Help me track down system failure

Hi!

Another day another problem (W510, in chronological order):

1. Windows 7 64bit freezes

2. 2 x Hard Reset: After the first I get one long and 2 short beeps (LCD, motherboard, GPU failure)

3. Windows boots but the resoultion is messed up

4. Within Windows it says I have a NVIDIA FX880GPU

5. GPU-Z says I have 0MHz core and memory frequency

6. I reinstall Windows 7 - without problems, I installed every Windows update and after rebooting the Lenovo tools and drivers. After some surfing Windows freezes again.


Now I started to look for a faulty component (this time there have been no beeps at all). I first tried to boot into Windows again which did not work - after the booting sequence the screen went black and I only saw the HDD loading LED.

Running the HDD test from the BIOS results in a hang up. Sounds like a faulty HDD so I started Ultimate Boot CD. Often it hung up before reaching the menu selection. When I managed to load the Seagate diagnostic utility it said I did not have any drives. So I found an old SATA 80GB drive and put into my computer - the HDD test from BIOS hangs here aswell so does the Ultimate Boot CD from time to time. I could run GPARTED and delete and add partitions.

A run of Memtest86+ did not show any errors - I had on HDD in the notebook to make sure nothing interferes. Also I reccently got new memory from Lenovo so I hope to exclude that from the problem list. Also I noticed during the test the computer did get hotter which could be a problem indicator or just the fact that there are no energy saving methods during Memtest.

Currently I am leaning towards system boar/faulty SATA connector since I had problems with both HDDs. Could be a stupid coincidence but why would Ultimate Boot CD hang up even without a HDD attached.

I also tried a Ubuntu 10.10 live CD - without a HDD I can get to the usable state with a HDD attached it crashed during the GUI loading.

To make a long story short: I am annoyed (such things always happen on weekends it seems to me) and hope Lenovo will prove to me that they still offer good service. I still have onsite warranty so tomorrow I will call and ask for a technician:

Any advice what I should tell them? I don't want to wait for xx days for someone to show up and then after "oh HDD wasn't the problem I will be back with the system board in xx days". I need thise notebook for my studies and work. I do have a backup computer for basic stuff and I can use the W510 of my girlfriend for some time but in the end I really need my computer back. I am in the middle of a Matlab project and need a CUDA enabled GPU which is portable.

Thnx in advance and a happy sunday to everyone



UPDATE1:

Just put the HDD back in to run Ultimate Boot CD again - this time I got the long, 2 short beeps error again and after a reset the beeping was gone but the screen stayed black and the status LEDs sometimes show and sometimes stay black too.

 

This really does sound like an intermittent planar failure to me, so I'd say your diagnosis is spot-on.

As far as dealing with Lenovo's warranty service(I'm assuming you have onsite since you mentioned someone would show up) I would just mention that your machine won't boot and gives that particular beep code, and tell them that you looked up the problem and it's a motherboard failure. With that info, I don't see why they wouldn't send a tech out without a new board.

 

Thanks for the information. I tried again some stuff - it really seems the error is located on the motherboard eg. GPU, faulty connector or something.

I will tell the hotline tomorrow they should include a motherboard (do I have to specify that they should pack a GPU aswell?), memory and a HDD.

Will they bring me a recovery disc since my current HDD is pretty much garbage because of the freezes during partition/deletion process. I do hope the onsite technician is good so far I heard a lot of mixed "reviews" and even though a Thinkpad is pretty robust I take care of mine like its a newborn baby. All in all this is the second fault (memory error was a few months ago). Maybe the memory problem was just a hint at this big bang now

I will keep you updated and report if the support here is worthy of the Thinkpad legacy.

 

I'm almost certain that on the W510 the GPU is physically attached to the motherboard. The new board will also come with a new GPU.

 

Update:

I am really stunned. I called the warranty service on monday morning. After describing my problem they told me they will order a new system board and a technician will soon call me. I also told them when I am available on phone - it worked like a charm. The tech guy called me and went with me through a few basic steps and told me that as soon as the parts arrive he will visit me to repair my notebook.

On thursday morning he called again and sait if its okay to come by and repair my notebook - he had to take it with him because he needed some special equipment (anti static stuff, etc.). A few hours later he called again - he replaced the system board and let it run for a few hours to test and asked if it is okay to deliever it back to me.

So all in all everything worked like a charm - from calling them until I had my repaired notebook back. What I have to clarify is that in Austria I bought my notebook via a university program and because of complaints about the bad Lenovo hotline quality (language and signal) they offer now local support here. That company is directly working with Lenovo but you will get all information from them instead of calling a call center in the middle of nowhere.