T30: Intermittent System Hang

[helmet4000]

Hello all,

My new T30 (2366-82U) after being on for a while has intermittent periods of system hang (mouse moves but nothing responds). If I wait for 20-40 seconds it returns to normal.

Has all Windows updates, and updated all drivers from IBM/Lenovo site using System Update 2.0. Virus scans show nothing.

Mobile Meter reports cpu temperatures ranging from 45 to 60C.

I have tried a 1GB memory module and now a 512mb stick (have swapped the 1gb stick between slots, but problem still comes up). I reset the paging file to "system managed". Just trying the 512mb stick now. Could it be a bad memory stick or slot? Motherboard?

Intermittent system hang is discussed here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-45658

One of the tests they discuss:

"Run the diagnostic test for the system board in loop mode at least 10 times"

Does anyone know what they mean?

Thanks,
Tom




IBM believes

[helmet4000]

oh yes...


PC Doctor 5 gives the Memory, CPU, and Hard Disk a passing grade.

[ronbo613]

The last time I saw the symptoms you describe was on a computer that had a hard drive that was dying of old age. The drive wasn't "bad" so to speak, it was just intermittently coughing, choking and seizing, because it was worn out.
Of course your problems could be caused by "cosmic radiation" as mentioned in the Lenovo article. This is the kind of problem where they list all the hardware and all the software and say "it's probably one of these".

[helmet4000]

Thank you for the advice. By the way, is there a software utility that can test that the hard drive is old and possibly failing? PC Doc's test passed the hard drive.

Ok, I have just installed a 256mb stick into the other slot and the problem appears worse. Could it be a failing memory slot?

[agarza]

When my I used my T30 (now sold) sometimes it would froze for about 1 min, but that was caused by the PCMCIA Wireless Card, are you using one?

[helmet4000]

No, it has the internal wireless card.

[ i had the same problem with my wife's dell--- the faulty pcmcia wireless card froze the entire notebook]

I just tried HDDlife for notebooks and it gives the hard disk a 100% rating on health and performance.

Hmm...

[helmet4000]

i wonder if the internal wireless card could be the cause of this?

[ronbo613]

By the way, is there a software utility that can test that the hard drive is old and possibly failing?

Unless you have bad drive sectors, I don't think so. Maybe a program like HD Tach would show a performance loss, but you would need a test you did when the drive was working to compare it to. It took me a little while to figure out what it was. At first, I thought it was a virus or spyware of some kind. Usually the drives that failed on me started making noise before they failed, this one just wore out.
The main clue was when powered up, from time to time the drive wouldn't be detected or it would freeze as Windows was trying to load. This didn't happen at first, I only got uneven performance, as the drive got worse, the bootup symptoms started showing.

[rkawakami]

"Run the diagnostic test for the system board in loop mode at least 10 times" Does anyone know what they mean?

PC Doctor for DOS has a submenu, accessible by pressing the F2 key, in which you can define the "pass count". It's the number of times that the diagnostic will automatically run for you. I don't know if the same option is available in the Windows version of PC Doctor (I don't use that version).

This way you don't have to sit by the laptop and manually re-start the diag each time. They are suggesting that you run the "systemboard" part of the test suite. I would also do the same for the CPU and memory, although the memory test will take a long time to do a single pass. I would also recommend that you use the DOS version since it eiliminates the possiblity of Windows crashing on you if an error is detected.

[helmet4000]

Just as a quick aside.


I removed the fan assembly and CPU and cleaned off (what I am guessing) is the original thermal paste from the factory. After cleaning it off, I applied Arctic Silver 5. Never performed such on a notebook...but I used about half the size of an uncooked piece of rice and then used a plastic baggy to spread the paste around the center square (I think that is what gets most of the contact with heat sink). Please tell me if I made a big mistake in this method.


The temperature bounces between (using Mobile Meter) 45C and 69C. It seems to get less stable at temperatures > 60C.

I guess it takes a while for the Arctic Silver to properly spread around the heatsink over the course of operation.

Not sure if this could have been the source of the problem. The factory paste should still be good (the mfg. date is like 9/2002). Perhaps there is some improvement with AS5?

hard drive is opearing close to mfg. specified temp. max spec. is 55C and is operating at 51-54C. is this a sign of hd failure?

[helmet4000]

I just installed TPFANCONTROL. While it was a risky thing to do, it seems to work on the T30. I just maxed the fan out at the setting "7" to be running at full blast. Doesn't bother me -- my refrigerator is the real source of noise in our apt.

Does anyone know how to enable TPFANCONTROL in XP to automatically start as a service?

[helmet4000]

ronbo613,


Of course a simple google search seems to indicate that overheating is a common cause of HD failure. I have an Antec notebook cooler with the fans so I can get the HD temp down to 43C so I can burn my files to a disk and search for a new drive...I am guessing you are right. I wonder if the HD heat could be influencing the CPU temp too.

So I am cooling by running fan all the time and the antec pad.

[helmet4000]

Thanks Ray. DOS PC DOCTOR indeed indicated hard drive failure--good diagnosis Ronbo.

I think I should buy a new HD.

[ronbo613]

Heat is something you have to control. I use Arctic Silver 5 on all the computers I build, on the CPU as well as the GPU on the video card. Clean off the surface of the heat sink and CPU with acetone or alcohol to get the old crap off, put a little gob of AS5 on the processing unit and evenly attach the cooler.
Hard drive temperature is harder to control in a notebook. In a PC, you can put a small fan in front of or on top of the hard drives, but you can't do this with a notebook. If you process a lot of data with your Thinkpad, maybe if you have your OS and programs on the laptop hard drive and store most of your data on an external USB drive, you can move some of the hard drive heat out of the computer. Clean out the dust once and a while.
As the Actic Silver "breaks in" usually you will see a 1-2C temp drop in a few days or a week.
As far as hard drives go, doing a lot of video production and digital photography, I got hard drives out the wazoo. The best advice I can give you is that all hard drives fail eventually, back up your data.
Glad to see you're back in service.