W520 Battery Life

I just got my W520 and have been running it mostly in Ubuntu (occasionally in Windows) and I have found the battery life is not what I expected. I am only getting 2 hours of battery life. Is there something I can do?

Reply 1 : W520 Battery Life

I was somewhat surprised at the battery life claims being made in this video YouTube - Lenovo Unboxed: ThinkPad W520 laptop - something 6hrs on 6cell, 11hrs on 9cell, 20hrs with 9cell + slice IIRC.

Reply 2 : W520 Battery Life

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpm22 I just got my W520 and have been running it mostly in Ubuntu (occasionally in Windows) and I have found the battery life is not what I expected. I am only getting 2 hours of battery life. Is there something I can do?

I think the culprit is the discrete graphic card. Did you set the graphic option as discrete?

Reply 3 : W520 Battery Life

You probably is using discrete graphic chipset (Nvidia Quadro 1000M or 2000M) instead of Intel Integrated graphic. Try to go to BIOS and manually select Intel graphic and see whether your battery life is a lot better.

Reply 4 : W520 Battery Life

2h sounds about right on max brightness with the 6-cell battery.



I'm getting 4-5h on 9-cell with discrete only, brightness at 50%.



EDIT: On Linux (Fedora 14)

Reply 5 : W520 Battery Life

Quote:

Originally Posted by Volker 2h sounds about right on max brightness with the 6-cell battery. I'm getting 4-5h on 9-cell with discrete only, brightness at 50%.

Using linux or Windows 7?

Reply 6 : W520 Battery Life

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thors.Hammer Using linux or Windows 7?

He's on Linux as I recall he replied to one of my posts.

Well, I'll get mine tomorrow(Scheduled Delivery: Thursday, 04/21/2011, By End of Day), I'll be posting some serious power consumption figures as I'm hunting for the very lowest power usage under Windows 7.

Reply 7 : W520 Battery Life

2 hours very low. Even W510 last me longer which has only one graphic card...



sounds fishy to me..

Reply 8 : W520 Battery Life

is the OP running the Thinkvantage Power Manager in windows?

Reply 9 : W520 Battery Life

Quote:

Originally Posted by lead_org is the OP running the Thinkvantage Power Manager in windows?

It's difficult to tell. It appears the focus is linux. 2 hours is certainly concerning. Especially since the norm appears to be twice that or more for Windows 7 users.

→ Google Chrome Users Beware ←

This just hit my e-mail InBox from :



Malware authors target Google Chrome



Scareware attack targets Google Chrome

Reply 1 : → Google Chrome Users Beware ←

I have found Microsoft Security Essentials to be basically useless, as the author of the posted article seems to have found. I use Kaspersky IS, have for years and have never had a problem. It does slow things down a bit, any really good anti-virus/malware program will, that's the point, it has to scan the object to see if any bad stuff is lurking inside. I buy it on eBay, typically $10-12 for a one year subscription. The only time I have ever had a problem was the last time I nuked and paved the CF-30 I put installing Kaspersky off until the load was finished. Halfway through, with only MSE protecting the computer, something got by, disabled MSE, and trashed the hard drive leading to another nuke and pave. Henceforth, its restore disk, Kaspersky, and then everything else.

CAP

Reply 2 : → Google Chrome Users Beware ←

Interesting; I've been using MSE for a year now and zero ickies on 7 machines. I even doublecheck it against several other malware suites and it never fails.



What kind of dirty sites are you going to Cap'n?



I wanna go there too... get good and corrupted.





As an aside... I'd like to kick Ed in the 'nads for this little nugget:



"There’s nothing inherently safer about alternative browsers—or even alternative operating systems, for that matter—and as users adapt, so do the bad guys."



This is completely false; finding ONE exploit for Chrome, or a hundred for FireFox... still much less than the hundreds of thousands for Windoze and IE. Hardly even in the same league of incompetent.



mnem

*Dirty ol' reptile*

Reply 3 : → Google Chrome Users Beware ←

I would be worried about it with parents and friends but If any tech savy user sees something like that it should be ignored.



I would have to say that Chrome is still better protection for this kind of stuff than IE.



This kind of stuff is starting to worry me. It seems like everything has some sort of software piggybacked onto it that you dont want and its getting far to easy for people to click on these scareware diagrams. Heck look at downloads at Cnet, the page it takes you to that pops up the download diagram has that banner ad that has the "DOWNLOAD NOW" button on it that people click thinking that its the correct download link.

Reply 4 : → Google Chrome Users Beware ←

Chrome's sandbox feature makes it a lot safer than other browsers: Chromium Blog: A new approach to browser security: the Google Chrome Sandbox



These "social engineering" attacks really shouldn't scare anyone who's been around the block. But I guess if you don't speak English, or you're an internet noob, it might be a problem. In which case you should be on a Mac.

Reply 5 : → Google Chrome Users Beware ←

@Core Team I use the Safe Run "sand box" in Kaspersky frequently, sandboxes aren't new but most consumers won't take the time to use them.

@ mnem I must confess that I do a little file sharing on occasion, the kind that might require a keygen and a patch. I had the problem whilst reloading a computer, I'm guessing you can connect the dots. As for the rest of the file sharing, not all video down loads involve unnatural acts between mixed species. Dwagons have dirty minds.

CAP

Reply 6 : → Google Chrome Users Beware ←

Quote:

Originally Posted by capt.dogfish ... not all video down loads involve unnatural acts between mixed species. CAP

As for the downloads... did you mean not all video downloads anywhere, or not all YOUR video downloads?



mnem

"...study of alien languages... morphology, phrenology, syntax. Means you've got a talented tongue."

"I'm impressed. For a moment there, I thought you were just a dumb hick who only has with farm animals."

"Well, not only..."

Stay away from HP

My HP TX1019au has just died again last week, I do not think
I will fix it again.

I paid US$1,800.00 new June, 07, Worldwide Guarantee 2 yr's.

2 motherboards, 1 WiFi card, repair the infamous heat problem,
new hard-drive, new keyboard, dry solder joint.

Over $1,000 in out of pocket repairs.

This computer was in the HP Authorized Repair Service
centers for 8 months for these repairs

The latest HP tech tells me not to waste anymore money on
it.





My HP DV 6375us has just died again this week, I am
investing another $75.00 to see if it is worth fixing again.

I paid US$1,200.00 new Oct, 07, Guarantee 1 yr.

1 motherboard, 1 WiFi card, repair the infamous heat
problem,



Over $500 in out of pocket repairs.

This computer was in the HP Authorized Repair Service
centers for 6 months for these repairs.



I have spoken with a friend that owns a computer service
center (authorized HP amongst others) and he tells me that the heat problems
have not been resolved & that HP consistently produces a sub-par quality laptop.



I do not intend to buy HP again for several years at least.

Additionally I am very angry to learn of the Federal Class
Action Lawsuit against HP that I did not learn about until 1 week after
registration closed.



I registered with HP when I bought their products, they have
been aware of these problems and could have contacted me. They did not. I will
not continue to buy from them anymore. They do not respect their customers.



BTW I never ever ran my laptops without a sub-base of (3) cooling fans. Still had all these
problems. Shut down over night, no sleep or hibernate.

I am not looking for help or sympathy. I am going to publish
this over and over. HP is crap and I do not appreciate wasting my hard earned
money. I expect a laptop that I pay $2k for too last 5 years. I take good care
of them. But if they are crap does not matter how well you treat them.

Reply 1 : Stay away from HP

It's common knowledge (here in the UK) that HP & Compaq laptops are amongst the worst in the business for quality & reliability. I've been aware of that for some time since I've often be asked to take a look at someone's laptop that's misbehaving. Around 75% of those were HP/Compaq models.

The forums are rife with stories about them & owners asking for help.

You should have done some research on the net before buying. The problems were common knowledge even well before 2007.

Reply 2 : Stay away from HP

Feel free to do that but if you SPAM these boards you will get banned. If we allowed such then the forum would lose it's best feature -> People helping people.

Sorry to hear about your losses but my advice is to not invest in any dv6000/9000 and that TX line. If you research this, you should know what happened.

In parting I thing the HP Gxx line has some bugs too. HP is currently working on that but the story is not over yet.
Bob

BFBC2 Help

Hi all, I've been having problems with BC2 recently. I used to get around 60-80 FPS on medium settings almost everywhere on every map. Now im down to 20-50 fps. 11.4 Preview drivers and this started happening to me back when 10.9 drivers came out. When i got the performance drop i gave up on trying and didnt want to resorte to the forum or anything. But now i went back to BC2 and i still have the same FPS issue. I use to be able to record with fraps with no problem or anything. And in GTA 4 I seem to not be able to get as high of FPS as others. Asus G73JH btw 720QM 5870M

Reply 1 : BFBC2 Help

My FPS had an unexpected drop recently as well, I realized it was from installing new drivers on top of each other (more specifically, 11.3 and 11.4 previews) as when I uninstalled my drivers and did a fresh reinstall of the 11.4 previews, I got my average FPS again. If you didn't do this, I'd check if there's anything unusually running in background...

Reply 2 : BFBC2 Help

When I install new drivers i do the whole, uninstall, restart in safe mode use driver sweeper then use a registry deleter then install the new ones.

Reply 3 : BFBC2 Help

Sounds like you've been putting your laptop in hibernate / sleep then turning it on and playing BC2. P4G has a glitch where it will keep your clocks at 400/1000. Try using the AMD GPU Clock Tool, set your clocks to 700/1000, and see if your performance is back to normal.

Reply 4 : BFBC2 Help

Its not that dont worry, I turn off hibernation and sleep, all i have on in P4G is to turn off display after 5 minutes

Reply 5 : BFBC2 Help

I would do a full uninstall, and follow up with ATI Crap Cleaner rather than Driver Sweeper. Then install the drivers ONLY and see if you still have the issues. If not, follow up with CCC and whatever else you need.

For new owners adding memory

I am a dweeb when it comes to computers, so I thought I would share my experience buying a Thinkpad with one stick of 4GB memory and adding more.



First, I bought a W520 quad core so I have 4 slots for 204 DIMM to use. I ordered mine with one slot filled with a 4GB DIMM. It came in the slot 0 in the top of the machine under the keyboard.



I ordered Crucial 204 DIMM matching memory from their website using their memory finder.



Order 3 more sticks to have a total of 16 GB.



When I got the machine I opened the maintenance manual and found the bottom memory slot door. 2 small phillips head screws and a fingernail and it was open and had both slots open. Ground yourself to avoid static electricity and insert the sticks one at a time. Now if you haven't done this before they will only go in one way and you can tell what that is from the bottom connectors. Also you will insert the stick at a 30 deg angle to the horizontal. So the non connector end is about a inch or so higher maybe a bit less than the connector end. They will slide in with a bit of firm sideways and down pressure. Once they are seated you simply rotate the non connector end downwards and they will seat inside their retainers. You will see the appropriate notches in the stick and you will see the little shiny metal retainer. EZ.



Now being a dweeb, I wasn't anxious to pull the keyboard as that is where the 3rd and 4th sticks on the W520 quad core goes, so operated it with 12 GB for a week or so. It started up right away and showed the 12 GB (11.9 GB usable) in the system icon.



Today, I pulled my maintenance manual and got to adding the final stick.



You first pull the battery and again turn the laptop upside down and loosen the 2 screws holding in the bottom DIMM cover. You need to do this since one of the two screws on the bottom that secure the keyboard is under this cover. the other is just beside the lower DIMM cover. Those 2 screws are removed and you turn the laptop back right side up. Nothing else is holding the keyboard now. It is a bit (1/4 inch) of a slide fit. Push lightly towards the LCD screen by pushing on the very small bezel that houses the on/off switch and the Thinkvantage blue button. No real pressure is needed. That will slide the keyboard up a 1/4 in and the bottom will come loose from the bezel. A fingernail under the lower part of the keyboard will lift it right off. It is attached by a cable to the motherboard but that does not need to be removed to get to the upper DIMM slots. In my case the top slot was already populated and I removed that DIMM to better get to the lower slot and added my last of 4 sticks and replaced the as shipped stick next. Reinsert the keyboard under the top bezel and pull towards you with several keys and it will recenter itself under the bezel. Turn it upside down and redo the bottom keyboard screws and than replace the lower DIMM cover and turn on your computer.



Now you have 16 GB (less if you only can house 8GB).



Incredibly easy. Even a dweeb can do it.



I would post the changing out of a HDD for an SSD but that is so EZ I would be insulting you.



Perry

Reply 1 : For new owners adding memory

I would just like to add that if you can add the 4th RAM to your W520, you can also add an mSATA drive. When you remove the keyboard, the place for the mSATA is staring right at you. (n.b. The Hardware Maintenance Manual has very good, detailed instructions on how to do both.)

Reply 2 : For new owners adding memory

Quote:

Originally Posted by pkincy Incredibly easy. Even a dweeb can do it.

That's not really my experience with my W520. I had a very hard time sliding the keyboard towards the LCD, there was something holding it on the left side, it just wouldn't slide. It took me like 15 minutes to finally go for brute force, after checking and double checking everything. In the end, it worked, but it wasn't very easy at all, and this comes from somebody who regularly cleans the notebooks by almost completely taking them apart.



There is some misinformation going around, some folks talk about 3 screws fixing the keyboard, they are wrong, there are only two, so don't get fooled into looking for a third one, you won't be able to find it.

WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

I'm trying to find out which part number (LU.XXXXX.XX) of acer aspire 522 is 3g cappable (has working free mini pci-e slot and sim card connecter).
But manufacturer and retailer cann't tell me anything...
So please if you have such model(you can check sim card connector under battery) provide me with it's part number so I can buy correct one.
Thanks !

Reply 1 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

I think I found some dozen models of that.

However, none offered a SIM CARD slot. And none looked to have an open mini pcie slot.
Bob

Reply 2 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

Acer published that one of declared model has optional 3g...

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/series/aspireone522Am I missing something ?

Reply 3 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

Where are two available mainboard part numbers
MB.SES02.001 - wo 3G
MB.SES02.002 - with 3G



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Reply 4 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

http://www.theacerguy.com/forum/topic/wwan3g-on-acer-aspire-one-ao522

While I read this has a Mini-PCI Express there is no indication that you can mod or pick and choose your choice of cards.

Is there any reason to not use their card?

Reply 5 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

I'm ready to use their card, but I cannot find WHICH model has it.

Reply 6 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

I'm on a project that involves machine to machine cellular traffic. The card is not up to the users to choose. The cellular carrier only authorizes a few cards. You will rarely to never have a choice on the card. You might have choices on the carrier.

This is why they will not reveal which card. Besides what they use can change according to costs and tsunamis.
Bob

Reply 7 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

I'm talking about netbook model. Which model of netbook has 3g cardslot for 3g card ?

Reply 8 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

The units that come with a WWAN 3G card have what you want. Pick the model that has your selected carrier and you're done.
Bob

Reply 9 : WWAN(3G) on Acer Aspire One AO522

I only read what you post. Maybe you own some mini-PCIe card and hoped to recycle it. But this is not in your posts.

It's also possible that you are a developer, but that's not in your posts.

For 99.99% of us we get the model with the WWAN that notes our carrier.
Bob

Dell Inspiron 1545 - change boot order

Hi

I'm trying to change the boot order on my laptop to boot from a CD/DVD.

When it boots it shows F2 for options and F12 for boot order.

F12 actually gives you the option of booting into Vista or into diagnostics, F2 doesn't seem to do anything (with the 1545 you have to press the Fn key and the F button for anything to happen).

I've also tried pressing Esc at startup but no difference.
Has anyone found a way to change the order?
Dell support says it's F12.

Thanks
Tom

Reply 1 : Dell Inspiron 1545 - change boot order

http://www.compu-help.us/BIOS_access.htm


Once you're in the bios there has to be a place for that.. I've checked before and that's how I changed my BIOS order.

Hopefully that helped,
Frank

Reply 2 : Dell Inspiron 1545 - change boot order

Hi,

Thanks for the post. Well as mentioned above I used the laptop keyboard - Pressing FN & F2. Still no luck.

I then attached an external (USB) keyboard and got in first time!

All sorted - Thanks again.
Tom

Reply 3 : Dell Inspiron 1545 - change boot order

When booting, hit the F12 key (no FN key, just F12). You will get a weird screen with 5 options that state it is the boot order. It's not. Choose BIOS. Then you will be able to get to the BIOS and set boot order.