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<p><font size="4" face="Adobe Courier">It's a Lenovo Legion
T5-26AMRS, about a year and a half old; the CPU is an AMD Ryzen
7 5700G (8 cores) running around 3GHz, with 32GB of RAM. The
graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 with 12GB onboard
RAM. I bought a three-year warranty when I got it, so it's
still eligible for repair. Ignoring the CPU Fan Failure message
so far hasn't caused any hiccups, which makes me distrust the
message. The fact that the CMOS started acting up exactly when
the fans failed make me suspect an electrical problem on the
motherboard.</font></p>
<p><font size="4" face="Adobe Courier">I run Arch Linux; I wiped
Windows off the machine as soon as I got it. Apart from the
hardware troubles it runs well. I run similar Arch setups on my
other computers, too. If I didn't have to look at a GUI ever I
would be happy.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4" face="Adobe Courier">I run X because, well, I
always have. I'd be happy to switch to something else if
someone gave me a reason to. For nvidia I run the open-source
drivers. I am not a gamer (despite the setup); I work with
highly complex and large graphics files, mostly high-resolution
of medieval manuscripts, and so I don't need high framerates
etc.</font></p>
<p><font size="4" face="Adobe Courier">There seems to be a CLI tool
called something like fwupdate that works at least on some
ThinkPads. It might work on the Legion tower, too, but then
again it might not. I bought this machine hoping for a
long-lasting workhorse and it has given me far more trouble than
my off-the-shelf computers where I matched the components by
myself. Such is life.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4" face="Adobe Courier">For repair/replacement, I
need someone who can give me an official invoice, because I hope
to be able to get the cost reimbursed, and the University of
Toronto is, understandably, rather persnickety about the sorts
of receipts it gets.</font></p>
<p><font size="4" face="Adobe Courier">This being a "research tool"
I *could* just throw it away and get a new one. I think that's
what lots of academics would do. That offends me: the
components are mostly good, and recycle/reuse is friendlier to
the planet. But having had it once not-really-fixed by Lenovo,
at some effort, I don't know that I want to go down that road
again rather than cutting out (what might be) the problem at its
roots...<br>
</font></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/13/23 15:46, D. Hugh Redelmeier
via talk wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:b460c020-9058-e6dd-a597-3ce2bf39b1b4@mimosa.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">| From: Peter King via talk <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:talk@gtalug.org"><talk@gtalug.org></a>
| I have a Lenovo Legion T5 desktop (tower configuration) with Ryzen 9 cpu,
Which processor? That gives me an idea of its age.
Which model of T5? Lenovo type or model number or whatever they call it
is fairly precise.
| which has given me all sorts of trouble over the past year and a half; it's
| already been sent back to Lenovo once after the power supply / motherboard
| went completely dead, and in the months since it intermittently locks up when
| I fire up X.
Is it still under warranty?
Is this a model that officially supports Linux? Nevermind, I was thinking
ThinkCentre. I don't imagine Lenovo supports Linux on Legion.
Lenovo usually makes available a "Hardware Maintenance Manual" that
explains a lot of things.
But then if you are reading Reddit, you are probably a few steps ahead.
| Well, just a few days ago with no warning it froze at boot with
| the message 000135 that *all* of its internal fans had failed (!); a reboot
| got that down to only the CPU fan failed; when I told it to ignore that the
| computer finally booted up and runs sort of okay.
If the CPU cooler fails, I imagine that the CPU will shut down. I don't
think modern desktop processors can run without a fan.
| By "sort of" I mean that
| the CMOS memory seems wonky: it won't keep track of the date or time.
That might be a matter of replacing the CMOS battery (normally a coin
cell). But they usually last longer than a warranty.
| Plus it
| still sometimes locks up when I start X.
Are you still using X? What distro are you using?
Perhaps you have an NVidia GPU and are running the proprietary driver.
I'm the unhappy state of using X on my desktop for that reason.
| Google -- mostly Reddit -- tells me
| that the fan problem is probably a BIOS/motherboard issue, apparently common
| in this model after about a year. Some people claim a BIOS update fixes it,
| most people say it doesn't,
My superstition is to update firmware.
| and BIOS update for Lenovo products under Linux
| are a pain.
I don't know about Legion. You probably have a Windows license. Did you
wipe it to install Linux? (I always make my systems dual-boot.)
It is often easier to get hardware support if you can run Windows for the
duration of the support call.
| I could send it back to Lenovo. Again.
That's what I would do if it is still under warranty.
| But I am inclined to just replace the
| motherboard instead, to swap out the proprietary Lenovo 3716 MB for something
| else. According to Reddit again, the Gigabyte B550M is pretty much a drop-in
| replacement, though you need to add a CPU fan. I don't know how to verify
| that it will work, though.
I'm pretty sure that it is simpler to buy a complete new box, with a
warranty.
Skilled human time is fairly expensive (yours or a technician's).
There are a lot of ways that this could go wrong. For example: a
proprietary Lenovo power supply might not power a different board. A new
power supply might not fit in the case. Those are true of Lenovos that I
have (I don't have Legions).
| But more importantly: I am way too busy right now to do the replacement
| myself. So, does anyone have any recommendations for good reliable computer
| repair work, someone or some company I can just take this to and tell them to
| do it? I am located in the Junction. I used to use A2Z Computers, which was
| great, but that business didn't make it through the pandemic. I suppose I
| could take it to Canada Computers or someplace like that, but I though their
| work was only just adequate and priced high at that.
|
| Any common wisdom about who might be good for this job? Thanks!
Random people on the list might be.
People with store-fronts should be too expensive but they might not be.</pre>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Peter King <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:peter.king@utoronto.ca">peter.king@utoronto.ca</a>
Department of Philosophy
170 St. George Street #521
The University of Toronto (416)-946-3170 ofc
Toronto, ON M5R 2M8
CANADA
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://individual.utoronto.ca/pking/">http://individual.utoronto.ca/pking/</a>
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