30 Possessed Lenovo V110-15isks Help please!

[ICT_GUY]

I have a batch of 30 lenovo 15isk's that all seem to have bios issues which include the following :

 

Loss of UEFI settings and failing to boot (windows seven using legacy not UEFI is the settings we use).

Loss of correct time and date (either set to 2001 or 2099) Windows reports thousands of years in the future.

Keyboard typing mostly 6's regardless of what button is pressed (usb keyboard works fine in bios and windows)

Fans running at full pelt regardless of temperature.

Batteries discharging when laptop is powered down (not hibernation).

Wifi and Lan being disabled.

 

I have done a virus scan which came back with nothing. I have tried updating the bios which did not improve matters.

 

lenovo are refusing to refund as they are over 30 days old.

 

My only lead at the moment is that I suspect (it is only a suspicion) that it might be due to battery self discharge though why this should cause these issues when there is an inboard battery back up (though I have yet to double check it is present in our systems) is beyond me.

 

I need help as I have never come across anything like this, neither has the supplier and lenovo are being tight lipped. We have 70 other Lenovo laptops that are set up in an identical manner that have been working fine for years.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Joanne]

set a problem laptop up with Windows 10 and see what happens...

[ICT_GUY]

I will consider doing that but it won't fix the issue with the keyboards not working (they don't even work when accessing the bios) :-/

 

It should be noted that these did work fine, have joined the network, been used for a couple of weeks (though the time and date issue randomly happened as did the network card shutting down). They have all updated with windows update and anti virus.

 

Then they have really started to play up.

Edited June 6, 2017 by ICT_GUY

[mikkydoos]

Where have you bought those from?

 

Are they refurbished ?

[Passat1983ICTech]

hi there have you tried updating the fire ware on the mother board and the battery I hand one like this a long time back I put it on windows 10 and it work fine have you load the new its system update from Lenovo I no the battery work when you do the firmware update

 

What the CPU in it it could be a chip set what killing it just thinking about let us know

[Squelch]

If the keyboard isn't responding in the BIOS then I doubt it's Windows related. Do they have removable batteries or a hard reset button? I have some Acer laptops that stop registering key presses and I have to use the reset button to remove battery power for a short time before the keyboard works again.

[gshaw]

We've sent loads of these back under warranty - the date issues and BIOS are due to faulty motherboards. Send 'em off under warranty!

 

Also if the RAM has been upgraded by a third party supplier note the battery is always on and connected to the mainboard due to the weird low-cost design so if not disconnected damage can occur (in theory) if components are added \ removed.

Edited June 6, 2017 by gshaw

[ICT_GUY]

they are brand new. I have bought them from a local company that I won't name at this point. Since its past a 30 day period they are saying I have to deal with lenovo and the logistical nightmare that goes along with possibly 30 duff laptops. :-/

[ICT_GUY]

I updated the bios on a couple of machines, the issue is present on both the original and updated versions. CPU is a core i5.

 

I will look into battery firmware (I was not even aware that this was a thing now).

[Guest kiest90]

See section for of this page: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-get-a-faulty-product-replaced-or-repaired

[Guest kiest90]

*section 4

[Passat1983ICTech]

hi there me again I no this is a long shot have you reimage them with windows 10 or 7 can you let us know ?

 

if you google keybord not working on the modul of the laptop there is a few more idears floating around

 

the problams you are having try restoring the laptop to out of box on windows and see what happens

[fredbayker]

See section for of this page: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-get-a-faulty-product-replaced-or-repaired

 

The retailer/reseller has legal obligations are mentioned at the site above. Don't budge and push them, you have consumer rights.

[Primus]

The retailer/reseller has legal obligations are mentioned at the site above. Don't budge and push them, you have consumer rights.

 

It sounds like these were bought for a school, therefore they are not a consumer and so those rights do not apply.

[mikkydoos]

Get them sent back. They are obviously faulty. And DO name the company. The rest of us can avoid them then.

 

I have a feeling who it might be.

[ICT_GUY]

This has been mentioned before by a different retailer.

 

However customer service in a a cut throat market is so important. We will never use this supplier again on account of a previous quotation bait and switch. Unfortunately these were bought before we black listed them.

[jonnellan]

Did you find a solution to this? We are having the same issue with 140 of these laptops which were provisioned over the summer. We have tried updating the bios etc... but haven't had any joy. They seemed ok at first but then a couple of weeks into term the reports started to come in about incorrect date.

[gshaw]

Did you find a solution to this? We are having the same issue with 140 of these laptops which were provisioned over the summer. We have tried updating the bios etc... but haven't had any joy. They seemed ok at first but then a couple of weeks into term the reports started to come in about incorrect date.

Still doing battle with Lenovo getting them to accept there's an issue. Just did 55 of them with the following process to get them back into circulation, will see how it goes...

 

- reset BIOS

- image Win10 basic image

- apply version 35 BIOS

- reset BIOS

- reimage back to Win7 or Win10 college image

 

Had to do the initial Win10 image to get something on there as the BIOS failures stopped the machines from booting and the Lenovo utility is Windows only.

 

If the BIOS doesn't work there's clearly a hardware fault and it seems it needs a group action to prove to Lenovo that there machines have an inherent design problem and therefore not fit for purpose.

Edited October 13, 2017 by gshaw

[MrCoffee]

Loss of UEFI settings and failing to boot (windows seven using legacy not UEFI is the settings we use).

Loss of correct time and date (either set to 2001 or 2099) Windows reports thousands of years in the future.

Keyboard typing mostly 6's regardless of what button is pressed (usb keyboard works fine in bios and windows)

Fans running at full pelt regardless of temperature.

Batteries discharging when laptop is powered down (not hibernation).

Wifi and Lan being disabled.

 

We're getting the UEFI problem and have even had the 6's thing.

 

The main problem for us is that we've had several where the screens have just stopped working altogether. (Will display through the HDMI fine.)

 

Each case we've sent off for repair. The documentation that comes back is terribly vague.

 

I pity the chap who'd bought 150+

[gshaw]

The ones I fixed up in my October post are still going but funny enough my colleague mentioned that the area around the screen where the cable runs through looks suspect.

 

Visiting the Lenovo stand at BETT will be amusing that's for sure...

[ICT_GUY]

Old thread but I thought it prudent to post what happened in the end and what actually turned the doorstops into slightly crappy working laptops.

 

 

The "FIX" was to update the bios, install windows 10 (instead of windows 7) via WDS (no imaging), install the Lenovo update utility, use that to update all the drivers in one go. This so far has worked to eliminate the issues that I reported. They are still meh laptops but they switch on and log into the network now. The issue with the bios time resetting has not reoccurred and neither has the wireless card falling over issue.

 

 

Would not buy again, not even for teaching staff.

[gshaw]

My self-diagnosed fix from the previous page also seems to have held firm. However the hardware is now failing on the screen hinge where there's some sort of loose connection / fraying cable on some of them that means the screen goes off at a certain angle of tilt (usually the one the user would want!)

 

Lenovo have really blackened their reputation with these devices, steer well clear!

[m25man]

Over the years we have deployed hundreds of Lenovo’s and never had a problem with the “Think” models.

I’ve got one myself and would always consider them as good as any.

 

That said, the V110 is a consumer grade product as is the S series desktop pc.

These seem to self destruct without a great deal of effort needed on the part of the users and are not really worthy of your desk space...

 

In fairness this seems to be the case for all of the leading vendors in that anything designed for the budget conscious consumer market really shouldn’t be on your shopping list.

Back to the old Fast, Cheap, Good rule... pick any two.

[PotNoodleTech]

First rule of buying for a school is never buy consumer products always buy the business line. We've got 95% business products and 5% consumer products, the business products have less than 1% failure rate over 3 years, the consumer products havea 10% failure rate in one year. Says it all!

 

Also please name the supplier for us, I want to make sure I do not order from a supplier that does not stand behind the products they sell!

[gshaw]

Over the years we have deployed hundreds of Lenovo’s and never had a problem with the “Think” models.

I’ve got one myself and would always consider them as good as any.

 

That said, the V110 is a consumer grade product as is the S series desktop pc.

These seem to self destruct without a great deal of effort needed on the part of the users and are not really worthy of your desk space...

 

In fairness this seems to be the case for all of the leading vendors in that anything designed for the budget conscious consumer market really shouldn’t be on your shopping list.

Back to the old Fast, Cheap, Good rule... pick any two.

 

In theory I agree with you and given the choice I'd only go with the business lines but our budgets have been hammered so much we're being asked to deploy 20 laptops at barely £300 each. SSD is non-negotiable and at that price point it's either refurb (maybe even with a new battery that could be a better bet tbh) or these budget ranges.

 

Now it's fair enough to expect they won't be as solid, screens won't be as nice, have to create driver packs manually rather than having a nice SCCM package etc. but there's no excuse for any bit of IT kit in 2018 to ship with such serious firmware \ hardware issues that they can't even keep BIOS settings and the date correctly.

 

On top of that as a company don't do any of the following...

 

1. lie directly to your customers saying no-one else has the same issues (Lenovo do you honestly think IT pros don't talk to each other?)
   
2. blame the OS \ imaging system for a BIOS-level bug that's clearly been resolved after flashing the updated firmware
   
3. absolve yourself of all responsibility for warranty of products with your name on
   
4. blame the suppliers for selling the kit rather than accepting there's a basic design flaw that needs addressing
   

As an aside the Dell equivalent range we've had since have been rock solid (didn't exist when the V110 first came out) and even some 3-year old A-series Fujitsu laptops are still going strong with just the a broken screen taking one out of action.

 

Even more hilarious the V110 they had on their stand at BETT (so if they're not meant to be supplied to edu why did you take them an education-specific show?!) had a broken touchpad. Couldn't make it up!

Edited March 16, 2018 by gshaw