Thinkpads Forum

We've just bought several T60s with docking stations - some "Advanced Mini Dock's" and some "Essential Port Replicators" (very similar).

We are having several issues with the docking/undocking process. First of all, the mechanical latching seems to be extremely poor. If I just place the laptop on the dock, then 'press down' on the laptop, the lights suggest electrical connectivity, but I can lift up the laptop still. Only if I press 'very' hard do I hear a 'click', and then it's only one click sometimes. I have to press even harder to get a satisfying two clicks. I've tried about 4 docks so far, and three laptops, they all seem to have this issue (yes, key has been unlocked, and all tape/packing removed). Could I have a bad batch? Should I do some shaving/filing/cutting somewhere?

Once in use, I personally am religous about using the software 'undock' option, and I wait for a green light on the release button before pressing it and removing the laptop.

The biggest Issue I've had is this - I'm working docked; I need to go to a meeting, so I choose 'undock' from the start menu, wait, remove when ready, but then I find the laptop very sluggish, in a 'hardware problem' sort of way ... even the mouse freezes on the screen as I move it, while CPU utilization shows nothing particularly high. I eventually give up and reboot, which clears the condition.

Other users are complaining about similar issues. They either want to undock and continue using the laptop immediately (take it to a conference room, for example), or they want to undock and take home, then use there. For the latter case, they go to standby while docked, then remove. Personally, I avoid this, since if you go to standby in the dock, you don't get the green light ... so I first undock, then standby - but even then, the laptop won't recover.

Am I alone in this issue or is it common? Is it common across all thinkpads or just T60s, or just this type of dock?

Does anyone have a reliable 'best practice' for undocking ... short of a complete shutdown hopefully!

The laptops are all running XP SP2 fully patched, by the way.

Thanks!

Are you logged in to the Company network on a wired connection while docked? Then I suspect the sluggishness may possibly be due to the laptop losing its bearings. I usually try to set up a laptop so that logging off (or turning off) disconnects the company network. This allows a clean connection to a home network. There a couple of extra steps for users, but they enjoy the clean break from one network to another.

I can't think of a hardware reason why the machine should get sluggish from undocking, but someone else might. .. JD Hurst

Yes, the docking station is connected to a wired company network, and I'm logged on as a domain user. In my case, I do the software 'undock' (which I assume cleanly disconnects the network - I thought I saw messages pertaining to network loss), then remove, then plug directly into the thinkpad's ethernet port in a conference room (same network).

Steerpike wrote:Yes, the docking station is connected to a wired company network, and I'm logged on as a domain user. In my case, I do the software 'undock' (which I assume cleanly disconnects the network - I thought I saw messages pertaining to network loss), then remove, then plug directly into the thinkpad's ethernet port in a conference room (same network).

That may be at the root of your problem. The network disconnection on the ThinkPad just says the network connectivity is lost. The software still thinks it belongs to a server it can no longer see. Still, plugging back in to the conference room connection should re-connect you within two or three minutes and then back to normal. I wonder if something is preventing a proper re-connection? ... JD Hurst

The laptop connects to the network ok - I can send/receive email, and hit the web.

The 'freeze' is strange; I've seen this type of thing before after (eg) imaging a hard drive and booting to the new image ... the resolution then was to do a 'check disk' with fix option. It's as if some low level call is getting delayed, and it's happening at such a low level that a) the software monitors (eg, taskmanager) don't see it, and b) the mouse becomes jerky (in my experience, the mouse responds pretty much 'no matter what', so when the mouse is jerky, you really have a serious issue!).

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on this one and try to get more info.

Any thoughts, anyone, on the physical mating of the laptop to dock? Should I have to press so hard? And any thoughts on 'best practice' for undocking?

Thanks !

I found the mechanics for the T6x vs T4x dock to be much smoother on the new one. No more pointless sliding panel

I'll try later, but i think i get 1 click.

I also have seen these random freezes (one second every three seconds). Only thing I have found to resolve this is a reboot..
Looks very like a hardware freeze, mouse stops, hard-drive pauses, sound stutters..

Do you have the IBM wireless mouse / keyboard? I do and I find that the driver craps out when I undock, and this can make the system very sluggish. This is on an advanced dock but it cld be the same problem.

I have two docks (both advanced) that I use. One has an MS wireless optical mouse, and a wired MS ergonomic keyboard (and a samsung 19" lcd, for what it's worth). It's wired to my network. The other - 15 feet away ... has an identical lcd, plus a dell wired keyboard, and a dell wired optical mouse, and is wired to the same network. I get this problem after undocking from both with equal regularity - so I think this rules out wired/wireless mice/etc.

I keep the physical switch for the built-in 802.11b wireless device off to avoid picking up stray local networks.

I currently have all the various thinkvantage/thinkpad/ibm/etc stuff running 'as delivered' (though I'm now in the process of killing it off - 17 processes counted so far ... what an ugly mess!).

Here's a fundamental question ... if you work, like me, with the lid closed in the dock, then how are you supposed to cleanly go to standby? If you click 'start', then 'shutdown', then 'standby', you go into standby but the 'release' button on the dock does not go green - it remains red. I've tried to be a really good boy, and first chosen start, undock, wait for green light on release button, then detach; then lift lid, and choose 'start', shutdown, 'standby' - a very tedious process that does not seem to be any more reliable (I have problems recovering from standby occasionally in both scenarios).

I think I may have the answer to my 'mechanical' docking issue. My laptop has a 15" display, which presumably results in a marginally bigger footprint than the 14.1" models, and which 'could' (not yet verified) cause the 15" model to sit differently in the dock.

When I put my laptop on the dock, I have noticed (looking from the side) that the laptop appears not to stand at the correct angle. If I put a few pieces of folded paper (as shims) under the front of the dock (NOT the laptop), raising the front of the dock, the dock now mates much better with the laptop, and I get a reassuring 'click' as soon as I press down on the laptop. If I had a 14.1" display, I'm guessing the angle would be perfect....

I have a 14.1" available and will test it tomorrow.

So you've been using the docking station for a 14" T60? Did the 15" come with a docking station?

Edit: It looks like there's only 2 available docking stations available for T60s and they're not 14" or 15" specific. Weird.

yeah, the docks are not laptop 'display size' specific, as far as I can tell - that would be a nightmare! The more I think of this, the less I can imagine it's a 15" vs 14.1" issue ... they (lenovo) surely 'must' take this into consideration and mess with the physical packaging to compensate. I do notice that my 15" has a 'sloping' front (it's kinda cut-away under the front edge), which may have been done specifically to let the 15" 'sit' at the correct angle. Maybe there is a minor variation, considered by them to be 'acceptable tolerance', and that's what I'm running into.

Anyway - today, I will take my 14.1" and play with it, side by side with my 15". All I can say for sure is, putting about 1/8"->1/4" of shim under the front of the dock makes all the difference!

Also, I believe my docks are 'advanced MINI docks', not just 'advanced'; they have a key lock built in, and both analog and digital video outputs, but no room for expansion slots etc. I'm new to the lenovo line so not clear yet on terminology!

Oh dear ... it does appear that the 14.1" laptop sits differently in (or rather, 'on') the dock compared to the 15". The 14.1" sits at a relatively 'steeper' angle compared to the 15" (due to it's different body size, etc), and the 14.1" angle is a better match for the dock - hence, it docks better. So my workaround of "shimming" the front of the dock fits with this understanding. Maybe the designers of the dock figured the angle was not different enough to matter, but for me and my colleague who also has the 15", we can't get that reassuring 'click' unless we press down unusually hard - hard enough to worry me about doing damage, long term. So shims it is!

We have purchased six T60s (5: 8744-5BU & 1: 2623-KEU) to test them before rolling out to the rest of my users. I have updated the Bios, Windows, even restored a system to the Default installation (WinXPSP2). All of the units will power off as soon as you rest (not push down and lock) the unit in the docking station. I have tried the previous mentioned tactic of touching the connections and it seems to work 75% of the time. However there are still many times that it will not work. I have interchanged all of the laptops with six different port replicators (250510w) and five different mini docks (250410U), they all have the same result.

I contacted IBM support and after a lot of trouble shooting was told that the two models of docking stations listed above do not support Hot or Warm Docking even though Lenovos sales site says otherwise: http://www-131.ibm.com/content/autopop/ ... eries.html (Look fourth from bottom). After referring the tech to the site I was told that the recommendation that he was referencing was from Lenovo support. I was also told that the only unit that will support Hot/Warm docking is the most expensive (250310U) one that also coincidentally has it's own power supply.

It seems that rather than fixing a know hardware problem Lenovo is choosing to ignore it. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had the same response from Lenovo.