Crashes with Win7 and Win8 but not Linux or Mac

[fredfred]

I hope someone will be able to point me in the right direction with this Lenovo T60 problem.

Trial versions of Win7 and Win8 both install without a problem but both crash. No warning, the T60 just turns off. Win8 crashes just after start, it is not on long enough for any updating.

Win7 can run for a few hours and then crashes. Installing all the updates and patches makes the T60 much more unstable and it crashed after a few minutes like Win8.

Thinking I had a hardware problem I installed Snow Leopard, at that ran for a day without crashing. I then installed Linux and that has been running for two days without a problem.

I have also tried both Windows versions on two different hard drives and it make no difference

Not sure if it is relevant but I noticed that when Win7 is running the battery indicator near the keyboard flashes amber. However, with Linux it is constant green.

My guess is that there may be a driver issue, but I don't know how to track it down.

Thanks

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Can you provide a little more information about the "crashes"? I know you said that the T60 turned off in one case, but was there any error messages displayed during the other times?

Being a memory test engineer, my initial suggestion would be to thoroughly test your laptop's memory. However, I believe in some cases with random crashing you should try toggling the SATA setting in BIOS. If it's currently set to AHCI then try Compatibility and vice versa.

[fredfred]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Can you provide a little more information about the "crashes"? I know you said that the T60 turned off in one case, but was there any error messages displayed during the other times?

Being a memory test engineer, my initial suggestion would be to thoroughly test your laptop's memory. However, I believe in some cases with random crashing you should try toggling the SATA setting in BIOS. If it's currently set to AHCI then try Compatibility and vice versa.

Thanks for the quick reply
There is no warning, no blue screen, no error messages, the T60 simply stops working. It turns itself off.
I have used free memory testing software and there does not seem to be any issues with the RAM. However, RAM is cheap so I am thinking that after Christmas I might buy some. Currently I think the T60 must have two RAM modules a 1Gb and a 1/2GB.
I did swap the SATA from AHCI to Compatibility and Win7 got stuck on the loading screen. The message saying Windows is loading came up, but nothing else happened. When I changed it back, the same thing happened. I thought I would have to reinstall Windows but after a few attempts Win7 loaded again using the AHCI setting.

[rkawakami]

Sudden shutdown of the laptop could also be the thermal sensor kicking in. Is the fan spinning and does the system feel warm?

[fredfred]

Sudden shutdown of the laptop could also be the thermal sensor kicking in. Is the fan spinning and does the system feel warm?

I wonder if that was the reason, that is why I installed Linux. I thought that if the the problem was heat related it would effect Linux just as much as Windows? So far today the T60 with Linux has been playing videos for quite a few hours and it does not feel excessively hot.

[fredfred]

Sudden shutdown of the laptop could also be the thermal sensor kicking in. Is the fan spinning and does the system feel warm?

I have been testing the T60 and I think you are correct about the thermal sensors because I changed the HDD for a SSD drive and this made a difference. It seems to have lowered the temperature just enough for Windows to get past the first few minutes. Monitoring the heat with Speedfan indicates that when Windows starts, CPU usage immediately goes up to 90% or 100% and the temperature of the CPU cores also rise to close to 100 degrees. Shortly after starting CPU usage drops and so does the temperature (down to 50 degrees or so).

Testing the T60 by running videos suggest that it can now run for most of the day without crashing.

When I get a spare afternoon I will strip the T60 and make sure the fan is OK (I can hear it working) and re-apply some thermal grease. I have a spare 2.2ghz CPU so I might as well swap it for the 1.8ghz at the same time.

Thanks for your help

[pianowizard]

I once had a similar problem on an X20 Thinkpad, though with Windows XP. Running the laptop right in front of an air conditioner circumvented the problem, suggesting the thermal sensor was the culprit. Now that it's so cool outside, you can test this possibility simply by using your T60 outdoors and see whether Windows runs for longer. If this is confirmed, then open up the machine and start looking for things to fix.

[fredfred]

I once had a similar problem on an X20 Thinkpad, though with Windows XP. Running the laptop right in front of an air conditioner circumvented the problem, suggesting the thermal sensor was the culprit. Now that it's so cool outside, you can test this possibility simply by using your T60 outdoors and see whether Windows runs for longer. If this is confirmed, then open up the machine and start looking for things to fix.

Many thanks for the suggestion. Heavy rain is forecast in the UK for the next few days so the outside trial will have to wait. However, after I read your post I did dig out an old cooling pad designed for laptops. It has three little fans that suck the heat away and it really did make a difference.

Without the extra cooling the temperature got to the high 90s when doing a backup and then the T60 closed down. With the cooling pad the CPU was in the 80s and completed the backup.

[rkawakami]

Returning to address this point:

I wonder if that was the reason, that is why I installed Linux. I thought that if the the problem was heat related it would effect Linux just as much as Windows?

That could be true but it may have more to do with the CPU utilization. Windows might be running task(s) that make the CPU work more than with Linux does. Even if you're running the same video player on both systems, Windows could be working more because of a background virus scanner (which you probably don't have with Linux).

[emeraldgirl08]

What BIOS are you running with your T60? I am wondering if one is running a T60 with an older BIOS if it might contribute to strange installation behavior and the other symptoms you describe?

Have a look at this. Navigate to 'BIOS Update Bootable CD for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit)....' and click on 'read me.' There have been several additions and modifications over the years to the T60 BIOS.