Lenovo y510p Troubleshooting thread

[GoneWithTheGin]

***Letting everyone know that this topic is currently under construction. If it seems spotty or incomplete, it is because I'm still working on it***

 

==Hi there forum, for those of you curious about this thread, know that I started it regarding Lenovo y510p laptop troubleshooting techniques I've compiled from various sources on the interwebs. If you are reading this thread, and own a Lenovo y510p laptop, you are no stranger to all of the "quirks" associated with this laptop.

 

To preface this, I'd like to say, I intend this to be a one-stop-shop for needs regarding troubleshooting the Lenovo y510p. I intend to keep it a progressive guide (or rather hub) for forum threads and such that I see can resolve common issues among the owners of said laptop. If you personally have input you'd like to add that would help in any way, feel free to respond to this post with it. I will try to edit it in the main post (with credits to you of course). I want to make sure others with this laptop have a great experience with it, and I wanted to provide the means for them to resolve their issues with it.==

 

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First off, THE HEATING ISSUES. Granted, heating is an issue that is disconcerting to most people shopping notebooks, yet it is especially apparent in the y510p. Peruse a variety of forums and you will find heating is a scourge plaguing this laptop. Here are a few threads dedicated to helping remedy this issue:

               

Note: This laptop was designed to house  the nVidia GeForce GT 650m (or a second one depending on the ultrabay option you chose), yet when they threw in the higher clocked/volted 750m & 755m models, they didn't redesign to adapt for the higher heat outputs (thus the high temps).

 

Additionally, at launch, Lenovo introduced consumers to the amazing "Ultrabay" technology. This was going to be a hot-swap port that consumers could vary based on their use. There were options, at time of launch, detailing a second GPU, or an additional memory drive, or an additional fan, or a DVD/Blu-ray drive (and I believe that's all, I could've perhaps missed one). Though these Ultrabay accessories never truly saw the light of day, as Lenovo discontinued their sale after issues with the sli (which was a damn shame, that tech seemed truly awesome).

 

These were just two of the shortfalls of Lenovo regarding this product line, which is why I wanted to start this thread to help make the experience better for those with this product, and disappointed with Lenovo's oversight.

 

                -Get a laptop cooling pad (here's a link to some of Amazon's top sellers, make sure to read the reviews first):

                              http://goo.gl/XPck1p              

 

                -This thread addresses a hardware issue that shrouds the cooling fans inside of the laptop, a strange oversight on Lenovo's part

                 (as there is no apparent reason this issue, as they do not appear to be prevalent to per-say add support or such):

                               http://goo.gl/yJRZhu

                               

                               (if you are looking to buy a second bottom carriage to mod to unshroud the fans for the y510p laptop, as to avoid

                               warranty issues on your original, here is a link to buy said bottom, you can mod it and if the laptop breaks and you

                               are still under warranty, then you can just reattach the original if you are concerned you might void warraty):

                               http://goo.gl/fmQNXK

 

                -This thread produces a script that runs Lenovo's "Dust Removal" function to run the fans at 100% speed more frequently

                  than the base function of the "Dust Removal" process, as Lenovo (for what people are assuming are noise management

                  reasons) only allow the fans' speculated speed under load to be 75% of their potential speed, which results in some high

                  temps (especially in the sli version). The ability to change the fan speed under load seems to be hidden in the developer's

                  EC bios and is not accessible at the time of this post.

                               http://goo.gl/KaUF30

                 

                -This thread is a brainstorming thread where people are trying to figure how they might be able to access fan speed controls

                  without hardware mods (no luck at the time of this posting):

                               http://goo.gl/FK3m6D

 

                -This thread is (yet another) regarding hardware mods to help dissipate heat. This one would for sure void warranty (so be

                  wary), as I don't have a link for the replacement of this. This particular one is regarding bypassing the fan speed lock to

                  enable the fans to run at full speed underload (since there is no software support for that at the time of this posting):

                               http://goo.gl/0SkL2f

 

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Secondly, for those of you that have had the y510p since the olden days, you know of the various software issues, such as sli and wireless, that were present (although they have been fixed as of now), so if you're still experiencing software issues, here are links to possible solutions:

                               

                 -Here is a link to Lenovo's website with all of the current drivers for the Lenovo y510p:

                               http://goo.gl/NpumtA

               

                 -Here is a thread that I could find regarding the sli issues, the solution is provided by a Lenovo forum rep:

                               http://goo.gl/1KlHeh 

 

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Thirdly, ergonomics is a key area. (As mentioned by Toddwjp of the LTT forum), the wrist rest can be uncomfortable. Some have described it as sharp. 

               

                 -This is a thread that mentions how one might go about fixing this issue:

                              http://goo.gl/IyA8N8

 

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Fourthly, with the functionality of the Ultrabay technology virtually overlooked, due to the lack of availability to get accessories for it (for whatever reasons Lenovo decided not to make them easily accessible), it is hard to get your hands on the Ultrabay products. To help with this I'll list links to what I can find (and at time of this post, the links have available units)

 

                 -These are links to the Ultrabay GPU 755m graphics unit (be forewarned, take a look at the thermal dissipation techniques I

                   mentioned earlier, to help maximize performance for these cards)

                              http://goo.gl/kMxiPl

                              http://goo.gl/5kqq7U

                              http://goo.gl/Mp4d9U

                              http://goo.gl/wLYOEJ

                              http://goo.gl/HG8svR

                              http://goo.gl/TV8cor

 

***Footnote: This is not a post asking for troubleshooting help, but it is rather a post providing possible troubleshooting techniques for those who might need it in the future. It is a compilation of what I have found when running into issues myself, and have seen that others have shared similar issues, thus I wanted to consolidate the resources I have found.***

[Toddwjp]

i had a y510p, i got rid of it because well it just never worked for me (ergonomics wise, hardware was fine) it did get a bit hot but i elevated mine on 2 metal rulers

[GoneWithTheGin]

i had a y510p, i got rid of it because well it just never worked for me (ergonomics wise, hardware was fine) it did get a bit hot but i elevated mine on 2 metal rulers

Thanks, I appreciate the info!

[GoneWithTheGin]

i had a y510p, i got rid of it because well it just never worked for me (ergonomics wise, hardware was fine) it did get a bit hot but i elevated mine on 2 metal rulers

What were a couple of the ergonomic issues you experienced?

 

I know for some they described the edge as being a tad sharp, which bothered their wrists. My particular unit doesn't seem to be quite as abrasive as others have described (although that could just be slight variances among the production batches), but on a friend's unit it was a bit noticeable.  And also the touchpad is sloppy and mediocre (at best). 

 

Are those the issues that bothered you? or were they different in your case?

[Toddwjp]

What were a couple of the ergonomic issues you experienced?

 

I know for some they described the edge as being a tad sharp, which bothered their wrists. My particular unit doesn't seem to be quite as abrasive as others have described (although that could just be slight variances among the production batches), but on a friend's unit it was a bit noticeable.  And also the touchpad is sloppy and mediocre (at best). 

 

Are those the issues that bothered you? or were they different in your case?

i found that the keyboard was a tad to close to the screen for my liking (this is such a personal moan dont worry about it ) i had the issue with the side being uncomfortable as a wrist rest when typing, i didnt really use the track pad, wireless mouse, and it weighed slightly too much to use in a one arm cradle

[GoneWithTheGin]

i found that the keyboard was a tad to close to the screen for my liking (this is such a personal moan dont worry about it ) i had the issue with the side being uncomfortable as a wrist rest when typing, i didnt really use the track pad, wireless mouse, and it weighed slightly too much to use in a one arm cradle

Ahh, understandable. I will definitely try to implement some of what you've found into my post. Thanks again!