T43 lags/stutter/stalling - windows

[Flyke]

Hi

I have a T43 2669-CTO ( 1.86GHz cpu, 2.5GB ram 128GB vertex 2 ssd in ultrabay as primary drive, original drive is in for faster boots, wouldn't mind if I could take that out ).

Installed windows 7 the other day and I am experiencing lags that lasts for several seconds, I have updated every driver I could think of - I don't know if I have the latest/best versions.
Quite often it will lag/stall - switching to a window, clicking on start button, opening a window, opening IE, starting typing in a window.. anything can make the stall occur.
It takes several seconds before the operation finishes. Meanwhile the cursor works and often I can switch to other running programs but not every time.
I ran AS SSD Benchmark yesterday and very often the test would stall for seconds before continuing, happened on both read and write access to the drive.

Any ideas are highly appreciated !

More background information:

I have had linux on the machine, ubuntu 14.04 didn't work too well, often there would be seconds of pause when starting to type. Switched to lubuntu and had a better experience but playing any kind of videos online was a nogo.

The T43 is my secondary computer used for light web browsing, possibly a little programming.

If windows doesn't get any better I am going back to linux - ideas of a good distro are also appreciated.

On Linux the ultrabay light works on HD access. On Windows it does not - but the normal HD access light work.

[Hans Gruber]

Welcome to the forum. Do you have any Crystal DiskMark results for your SSD setup via ultrabay? That will give a good indicator how your drive is performing. It may help address the issue of the lag your are experiencing.

[Flyke]

Thank you for your reply!
As I typed c in the browser address line ( to search for crystal disk mark ) it stalled and I could pretty much write this message while waiting.. ( on another PC and not including the test results ). I could move the window around easily while waiting. HD light is on constantly while 'waiting'.

Just ran some CrystalDiskMark tests on both disks.

Settings 5,1GiB

SSD results:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.0.2 (C) 2007-2015 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 87.983 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 46.379 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 14.130 MB/s [ 3449.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 24.724 MB/s [ 6036.1 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) : 86.202 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) : 45.299 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 12.426 MB/s [ 3033.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 20.512 MB/s [ 5007.8 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 14.3% (15.9/111.7 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2015/07/29 11:36:56
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x86)


HDD results:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.0.2 (C) 2007-2015 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 44.671 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 40.608 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 0.551 MB/s [ 134.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 0.709 MB/s [ 173.1 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) : 44.459 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) : 39.641 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 0.468 MB/s [ 114.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 0.729 MB/s [ 178.0 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [D: 0.2% (0.1/55.9 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2015/07/29 11:26:05
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x86)

[Hans Gruber]

Did you try pulling the battery and holding the power button down for 20-30 seconds?

[Flyke]

Thank you for your suggestion.

I had to go through a painful wait while windows update ran through 12 updates. It seemed to take forever to finish.

I removed power supply, pulled battery and held power button for >30 seconds.
Restarted and experienced lags again.
A new test with CrystalDiskMark yields pretty much the same results.

I checked alignment and Partition Starting Offset says 1048576.
The SSD was configured from scratch when installing windows 7 so I was expecting it to be good - but might as well check.

Thanks,
//Jesper

On another note: Does anyone know why text size is huge when posting a reply yet normal when viewing the forums?

[Hans Gruber]

I have had the same problem on my T43. I am using XP and I know the T43 has some power saving features that may create lag.

[Flyke]

I found the latest Power Manager software from Lenovo and installed it.
It did not help navigating around in the power manager is a pain.
I did find that CPU powermanagement was enabled and I've disabled it.

But it looks like windows update still needs to do some work.. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping things will settle once it's done.. I would love to come back and say I'm sorry for creating this thread ..!

[ajkula66]

If I were to make a guess, I'd be looking at that Vertex. Is it from the SandForce-based generation?

[brchan]

If your problem happens under Linux and Windows, it is probably your ssd that is having problems. Also, how full is your ssd? If you use over about 87%, there will be performance issues. Not sure if you have a clean install of windows or Linux with no other partitions.

[Flyke]

According to a quick google search the vertex 2 firmware is a "special brew of SandForce's SF-1200 firmware". So maybe it is part of the "sandforce issues"..

I ran it in a T61p for a long time without any problems whatsoever.
And I didn't experience this kind of behavior in the T43 when running Linux.

Since I last wrote it's been "Installing updates..." - it takes forever, it seems that every few seconds it lags for maybe 5-10 seconds.

It's a clean install and the CrystalDiskMark results show I am using about 14.3% of the disk. There are no other partitions on it.

Edit:

I might try to install windows on the IDE disk .. might be worth a comparison.

Edit2:

The SSD is formatted using NTFS.

[ajkula66]

According to a quick google search the vertex 2 firmware is a "special brew of SandForce's SF-1200 firmware". So maybe it is part of the "sandforce issues"..

If that drive were mine, it would be taking a very short trip to the garbage can. Right now. But it's not.

I ran it in a T61p for a long time without any problems whatsoever.

You were lucky. Pushing one's luck, however...

[Flyke]

I guess I've been hoping to push my luck even further..
While it's tempting to look for another SSD ( as I really want the performance increase ) it may not be worth while to pour more money into the old T43.. ( and I just ordered a 770 CPU to replace the 750 ).

[GACrabill]

I have a T43 2669-CTO ( 1.86GHz cpu, 2.5GB ram 128GB vertex 2 ssd in ultrabay as primary drive, original drive is in for faster boots, wouldn't mind if I could take that out ).

Installed windows 7 the other day and I am experiencing lags that lasts for several seconds, ...

So, you have a Sata SSD in an ultrabay adapter which is using an unknown sata/pata chip to handle the sata/pata conversion required when using the ultrabay of the T43.

Have you tried disabling "TRIM" in Win7 to see if that fixes your problems ?

How good is the native "garbage collection" on that SSD if Win7 TRIM is disabled ?

[RealBlackStuff]

Have a look at the R52 that I have for sale with a SATA-mod:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=118123

[ajkula66]

How good is the native "garbage collection" on that SSD if Win7 TRIM is disabled ?

Nothing short of horrible. It's a 1st generation SandForce drive.

[Flyke]

Thank you GACrabill !
I believe that did the trick.. ( I am afraid to jinx it by cheering too early though )

As for running TRIM every now and then, the OCZ tool has a command for that that seems to work - at least it claims it's successful when I execute it..
Anyway.. I will likely not be using much of the capacity of the drive as the laptop is mainly a secondary computer.

So far it looks great. Next up is fan maintenance and CPU replacement.
Fan is rather noisy and I plan to take it apart, clean and re-lubricate.
Ordered a CPU from ebay as they are extremely cheap, I wanted a 780 but the cost is about 3.5 that of a 770 and I would run the risk of import fees with a 780 so I'll 'settle' with a 770.

[shawross]

I suggest you turn off most of the visual effects also.
You only really need
Desktop Composition , smooth edges of screen fonts and use visual styles on windows and buttons for a pleasant appearance. Also disk cleanup and CCleaner will keep your system optimized.

[brchan]

Depending on how good/bad the garbage collector was, you may want to look into this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2088341/ ... mance.html. Basically, wiping the drive by using the secure erase should bring your ssd back to its native performance and will take about 40 - 60 seconds for SSDs (something which takes hours for most HDDs).

[Flyke]

Thank you for your suggestions.
Disabling TRIM did it !
It didn't improve CrystalDiskMark much but that makes sense.

I have already turned off all visual effects for better performance. But I'll take a look at your suggestions shawross; it'll make sense to enable the ones you mention!
And so far it runs great !

I'll remember the tip about secure erase till next reinstall.. if I'll ever do one..

I'm a happy T43 owner right now.. it runs much better (so far) with windows 7 compared to lubuntu.. !

And I still have a used 770 CPU incoming for it