Ideapad u330 - New owners :-)

Its amazing how hard it is to find this program, looked through all of the Y series, and still cant find the ReadyComm 4.0 Program? - Anybody? - Thanks!

 

I called Lenovo support to request recovery disks and amazing it showed up a few days after I ordered. I opened the package and there is one disk. I would think there would be at least 2. The disk does not even specify a model.

Has anyone else requested the recovery disks from Lenovo Support?

 

OMG!!! I hate the customer service of lenovooo!!
My order had a est.ship day on 10/06, when I called 3 days ago they told me 10/14, NOW ON THE WEB SAYS 10/20 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

does anyone else has this problem?

 

So... I ordered 8/23.

I just called again, and was told I'm delayed anoooother week.

So. 9/25 then 10/09 now "the week of 10/14" (it seems, from the other posts also, that weeks start on Tuesday at Lenovo)

 

why is this keep hapenning???

are they out of stock or what?

 

Im in the same boat all well, ordered 9/02, still not shipped. I'll just wait....

 

I changed from dell to lenovo because of the same thing!!...well ideapad is much better than the xps =P.

Is it really worth to wait that much?

 

I would call up and scream if I were some of you. I ordered 9/15 and got mine yesterday.

 

I can't find it in me to yell at someone who's fault it's not. The rep said that there's a battery shortage. Go figure.

 

No it's not, but I can't afford to wait longer to order something else. I should have jumped ship earlier.

Pray the thing comes without defects... otherwise I'm more than screwed.

 

Ok so I fixed my problem by reinstalling the ATi drivers.

All in all, i have a flawless (flaws described here) U330!

For perspective, I:
Ordered- 9/13
Shipped- 10/02
Received-10/07

I paid $903-$50 compensation= ~$850 + $66 tax=~$920

For the price, I think this is an EXCELLENT deal.

For those of you waiting, I advise you guys to wait a little longer (maybe you can get another $50 ) because this laptop is definitely worth it.

Some favorite features are the VeriFace sign in and the Active HDD protection which is very useful.

Also, I tried some game demos and they look very nice on the ATI card. Older games also work on the Intel Card.

Downsides: The only little problem I have (there has to be one ) is that with the ATI card going, this thing gets pretty. Not burning hot, but quite warn. But this is expected in such a small design.

 

thanks for the mini review. Just a question: Have you tried downloading Riva Tuner and SpeedFan.

Both control fan speeds on a computer. Could you be kind enough to try them both. I hope they work.

I'm still waiting on mine otherwise I would have tried already. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: here's a good guide if you want to under volt your cpu (aka. reduce the heat output from the laptop.)

http://www.overclock.net/laptops-notebook-computers/308654-undervolt-laptop-guide-intel-c2d-t7500.html#post3575072

 

RMClock doesn't fully support Montevina yet so undervolting is a moot point. I already tried it.

 

Need some help yall.

I did a fresh install of XP Pro, but the system was very sluggish for some reason and it lost a lot of the nice features, plus I do not have a problem with vista personally, so I decided to re-install Vista with an OEM disc to get a fresh start. Problem is, when I downloaded the Broadcom driver from Lenovo's website for Vista, it won't install.

Can someone go into their device manager and tell me what Broadcom Ethernet NIC these laptops use so that I can download a driver from Broadcom directly?

BBGus

 

Same thing....moved to 10/14 as I was told on the phone....the website shows as 10/20....it is an estimated ship date at most.....some turns out to be shipped before that date or after that date....got me really frustrated too....since I have been waiting since Aug 5th for a laptop from Lenovo....you could get some helps at their forum from Mark or any other mods.....they certainly would help.

 

You have the wrong NIC - Use the Intel one "Intel Wireless LAN Driver" ( and uninstall the Broadcom one)

 

Intel does not make the Ethernet adapter though, that should be broadcom. The Intel 5100 is just the wireless.

BBGus

 

seriously, can anyone take two seconds who has a U330 and tell me what Broadcom adapter they have listed in the device manager?

BBGus

 

What you said before is correct.
This is what i have under Network adapters:

-Broadcom NetLink (TM) Fast Ethernet
-Intel (R) Wireless WiFi Link 5100

 

Broadcom Netlink Fast Ethernet- Driver 10.62.0.0

 

admlam: I thought someone posted that they had successfully undervolted their u330?

 

I think it was Chen. But I'm sure someone said that they were going to undervolt using RMclock.


EDIT: I believe members said that they were going to but ran into the same problem as admlam.
Gotta wait till Monteviena is supported.

 

you will sadly have to wait for a whole new program then because RMclock developers are no longer working on the program.

RMClock works for montevina - however has a problem using half mutipliers, meaning the p8400 on the montevina will be clocked down roughly 100mhz because RMclock changes the mutiplier from 8.5x to 8x. not that big of a deal for the amount of battery life/heat you will be saving.

i however cannot vouch for the p7350, as i do not know how it recognizes it but don't see why it wouldnt be the same, maybe just downclock it a few mhz....

 

I haven't got my laptop yet....was saying I was going to try undervolting it when I get it....the problem is exactly what Kickace has described....it does not recognize the half multipliers....but you could do other things like changing the voltage which should help with saving some energy

 

So I got the lower config u330 this Monday. I have to say it is definently worth the wait.

The 2gb of ram I have is 2x1gb so it takes up both ram slots.

My C: drive is about 180gb and my D: drive is about 30gb. All of the vista drivers was already downloaded on the D: drive.

Installed fresh copy of vista ultimate on C: drive without touching D:.

Tried using switchable graphics but realized that it doesnt work without SP1.

Plan on using vista ultimate's built in backup program to create an image of my fresh install.

Also u330 is not warped and is sitting on the table flat so no unbalancing.

 

Has someone here tried changing the voltages. If so, then with what result. Thanks

 

Weird. I think the Bluetooth on my U330 has failed. It no longer appears in the tray, or in Device Manager. Devices cannot connect. I have rebooted several times.

 

Have you accidentally flipped the wireless switch to "off" on the front of the machine? (probably not, considering you might be on wi-fi as you read this...)

 

Thanks to Havoc and Natm for posting to my question, but all that is moot at this point. I am officially one of the unlucky 5% of people out there. I was setting Vista back up last night when the fan and the hard drive both spindled up insanely fast, I heard 3 beeps and the system locked up. After a hard boot, the laptop POSTs about 50% through the BIOS fine with the other 50% it doesn't even make a sound, no beeps, nothing on the screen, not a thing. Those times it does pass the BIOS, the next screen is a black screen with a command cursor blinking its gray tone of death. I used some diagnostic tools I had and the hard drive is dead (75% bad sectors reply to test). Mine had a Western Digital. While I don't think this will be a common issue, it still sucks that I waited a month in a half for mine just to have it die after 3 days on me. Oh well, time to work on RMA this thing.

BBGus

 

fwiw i turned off the active protection system and my HDD is still clicking regularly. I'm keeping data backed up and preparing myself for a drive failure at some point.

 

Got my u330 2 days ago. I like it a lot. It's not as thin or as light as I thought it was going to be relative to the t61 I got 2 months ago for my parents. It's not bad though. Very neat laptop and dang the screen is bright. I have to agree that the power brick is huge! Why can't they make them small like the thinkpads and why don't they have the velcro straps to coil the cord. My laptop is also uneven when set on a flat surface. What a bummer. How could they overlook such a simple thing?

What are people doing to rectify this? Any experiences with Tech Support on this? Are they mailing you new rubber pads?

 

over on the official ideapad forums there is a post about the unevenness. There is someone from Lenovo asking everyone to pm him their serial number as he is looking into it:

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=ideaPad&thread.id=3619

It seems it is not the rubber pads, but the actually chassis of the laptop that is uneven. He says he is looking into it to provide a solution.

I may just take 15 minutes and sand down the rubber pads a mm or so until it is even.

 

I received mine and found that mine too was uneven on a flat surface. I called Lenovo and requested they fix the issue and sure enough the next day a box was at my door. On the sheet of paper you have to fill out in the box I told them to make sure the laptop sits flush on a flat surface before sending it back to me. (I hope they send it back, lol)

For $1,000 this shouldn't be like this, something as obvious as this should have been caught by QA. I am suppose to get the system back here in a few days, I will let you know if it's fixed or not.

-Chadzilla

 

Mine isn't uneven but the Q button made horrible squeeking sounds... now the Q button has come off completely.

Wow... brand new keyboard with a missing button.

 

Some quick feedback after fooling around with the U330. Got it yesterday; shipped three days prior to expected date of shipment.

PROS:
--modern, sleek tech look
--build quality (solid!!)
--keyboard (great tactile feel)
--performance (3gb version, multitasking and Vista click along w/o a problem)
--integrated webcam is slick
--screen is bright, and glossy plastic cover doesn't cause visible reflections (this was a relief)


QUIBBLES:
--screen's "double pane" treatment caused me some eye strain after an hour of use yesterday... today was better so I'm either getting used to it or I was just tired yesterday
--cover/shell is a fingerprint magnet
--one dead pixel


NOTES:
--battery life approx 3.5 hours on "balanced" pwr setting integrated graphics
--heat has been minimal/reasonable
--the lid closes flush and without laxity or play

So far, this has been a great pickup, especially for the price.

 

I have the same problem. Fortunately it is the only problem I have and don't think it's worth sending back. I PM'd my serial number to Mark_Lenovo on the lenovo forums, i'll post any reply I get from him.

 

xclusivx, do you have any pics of the u330 in the sleeve? Is it the kind where you can leave the laptop in the sleeve and use it? Thanks

 

i also have the same problem as you....it really annoys me. does anyone know how to fix this problem? thanks

 

****, all these problems you u330 owners are having. uneven feet, harddrive clicking sounds, buttons falling off. Now im scared to receive mines.

EDIT: I am really considering getting the x200, I can live without the cdrom, Rarely use it. The only thing is, that little knob thingy in the middle i will have to get use too since the x200 has no touchpad

 

Can anyone confirm this? According to the spec sheets on Lenovo's website, the U330 weighs less.

 

yah then the spec sheets are most definitely wrong

the u330 is 4.2X pounds with the 6 cell

while the x200 is 2.95 pounds with the 4 cell, 3.24 pounds with the 6 cell, and 3.58 pounds with the 9 cell.

 

I was looking at the U110. That is the lightest one. It costs $500 more than the U330, but the weight is 2.42 lbs for the 4 cell ($1,799) and 2.92 lbs for the 7 cell ($1,999).

My question is. Why not get the x200 instead of U330? The x200 is lighter, smaller, and less expensive.

 

Don't despair. I love mine and it has none of these "problems" described so far. This is a far better machine than my previous Dell and HP laptops.

 

is there a packing slip inside the lenovo shipping box when you first open it?
looking to unload mine without opening the box due to all the problems this laptops having. but dont want personal details shipped to buyer. thanks

 

Mine is just fine. I think the problems are less prevalent than you might be led to believe by reading this forum. Consumers are more like to complain about a problem than they are if there is nothing wrong with a product.

If there is a major issue, Lenovo will help you fix it. I can't remember if it has a packing slip but I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

 

Most of the packing information is pasted to the outside of the box. In mine, nothing but manuals were inside with the notebook.

BBGus

 

Anyone know if you can use the Veriface software to log in to email and other websites where you usually have a username and password?

 

I realized today the battery life plummets if I close and open the lid often (such as moving between my classes). Coming out of hibernation seems to eat my battery... I probably lost over an hour of battery time due to the frequent hibernations.

I also disabled APS and I'm still hearing the hard drive click randomly... even when on "High Performance" settings.

 

ah my T button makes squeaky sounds, though hasn't fell off yet.
I was maybe gonna pop it off and see what is making it squeak, but that is probably a dumb idea.
ahh such a pain to return for a squeaky key

..and now i just noticed my left shift and E key does also.
guess i will call tech support tomorrow

 

the x200 also has 9 hours of battery life with the 9 cell....and that has been proven, not just stated by lenovo.


but the x200 has shortcomings that people might need including, and most importantly, no touchpad - only trackpoint. The other differences are no hdmi port/no dedicated graphics, and no optical drive.

those may be big for some, but to me: i don't play games, and working on getting a vga-hdmi box....i have an external drive and who uses their optical drive regularly?....and i have a feeling i will get used to the no trackpad, as most love the trackpoint, but who knows.

so i bought the x200 because of the amazing build quality, featherweightness, extreme battery life, and full powered CPU in such a small package (faster than the u330, as it uses the p8400/8600).

oh, and it only has a 12.1" screen over 13.3 but also is rated one of the coolest laptops ever reviewed so thats always a plus for your lap!

its all relative to what you really need / want....