Random On Screen Displays

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ewebb02 · #1 Post by **ewebb02** » Tue May 15, 2007 12:39 am

Does anyone's X60T randomly display the "Mute", "Thinkpad light" and Brightness On Screen display's while docked to the Ultrabase? Mine has been happening about once every 10 minutes. It usually starts with the mute, then the thinkpad light, then the monitor brightness, then back to the mute. If I'm watching a DVD, it will mute the movie while I'm watching it.

It happens while un-docked, just not as often.

Also, while typing, sometimes I'll get extra letters on one key stroke. I've checked the character repeat delay in the control panel -> keyboard and its set at a normal value.

Any ideas?

I'm running Vista Ultimate on a CTO6365 with 2GB of RAM and a SXGA monitor.

FredFromNYC · #2 Post by **FredFromNYC** » Tue May 15, 2007 12:43 pm

Maybe your keyboard is defective.

Linden · #3 Post by **Linden** » Wed May 23, 2007 8:52 pm

Yes, I've been seeing the same thing since I got my new X60 tablet earlier this month. The only difference is that mine starts with a quick blank screen followed by a change of resolution to 640x480 and then back to the correct resolution. I also get the ThinkLight Mute and Brightness changes.
I can't find any consistency. It has occurred for me while docked, and undocked. It seems to be getting better now. I haven't seen it for a few days.

captain · #4 Post by **captain** » Fri May 25, 2007 6:53 am

Same issue here....I got my x60 tablet two weeks ago (6365CTO with Vista) and I get these random screen events. I really haven't had the time to look into it.

IsYet · #5 Post by **IsYet** » Mon May 28, 2007 9:34 am

I've had my tablet for a 6 weeks or so and this is a relatively new behavior.
I attribute it to either a recent update or a hardware issue.
If it’s caused by an update, then some future update will probably fix it.
I've been installing all updates.

I don’t have the extra keystrokes though.

Nothing is showing up in the events.

My 1st thought was that the power-saving mode was shifting and causing the current settings to redisplay.
I did see some events that the power mode was changing but these don’t correspond with the screen flashes.

My tablet also had the screen blanking, resolution changing, etc.
All of this while docked and using an external, extended monitor. Never while just on the internal monitor.
This happened anytime I woke the screen up. From sleep or just screen-blanking. It was maddening because it took a little time, was just ugly, and threw off my window sizing and placement.

This has stopped after updating the BIOS.

Now the only related issue I have is that when I 1st wake it up in the dock it forgets that the external monitor is on the left. That's a one time per day thing though.

captain · #6 Post by **captain** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:19 pm

I spoke with tech support @ Lenovo who believe this is a driver issue. He instructed me to download a video driver from their website. The driver seemed to be earlier than the one I currently have installed. Anyway, the downloaded file refused to install. As a result, Lenovo is sending me a set of restore disks.

I'm wondering if this problem would be alleviated by downgrading to XP Tablet.

Linden · #7 Post by **Linden** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:26 pm

Ouch! Sorry about that but thanks for sharing your experience. For what it's worth I've noticed that all random activity is happening in settings that are available in the Windows Mobility Center:

Mute/Volume
ThinkLight
Fullscreen Magnifier
Display Brightness
and even which side the external monitor is displayed on. (I've been having that problem too.)

I think I have the latest BIOS and software. I suspect it's a driver too.

captain · #8 Post by **captain** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:56 pm

Well I'm thinking it may be Lenovo drivers causing this....unfortunately the restre disks I created don't allow me to pick and choose what to restore. Will the tablet function if I remove all the Lenovo software?

ewebb02 · #9 Post by **ewebb02** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:40 pm

Yes, the tablet will still function if you remove all of your Lenovo Software. I started my tablet out with a clean install of Vista (reformatted once I got my tablet) and it worked when I finished the installation without any Lenovo Software. I then added the Hot Keys, Battery Manager, and that's about it.

My tablet is still going through the fun flickering thing and every now and then I'll get it to make a system beep randomly. No idea what's causing it, but it's driving me crazy.

Plus, I get the resolution thing (dropping to 640x480) probably once a day when taking it out of standby mode.

Maybe I'll go and look at the drivers and see if I can "downgrade" the install of that particular driver.

Linden · #10 Post by **Linden** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:26 pm

I get the resolution thing too, usually when I come out of standby. I think it's the Lenovo Fullscreen Magnifier because I see the little icon with a + in it in the system tray while it's changing resolutions.

ewebb02, are you saying that you are experiencing the random input with just Vista, Hot Keys and Battery Manager installed? If so that narrows it down a lot. One might be tempted to suspect Hot Keys because of the nature of the problem.

ewebb02 · #11 Post by **ewebb02** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:48 am

Yes, this is all I have installed (a few more than I originally thought):

Active Protection
System Update (but it's not running in the system tray)
Battery Manager
Fingerprint login
Hotkeys
Tablet Shortcut Menu
Easy Eject

But, this was from a clean install of Vista Ultimate from RTM DVDs (not a lenovo install disk)

Linden · #12 Post by **Linden** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:52 pm

If you are able to consistently reproduce the problem it would be interesting to see if disabling each of these programs one at a time solved the problem. If not then it's probably BIOS or hardware.

proaudioguy · #13 Post by **proaudioguy** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:07 pm

How do you get system update to only run when you run it? My A31 was like that but the X60T had system update always running. I got rid of it. I don't allow anything to run in the background willingly.

ewebb02 wrote:Yes, this is all I have installed (a few more than I originally thought):

Active Protection
System Update (but it's not running in the system tray)
Battery Manager
Fingerprint login
Hotkeys
Tablet Shortcut Menu
Easy Eject

But, this was from a clean install of Vista Ultimate from RTM DVDs (not a lenovo install disk)

#14 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:30 pm

proaudioguy wrote:How do you get system update to only run when you run it? My A31 was like that but the X60T had system update always running. I got rid of it. I don't allow anything to run in the background willingly.

I don't run System Update so I don't know the ins and outs of the program. I do see something called Update Retriever 2.0 on the following page that may work for this situation.

ThinkVantage Technologies Administrator Tools

ewebb02 · #15 Post by **ewebb02** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:22 am

How do you get system update to only run when you run it? My A31 was like that but the X60T had system update always running. I got rid of it. I don't allow anything to run in the background willingly.

When I reinstalled it in Vista, I just haven't allowed it to take over my system when I get the infamous "Cancel/Allow" screen when it tries to start. I just checked my processes running, and sure enough, it's NOT listed there.

Random On Screen Displays

Random On Screen Displays

Also getting the random brightness / mute.

Random Screen Issues

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