Thinkpads Forum

Hello,
I have recently bought a beautiful 14inch T60 with integrated graphics (invincible), but am facing some problems with wifi card I have mounted in it.
Since it was bought without a wifi card, I have put a nice ATHEROS AR5007EG wifi card and modded the BIOS. It works really nice, but from time to time i get a bluescreen with memory parity error. While studying the forum I have found out that I should suspect my wifi card. Does any1 have some experience with such problem? Would be grateful for any help.

I would first test the memory. Download a copy of memtest86

I had the very same error as you described -> http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... lit=parity
I think I fixed it by reverting my nvidia driver and disabled some additions that came up with it. But I see you're with ATI, so your problem could be something else. Test the memory first.

Memory is okay.

I have an integrated video chip (Intel)

Did you update your BIOS to the newest version? This could be due to an obsolete BIOS version as well.

Well, I have updated my bios, but the problem came out even BEFORE the update.

Memory tests are not always conclusive, substitute the memory, if the problem persists, then you may have a bad system board, but if you suspect the wifi, just remove it and see if the problem remains.

whenever we came across this at work it was always Power Management drivers at fault. Try updating that and/or the Wireless network card drivers.

Easy Wind wrote:whenever we came across this at work it was always Power Management drivers at fault. Try updating that and/or the Wireless network card drivers.

I'm running Vista 32 on a T60P. Can you tell me how to update the Power Management drivers?

Many thanks/

I have my power manager up to date.

After removing the wireless lan card the problem was gone. I am going to buy a new one, Intel this time.

I'd still like to know how to update the Power Manager driver. I tried following instructions from an online search and was unable to even determine if what I have is up to date.

Thanks

Try using "ThinkVantage System Update", then maybe start your own thread too?

taichi wrote:I'd still like to know how to update the Power Manager driver. I tried following instructions from an online search and was unable to even determine if what I have is up to date.

Thanks

just download the latest driver and install it. This way you know you're running the latest, lol.

How do you get a parity check error with non-parity memory? Or are the T60 series using parity checked RAM??? I didn't think they did, but i could be wrong.

I have swapped my atheros for an intel Wifi card. Everything is okay now (2 days)

I have tested the thing on 2 different Wifi cards (azurewave and atheros), only the intel card is working okay.

wujstefan wrote:I have swapped my atheros for an intel Wifi card. Everything is okay now (2 days)

I have tested the thing on 2 different Wifi cards (azurewave and atheros), only the intel card is working okay.

Out of curiosity, where did you buy your card from, as my Intel has lost all of its zest for life?

I don't want to put a damper on your enthusiasm...but I also have this issue with my T60,
and with an Intel 5100 (N) card, no 1802 bios .

I have had intervals of up to 5-6 days without the blue screen, but in my case it does
re-occur.

It would be interesting to know what brand of Intel card you installed, and if it is on
Lenovo's white list.

I am using an external PCI atheros chip N card without any issues for about 4 days now,
but of course I would prefer to use an internal solution.

Interestingly enough, the stock ABG internal (no hack) card never caused this problem, so I wonder if the hack has any bearing on this?

your mileage may vary of course, but my experience with this issue it was always a software problem and not hardware issue (granted quite a bit of hardware was replaced to get to that diagnosis).

There are a fair number of threads here where others also had this same issue, but this thread seems to have quite a bit of info in it:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=97849

then there are these threads too:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=97987
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=97849
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=97754
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=97722
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=100912
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=98698
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=98337

Hopefully you can get out of this issue soon and can get back to happy Thinkpad'ing !!

I finally found out how to check the Power Manager version. It's simpler than pie.

Once I open up Power Manager the little question mark to the upper right of the window opens up a small window with the elusive "About".

Unbelievably I have the paleolithic Version 3.12, rather than the 21st Century 3.64.

I had this same crash for a long time, replaced the RAM and HD but it made no difference. When I upgraded to Windows 7 it all went away, until I reinstalled the Radeon drivers, then it came back. I uninstalled them (running off the generic Windows ones) and it went away. I tried the installation again, and within a few days saw the blue screen again. Since uninstalling the drivers again, I haven't had a problem in two months. So, right now I have a system that doesn't crash, but I can't use dual monitors. Just a suggestion for anyone facing similar issues.

colombianbrew wrote:I had this same crash for a long time, replaced the RAM and HD but it made no difference. When I upgraded to Windows 7 it all went away, until I reinstalled the Radeon drivers, then it came back.

Thanks for posting.

I also keep suspecting the video driver, and even more likely an interaction between power manager and the ATI driver.

Since I disabled Power Manager in msconfig the problem only surfaces very occasionally... down from once or twice a day to once a week, if that. Even when you disable Power Manager, its driver continues to run, so I suspect that there is still an interaction going on.

Out of curiosity, what is your procedure for uninstalling or reinstalling video drivers? Do you do any of it in safe mode? For some reason, anything to do with video drivers makes me nervous.

It appears that when you uninstall the ATI driver and reboot the Intel will install its own driver. Have you noticed any differences in performance (other than the inability to run multiple external displays)?

Thanks again.

Well it appears that my long night of memory parity error is over. Much like the experience of an earlier poster, the removal of a defective wireless WiFi card stopped the error.

When I originally got this problem, I did endless testing of memory, and GPU stress testing. Eventually, I found that when I disabled the WiFi card that the frequency of the problem decreased dramatically.

Recently I bought a new router, decided to try the internal card once again, and concluded that the card was indeed faulty, and once again disabled it. The enabling and disabling of the card seemed to stir up the hornets nest a bit, and once again, I began to have the memory parity error. Removing the card physically appears to have resolved the problem, and the T60P is once again extremely stable. I was helped by a technician friend of mine who informed me that disabling the card does not accomplish the same as physical removal.

Thanks to all for their suggestions regarding this problem.

Same in here, it is almost a month for now without any issue, just needed to swap a wifi card with an original one.

It's only been a week and a half for me, but the system simply feels stable, like it originally did. It's a relief not to have the error, and to enjoy, once again, the stability that these ThinkPads provide.

What card did you install?

Intel 3945ABG

wujstefan wrote:Intel 3945ABG

Ah. The original card. Did you buy it new? Where did you purchase yours? I wouldn't mind an N capable card, if it was new, rather than pulled, and required no BIOS mod, which apparently means one of the Atheros cards.

Great machines, these T60Ps and T60s.