Active Protection System causes major freeze while on battery

Hi,

I just got my new T400 with the ultimate savings for students package.
It has the 2.8 P9600, 3 gigs of ram, and a 7200 Seagate with 250 GB and hardware disk encryption.

Here is the problem:
when running the laptop on AC power, it works pretty well. But, as soon as I unplug it and reboot, it takes up to 5 minutes to boot into Visa, and it just gets slower and slower with the HD light being constantly on. After some avid searching, I found out that APS can cause this problem as described here http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T500-freezing/m-p/105005 with the solution posted here: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T500-freezing/m-p/109484#M9669

So basically, when lowering the sensitivity, the laptop boots up faster, but after a while, it keeps getting slower and slower (for example when inputting text, the letters show up seconds after typing them).

I have now disabled APS, and the laptop runs smoothly. I figure it should not be like this, and it doesn't seem like a widespread problem. Do you guys have any advice before I send it back?
Thanks!

EDIT: I should mention I have unsuccessfully tried the following:
New factory install
Uninstalling the power manager/running without it/reinstalling
reinstalling the APS
updating the BIOS
Removing the HDD and reconnecting to make sure its connected properly
Updating to the new 1.64 version that was just released

 

Are you sure you're not moving your laptop when unpluging? Because that's what APS is protecting your HDD from.

 

Totally sure. If it sits on my lap with minimal movement it freezes up, and when I plug in the AC connector it starts working faster again. Some movement is inevitable since its a laptop and not stored on a table, but even when the real-time status says no movement detected, it still freezes and wont work. I have even tried it on a table on the lowest sensitivity setting, and it still freezes up slowly but surely after a few minutes. The HDD light is constantly on whenever APS is activated.

 

Sounds like a APS related manufacturing defect.

From what i understand folks have to turn of APS sometimes in trains. But on non-moving surface this should not happen.

 

Strange. I should probably get it sent it then or just send it back and make a new configuration. Kind of sucks tho to have to wait another two weeks before it is usable

 

Has anyone else experienced this problem before?

 

Hi guys, this is pretty interesting. It seems that Lenovo has fixed the APS issue with my computer. They just (yesterday) released a new firmware update for my hard drive (Seagate 250GB 7200 RPM FDI). I installed it, and have now activated the APS and had it running for about 15 minutes and 2 reboots without the above mentioned problems. Only strange thing is that they did not mention anything about this in the details. I think the APS might have had a problem wit the HDD park function in APS, and that this was taken care of in this update. Hope I wont run into more problems, I guess time will tell.

 

Glad to hear it got fixed! Thanks for posting the detailed troubleshoot here, I'm sure it'll come in handy for others as well.