Lots of T410S problems with freezes and screen going blank

[Larswa]

I have had my T410S for a couple weeks now. It's a model with switchable graphics and the i520 cpu with 8 GB memory. BIOS version is the latest from may - version 1.14-1.09
The graphichs card is set to "switchable" in the BIOS.

I did a clean reinstall of Windows 7 on the 128GB SSD that came with the machine. In the bay I have an additional 256 GB SSD for running virtual machines off. (Works like a charm btw

Once in a while it starts to freeze, and I need do a hard shutdown (keep the power button pressed).
The machine runs hot, but not THAT hot, and not any warmer than it did a couple hours before the freezes. And I haven't been pressing the CPU in any way.. it will freeze on idle just fine ... :-/

After the shutdown I regularly get another freeze and then after hard shutdown another one ... and so on. Until suddenly it just works and no more freezes. I don't wait for it to cool down ... suddenly it just works again. This has happened both on battery power where I am using the Intel graphics card, or on the discrete graphics card on power, or on discrete in the docking bay, running two external 24" monitors.
So ... pretty random, although the machine usually is pretty hot at the top left bottom. Fan is audible and blowing fairly warm air out, so fan is working just fine.

And the screen ... oh boy ... every now and then when I am resuming it from standby or hibernate (I use standby a lot) it just refuses to resume, and just shows me a blank screen. Another hard reset is needed ... None of my other thinkpads I currently have running windows 7 give me this behaviour. They are ROCK solid on resuming.

The freezes worry me the most. Does anyone else have any experience with this on the T410S ??
I have seen some posts, but some ppl claim to have this remedied by bios updates. Not so for me ...

The screen .. I am putting that down to early faulty drivers. Am I the only one getting this??

I have had a LOT of thinkpads but this one is REALLY a dud. Sure ... bios updates and later drivers give greater stability later in the lifecycle, but usually a higher level of stability is to be expected when buying at Thinkpad!!

Thoughts anyone??

[Harryc]

Seems you're not alone with the T410s freeze issue. You may want to also post in this thread linked below. Switchable graphics is a real bugger because the hardware is new, and the drivers are new. As an owner of one, I have seen tons of problems reported with it on Apple Macbook Pros also, specifically this freezing issue.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-a ... m-p/230121

There are similar problems reported on the T400 Switchable Graphics platform.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-a ... m-freezing
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-a ... m-p/116563
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-a ... m-p/219126

[Volker]

The obvious question to narrow down the issue: Does it still freeze if you disable switchable graphics in the bios?

My integrated-GPU T410s works rather reliably

[Larswa]

Harry - thanks for the links. I had seen some of then, and I have also posted in the top onw now.

Volker. Good question. When I have tried to disable the switchable, and force it onto integrated, I just get a black/blank screen when booting into windows. The graphics card are somehow not recognized. I still get the windows boot options on screen, like chice of safe mode.

I have some experimenting to do - like boot into safe mode and see if that basic graphics driver will work.

But from what I can read - in integrated mode, it will not drive two external screens (which is VERY nice to have since Visual Studio 2010 now supports multiple monitors )

But I will give that a try ...

[Larswa]

I moved my thread over here. There was more feedback there.

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-a ... lse#M27663

[FragrantHead]

FWIW, my T410s, with only integrated graphics, Win7 64-bit, has blue-screened twice while changing the Windows 7 font/icon magnification setting (100%, 125%, 150%).

[Larswa]

Hi Fragrant,

That sound more like faulty graphics drivers. Check out the stop error code and reference it here: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerr ... 1_0x5f.htm

Try deleting the graphics card, and check the "Delete drivers", then try with either Lenovos latest driver, or the latest reference drivers you can download from Intel. And see if that helps. A Stop error AKA BSOD is a driver that is crashing. Usually its a faulty driver running in the kernel that brings down windows while doing something not sound.

My problem is purely hardware, as it just freezes up. Screen still on - nos BSOD.

[Volker]

My problem is purely hardware, as it just freezes up. Screen still on - nos BSOD.

Not necessarily hardware, it could be the driver sending a wrong command to the GPU and sending it into an infinite loop. Can you still log into the machine from the outside after the display is frozen?

[Larswa]

Hi Volker, No - it is completely dead. No ping ... no remote desktop, no web, no other ports I know off. REAL dead

A quick press on the power button turns the computer completely off in a fraction of a second. (My button is default set to "sleep").

I am off course only guessing it is hardware. It happens only after a while when the graphics card have been working for a few minutes, and if I let it cool for a longer while it seems to work for a short while again.

I think that drivers need to mature as well, but I really think that my problem is down to hardware.

Have ordered service on it today, and are going back to my X200 in the meantime that just WORKS. ...

[Larswa]

All right ... I sent it in for repairs a just got it back and it seems the overheating problems have been solved.

I don't want to write the same thing twice, so here is a link to the whole thing - I moved the thread to the lenovo.com forums as there were more helpfull posts there - but just to ensure that ppl see that this has been fixed by repairs, I post this.

http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-an ... 395#M28380

[Fogster]

Well I have a similar issue but one which is a great pain as all our Laptop users are looking to go with the t410s and the switchable graphics.

Not wanting to run Win 7 on the corporate network right now, we have to downgrade the machines to XP pro, which 99.9% of the time was great...until the switchable graphics on the T410s!!

Everytime I install the "Genuine" Lenovo or Intel XP compatible, it installs fine, reboots and then a Blank Screen follwed about 5 mins after by the BSOD with an Intel GFX driver error.

Safe mode works fine.
Disabled the Switching in the Bios Also.

Any comments/ideas would be appreciated before I file down the edges and make the most expensive frisbee ive ever bought!!