T61p Blue Screen Problem

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panamajk89 · #1 Post by **panamajk89** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:04 pm

I got my T61p a week ago and have had an ongoing issue. Every time I unplug the power supply from the notebook, the screen blanks out and the computer needs to be powered off and plugged back in to log in again. No problem in safe mode at all. I got an nVidia error, but an update of those drivers didn't resolve the issue. I'm running 32-bit Vista Business. The problem happened with the OS right out of the box, no software loaded but Lenovo defaults. Has anyone else run into this, and if so, figured out what to do to remedy the problem? I'd appreciate any help I can get.

panamajk89 · #2 Post by **panamajk89** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:22 pm

A quick update:

I disabled the devices 'Microsoft AC Adapter' and 'Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery' in the device manager. I can plug and unplug the notebook now without it freezing up. Now to just find the correct drivers...

panamajk89 · #3 Post by **panamajk89** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:56 pm

Still no luck trying to find what's causing the problem. I looked at my T60p running Vista Enterprise and it's using the same drivers and settings as the T61p. If anyone has any ideas, I'd greatly appreciate a push in the right direction.

Wiz · #4 Post by **Wiz** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:06 pm

I have a T61p as well running Vista without any such problems, but i did a clean install and downloaded all the latest drivers from Lenovo. Did you upgrade any other drivers as well or only the nVIDIA driver? You could try to upgrade the power manager driver and maybe any other new drivers that is available as well. Maybe a BIOS update as well, but i did not have any such problem before i updated my BIOS. I also have SP1 installed.

panamajk89 · #5 Post by **panamajk89** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:59 am

Thanks for the response, Wiz! What's so odd about this is the fact that I had the problem right out of the box. I installed all new drivers using System Update and updated the BIOS to 2.19. After I continued having the problem, I did a full factory restore, updated all the drivers again, and the issue still occurred. At one point, I was able to get it working properly by disabling and updating the Intel Wireless drivers and utility, but within four days, it started again after I put the machine to sleep. I have a T60p that runs flawlessly with the same setup, so I'm inclined to think there is a hardware issue causing the OS to flake out. For the moment, I'm going to work with it as-is until I can get the time to take it in to a Lenovo service center for work to be done. I'm disappointed about having the issue, but I got a great deal on this machine through my employer and it is fantastic!

Wiz · #6 Post by **Wiz** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:54 pm

Well you might be right about a hardware error.....hard to tell. When you say factory restore i assume you used the recovery option so you have the OEM version of windows with all the drivers and software pre-installed by Lenovo? What i did is to use a standard Windows Vista DVD and installed Windows manually. Then i installed SP1 before i installed the drivers and some of the tools available from Lenovo. I also forgot to say that i used the latest wireless driver (driver only) from Intel instead of the one from Lenovo. The one available from Lenovo is not the latest version (unless i'm wrong) and it also includes the proset API that you don't need unless you use Access Connections. You can also find a newer version of proset from the intel website if you want to use AC. I do not use AC at the moment since i don't connect to a lot of different wireless networks anymore so cannot see the benfit. Also i did not install all of the software available from Lenovo since i don't need it. The stuff i did not install is AC, wireless proset API, mobility center custom., maintenance manager, help center and client security solution. Neiter do i use system update, but that's basically because i didn't find it to work very well.

I have a retail license Windows Vista (not OEM) that i used, but if you have a OEM Windows Vista DVD you could use that one to install a clean Windows Vista and use the product key found underneath the laptop and it should activate without any problems. I have done that with my previous laptop and it works fine. Before you continue to install SP1 or the lenovo drivers/tools you could check if the blue screen problem is gone. If you do not get a bluescreen at this point you could start by installing SP1 (if you want SP1) and some of the drivers. Then continue by adding more of the drivers and check if the problem is back or not. If you install all the drivers and tools at once and the problem return it might be hard to find out which one that cause the problems. If it's a hardware problem this won't be of any help of course, but if you suspect it's a hardware problem you should contact Lenovo....after all it should work right out of the box.

When you did a factory restore did you install any other stuff like antivirus, drivers or anything like that or just the factory restore and the bluescreen problem occur? Have you tried to install SP1?
Do you have any more information about the bluescreen like the error code, error message, filename etc?

Unless you installed SP1 you might take a look at these two updates as well:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938194
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938979

I'm not sure if those fixes will make a difference in your case, but i would recommend to install them in any case if you don't want SP1. If you install SP1 you won't need these updates.

panamajk89 · #7 Post by **panamajk89** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 3:29 pm

I restored to the factory image with their drivers. I have an install disk with Vista Enterprise, so I will have to attempt what you're telling me using it. It really stinks that I have to go through all that after getting this system up and running with the apps I like to use, but I'm willing to give this a shot. I can always recover the system with my backup. I'm out of town this week and don't have my software, but I'll let you know what happens when I try this after my return home. Thanks for your input.

hellosailor · #8 Post by **hellosailor** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:56 am

Panama, did you copy down the error message on that blue screen? That might give you a fast answer. Look for the error code, i.e. "F0000083E" and web search it, see what it points to.

Odds are, if it BSODs with the factory load that the machine has a hardware problem. The factory load is "known stable" for the hardware. I don't know about Lenovo but some vendors will arrange a hot swap (sending you a new unit in advance) for exchange when you get a new laptop DOA. If you plead nicely. But now, a week later, your clock is ticking on that.

panamajk89 · #9 Post by **panamajk89** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:56 am

Turns out that the Thinkpad PM Device driver version 1.44 was causing my issue. I downgraded to 1.43 on a hunch and I can successfully plug and unplug my notebook without the screen blanking out. I never got the blue screen error ID, for the record, as the screen went out too quickly to capture it. For now, I've disabled automatic Windows Update. That's what caused my issues to begin with.

hellosailor · #10 Post by **hellosailor** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:21 pm

"I never got the blue screen error ID, for the record, as the screen went out too quickly to capture it."
Thank Microsoft for shipping a brain-damaged operating system. The default for all versions of Windows has always been plain wrong, it reboots blue screens without giving you a chance to read them. IN the advanced system properties there's a setting you can UNcheck, so it will NOT REBOOT AUTOMATICALLY.
Then, the blue screen stays on forever until you can read it, and manually choose to restart the system. Very much worth doing--because sooner or later, you'll have more BSODs.

Wiz · #11 Post by **Wiz** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:09 pm

panamajk89 wrote:Turns out that the Thinkpad PM Device driver version 1.44 was causing my issue. I downgraded to 1.43 on a hunch and I can successfully plug and unplug my notebook without the screen blanking out. I never got the blue screen error ID, for the record, as the screen went out too quickly to capture it. For now, I've disabled automatic Windows Update. That's what caused my issues to begin with.

I been using 1.44 without any problems so far so fortunately i have not been affected by that problem. Did you clean install Windows or just use the pre-installed OS?
Anyway it's good to hear you found/solved the problem.

panamajk89 · #12 Post by **panamajk89** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:41 pm

I'm using the pre-installed OS. I tried to get my vendor to get me the OEM media to install the OS on my own, but they won't pony it up for me. Everything is working as it should for me now from an OS and ACPI perspective. I may try going to 1.44, but for now, I'm leaving well enough alone.

panamajk89 · #13 Post by **panamajk89** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:43 pm

hellosailor wrote:"I never got the blue screen error ID, for the record, as the screen went out too quickly to capture it."
Thank Microsoft for shipping a brain-damaged operating system. The default for all versions of Windows has always been plain wrong, it reboots blue screens without giving you a chance to read them. IN the advanced system properties there's a setting you can UNcheck, so it will NOT REBOOT AUTOMATICALLY.
Then, the blue screen stays on forever until you can read it, and manually choose to restart the system. Very much worth doing--because sooner or later, you'll have more BSODs.

I had the 'DO NOT REBOOT AUTOMATICALLY' box checked, but the blank screen prevented me from seeing the actual BSOD error ID.

panamajk89 · #14 Post by **panamajk89** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 12:06 pm

Well, I decided to use my Windows Ultimate upgrade and the problem returned. I checked to see if the PM driver was updated and it had not. I'm figuring that my run of Windows Update shortly after that changed something and brought it back. I ran system restore and everything works fine again. I'm going to run the update again when I have some time, and then check immediately if I have the issue before running Windows Update. I'll post again when I figure it out.

T61p Blue Screen Problem

T61p Blue Screen Problem

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