W520 freeze caused by "CPU power managment in BIOS"

I have been running my Thinkpad W520 seemlessly for the past 4 years.
It started to freeze last monday on win7. Freezes increased rapidly and then occured at logon.
I was able to run win7 in safe mode.
Unable to reinstall win7 or even ubuntu.
Unplugged all peripheral without any succes, then disabled everything in the BIOS (1.41) and it worked again.
It looks like the "CPU power management" causes the freezes. with it disabled, everything is running back.

Hi paa55112
If I am not wrong, none other than reduced battery life.
For SSD, you could try PerfectDisk and use SSD Optimize to improve 4K read / write performance
More information about SSD Optimize
http://www.raxco.com/ssd-optimization.aspx
http://blog.raxco.com/2011/11/16/how-to-optimize-your-ssd-without-wearing-out-its-lifespan/
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1725746
Have a nice day!
Peter
W520 (4284-A99)
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Disabling "CPU Power Management" through BIOS -- any bad consequences?

Ok, so my new T440S is emitting a most annoying high-pitched noise. After doing some research, I come to the conclusion that it is the so called CPU Whine.
According to the diagnostics provided on this page:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T510-T410-W510-ThinkPad-high-pitched-whine/...
Disabling CPU Power Management may silence the noise - as a diagnotic measure, not a solution (as the post asks the user to contact Lenovo support for assistance).
So I tried that and indeed it silences the annoying whine. I have already contacted Lenovo and they said they will get back to me after Christmas. Meanwhille, I am still using this computer, and I am keeping the setting for CPU Power Management Disabled, until Lenovo solves the noise problem.
I was wondering if this (keeping the CPU Power Management disabled) may have some bad consequences - like melting some parts down or something. Would anyone know?
Thanks!

Hi yinslaptop!
I have good news. I have the same problem. My T440s is completely quiet at 43 °C CPU so I don't need any fans to spin. However there is a slight buzz coming out of the middle of the laptop. And it isn't coming from the speakers nor the fan. I didn't bother to open it up yet and check what is causing that noise, but I guess it's related to some coil whine or voltage leakage. As in your case, when I turn off the CPU Power Management option in the BIOS, the sound dissapears completely.
HOWEVER I conicidentally put one SD Card Adapter into the Card Slot and the sound completely dissapeared. I would say give it a try. Sadly the sound comes back in 20 seconds at my machine, but I am using a Sd card adapter with no card in there. Maybe this will change when I put one in. Have to test, because I don't have one lying around.
Lenovo has done a great job. You could to better at this price range, especially when the pc market is shrinking .. it's survival of the fittest. You will see what I mean when you won't get foothold in US and Europe anymore and only will supply Asia.
You won't probably answer this thread and when you do "awww yes, we are deeply sorry, some level buzz is completely normal" CTRL+V bull**bleep**.
Don't get me wrong. I really like the new T440s as my first ThinkPad, but my high order of quality wasn't meet. However I still bought it, because I needed one laptop with really good battery life, good screen and small footprint. Well sorry for the rant.

Macbook Late 2011 freezing, problem with CPU power management.

Hi everyone.
I have Macbook Pro 15 Late 2011. And i have a problem with it.
When laptop is cold, sometimes, it can freeze. Other then this there's no problems with it, no problems at all.
I solved this problem by deleting AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext, so for now it's getting a little hotter (not very).
And my question: is there any utility or app, which could let me see what AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext is doing with system, so i could see what causing freezes. I don't have apple services in my country, so i can't bring this laptop to repair.
And if you don't know answer to this question, but know forum, where i might find answers, please write it.
Thanks in advance.
Sorry for language, i'm not an english speaking.

Catfish, if you're on AC power, and you don't run with a fully charged battery in the machine, then it won't run at full performance. Plus, if the battery is worn out, then it won't charge to nearly its original full capacity, and thus the machine won't run at full performance on AC power.
Note that, if you leave the battery in a drawer for months without using it, that can kill the battery.
Good luck!

What does 'CPU Power Management' BIOS setting do?

On many threads people (and Lenovo tech support) have recommended disabling 'CPU Power Management' in BIOS as a workaround for the common high-pitched noise problem. I assume this negatively affect battery life, but am wondering if anyone knows what exactly the option does and by how much disabling it hurts battery life.
Thanks,
Josh

Does it prevent all CPU state changes or only certain ones (e.g., C3/C4)? And does it have any other affect? I ask because Lenovo tech suport disabled it to combat a whining noise and I'd like to understand the implications. Also, if it just is altering CPU state changes, I think that can be accomplished in software.
Thanks

T60p - Chirping noise with CPU power management

I've bought a T60p which produces a chirping noise when running on battery. The high frequency noise is disturbing when working with the device, especially in silent surroundings.
I've already contacted the Lenovo Support and they advised me to turn off CPU power management in the BIOS which indeed removes the noise. However, the cost is a significantly reduced battery time.
First the Lenovo guys offered me a high capacity battery to compensate the shorter run time but then they refused and stated that my computer "works as designed" and that "Lenovo doesn't accept warranty".
I can't believe that this is true. IBM and the ThinkPads have been recognized for their excellent quality and customer service for many years. That's why I bought a TP despite it was way more expensive than other Notebooks. Is Lenovo really not interested in keeping the excellent reputation that IBM formerly had? I'd be very interested in a statement of a Lenovo official on this issue...

> every CD/C2D processor makes this noise regardless of notebook manufacturer.
Nope, not every. There are C2D ThinkPads and other manufacturer notebooks without this defect. Sometimes noise level is higher, sometimes lower, sometimes completely silent if you are lucky enough...
amaso, I have the same problem on my brand new T60p, and found a better solution. Try to download RMClock and disable PopUp mode in CPU advanced settings. This eliminated the noise for me and power management still is working.

Efficiency of CPU Power Management (T510)

Hello and sorry in advance for my average english,
i bought a ThinkPad T510 and I had the same problem like many others.
A whitsling noise appeared when I disconnected the charger.
As read on many websites, I deactivated "CPU Power Management" in the BIOS.
And actually the noise disappeared.
Now i've got the question, if there's a big difference between the settings "Automatic" and "Disabled".
How fast gets the battery empty?
I want to decide, if I endure the annoying noise (if the difference is big) or not.
Thanks in advance,
eXtense

Hi
Changing the CPU Power Management does not make the much difference in battery backup.
However, I will advice you to update the BIOS of the notebook which will keep the system working fine.
Best Regards,
Tanuj
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TRYing to locate power management in bios

Trying to make computer start up in the morning at 8:00; cant find power management in bios

Hi mickey16,
I understand you would like your computer to start at 8 AM automatically. Take a look at the following article: How to Turn ON your PC automatically. As it suggests, it may take a little searching, or, depending on your computer model, it might not have the setting to accomplish this task. Let me know if this helps. Best of luck to you.
Ryan1216
I work on behalf of HP
The advice and opinions given here are my own and not those of HP

Toshiba power management and BIOS-Satelite M30X

Hi!
I've just installed XP PRO with SP2. I tried to install Toshiba Power Management tool. At the end of installation blue screen appeared and system rebooted. I tried bios upgrade (windows flash)and just after flash procedure started system hanged.
Icouldn't reboot even pressing poweroff button for several sec's. What is the problem? If possible reply also for private email [email protected]

Hi,
had you read the "Driver Update Information for Windows XP with Service Pack 2" which is available at http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com in the driver download section!
For BIOS update I can only say, if the notebook doesn't start anymore after BIOS update, you have to contact a Toshiba Service Partner for diagnostics! When you see the red Toshiba logo at boot up you can try it again.
At http://www.toshiba-tro.de/gcc/biosinfo/index.html you will find some further infomations about BIOS update procedures!
Bye

G510s/windows 8.1 sleep problems (power management options & BIOS do not correct it)

hi there,
suddenly seemingly for no reason, the sleep function of my machine no longer works properly. when the machine goes to sleep, it either shuts itself off or goes into unwakable hibernation, in which case i must shut the machine off improperly and crash my open files. the fan also stays on non-stop when it is in unwakable hibernation.
i have changed the power management options numerous times based on suggestions i have read about or been told via lenovo support, and in each case, the sleep function works properly the next 5 times or so, but then the same old problem arises again.
in addition, i now receive pop-up boxes every time i turn the machine on that indicate that the start menu has been updated, and it asks me if i want to install skype, etc. this is now a daily occurrance, and i wonder if it is related to the sleep problems, or if this is a new unrelated glitch.
please tell me how to fix the machine, keeping in mind that i have already changed the power settings numerous times to no avail. in addition, my BIOS is and always has been up to date, as this is a brand new machine.
thanks very much in advance,
tamara

After upgrading to Windows 8.1 did you install the appropriate chipset driver and IMEI software?
Which BIOS version did you install?
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

CPU Power Management Setting in BIOS

What is the downside to disabling this setting in BIOS other than reduced battery life?
I'm trying to improve AS SSD "4K-64Thrd" performance on my SSD.
Thanks
W520 4270-CTO | 2720QM | 16 GB RAM | Quadro 1000M | BIOS 1.34 | PwrMgr 3.66 | 256 SSD

Hi paa55112
If I am not wrong, none other than reduced battery life.
For SSD, you could try PerfectDisk and use SSD Optimize to improve 4K read / write performance
More information about SSD Optimize
http://www.raxco.com/ssd-optimization.aspx
http://blog.raxco.com/2011/11/16/how-to-optimize-your-ssd-without-wearing-out-its-lifespan/
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1725746
Have a nice day!
Peter
W520 (4284-A99)
Does someone’s post help you? Give them kudos as a reward, as they will do better to improve | Mark it as solved if the solution works for you, so it could be reference for others in the future
=====================================
Sound Enthusiast and Enhancement (Post comments, share mixes, etc.)
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/General-Discussion/Dolby-Home-Theater-v4-for-most-Lenovo-Laptops/td-p/62...

Problems with SpeedStep and Windows Power Management: SYSTEM FREEZES!

I am running an E6600 on my MSI 975X PUE-Mainboard @ 2,4 GHz. I am experiencing a strange problem that seems to be related to EIST and/or Windows Power Management:
As soon as I set Windows Power Management to "Presentation" or any other mode that lets Windows throttle the CPU frequency the system freezes randomly: no bluescreens, no error messages...the only option is to hit the restart button...
However, if the Windows Power Management Option is set to "Desktop" the system runs just fine!
Has anyone else experienced similar problems?
Any suggestions?

@Vaniireg
Thanks for your reply, but I cannot agree. Windows Power Management is needed in order to use Speedstep:
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/203838.htm
Intel clearly states that:
"An OS that supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology is required. Current supporting OSs include:, Microsoft Windows* XP SP2 includes native support for Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® technology."
and further:
"Finally Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology must be turned on in the OS. Currently, for Windows* XP SP2 operating systems Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology by default is off. To turn it on do the following: Under Control Panel – open Power Options Under the Power Schemes pull down menu To turn Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology ON select, “Minimal Power Management,” power scheme. To turn Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology OFF select, “Always On,” power scheme."
If I select the "Minimal Power Management" power scheme, the CPU frequency will drop to about 1,6 GHz and the Voltage (CPU-Z) to 1,136-1,144 V. Whenever I do that the system will eventuelly freeze. Skipping through a video file in Media Player Classic is sometimes enough to cause the system to hang.
If I select the "Always On" power scheme the system will run stable, no freezes will occur, but the CPU will ALWAYS run @2,4 GHz and the voltage WILL NOT be reduced to 1.14 V.
@batcook09:
Unfortunately, a clean re-install of Windows XP Pro did not take care of my problem. I've already tried that. The system is not overclocked and is running with default settings. Speedstep is enabled.
It is interesting to notice, that Dual Core Center always causes my system to freeze, even though Windows Power Management Options are set to "Always On". I read a lot of bad things about this program and that is one more reason for me to avoid using it.
Well, I have forwarded my problem to Intel and MSI Support, maybe they will come up with any solution.
Until then, further suggestions are very welcome...

Power management problem in MacBook 13 firmware?

After installing the Tiger 10.4.7 update, I have seen various problems with powering up my MacBook. Once powered up, I don't have any visible problems. Only after powering down, the problem arises.
When I go to start the MacBook, the screen goes all gray, then it looks as though the LCD update stops. The screen slowly fades to colored vertical lines, then goes white as if the clocks to the LCD module have stopped, or at the wrong speed.
The solution that I have found to overcome this is to clear the PRAM (ALT-CMD P R) and to then hold the power button until the white led blinks fast. I get a long tone from the speaker, then the machine boots normally.
I suspect that something in the new 10.4.7 update is causing the PRAM / Power management system to become corrupt. Any thoughts?
Thank you.
John

Thanks for the reply. I don't consider the LCD lines a problem in themseleves. There is something that changed when the 10.4.7 update was installed that has caused an issue with the startup.
Just to be clear, I had backed up, repaired permissions, checked my HD media, and followed Apple's recommended action before installing the update (as with all other updates).
My educated guess, having designed hardware and firmware for a number of years, is that something is corrupting the PRAM or other startup prior to getting to the HD. Until we start looking into the underlying problem with the update itself, the problem will continue.
It is important to make sure that there are no underlying problems with the system before installing an update. However, in this case, it is clear that there is something wrong with the update / update process with 10.4.7.

My solution (or so I thought) to Power Manager/CPU throttling problems!!!

I have found a solution to all my Power Manager/CPU throttling problems!!! Though there is some good and bad news.
{EDIT: The problem has NOT been fixed, even after latest PowerManager (3.62) and BIOS (1.30) versions. Pretty much ignore anything I say below as the problem is still occurring. You can see my full post here: http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W520-Speedstep-not-working-properly-on-battery-...}
Good news: I have NONE of the throttling issues or inconsistent CPU frequency problems I was having before on AC or battery power. Everything, including TurboBoost on battery works! It is completely fixed! (I have no idea how this factors into Lenovo’s statements that TurboBoost is disabled on battery “by design”. There is at least one other post from someone else that also reported TurboBoost was working for them on battery)
Bad news: I don’t really know which one of the many things I tried actually worked. I am sorry I wasn’t more methodical about recording what I did and checking results, but this was my last ditch effort to get this fixed on my own without sending the system in for repair and frankly, I didn’t think it would work. Now that it has worked, I’m hoping my steps can help others.
For anyone interested, here’s what I did… and before anyone says something like “That has nothing to do with managing power/cpu, why would that help?!… etc., please keep in mind I’m just stating exactly what I did. I am aware some of the steps may not be relevant, but who knows… We all know how weird PC’s are sometimes, even the smallest, oddest thing may resolve a problem.So anyway, here goes.
**IMPORTANT** Not sure how many noticed, but there was a new version of Power Manager released a few weeks ago, 3.62. The PM driver seems to have stayed the same. That alone could very well be the sole fix, I’m not sure. You may just want to completely remove PM and PM driver and install the latest version before trying any of the steps below.
1)Made a complete system image via Windows built-in backup feature
2)Disable any 3rd party fan/CPU control utilities (Throttlestop, etc). Make sure they are also not going to run at startup or from a scheduled task
3)Remove Power Manager Driver, then remove Power Manager software
4)Reboot to Windows
5)Remove all traces of the Power Manager drivers/software directories (think it was something like C:\readyapps and C:\drivers.) **For some odd reason after I did this, my wireless stopped working but it resolved itself by the time I was done with these steps, strange
6)Reboot
7)Access BIOS and reset all settings to default
8)Boot into Windows, downgrade to BIOS 1.25 [UEFI: 1.25 - 8BET44WW / ECP: 1.14 8AHT32WW ] via the Windows flash utility. I wanted to downgrade all the way back to 1.06, but the software would throw up some error for any version prior to 1.25 and wouldn’t proceed
9)Reboot to Windows; make sure system booted w/ out issues
10)Reboot again, access BIOS, reset to defaults again
11)Shut down system
12)Disconnect AC power. Remove main battery. Access and disconnect system backup (a.k.a CMOS) battery under keyboard. Discharge residual power in the system (there are various ways to do this, but you could just leave the battery disconnected for a few minutes). Visually inspect the system for anything funky…my system had a slightly but noticeably loose CPU/GPU heat sink/fan assembly power connector.
13)Reconnect backup battery.
14)Reconnect AC power but leave main battery disconnected.
15)Power on. Should get a message indicating “checksum error, system time reset” or something like that.
16)Reboot to Windows. Verified still okay.
17)Downloaded latest BIOS version, 1.26. This time I burned the bootable BIOS flash CD instead of running it through Windows.
18)Restart and boot from disc, flash BIOS to 1.26. Once complete, restart. Verify BIOS set to defaults.
19)Boot back into Windows.
20)Install latest Power Manager driver (1.62 ), reboot if/as prompted. Install Power Manager (3.62), reboot as prompted.
21)Boot into Windows, verified Power Manager was active and working. Verified TurboBoost was working. Restarted system a few times and played around with Power Manager for a bit to see if the different power plans worked and retained the settings, all the while monitoring the Intel TurboBoost utility and PM’s own “power gauges”. Let system Sleep, changed power sources, resumed, etc. Everything was working great.
22)Shutdown, reconnect main battery. Booted into Windows. Again, fiddled with Power Manager for a bit, switching between power plans and AC/battery power. Still worked great.
23)Success!
That’s it. Again, this is not a guaranteed fix guide. These are just simply the steps that I took on my system that resolved the problems many of us are having. Hopefully it will work for others.
T520 4239-CTO | i5 2410M
W520 4270-CTO | 2720QM | 16GB RAM | Quadro 1000M | BIOS 1.30 | PwrMgr 3.62

All I basically did was download and install...
(Chipset driver) http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/oss924ww.exe
(PM driver) http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/83ku14ww.exe
Now, I did chipset first (didnt ask to reboot) then installed the PM driver (did ask to reboot)
I rebooted.... then I went into bios (1.26) and set everything to default... then restarted saving changes...
Since I prefer not using optimus I changed the display settings in bios right after saving the default settings...
Not sure whether or not you really had to go into bios... but everything seems to be working...
My settings in PM is set to Maximum Power in the Advanced tab, 3rd party monitoring tools is TPFanControl and HWInfo64....
W520 (4270 CTO) | i7-2820QM | 16GB RAM 1333 MHz | Runcore MSATA SSD | 2x Kingston SATA2 SSD | Quadro 2000M | FHD | Windows 7

W520 "dismounts" monitor on DisplayPort when power management switches it off

My setup:
W520
Mini Dock Plus Series 3
External 1080p display on DVI
External 1440p display on DisplayPort (primary display)
The problem I'm experiencing is that the external display on the DisplayPort gets dismounted (I can hear the Windows "hardware disconnected" sound when this occurs) when the power management triggers the screens to switch off. I can also trigger it by locking the screen (WinKey+L) and manually powering off the displays (FN+F3).
This is extremely annoying as it causes all of the Windows I have open to lose their size and position, and force into the primary display. Windows also needs to regenerate the Aero previews (their just blank boxes until I focus the program window).
This did not occur previously when I had two external displays connected using the DVI ports. But, I can't connect the 1440p display to DVI because DVI cannot drive a resolution that high.
For now, I've worked around it by disabling the display timeouts in power management, but I would like to have the screens switch off after a few minutes to conserve power and lifespan.
From what I can tell, this problem isn't limited to W520's and may be a larger issue with the DisplayPort standard or particular implementation. What can I do about this?

Update your NVIDIA drivers?
Does this workaround help?
https://sites.google.com/site/ebobster/stuff/displayportblanking
W520: i7-2720QM, Q2000M at 1080/688/1376, 21GB RAM, 500GB + 750GB HDD, FHD screen
X61T: L7500, 3GB RAM, 500GB HDD, XGA screen, Ultrabase
Y3P: 5Y70, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, QHD+ screen

Gnome-power-manager update causes backlight to power off frequently

After the upgrade to gnome-power-manager 2.26.1-1 today, my laptop screen backlight is being powered off constantly, after only about 1 minute. It's not the screen blanking, but the backlight going off. It comes right back up if I do anything on the keyboard.
My power management preferences haven't changed though. They're all set (as before the upgrade) to never dim the display and never put the display to sleep. So why is the backlight going off anyway?
Also, this pretty distinctly seems to have to do with Gnome and not X. If I leave the laptop for an extended period at the GDM login screen, the backlight is never powered off. The problem only develops after I have logged into Gnome.
Thanks for any help.
Last edited by cb474 (2009-04-23 07:14:55)

Thanks, I looked for bugs on this, but didn't find that one on the backlight for some reason. I was about to issue my own bug report. Anyway, so I added my comments to the bug report, but it has been marked "fixed" already (because it was really addressing a slightly different issue with DPMS), so I don't know if I need to start a new bug report or not. I'll wait and see what kind of reply I get. (In fact, it seems like the fix to the problem in the backlight bug report may have caused the problem addressed in this thread.)
That said, I found a work around, if you want to completely disable the backlight ever going off. You can issue the command:
xset -dpms
This disables entirely the display power management system (which I'm guessing gnome-power-manager operates as a frontend for). Of course, if you want your screen to be put to sleep after some set point of time this won't work. But you may be able to configure this directly with other xset commands or in xorg.conf (see links below).
To disable dpms at startup. I found oddly that it didn't work to add it to my .xinitrc. So instead I went to System > Preferences > Startup Applications. Added an a program in the "Startup Programs" tab, named it "DPMS (disable)" and for the command put:
xset -dpms
This is working.
You can also configue DPMS in xorg.conf, but I'm not using xorg.conf so I didn't fiddle with it. See: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DPMS and http://www.shallowsky.com/linux/x-screen-blanking.html.
Hope that helps.
Last edited by cb474 (2009-04-24 08:26:23)

W520 freeze caused by "CPU power managment in BIOS"

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