Lenovo ThinkPad P52S NVMe problem

[Splinterdog]

A customer brought in their laptop as per the title since it wasn't booting and not detecting the hard drive, which turns out to be a Samsung 1TB NVMe.
A BIOS update didn't fix it, however, removing the NVMe and then putting it back, brought it back to life, i.e. Windows loaded correctly.
If the machine is off and not connected to the power brick or simply not booted for an hour or so, the NVMe disappears.
It has one removable and one internal battery and I was careful to disconnect both. I also momentarily disconnected the the button battery to reset the BIOS, none of which has had any beneficial effect.
I'm a bit short on NVMe testing kit right now, like a PCIe card or adaptor case, for example and the only available means would be my own main PC as it's the only machine capable.
It has another 10 months of warranty (USA) and I'm looking into that, but in the meantime, does anyone have any ideas? My hunch is that it's not the NVMe itself because when Windows runs, no issues appear at all.

Edit:
I just found this thread

M.2 SSD on older motherboard

Hi, I just finished upgrading my main PC with 32GB Ram and installed W10 pro on 2.5" 240GB SSD. All configured and good. Question: Motherboard (Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 v4.0) doesn't have M.2 slot. Can I buy one of those PCI-E cards, stick the M.2 SSD on it and use it to boot windows? If so I...

www.techpowerup.com

I'll probably need a PCIe card anyway for testing (not booting) purposes, so I'll buy one.

 

[Shou Miko]

This looks kinda sloppy by Lenovo usually their P series doesn't have these problems from what I know.

One thing with the internal battery remember if possible to disable it in the bios before removal and with warranty get Lenovo to check it would if the newest bios doesn't fix this problem has the SSD been firmware upgraded?

Lenovo release even SSD firmware updates on their Vantage app on the MS store and their System Update application.

But it's also nice to see you found a solution even my own solution would be Lenovo support and ask them to fix it ASAP.

 

[Caring1]

Is the Samsung NVMe drive original fitment or did the customer install it hoping it would work?
From my experience Lenovo install obscure brand drives from Union Memory as the Lense series.

 

[Splinterdog]

Is the Samsung NVMe drive original fitment or did the customer install it hoping it would work?
From my experience Lenovo install obscure brand drives from Union Memory as the Lense series.

It's original, since the client has never had the machine looked at before, neither has it ever caused any problems.
Anyway, she's bring it back so that I can test the SSD and if that's not the problem, then it's something else on the motherboard.
The UEFI has a diagnostics facility and for what it's worth, no issues were found when I ran it.

This looks kinda sloppy by Lenovo usually their P series doesn't have these problems from what I know.

One thing with the internal battery remember if possible to disable it in the bios before removal and with warranty get Lenovo to check it would if the newest bios doesn't fix this problem has the SSD been firmware upgraded?

Lenovo release even SSD firmware updates on their Vantage app on the MS store and their System Update application.

But it's also nice to see you found a solution even my own solution would be Lenovo support and ask them to fix it ASAP.

The warranty is international, so I'm looking into that.

 

[Shou Miko]

The warranty is international, so I'm looking into that.

Hmm I am not sure what Lenovo's warranty site says since I do not have the serial number but you can check it if you haven't already: https://support.lenovo.com/uk/en/warrantylookup

You can change it to your language/country and the page should also provide you with a support phone number, at least here in europe if you call Lenovo in the country you are in they will help you out when the computer is under warranty.

I know this because I work with this.

 

[Caring1]

Can you place the drive in the slot on the motherboard without the cable and controller inbetween temporarily just to test?

 

[Splinterdog]

Hmm I am not sure what Lenovo's warranty site says since I do not have the serial number but you can check it if you haven't already: https://support.lenovo.com/uk/en/warrantylookup

You can change it to your language/country and the page should also provide you with a support phone number, at least here in europe if you call Lenovo in the country you are in they will help you out when the computer is under warranty.

I know this because I work with this.

I finally managed to get through to Lenovo Argentina on WhatsApp and am taking the machine to an authorised service centre this week. The international warranty is valid until May 2021, so we're in luck.
I'll update the thread when I have a result.
What's the emoji for cautiously optimistic?

 

[Shou Miko]

I finally managed to get through to Lenovo Argentina on WhatsApp and am taking the machine to an authorised service centre this week. The international warranty is valid until May 2021, so we're in luck.
I'll update the thread when I have a result.
What's the emoji for cautiously optimistic?

This is great to hear, because I have had stories with Lenovo laptops that was under warranty had to be located in a specific region or country before Lenovo would accept this but it's rare from my understanding.

I am looking forward to an update here even I do not work for Lenovo but I do sell, upgrade, and do diagnostics for customers at work when there is a problem with their Lenovo machine.

 

[JuanBC]

Glad to see that you were able to contact the Lenovo Argentina service.
But the first thing that I though reading, was the BIOS Battery.
Maybe the NVME wasn't enabled by default on BIOS? At least my Gigabyte AORUS M B450 have a setting like that, but NVME is enabled by default.
I would change the BIOS battery and check if with no internal battery and not plugged on the wall it would work.

Hope to see the outcome of this.
Regards from BR!
Peace!

 

[Splinterdog]

Thanks for all your replies. I'm taking the laptop to the service centre tomorrow and will report back next week.
I still believe that it's not the NVMe but some other hardware issue.

 

[Splinterdog]

I'm picking the laptop up later today and they assure me that it's been fixed.
My money is still NOT on the NVMe.

In the end it was the flex cable from the NVMe to the board.
Problem solved

 

[JuanBC]

Glad to hear that man! Cheers!

 

[Splinterdog]

Oops!
It's doing exactly the same thing again - can't find the NVMe.
Back to square one

 

[Caring1]

Did they change the controller board the NVMe slots into, or just the flex?

 

[Splinterdog]

Just the flex.

 

[micropage7]

I'm picking the laptop up later today and they assure me that it's been fixed.
My money is still NOT on the NVMe.

In the end it was the flex cable from the NVMe to the board.
Problem solved

flex cable is annoying, especially in here, sometimes it's hard to find the replacement

 

[Splinterdog]

They are alleging that it's now been repaired, so tomorrow I make my fourth trip to their depot to collect it.
Cynical, moi?

 

[Splinterdog]

They replaced the plastic base as they said it was impinging on the NVMe flex and also installed a UEFI hotfix HT506914 which, out of curiosity I asked for details on.
It's one of those 'no news is good news', so at least I haven't heard from the client since delivering it back on Wednesday. In fact, I really don't want to hear from them, unless it's for something completely different.

 

[Shou Miko]

Thank for the update @Splinterdog men regarding to HT506914 I don't see it as "no news is good news" because this means there has been something they corrected even they do not want to tell what.

 

[Splinterdog]

One week later, exactly the same problem has arisen yet again.Oddly enough, I'm not even surprised as I have zero confidence in these people.

Since it still has nine months warranty left, I don't see why the client should pay for a third party to fix it so I'm taking it back for the third freaking time, having gone through the same old ticket procedure which is now becoming a bore.

 

[Shou Miko]

One week later, exactly the same problem has arisen yet again.Oddly enough, I'm not even surprised as I have zero confidence in these people.
View attachment 168067
Since it still has nine months warranty left, I don't see why the client should pay for a third party to fix it so I'm taking it back for the third freaking time, having gone through the same old ticket procedure which is now becoming a bore.

In my country if Lenovo fixes a problem after the third time they usually do a whole laptop replacement because if the NVME SSD's keeps "dying" then I don't think it's pure NVME's maybe a bad motherboard/daughter board instead.

 

[Splinterdog]

I finally collected the laptop again after they had replaced the motherboard and saying that there was a known fault.
Anyway, it now functions as it should do and I've delivered it back to the long-suffering customer.
I have to assume that the problem has been solved once and for all as I was about to buy a tent for camping outside the service centre