Lenovo laptop suddenly restarts, hardware issue

[pteradox]

I've had a Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 since this past summer which has worked fairly fine in most aspects. However, just recently (over the past several days) it has come into the habit of shutting off at random and instantly rebooting, as if I had just turned it on. This occurs both under Ubuntu Linux and Windows 7, so I'm fairly certain it is not a software issue. I also ran Memtest and received no errors, so I think I can rule memory out as well.

Also, sometimes after this occurs, it is difficult to get the laptop running again. I'll press the power button, the LEDs will light, and then it will power off again. Last time I had to power on about four times before it actually started booting, but then it worked fine.

The only recent hardware change was a hard drive replacement (moved from factory hard drive to an OCZ SSD). I doubt that the new SSD is the issue because it seems to be a power or BIOS issue, and this started occurring a number of weeks after I installed the new drive. However, it may be possible that I inadvertently damaged something in the process, though I don't remember any screwdriver slips or liquid accidents.

I also do not believe this is limited to AC power. It only occurs a couple of times a day, so I can't adequately test by leaving it on battery power all day. However, last time it turned off and I had to struggle to get it back on, I unplugged it while doing so and had no luck. Finally, I believe it tends to happen when I use the laptop (keys or mouse, as opposed to it just happening while idling) though I'm not certain.

Anyways, I'd prefer to avoid having to take it in for diagnostics and paying a huge bill for it. Does anyone have any idea what specific hardware issues might fit this bill, how I can check/diagnose them, or (if possible) how I can fix them or replace one part without having to go to a repair center or buy a new machine?

 

[Szoguner]

Lenovo g50-45 here, also the same problem, after reading all posts it seems its the procesor. Or ram that i use from my previous laptop (same model of a Samsung ram 4gb, but old ones(2x4gb that i have now in my Lenovo) were made in Japan and new one that i had in this Lenovo (1x4gb) was made in China. So probably faulty processor. Should i write something specific for them when i send it to warranty?

Update:
I will change back to my old 4gb RAM memory and see if the problem is solved. I will post an update tommorow or so. If it won't help, I assume it will be something with power or processor.

Seems to be working with old RAM. At least for now.

 

[pws_dk]

Same issue here. With 3 Y old T420S, 8GB, 160GB SSD Windows 7.
Machine never gets hot anywhare on cabinet, can hardly feel/hear the FAN/uotlet.
No hardware changes - or major SW installs, besides WinUpdate.
Pretty annoying! Infrequently intervals, 1/2, 1 or 2 hours.... Regards

 

[Andrea_7]

Just as a final update if anyone stumbles across this thread with a similar problem, it turned out to be a faulty CPU. After replacing the motherboard (again) and the CPU (at which point a new laptop would have cost them less), my issues are gone.

Thanks for the follow up - I am having the same problem.

Is there any CPU diagnostic test that would be able to demonstrate the fault in the chip?

 

[Andrea_7]

I'd also like to know if there is a utility to test this as I have a brand new Flex 3 that is doing this as well.

 

[Chavamg]

Hi Andrea, I've got a Lenovo Flex 3 bought at Costco last month with the same problem.

Have you found a solution? have you called Lenovo?

I'd also like to know if there is a utility to test this as I have a brand new Flex 3 that is doing this as well.

 

[doc_johnny]

Exactly the same with my about 40 month old X1 (not carbon) identical to this one:
http/www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X1 with core i5 CPU

The laptop works stable under memtest86 for hours but it shuts down under Windows or openSUSE after 10 to 60 seconds within the GUI. The shut down is similar to a desktop PC when you pull the plug. After that it is usually difficult to boot the laptop again. There is no problem within the BIOS, it can sit in BIOS for hours.

I have pulled the HDD booting from external DVD-ROM, I have pulled the WLAN card, the battery is disconnected, I have redone the CPU thermal paste, the fan works and gets a lot of heat out the case when "running" the BIOS, etc. Furthermore I have booted with external monitor, but it's always the same: No problem with memtest and no problem within the BIOS but a total crash under a GUI.

Somehow very embarrassing for a "quality" laptop from Lenovo. I had *real* IBM Think Pads before; this one from Lenovo is clearly worse than the former IBM series. Keyboard etc. are just fine.

Well this sucks. After paying $20 in shipping and having it repaired under warranty (apparently they don't care what I do with the hard drive), I got it back 12 days later and the problem seems to have occurred again. They completely replaced the motherboard, so that doesn't seem to be the issue.

I'm honestly just going to have to live with it, I suppose. I'm actually not sure if it happens much on battery power so I'll test that and see.

"Hi,
My lenovo T510 reboots automatically and it does not gracefully shutdown. It is a sudden reboot and happens randomly any time after the bios. For 3 years it has never given any problem and all of sudden this problem has started.

I have tried to isolate the problem :
1. I have dual boot my machine. And this happens on both windows7 and Linux OS. So this must not be OS issue.
2. Also the temperature is low: 46 deg C. So not an heating issue.
3. I found the problem happen when working on AC plugin without battery. So not a battery problem.
4. Lenovo diagnostic tool passed 100% for all tests including memory , hard disk, motherboard.
5. No hardware modified in my laptop.

I am also planning to update BIOS to see if its because of BIOS virus.
Any suggestions please?

Same issue here. With 3 Y old T420S, 8GB, 160GB SSD Windows 7.
Machine never gets hot anywhare on cabinet, can hardly feel/hear the FAN/uotlet.
No hardware changes - or major SW installs, besides WinUpdate.
Pretty annoying! Infrequently intervals, 1/2, 1 or 2 hours.... Regards

 

[nboers]

Possible resolution: Disable power saving CPU states in the BIOS.

I have a refurb T420. It was extremely reliable. Regularly >30 day up time. Then it got dropped HARD a couple times. Random reboots from time to time. BIOS update didn't fix it. Open source BIOS didn't fix it. Removing the Intel ME made it even more frequent.

Disabling CPU power saving states in the factory BIOS made it run for > week without random reboot.

With the open source BIOS I used there's no config utility, so adding intel_idle.max_cstate=1 as a kernel parameter for linux startup also solved the problem.