x61t BSOD w/in 20 minutes of going on battery power

[goodmami]

I saw a post similar to this, but the symptoms were slightly different, and the fix didn't help. (sorry, I don't have the link handy)

I got my x61t (1gb RAM, 80gb HD, 1gb Turbo Memory, MultiTouch XGA screen, Windows Vista Business, 4 cell battery) around mid-september, and from the beginning I have been unable to use the machine on battery power because it either bluescreens or becomes completely unresponsive within 20 minutes (sometimes as few as 2-5 minutes). A hard-reset is almost always required. A few times I have been able to regain responsiveness by plugging it in and waiting for about 5 minutes.

I've installed all the system and driver updates, but no luck. Even though I have Turbo Memory, I turned off ReadyDrive and ReadyBoost through the Intel Turbo Memory Console (I heard that this should be done at the BIOS level? I could not find it in the BIOS menu, though. If so, what is it called?)

I love the tablet functionality for taking notes in class, but it's terribly inconvenient to always look for a power outlet (if they are available at all).

Any ideas? Or should I consider sending the thing in to support? I'm also curious if anyone else is having this problem.

[ryengineer]

The symptoms you described seems to be most likely due to the Turbo memory and I suggest instead of disabling it, you install the following package which contains the fix:

Intel Turbo Memory Driver for Windows Vista.

Since BSOD's are not limited to Turbo memory so it would be very hard to say what's causing it without looking at the error number. Usually it's the incompatible drivers, memory or a device that needs your attention to be provided proper driver update.

Follow this:

Right Click My Computer > Properties > Advanced System settings> Under start up recovery-settings> Then uncheck automaically restart and press OK.

Next time you'll be able to read the blue screen. Report back the error #.

Also check what the Event Viewer has to say about this error. (Right click My computer>Manage>System Tools>Event Viewer).

You can disable Turbo Memory by disabling "Intel flash cache logic chip" from the Device Manager in Windows but my speculation is it won't make any difference.

[goodmami]

Thank you for replying

I thought I had installed that fix, but I might have only run the .exe that copies the files to c:\DRIVERS\VISTA\TurboMem, and I might not of have run setup.exe from that directory.

I did what you said, and now I have run for 5 minutes on battery with no bluescreens. I'll report again if I have any more news.

[iamdmc]

athr.sys will give you a BSOD as well if you install the most recent driver.

Just go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\athr.sys and rename it to "athr.sys.old"

This only applies if you have the non-Intel "IBM Wireless" (Atheros) card.

[goodmami]

After a day, all is well. I think you fixed it, ryengineer. Thanks!

iamdmc: Device Manager says I have Intel (R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN, so I think I'm clear on that one.

I did get the computer to lock up (not BSOD) for about 2 minutes when I was using the computer on battery and in tablet mode. It eventually regained responsiveness after I flipped it to regular mode (dunno if that made a difference) and waited a couple minutes. Perhaps there is a problem with using the digitizer pen as well?

[eyecon82]

try disabling the hybrid power disk via power managment; that seems to have solved everyones problem in tabletpc forums

[goodmami]

Thanks for your help earlier, ryengineer. It seemed to fix the issue at hand, but I'm still running into the same symptoms. I suspect it has a different cause this time, though.

While I'm generally able to have my computer on battery power without crashing, it does crash fairly consistently in this use case (and a common use case for me):

1. Computer is in laptop (ie. non-tablet) mode, plugged in and on the maximum performance power setting with wireless turned on. I shut the lid and put it to sleep.

2. Later in class, I open the computer (not plugged in) and put it into tablet mode (portrait), turn the wireless off, and set it to a custom, low-power power setting.

3. I open Windows Journal and begin inking notes.

4. 5 minutes later (give or take), the computer becomes more or less unresponsive. This could be from being unable to use any UI (to switch windows, save, open start menu, etc (but inking still works)), to a total BSOD, or anywhere in between those extremes.

5. After a hard reset I can get back into Windows, but the machine is still unstable, and might crash.

I'm not sure how much of that use case is related to this problem, but I put all that I thought would be relevant. Any ideas for this?
I checked event viewer about the error number (6008) and here's what it said:

Log Name: System
Source: EventLog
Date: 10/30/2007 4:56:45 PM
Event ID: 6008
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: goodmami-PC
Description:
The previous system shutdown at 2:06:06 PM on 10/30/2007 was unexpected.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="EventLog" />
<EventID Qualifiers="32768">6008</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2007-10-30T23:56:45.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>25166</EventRecordID>
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>goodmami-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>2:06:06 PM</Data>
<Data>10/30/2007</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>946</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Binary>D7070A0002001E000E00060006006602D7070A0002001E001500060006006602080700003C000000010000000807000000000000B40000000100000000000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>


eyecon82: I did what you said about the hybrid power disk. I'll wait and see if anything changes in the next few days.

[eyecon82]

Please report back if that change helped you..It has definitely helped me

[ryengineer]

goodmami, sorry to hear about that. I believe this is due to instability of Windows Vista:

Microsoft Newsgroup