Thinkpads Forum

Argh!!! I just got my T61p yesterday, and I'm already having problems. I made sure that everything was up-to-date through System Update (and Software Installer, for good measure) and Windows Update.
My problem: I can't seem to run any 3D graphics intensive programs. Whenever I try, they crash. So far, when I run 3DMark05, it freezes in the middle (usually around 9 secs in), after which I have to hard reboot it. In Far Cry, turning the graphics up even a little past the lowest settings make the game look like impenetrable fog, and I can't see anything other than the things at my feet. In S.T.A.L.K.E.R., changing the settings in-game will sometimes lead to the sudden shut-down of the computer. I might add, though, that while the programs are running, they get pretty good framerates, so I know the hardware has no problem running them.
I don't really have any experience with these problems, since this is the first computer I've ever owned that capable of running these games, so I'm not sure if it's a problem with the graphics driver or Vista or anything else. Help!!!

Let me guess, you are running on vista right!?

You might try running PC Doctor. Don't know, maybe the GPU is overheating quickly. I'm unsure if there's TPFanControl compatible with Vista so that you could have an idea if it's overheating.

If you are running Visa, you would probably want to make sure that you have the following fixes installed:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938194
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938979

One of the problems that the 938194 fix resolves is (Which might be the problem your having):
"There are stability issues with some graphics processing units (GPUs). These issues could cause GPUs to stop responding (hang). "

I don't know if those fixes are available on Windows update. You might need to download them from the above links.

I look into those as soon as I get home. Has anyone who has a T61p had this problem?

I also have another question. The preinstalled crap leaves me only 65 GB out of a 100 GB hard drive. What can I delete? Also, if I wanted to do a clean install of Vista, can I just extract the product key and use a regular Vista install DVD?

I just got my t61p yesterday and just tried out some counter strike source. looks incredible on max res and all details on high, smooth as butter. I was able to get 3dmark to work and achieve a score of 3820 (2.4 ghz 4 gb ram) which is consistent with the score achieved by the reviewer on notebook review. I installed the patches mentioned above (thanks). My only problem is counter strike has frozen up a few times and I've had to do a hard restart - I'm confident this is a vista issue as my cpu and ram usage aren't even sweating and I can alt tab at my free will.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3889

Okay, the Windows updates, along with updating Far Cry, seem to have taken care of the fog problem. However, the 3DMark problem persists, although now I have an error message:

IDirect3DDevice9::Present failed:Device lost (D3DERR_DEVICELOST)

Afterwords, I get the message:

Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered

I googled both messages but haven't come up with anything that could help.

Also, when I launch the games, they run fine, and beautifully I might add, but after about 3 minutes, my computer instantly power downs. Internet searching suggests overheating, but I haven't changed settings or anything. What's going on here?

I suggest you start from scratch again.

Do a factory restore, turn off the Windows update for a while, run Thinkvantage System Update thoroughly and make sure this driver gets installed. After you're done with System update, turn on the Windows update settings to "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them" and make sure you don't install the nVidia Quadro drivers Windows provide you.

turn off the Windows update for a while, run Thinkvantage System Update thoroughly and make sure this driver gets installed.

hm well i insstalled that driver (but for 64 bit windows) and it slowed down my computer considerabley (maybe this is just because its the first restart?) anyway There is a newer driver Nvidia released here http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x64_162.50.html

This driver is dated August 8th whereas the one from lenovo website is dated july 12

Liamo0o wrote:This driver is dated August 8th whereas the one from lenovo website is dated july 12

The thing is, lenovo does not release drivers without fully testing, modifying and tweaking them for their machines.

hm I tried the one from nvidia and says it doesnt match the hardware... maybe I just uninstalled then reinstalled the same driver using the link above... but it still seems as if the computer is running a bit slower, I am going to run a 3dmark to see if I get the same score

like I said the above driver I linked to doesn't support the quadro fx 570m. I reinstalled lenovo driver and vista runs fine, my 3dmark score is also the same however the problem with counter strike source persists. After probing I get the error message Vertex buffer(some other junk) I looked on valve forums and found others were having the same problem - the official answer to this error message from valve is that it is caused by "alt tabbing too much..... or the drivers are not up to date" I believe the latter is the true answer as I can run cs:s on max res with max quality smooth as butter (until it crashes of course) Can anyone think of a solution to this problem? I installed DX10 and made sure all my drivers are up to date - Ill try rolling it back see if that makes a difference

The fog problem sounds like a driver issue, not necessarily a Vista problem.
Just to confirm, were you able to find the both fixes (938194 and 938979) on Windows update?

If you want to get a more recent NVIDIA driver installed on your system, you might want to check this link:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/ind ... owforum=72
I believe that what they do, is take the original NVIDIA drivers and modify the installer inf file to support other cards such as the 570m.

Keep in mind neither NVIDIA nor Lenovo support these drivers!

nurio wrote:The fog problem sounds like a driver issue, not necessarily a Vista problem.
Just to confirm, were you able to find the both fixes (938194 and 938979) on Windows update?

If you want to get a more recent NVIDIA driver installed on your system, you might want to check this link:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/ind ... owforum=72
I believe that what they do, is take the original NVIDIA drivers and modify the installer inf file to support other cards such as the 570m.

Keep in mind neither NVIDIA nor Lenovo support these drivers!

The 570M doesn't seem to appear on the list of supported cards.

I've had nothing but problems since I got this thing, so I decided I'd install XP on it until the Vista drivers get their act straight. However, I've run into another problem.

When I insert the XP Pro CD and boot from it, it goes to the usual setup screen, where you press "Enter" to setup XP. When I go ahead and press "Enter", I get the error:

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer"

What the hell?

You need to go to BIOS and set the SATA disk to Compatibility mode.

XIII wrote:You need to go to BIOS and set the SATA disk to Compatibility mode.

Thanks, it worked. I've got XP up and running, for the most part. I still have an "Unknown Device" that's bugging me, but it doesn't seem to be critical, so I'll just leave it alone for now.

However, I seem to have lost access to the Rescue & Recovery partition, which I'll need if I want to get Vista back. I know there's a Recovery repair diskette thing, but I don't have an external floppy disk drive. Is there another way to do it? By CD? Or can I boot off of a USB drive?

Also, the audio control buttons near the ThinkVantage button seems to change the volume of the applications, not the whole system. For instance, when I fiddle with the audio buttons when a media player is open, it will actually move the volume slider left and right. When no applications are open, it'll change the Windows volume settings. My old T42p didn't do this.

Pocket Aces wrote: However, I seem to have lost access to the Rescue & Recovery partition, which I'll need if I want to get Vista back.

You did create a set of "Product Recovery disks" of the original software and Vista OS that came on your PC didn't you? You will need them to restore your PC to factory. The XP install more than likely reformatted your drive and removed that partition unless you took steps to protect it.

It sounds like you're having a problem with the MBR sector on your hard disk after the clean install of XP. I had the same problem after my clean install of Vista. There is this Rescue and Recovery Repair Diskette, but you'll need a floppy drive. I remember reading through a thread where someone had converted the diskette files so that you could run them using a CD or DVD.

If you did not burn the recovery media before you went ahead with the clean install, give Lenovo a call and ask for the Rescue and Recovery Media. They should have no problem sending them out to you free of charge. You'll definitely need disk 1, which will allow you to boot into Rescue and Recovery if your partition is intact. If not, you "should" be able to restore through the Recovery DVD's.

I would like to note that, even with the Authentic Recovery Media sent by Lenovo, i still was not able to do a factory restore through the recovery partition or the recovery media. The ~6GB recovery partition was intact and read Healthy under Disk Management. I was able to access Rescue and Recovery with the first recovery disk, but the following 2 DVD's were not recognized by the software.

I'm thinking this problem is a result of the problematic MBR sector?

I called up tech support and they said that the partition was corrupted and if I wanted recovery media, I'd have to pay $45. I don't believe them, because all I said was that I couldn't boot into the Rescue and Recovery partition. I'll see about the floppy disk first, if I ever to come upon a floppy disk drive.
Also, does opening up the computer void your warranty?

Pocket Aces wrote:I called up tech support and they said that the partition was corrupted and if I wanted recovery media, I'd have to pay $45. I don't believe them, because all I said was that I couldn't boot into the Rescue and Recovery partition. I'll see about the floppy disk first, if I ever to come upon a floppy disk drive.
Also, does opening up the computer void your warranty?

Opening the computer will void your warranty. A floppy drive will probably cost you at least $25, but if thats all it takes, then thats not a bad deal. I have a floppy drive I bought to fix the model number of the laptop (the service tech who replaced my MB forgot to put in the model number or unique id).

jjesusfreak01 wrote: Opening the computer will void your warranty.

Sorry, but you're wrong about that. Opening your system will NOT void your warranty.

Pocket Aces, as a friendly reminder, after you installed the correct SATA driver in XP, you can turn the compatibility mode in BIOS back.

Just for confirmation, so your problem of graphic card problem is gone now in XP, right?

I have a similar problem that Pocket Aces is experiencing.

I play Stranglehold on my Thinkpad T61p laptop and it work great. The only problem I have is that the game keeps freezing and the whole screening becomes distorted with artifacts about 5 to 20 minutes when I run the game. I am using the latest driver for my nVidia Quadro FX 570m video card provided by laptopvideo2go.com, using version 169.04, but still having this same issue.

I had more issues with many games I play on the laptop, and Lenovo told me that the Dual core function is causing the problem. So I disabled it, and now most games run smooth as silk. However, the Stranglehold game (just recently released) is still causing the same problem described above even after dual core is disabled from the BIOS. Other games are causing this problem too so I know it's not a software issue.

I do realize that the Quadro video chips from nVidia are not designed for gaming, but it would be a pity that such a powerful video chip can't play games.

If the GPU is heating up too quickly would buying an extra cooling system keep the game run longer?

Any help is highly appreciated.

I am running:

Lenovo Thinkpad T61p
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz
2GB RAM 2 DIMM
Nvidia Quadro FX 570m
Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2

general, did you measured the gpu temp ? try it with nhc, rivatuner or any other prog...

with the 2 cores that is very weird...and not a nice solution. hope they are working on it...

and does it happen if you try an older version of the display driver ?

The GPU temp when not playing games is at 50C. When the game crashed the GPU temp is around 61C and more. I am using NVIDIA MonitorView to measure the GPU temps.

I cannot play most games with 2 cores. I have to play with single cores. The two cores will generate errors with BSOD memory parity error, hardware malfunction.

And yes, this does happen with the older display driver, even from the Lenovo ones, which is why I tried the latest video driver for gaming. I don't believe the display driver is involved in this issue, but then I could be wrong.

I have disabled my F-Secure Client Security antivirus real time scanning feature, and still the game freezes and spurts out artifacts within 5 to 20 minutes of gameplay.

I also did a test with 3DMark 06, and the test went perfectly fine. I got a score somewhere in the 3200s with the multiple cores feature disabled.

I tried disabling Intel SpeedStep, but that didn't work.

Any other help is appreciated.

Now when it crashed the GPU temp is 67C

do a stress test with ibm's pc doctor...i think it is a hardware prob. than...

better yet, try running with just 1 dimm in your system. Some people have reported problems with games while dual channel memory was going.