W520 Hardware Maintenance Manual

[MikeM]

From this page you can download the W520 Hardware Maintenance Manual. It also covers the T520 and T520i computers.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 76854.html

The direct URL to the pdf file is :

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc ... 078_01.pdf

Have fun!
Mike

[davidhbrown]

Thanks, Mike! Next best thing to UPS telling me it's cleared customs...

Looks like they've populated the support site pretty well... seeing drivers, including one for RapidBoot. Wonder if that requires the mSATA SSD, or if it's just part of their general Windows/EE "enhancements." There's a FRU for the 80GB mSATA drive in the HMM: 45N8259 (no hits searching Lenovo's site for it).

BTW, your T61p sounds like a near twin of mine... PM me if you ever figured out how to get Turbo Memory to do anything other than cause lockups -- which I admit is an improvement in the latest driver from the crashes I used to see. (It's deactivated again.) I even had Lenovo replace the module once (took them a *really* long time to figure out the FRU).

[MikeM]

Hi David,

I just now found the general W520 support site and posted about it here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=95383. Thanks for your CTO support link.

Lenovo is revamping the W520 online ordering site as I post this message. You currently cannot spec out a computer. It will be interesting to see what changes they make. Perhaps they will fill in the blanks on the mSATA. From what I was reading earlier today, Lenovo is using an Intel brand (Soda Creek) mSATA SSD in the 80 GB capacity. I cannot find the reference that I had located and if I run across it, I'll post it here. Specifically it noted that the mSATA was the Intel 310 80 GB unit. They also produce a 40 GB unit. You can read about them here:

http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/ ... erview.htm

Until I find my reference, assuming that I can in my current manic state , I cannot confirm that these are the units that Lenovo is going to use.

You can look at them at newegg, but they are all sold out now... http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... 10&x=0&y=0

-=-=-=-=-

Same thing here on the T61p Turbo Memory under Windows. I have not checked if I can use it under Linux of late. The Wireless USB was a complete bust. I should have spent the money on the optional rifle rack instead.

[davidhbrown]

... the mSATA was the Intel 310 80 GB unit. ... You can look at them at newegg, but they are all sold out now...

Yup; I got an auto-notify on from Newegg it last Thursday night (11:25PM EDT) and had mine ordered by midnight. Was a little worried when they charged my card Friday without shipping it, but got a tracking number today. Didn't want the 40GB version even if it would hold enough... its write speed is half the 80's!

There's a nice thread over in the T4x0/T5x0 section where Adamp describes his success getting the Intel 80GB card installed in his T420.

[MikeM]

Hi David,

Thank you for the link to the mSATA self install thread on the other forum. VERY interesting. This makes a lot of sense - to snag one of these mSATA cards and use the HDD bay just for data.

I wonder if you can RAID 0 the standard HDD with another in the removeable expansion bay with the mSATA card installed? So I can get 2 of the new 600 GB SSDs and set them up in RAID 0 just to hold notepad source code files for my assembly language projects; but maybe if I'd be better off just using a USB floppy drive instead. LOL

The more I look into this all, the more I want to buy a stripped W520 and hot rod it myself.

[fasterbybike]

The HMM has been updated and the new link is here

13MB download

[davidhbrown]

The HMM has been updated[...]

Thanks! Now includes mention of the mSATA SDD on page 75 (PDF page 83) and elsewhere...