T400 Abrupt Shutdown

[et400]

I bought a Thinkpad T400 with Windows 7, 64 bit, Professional Edition installed. The system would restart abruptly from the first day, even when it was idle. I read several posts saying that it might be a hardware problem so I returned it and got a new one. The new one has the same problem, it will restart without any warning. I have run the ThinkVantage Full System test, Stress Test, and there are no hardware issues. So, I'm not sure if I'm just unlucky and this is a hardware problem again, or there are some other conflicts that I cannot figure out. I even called the Lenovo tech support and they could not tell me anything on the phone. They just suggested that I return the laptop. Before I return it again, I want to know if anyone else has had this problem and knows how to fix it.

The System Event Viewer shows a Critical event: "Kernel-Power", every time the abrupt restart occurs. In addition, I get these two BS codes: d1, or 7f, when the computer restarts.

The software installed besides the defaults: Zonealarm Firewall, Grisoft Avg Antivirus, and Google Chrome.

[darkwish]

Welcome to the forum!

As for your restart issue, my instincts tells me it's probably one of the software you installed that isn't working well with Windows 7. Try removing Zone Alarm and AVG, and see if you still have restarts.

Also to help with finding out what is causing the BSOD's, it may help to turn off automatic restarts whenever BSOD occurs so you can read what is causing them.

1. To do this, press [Windows Key] + [Pause/Break Key] to bring up the System Applet
or you may type in "system" in the search menu in the start menu, and select "System" that is listed under Control Panel

2. Click on "Advanced System Settings"

3. Then click on "Settings", under Startup And Recovery

4. Uncheck "Automatically Restart"

Good luck!

[et400]

Thank you for the quick reply!

I did turn off the automatic restart, as you suggested, but when the laptop had one of the abrupt shutdowns again, the screen went blank and nothing happened. The laptop was still on, not restarting, but I could not see anything on the screen, it was just black. ....

Now, as I was posting this reply, the laptop restarted again. This time, it just restarted, even though I have turned off the automatic restart. And, when it boot up it did not show any BS codes like last time, even though the system recorded a Kernel-Power critical error in the event log. Do you still think it is a software issue?

I will go ahead and uninstall both ZoneAlarm and AVG, as you recommended, and will update you if the problem persists.
Thanks again!

[nikki605]

Which ZoneAlarm are you using - the free firewall or ZoneAlarm Pro? And what version number?

[et400]

I am using the latest free version, ZoneAlarm 9.1.007.

[nikki605]

I am using the latest free version, ZoneAlarm 9.1.007.

OK. I spend a fair amount of time on the ZA User Forum and just wanted to check. You should be OK, but that still doesn't mean that the free firewall isn't conflicting with something in Windows 7 or one of the unique Lenovo utilities.

I just wanted to be sure you weren't using one of the ZA products with a/v - a/s and just turning off those options. A number of users think they can do that and not cause a conflict with a separate a/v - a/s software product like AVG.

Unfortunately, if it does turn out to be a conflict with the ZA free firewall, there is no tech support from ZA for the "free" product.

[et400]

I actually went ahead and uninstalled it and haven't had any more abrupt shutdowns. Since they usually are spontaneous and I cannot repeat them whenever I want, I'll have to wait and see if uninstalling Zone Alarm solved the problem. I will post again if the abrupt shutdowns start again or not.

Thank you!

[et400]

I am not 100% sure, but from the latest tests it seems that ZoneAlarm was conflicting with something in the Thinkpad and causing the abrupt shutdowns. The reason I'm not very convinced is that I have ZoneAlarm and Windows 7 installed on another computer and there are no issues, so it may be something on the T400s ...

Anyway, once I uninstalled ZoneAlarm the computer did not abruptly shut down any more. To confirm that ZoneAlarm was causing the shutdowns and not something else, I installed it again on both laptops and as soon as I installed it they started having the shutdowns again. So, I uninstalled it again, and neither laptop has had any more problems since.

The ironic part is that these shutdowns occurred only at school. I'm not sure if the wireless network here at school also had something to do with the shutdowns.

[nikki605]

The ZoneAlarm forum has a few topics related to possible conflicts with Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba laptops. While no real solutions are given, it is suspected that there may be a conflict either with the fingerprint reader software an/or Lenovo unique, factory installed utility programs. Either way, it sounds like there may be a conflict.

Here are a couple of examples:

http://forums.zonealarm.com/showthread. ... OVO+laptop

http://forums.zonealarm.com/showthread. ... ght=lenovo

I have WinXP Pro SP3 loaded on my old T21 and run ZonrAlarm Internet Security Suite with no problem. I do have the ThinkVantage System Update 3 installed, but it has never caused a problem. Of course, on this old of a system, there are rarely any new updates any more.

[et400]

This past week, I was at an airport and when trying to connect to one of the wireless networks available the computer abruptly shut down again. I believe there is a conflict between the Wireless card "Intel WiFi Link 5300" (I went ahead and chose the best option) and something else on the machine or maybe Windows 7, not quite sure what exactly is causing the shut down. Anyways, thought of updating the forum so that everyone else knows of the problem.

B.t.w., I was able to replicate the abrupt shutdown this time. Every time I tried to connect to that particular Wireless Network, the machine would shutdown.

[nikki605]

So then it doesn't sound like a conflict with ZoneAlarm? You've uninstalled ZoneAlarm, is that correct?

[et400]

Yes, I have uninstalled ZoneAlarm and I still got the crash this past weekend. But, if I have ZoneAlarm installed, I get constant crashes on the wireless network at school. I'm not sure what the exact cause for these different shutdowns is.