Thinkpads Forum

I have yet to get any games to work for my T61p with 256 570m card - I'm sure this is an Nvidia driver/vista problem but does anyone know how to rectify this without waiting 3 years for nvidia to release a new driver? - or does anyone have any experiance playing a game on their T61p

i installed DOOM3 Demo and call of duty 2 Demo and they both works.
on the oriniginal drivers that came with the laptop.

I posted something about this earlier. In almost all of my games, something goes wrong. In most cases, everything runs beautifully for about 5 minutes, and then the game either freezes or spurts artifacts all over the screen. I can't even run a full 3DMark. I know it can't be overheating because it can't possibly take such a short time.

Pocket Aces wrote:I posted something about this earlier. In almost all of my games, something goes wrong. In most cases, everything runs beautifully for about 5 minutes, and then the game either freezes or spurts artifacts all over the screen. I can't even run a full 3DMark. I know it can't be overheating because it can't possibly take such a short time.

It sounds very much like a overheating problem on either the CPU or the video card. You should check the temperature. My T60 used to have GPU overheating problem and it only took 4-5 minutes before the temperature reaches 100C+.

overheating coooould be the problem.... but I think it is much more likely that the nVidia driver is crap. Everyone seems to be having this problem even though the t61p's cpus/gpus and more than capable to run cs:s or games of the like

I had that problem running two memory sticks. Removing the one I added fixed the problem. I'm not sure whether the memory is bad or if running two sticks of RAM causes the problems.

hm, interesting you mention that - I'm runing vista x64 with 2 2gb sticks of crucial I bought... hopefully this will be fixed in SP1

Vista x64 could also be the problem. Try removing some RAM and see what happens.

Daniel wrote:I had that problem running two memory sticks. Removing the one I added fixed the problem. I'm not sure whether the memory is bad or if running two sticks of RAM causes the problems.

Interesting. Have you tried memtest86+ ? If memtest86 reports no error, then it must be related to vista, otherwise it should be a hardware problem(defect memory or compatibility issue).

thanks ill check it out - im just hoping Microsoft or Nvidia will get on their game and release a good working driver sometime soon

It's not related to Vista. That's what I thought initially, so I installed XP. The problem remains.

Try the "Bioshock drivers" (163.44) and the modded /INF file from over at www.laptopvideo2go.com. If that fails, which seems likely at this point, its a hardware problem. I have managed to play WoW for many hours on my T61 with these drivers.

many hours - meaning it crashes after many hours? i dont see how it could be a hardware problem if many people are having trouble with this - it seems like a nvidia driver problem to me

I just ran the Bioshock demo. It ran great. It did tell me that my video drivers had a known problem and had me download new ones from NVidia. I had to copy two lines from the Thinkpad INF to the NVIDIA INF file to install.

tselling wrote:I just ran the Bioshock demo. It ran great. It did tell me that my video drivers had a known problem and had me download new ones from NVidia. I had to copy two lines from the Thinkpad INF to the NVIDIA INF file to install.

Just wondering what did u use to run it? your signture says u got a T61p with 4gb of ram.

well i got same with 2.4GHz core2duo.


but my problem is it keeps shutting down with out runnnig games.

And if i try to play games forget it, it will shut off faster.

See, its the heat.

I dont know what to do.

Yes, I used my T61p with 4gb ram and 2.2Ghz cpu. I have not seen any shutdown problems. How do you know its the heat? Are you sure its not a problem with ram? I haven't installed any software to measure how hot mine is getting since I haven't had any heat related issues.

So far I have run Oblivion (Direct2Drive purchase with their latest patch) and Bioshock (demo) without any problems. Both look spectacular with the settings on max on my WSXGA+ screen.

I am planning to try the FEAR demo too and will report on that when I do since I have seen reports of that not working well.

Has anyone tried Guild Wars on their T61p? I would really like to buy that game (via Direct2Drive) but hate to buy it if it won't work. There doesn't seem to be a way to get a Trial Key unless some who bought it gives you the one that comes with it.

My Hoyle 2005 games (Card, Board, Puzzle Games) don't run though But thats a compatibility issue. They don't even start to run. I downloaded Hoyle Card Games 2007 trial. It runs but says cannot find files for Face Creator so have to run without a specialized character. Same with Hoyle Casino 2006. That may be a Vista 64 issue.

tselling wrote:snipped

Just a best guess, for all i know its a defictive laptop,

Do you know whats the policy on full monie back?

Ive been having the same problem as you although less prevelant - I can run FEAR but it will freezeup and/or shutdown eventually... I just called lenovo support and they are sending me a box - what RAM are you using FNAKE? I am using crucial

Liamo0o wrote:Ive been having the same problem as you although less prevelant - I can run FEAR but it will freezeup and/or shutdown eventually... I just called lenovo support and they are sending me a box - what RAM are you using FNAKE? I am using crucial

I got mine from Lenovo, FRU:40y7735

But it came with ONE 2GB stick. it was some brand that started with the letter H i think.

and the FRU above was a SAMSUNG..

now im thinking to give back the samsung in the box they are gonna send me. and i will keep the one it came with, starts with letter H.

question: what is this box? do i have to send back the laptop befor a get a new one?

and is it relly NEW or is it one that you sent back your self, and they then changed the motherboard and [censored] it to the NEXT guy?

then when i get the new one i will put in the same ram, both with the letter H (provided they send me the same one.)

you said u had crutial? right, what did u get 667 mhz or 800mhz? get it form them at the time, or what?

I got 2gb with the cpu 667mhz, then i orderd that fru after.

Run memtest86+ to check for errors in the ram: http://www.memtest.org/

If anything is wrong you shouild have no problem getting it replaced.

FNAKFHE wrote:

Liamo0o wrote:

let me note I've had the same problem and have run memtest on my 4gb of crucial - (ran memtest for about 4 hours) it came up blank)

I played thru the FEAR demo without any problems. I am using the latest Lenovo drivers. The 2.2gz CPU doesn't seem to have any problems with overheating while playing games.

tselling wrote:I played thru the FEAR demo without any problems. I am using the latest Lenovo drivers. The 2.2gz CPU doesn't seem to have any problems with overheating while playing games.

Your missing the point, this issue is not game related, and this is a ongoing problem related to NOT only and not limited to GAMEPLAY.

Therefor its the multitasking and the overheating isse that is causing this, it is som internalhigh LIMIT that is cutting it out.

I happen to wach HD or BLUEray contenet on this laptop (its a 1080p lcd, running 1920x1200)

And when the load is over 70% stady there will be a hotter running temp,

That hotter temp is what is causing this shut off.

But i understand that your 2.2 is not shutting off and that is alos to note, a slower speed then my 2.4.

Thanks for all replys.

FNAKFHE wrote: I happen to wach HD or BLUEray contenet on this laptop (its a 1080p lcd, running 1920x1200)
And when the load is over 70% stady there will be a hotter running temp,
Thanks for all replys.

I am just curious, does the Quadro FX 570M have the same hardware HD decoding as the Geforce 8600 series? I though the HD decoding thing is suppose to reduce the CPU load to somewhere below 50%?
Am I missing something here?

dickeywang wrote: I am just curious, does the Quadro FX 570M have the same hardware HD decoding as the Geforce 8600 series? I though the HD decoding thing is suppose to reduce the CPU load to somewhere below 50%?
Am I missing something here?

I think it does:

NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology
The ultimate high-definition movie experience on your PC by combining high-definition movie decode acceleration and post-processing on HDCP enabled platform, HDCP circuitry, and integration with HD movie players. It delivers superb picture quality for all video formats, as well as stunning HD DVD and Blu-ray movies-with low CPU utilization and power consumption. (Available on NVDIA Quadro FX 1600M, 570M, and 360M)

Source: NVIDIA

casper7777 wrote:snipped

That's great!!! Now it goes back to my original question, why FNAKFHE is seeing 70% CPU load while playing 1080p videos? Maybe there is something wrong with the driver? According to this anandtech review at least the desktop 8600/8500 series greatly reduces the CPU usage while playing HD videos.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977&p=4

dickeywang wrote:

casper7777 wrote:

I have not said that its not only HD or Blueray,

I am multi Tasking those process with Unreal 2004 totaling a 60% CPU load,

That is one core at 100% and then next core at 60%.

The decodeing of HD is finr so is Unreal (60 frames steady somtimes 80)

Problem is it will heat up and shut down, I tried this test with a BiG fan infront of the laptop, it was relly fast fan.

Well it worked, now im not sure it the NEXT one will be like this (meaning I asked for a new box to ship this back and get the NEW one)


If the new one is same or NOT i will keep you posted.

Has anybody tried Flight Simulator X on the T61p (with 256MB VGA card)? I would be very interested in the results. I am to receive my T61p in a few days and I would be just curious about the performance in FSX.

I just started playing the Crysis demo on my T61p. Had trouble initially... to play it I had to run with DX9 instead of default DX10 "-dx9" argument. I am also running in 1280x800 resolution with medium settings.

FYI, I had memory parity errors and other BSODs and crashes in DX10 mode for some reason.

I am also using the latest Forceware drivers from NVidia's site (copied strings to the nvidia inf file from the thinkpad inf file).

been playing through the crysis demo for about 30min. No problems (besides slowness..running 1024x768 w/ medium settings) running the 64bit binary in dx10.

I am running the preinstalled nvidia drivers which would probably explain the slowness in graphics, but the game works fine! Definitely glad after reading all the posts about games not working correctly.