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T60 (1950CTO) with 2gb RAM display issues

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:27 am
by kendler
Hi all,
I have some issues with my T60 (1950CTO).
I've ordered it with 2gb of RAM.
A few weeks after I got it, I've noticed that when working without the AC on the display blinks from time to time, and the worst is that sometime the display show the whole screen as black (you can see that the screen is on) or white - the computer is up and running, and you can log in from remote.

I've went to IBM/Lenovo labs to solve this.
the 1st time I've been there, they didn't find the problem (my guess is that they did the test with AC on although I've mentioned this), I've asked them to replace my LCD panel since it started to be a bit fade on the bottom left corner.
the 2nd time I've been there, they've claimed it was a driver issue and also my HD has a bad sector (how can a bad sector cause a display problem?!) so the support guy took it back and returned it with a "new" driver (he didn't noticed that i've looked at the driver version myself and he returned it with the same driver installed).
so i left them the computer to do a re-load to a new HD.

and again, took my lap back and guess what, problem persist.
so I've called and asked them to order me a new MB.
the 3rd time I've been there, i was happy to stay and make sure that the problem would occur so the lab guy see it - finally someone sew my problem and tried to pinpoint it - "the GPU uses the RAM installed, so maybe it's a faulty RAM".
when I took my lap back they've claimed they replace the MB (i doubt it, my heatsink was a bit broken, and my "new" heatsink is the same - or are they not replacing the heatsink when replacing a MB?) and guess what, problem persist!

so, after heard what they said i tried the RAM thing - uninstalled 1gb chip - no problem. replaced the one installed with the one i took out - again, no problem.
this means that none of the RAM chips are faulty - the problem is when using 2gb! (weird :? )

so then I've googled "T60 2gb bla bla bla" and found many post here regarding T60 with 2gb problems

so am I doomed to be a 1gb laptop owner? or does anyone here have an advise for me?

(sorry for digging on my "life" story, but my guess is that after posting, everyone would start asking question and hear what I've just told. and also to show that support labs and guy are lame - if you want something done right, do it youself)

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:34 pm
by Kaz
Interesting that you did not experience an issue with only 1GB RAM. You still may have an ATI PowerPlay issue that appears to be affecting many of us.

Check this thread for some support and good luck.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... cef83208e2

Thanks Kaz

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:44 am
by kendler
it seem that even with 1GB the problem persist, i just didn't noticed it until now.
I've seen the post you've sent me, thanks.
I've noticed that the solution is to install an old driver (or rollback) but the links in the post are for win vista, I have Intel video driver and winxp so I'll try getting the driver somewhere else.
what I was able to do, is to roll back the "Express Processor to DRAM Controller" driver to an older version, let's hope that's enough to solve my problem.

thanks again, I'll update if my problem persist.

Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:33 am
by kendler
well, the problem was fixed (for now) when I've downgraded to an older driver, but then of course a new problem occurred - when logging to my T60 with terminal services and sometimes simply closing the lid and re-open the screen was turned off (not displaying black, simply turned off) and nothing seems to fix this (beside FN+F4).
I think I rather work again with the new driver (at least with it, the problem is only when not using AC and FN+F7 also solve this)

anyhow, i got a call from a Lenovo customer service today, and he claimed that he had never heard of such a problem and the IBM/Lenovo support are professional enough to solve this (NOT!).
he said that if I was a private customer (I'm not, this lap is my company's lap) he would replace my laptop to a new one.
I said that since hearing about the many problems T60 and T61 has (seeing on this forums) that would be useless to replace my lap with another malfunctioned one.

does this problem occur to every T60? anyone with a T60 (1951) don't have this issues?

I'm asking because he mentioned that out of the many T60s sold here, I'm the only one complained. also he mentioned that he himself has a T60 - I've asked him to stop working with the AC and see that he gets the same problems as me.
I just hope that he will have the same problem and I'll prove him wrong