with Intel HD Graphics 620 so I grabbed the oldest one available on Intel's driver list (here)

To manually downgrade the drivers, 

1. Unzip the package

2. Open "Device Manager"

3. Go to "Display Adapters" > "Intel(R) HD Graphics 620" and right click "Properties"

4. Go to "Driver" tab and click "Update Driver"

5. Click "Browse my computer for driver software"

6. Click "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer"

7. Click "Have Disk" > "Browse"

8. Navigate to where you unzipped your package

9. For "Intel HD Graphics 620 driver", go into the "Graphics" folder and double click on "igdlh64.inf"

9.1. For "Intel Display Audio driver", go into the "DisplayAudio" > "10.22" and double click on "IntcDAud.inf"

10. Let the drivers update and reboot to make sure they are fully applied.

I've tried mix and matching old Display Audio driver with latest Graphics 620 driver but the freeze comes back so I rolled back to the oldest ones shown above.

This version of drivers has all the features needed (e.g. Night light, HDMI output, etc) for daily use. Haven't found any defects yet.

I've used this machine for a week straight with lots of RAM/CPU workload and so far not a single freeze with the old drivers.

Hope this can help others who reached here.

[niconuma]

After a week of use, I had approx 7 freezes within 30 minutes in one day.

I'd say this might be good enough for some people but doesn't completely fix the problem therefore I am unmarking the last reply as solution.

[escaflo]

I had the X1 Carbon and had the same issue. After digging around the event viewer, it seems like the issue is happening with iBtSiva and Intel Online Connect.

I've uninstalled that software via Control Panel and it seems to have alleviate that particular issue I had.

[Hoeppemann]

I have exactly the same issue with the carbon X1G6. I can not figure out what's causing this. It just starts randomly and only closing and opening the lid solves it. I did't had the problem for a week but today it suddenly started again. 

[escaflo]

Mine was exactly the same as yours. Randomly the screen will freeze and I will have to force my laptop to sleep and back up again and it will fix it.

Uninstalling the Intel Connect Online seems to have resolve that issue for me.