T400s hangs/freezes when going into stand by

[niccolo]

Just took delivery of a T400s. Overall, it's a great machine, although the display is as bad as many folks have suggested. Not only does a degree or two of vertical movement take you out of the sweet spot, but the sweet spot itself is tiny enough that the whole screen is never optimally positioned--you can choose black at the top but pay with washed-out grey at the bottom, or you can choose black at the bottom and inversion at the top. Kind of makes you wonder what machines all these reviewers who raved about the display were looking at?

But that's not the main point of this post. I'm having a problem and could use help. When I try to go into stand by, either manually via the Start menu or by closing the lid, the computer hangs on the stand by screen, and stays that way until a hard restart is done with the power button. This happens almost every time, with a few exceptions. My BIOS is up to date, my drivers also, my Windows XP needed tons of updates but having downloaded and installed them all (and restarted), the problem is still there. I ran the Lenovo hardware check utility, everything got a clean bill of health. The Lenovo site suggests physically removing all hardware, e.g. hard drive, RAM, etc. and putting it back in, but I don't think a loose connection is the issue, and am not all that keen to dismantle my computer. And tech support seems less than well informed.

Any insights? Much appreciated!

[niccolo]

On a hunch, physically turned off wi-fi using the switch, went into standby fine. Turned wi-fi back on again and connected to the network, goes into standby fine as well. I'm guessing the stand by problem will recur, and I'm guessing it relates to software related to the internet connection, but who knows? Happy to be functional for now, and figured this info might help someone troubleshoot the problem. Thanks!

[NJ_Dave]

Niccolo,

I had a similar problem when my T500 was new (April-May), and I seem to have banished it. I posted my guess as to what fixed it at the end of this thread.

Best of luck,
Dave

[niccolo]

Thanks. I was able to solve the problem by reinstalling XP Pro. The factory install was apparently defective, it had the problem straight out of the box, but now seems to be fine. Now I'm just debating how much it bothers me that the case is warped and one corner sits up in the air, causing the thinkpad to rock back and forth subtly instead of being stable on a flat table. This seems to be an engineering defect, i.e. others have the same problem.