T61 is proving to be problematic...

[jjfcpa]

I had my T61 docked at the office and put it into suspend mode by selecting "sleep" from the Vista shutdown menu.

When I got home... approximately 2 hours later, I opened the laptop and expected it to start up. Well it did, and then blue screened.

I had to do a hard shutdown after it tried to reboot because it would not boot.

Started it back up and as usual, the wireless radio was turned off.

This is proving to be one of the most problematic Thinkpads I've ever had. I'm beginning to think that Lenovo is rushing products out without proper testing.

[nepats778]

Just curious, when did you order your laptop? I have been waiting for close to a month already!

[SkiBunny]

What you're describing sounds like a s/w or vista issue. Don't you think? (if i recall correctly, you're an ex-developer, so you should be wise on what's up).

[XIII]

My T61 has BSOD with Active Protection on and cause frequent lockup. I do a fresh installation of Vista and identify that Intel Turbo Memory Driver is the one causing problem. I will figure what I should do with it.

[GomJabbar]

I do think this is likely a Vista problem. From what I have experienced and read, Vista seems to have power management issues with Standby. Whether this is because the IBM/Lenovo drivers are not up to par or there is an inherent problem with Vista itself, I cannot say.

I do not have a T60, but I also had Standby problems and problems when I turned off the display with Vista on my T42. No Standby problems for me with XP however.

[agarza]

Lenovo is not the one to blame, Microsoft is for having such an archaic operating system with lots of issues, also there was not enough time to test with all manufacturers complete compatibility.

Is what in racing terms is called teething problems, you must ensure a new racing car is reliable before taking to the race. Go back to XP and see if it helps.

[jjfcpa]

Just curious, when did you order your laptop? I have been waiting for close to a month already!

I had one ordered from Lenovo but when I saw the PC Connection had one of the models (7664-17U) in stock, I canceled my order from Lenovo and purchased from them. Had mine for a about 10 days.

[jjfcpa]

What you're describing sounds like a s/w or vista issue. Don't you think? (if i recall correctly, you're an ex-developer, so you should be wise on what's up).

Software issue? Probably, but it's not Vista, it's probably the drivers that Lenovo are supplying with this model. In the event log, it indicates that the errors are being caused by "docking" and/or "undocking" the laptop.

We've got a T60 running Vista (which we installed) with no problems at all.

No, I'm not an ex-developer, I'm an active developer.

[jjfcpa]

My T61 has BSOD with Active Protection on and cause frequent lockup. I do a fresh installation of Vista and identify that Intel Turbo Memory Driver is the one causing problem. I will figure what I should do with it.

I forgot to mention that my event log showed a problem with it also. This afternoon I disabled Turbo Memory to see if that affects any of these issues. Too soon to tell.

To disable turbo memory, just click Start, All Programs, Intel Turbo Memory, Intel Turbo Memory Console; and then uncheck the boxes.

[jjfcpa]

Lenovo is not the one to blame, Microsoft is for having such an archaic operating system with lots of issues, also there was not enough time to test with all manufacturers complete compatibility.

Is what in racing terms is called teething problems, you must ensure a new racing car is reliable before taking to the race. Go back to XP and see if it helps.

I couldn't disagree with you more. I listened to a podcast with Paul Theraut (runs the Windows Supersite website) and when he was asked about drivers not being up to date with Vista, he stated that the fault here lies totally with the hardware vendors. Vista has been in development for 5 years and the driver specs were finalized years ago. This is not something that Microsoft can be blamed for.

[XIII]

I narrowed down the problem causing to either NVIDIA, Thinkpad PM and Turbo Memory driver.
I think Thinkpad PM driver is the most suspicious because I notice that lockups only occur when the machine is on battery.

[jjfcpa]

I narrowed down the problem causing to either NVIDIA, Thinkpad PM and Turbo Memory driver.
I think Thinkpad PM driver is the most suspicious because I notice that lockups only occur when the machine is on battery.

You may be right on your assessment. I think most of my blue screens have occurred when I was on battery. Since I always dock mine at the office, then suspend and undock, it seems like when I turn it back on, it doesn't like the fact that I suspended it while still docked.

I think it wants me to undock (FN+F9), then suspend. I'll try that today and see if that alleviates any problems. I've turned off turbo memory.

[codwif]

I had my T61 docked at the office and put it into suspend mode by selecting "sleep" from the Vista shutdown menu.

When I got home... approximately 2 hours later, I opened the laptop and expected it to start up. Well it did, and then blue screened.

I had to do a hard shutdown after it tried to reboot because it would not boot.

Started it back up and as usual, the wireless radio was turned off.

This is proving to be one of the most problematic Thinkpads I've ever had. I'm beginning to think that Lenovo is rushing products out without proper testing.

I had similar problems, thou not with a dock, with the radio turning off. After I did a vista restore it seemed to fix that problem.

[jjfcpa]

In testing, I discovered another issue... also related to docking.

I accidentally hibernated my T61 while docked. I then undocked it by pressing the release button on the dock and went home. Later that night, I started it up and when it restored from the hibernation file, it booted with the resolution set to 800 X 600 instead of the native 1440 X 900. It also had a couple of screens up complaining because it wasn't properly undocked from the dock.

It's beginning to look like you better press FN+F9 to undock your T61 and then suspend or hibernate because it definitely doesn't like it if you do the reverse.

I previously had an issue with the battery discharging anywhere from 50 - 75% while suspended for a few hours. Lenovo sent me a new battery and that appears to have fixed the problem. There is now only a slight discharge while suspended.

It seems like I've had fewer problems since I turned off Turbo Memory, but I'm guessing that it needs a bios update to fix the docking issues. On resume, it should recognize that you've undocked and boot normally.

[XIII]

After further testing, I can only point to Vista and Intel Matrix Storage driver problem. Machine lockup randomly. I install XP and all of these problem stop.

[shuffle2]

this is exactly why i'm never installing Vista.....it has nothing good enough to weigh out all the crappy-ness.

[jjfcpa]

this is exactly why i'm never installing Vista.....it has nothing good enough to weigh out all the crappy-ness.

And why does the T60 I have running Vista work flawlessly and the Sony SZ481 running Vista not have any issues?

I'd rather say it's Vista AND the T61.

[carbon_unit]

An R61 running Vista and all the latest drivers is not having any problem. Maybe it is Vista and the T61.