Thinkpads Forum

Hey everyone,

Less than a month ago I got a new X61. I really had not had too much time to test it, but starting last Saturday I finally got around to using it more.
My problem is that when I close the lid, and the computer supposedly goes to sleep, I find that hours later (or minutes), when I go to open it back up, all the lights are off and the X61 does not respond. This happened for the first time last Saturday: I got up and read the newspaper, closed the lid, took a shower and went somewhere with my TP. When I got to my destination and tried to turn it on, it would not respond. I had to remove the battery for a few seconds, and it finally responded. It just did it again today, I read my email, and went to take my dog to the park, but when I got back, it would not respond, even though it was connected to the power and the battery was in place. I had to unplug it, remove the battery and wait a few minutes.
I already checked the power manager and it's set to sleep when I close the lid. At first I thought that maybe it was that the battery had somehow moved when I was traveling, but then today it was on my desk, and it didn't move at all, so I am at a loss.

EDIT: I just realized that it does it also when I just leave it idle. After I wrote this message, I left the computer with the lid open, and went to cook dinner. After I ate, I realized that the computer was completely off, not in standby, hibernation or anything, but off. I had to do the battery thing again, and when I turned it on, it gave me the message that says "Windows did not shut down properly, do you want to start normally or in safe mode, etc."

Any thoughts are welcome.

Which version of Windows you have? By chance do you have Turbo Memory installed too?

Generally overheating causes computers to shut down abnormally but in standby mode it seems quite irrational to imagine unless the machine is waking up for some reason to perform a task which forces it to reach such an extreme temperature that it shuts down.

If I were you I would 1st make sure that I’ve all the latest Power Management drivers and BIOS update installed from lenovo then note down the shutting down habits of the machine on battery and AC adapter separately (provided if it still exists). Afterwards if the problem persists, I would request a replacement AC adapter and battery from IBM; if still no go then I would report the problem to IBM.

You can also think about sending your whole system altogether to IBM if you don’t like going through the hassle of requesting components in order to track down the culprit yourself.

Ryengineer,

Thanks for the answer; by the way I have Vista Business, with SP1. Yes, I thought it was odd too, as I haven't even installed anything other than Office 07 (rather activated the one installed, since I had my key); heck, I haven't even transferred any files of any sort to this thing. It's almost a virgin (no offense to anyone). So in a sense, overheating would be a clear sign that something is wrong, since I haven't installed anything and I haven't done anything with it other than check my email and browse a little. I am still using my T60. Besides, like I said, when this happened the computer was either with the lid closed, or it was on but just idle, as no one was using it.

As far as the updates go, I am borderline obsessed with updates, so I check religiously everyday, to make sure that I have the latest versions of important software.

By the way, the power profile being used is "Energy Star", the default one out of the box, so I don't know if this might have something to do with it.

EDIT: No turbo memory by the way, as I had read all the comments here before I ordered the new TP.

Are you running Skype?

timendres wrote:Are you running Skype?

No Skype. Nothing beyond MS Office 07. Like I said before, the computer is almost a virgin.

Ok. I run Skype on Vista and whenever the computer attempts to sleep or hibernate, it dies. No blue screen, no nothing. It just hangs with a black screen for a long time, and sometimes it reboots on its own. If I exit Skype, no problems.

Time to place a call to whoever handles the warranty...you have a sick puppy on your hands.

ajkula66 wrote:Time to place a call to whoever handles the warranty...you have a sick puppy on your hands.

That's what I thought. I just haven't had much time lately (which is unusual, hehehehehe), but I think next week I will call Lenovo. It happens sporadically, but still, it happens. Thanks for your input.

I finally got around to calling Lenovo. They are in the process of sending me a box so I can send the x61 to the depot.

However, I found what I think might be the problem. This morning, I got a message from power manager saying that the battery was in poor condition and could not be charged, to replace it. Naturally I called Lenovo and the told me that a new battery was on the way.

Could a defective battery have caused the symptoms I described?