W500 Slow on XP Pro

[DFriedeck]

Hello all,

By the specs and reviews I see here I am sure this laptop is having issues. Core 2 Dual Core, T9400, 2.53 Ghz, 2.99gig ram. This was purchased as a work horse with a good video card. I run VM Ware on it for training purposes but find it has real issues without VM Ware running. The OS is XP Pro not Vista. The whole laptop seems to pause like it is off running some invisible application returning when it feels like it, 30 seconds or more at times. This happens on-line or not. Nothing special in task manager. No solid error reports. Then the other issue, lock the OS and walk away for an hour (laptop plugged in NO power saver setting enabled while plugged in) and the whole thing is locked up on return, mouse moves screen has desktop wall paper up but responds to nothing but a power switch.

This is my first Lenovo and may well be my last. Not just venting here but looking for suggestions of what might be at the root of the problems.

Thanks in advance,

Dave Friedeck

[Marin85]

Welcome to our forum!

Do you experience any BSODs or identified errors of other kind?

To exclude any hardware problems, I would suggest you running PC-Doctor (aka Lenovo Toolbox) and memtest86+ (for both utilities a few passes would do). My guess is that it is Lenovo preloaded software that makes your laptop feel slower. Try updating it. If it doesn´t help, you may want to consider getting rid of any unneeded Lenovo applications or even a clean install.

Looking forward to your reply,

Marin

[archer6]

<snip> By the specs and reviews I see here I am sure this laptop is having issues. Core 2 Dual Core, T9400, 2.53 Ghz, 2.99gig ram. The OS is XP Pro not Vista. The whole laptop seems to pause like it is off running some invisible application returning when it feels like it, 30 seconds or more at times. This happens on-line or not. Nothing special in task manager. No solid error reports.
Then the other issue, lock the OS and walk away for an hour (laptop plugged in NO power saver setting enabled while plugged in) and the whole thing is locked up on return, mouse moves screen has desktop wall paper up but responds to nothing but a power switch.<snip>

My W500 (2.8GHz / 4GB / 7200 rpm hdd) running XP Pro SP3 is very fast, even while running several resource intensive apps. Thus I would agree that you indeed have something wrong. While you do not mention if your are running SP2 or SP3 I would be sure to use Microsoft Update to download the latest updates for your OS. Then check in all programs to see if your machine came with PC Doctor or Lenovo System Toolbox. If it came with PC Doctor click on the link below to download and install Lenovo System Toolbox. I've used both and the Toolbox app is far superior to the earlier PC Doctor. I would also run memtest, link below, as suggested in a prior post. Then post back to let us know.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 67520.html
http://www.memtest86.com/

Cheers...

[jdhurst]

I have not had VMware cause a general slowdown like you describe. Once it is running and the guest is running, the overall machine speed is fine. This statement is fair (in reasonable context) from VMware 1 on NT4 through VMware 5 on XP Pro and VMware 6 on Vista. .... JDH

[DFriedeck]

All,

Thanks for the replies, ran PC Doc and the newer version supplied above, only error found was a non existent SCSI control board. Not sure what PC Doc did but the machine seems to be running a bit better. Let me see if anything improves on the other issues. I will build a CD and do the meme test when time allows.

Thanks again for the input.

Dave Friedeck

[Marin85]

Update PC-Doctor/Lenovo System Toolbox...

[archer6]

Based on the response I believe the OP _did_ update to Toolbox

[Marin85]

Based on the response I believe the OP _did_ update to Toolbox

I was just making sure the OS has updated Lenovo System Toolbox to the latest version...

I´m almost sure the error about the non-existent SCSI controller is due to the installed VM software (or some virtual dirve software like Virtual CD, Alcohol120%, Daemon Tools etc.), hence no reason to worry about it.

EDIT: typo and a second thought...

[archer6]

I was just making sure the OS has updated Lenovo System Toolbox to the latest version...

I´m almost sure the error about the non-existent SCSI controller is due the installed VM software, hence no reason to worry about it.

Oh, I see what you mean, yes that makes sense. Good call....

[DFriedeck]

Hello again,

Well the speed has improved as stated above but the laptop still stops responding to any input when left with the OS locked. Bare desktop background is displayed with no applications shown. No programs were left open just a three finger salute and lock workstation. Upon return nothing "wakes up tha laptop" the unit is plugged in and all power saving options are set to nill when plugged in. I do not like restarting the laptop with the power switch EVERY DAY.

Any ideas I am all ears (well eyes).

Regards,

Dave Friedeck

[Marin85]

1. BIOS version?
2. Power Management driver version?
3. Lenovo System Interface driver version?
4. Do you use Client Security Solution, Fingerprint reader, Access Connections?

I have a few things in mind.

Also, as stated in my first reply, it is somewhat common that all the Lenovo preloaded stuff makes the machine feels and sometimes acts slower or even unresponsive.

Marin