problems with X61s and X6 after hibernation

[akorn]

I have previously reported problems with my X61s related to hibernation and network connectivity. Those related to a LAN connection I have been able to "solve" by issueing the following command after wake-up: devcon.exe restart *DEV_1049. This does the same as restarting the LAN network adapter in the Network and Sharing Center, but only requires a klick on a bat file containing this command. The LAN cable is attached to the X6 UltraBase docking station and I have so far not checked whether the same problem would arise if the cable was plugged into the laptop directly.

I noticed that the DVD drive in the docking station sometimes does not come up properly after hibernation. It is then not listed as a device in Explorer and the Device Manager shows it with an exclamation mark and the Device Status in Prperties says "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38) You need to restart your computer before the changes you made to this device will take effect." Indeed, trying the same trick as above using devcon.exe on this device does not work but tells me to reboot.

I suspect the two problems are actually related and indicate that the docking station is not properly recognize after wake-up. On the other hand, a BT transmitter plugged into one of the USB ports of the docking station works fine after wake-up.

Is anyone experiencing similar problems and/or has a suggestion?

Andreas
X61s 7666 - 1.8 GHz L7700 - 3 GB RAM - 160 GB
X6 UltraBase with MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-852 ATA

[wgsohn]

I am experiencing the network connectivity problem as you described. I leave my LAN cable connected to UltraBase like yourself.

I actually have a bigger problem than that. Not every time, but a lot of the time, after waking up from standby mode, Vista loses the Aero theme and changes to "Basic" theme and when it does it sometimes hangs at shutdown/reboot. This is really annoying.

When the Aero effect disappears, I tried turning it back on manually by going to control panel -> personalize, but it strangely does not list the "Aero" theme in the list of themes to choose from. If I really want it back on then I MUST restart the whole Vista. Then, Aero comes back to life automatically. Everything is back to normal within Vista.

I also suspect it is something to do with the X6 UltraBase not being reconized correctly after returning from either standby or hibernation mode. What do others think? How could we resolve these issues? Thanks.

[aplusmiami]

I'm also having issues out of hibernation. Any news on IBM's Site?

[akorn]

Update: actually the DVD drive failure is not a problem exclusive to hibernation for me. I just removed my X61s from the X6 dock using FN + F9 and reinserted it after a few moments. While LAN, an external disk and a BT mouse come up promptly, the DVD drive does not! Fellows, please check for this behaviour.

Help!!

X61s 7666 - 1.8 GHz L7700 - 3 GB RAM - 160 GB
X6 UltraBase with MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-852 ATA

[akorn]

9 months down the road I finally found the solution to my network problems: I got the latest drivers for both the LAN and the WiFi card directly from Intel, not via Lenovo. And this seems to have done it for me! I now have LAN driver 9.12.17.9 and WiFi driver 12.0.0.82. A day or so later, Windows Update had an important update for me and wanted to revert to the old LAN driver, but that mistake I only made once.

I'm not sure that it is recommendable to go to the manufacturer in all cases (is there a reason for Lenovo to lag behind in driver releases?), but here it worked.

Now my computer connects nicely to both LAN at work and WLAN at home, also after sleep or hibernation. I use Access Connections (so the default printer is set automatically) and notice that Vista (including Outlook) is slow in realizing when a connection is established. Only when I, e.g., establish an SSH connection do I get the globe on top of the MS's two-monitor taskbar symbol. But that I can live with...

Hope this may help some of the others who have been suffering.