X200--startup/boot takes long time--blank cursor for 15 mins

[STBickerton]

I have a Lenovo X200 running Windows 7 Pro. The computer is very slow to boot up. When I turn the power button on, I will get the initial "ThinkPad" startup screen (with the option to go into BIOS by pshing the "ThinkVantage" button), then it will very briefly (less than 1/2 second) display "Intel Management...." (that was all I could read as the display was so fast). Then I will just get a blinking cursor in the top left, with a blank screen (black) for about 10-15 minutes before it goes into regular startup of Windows (or resume, if I hibernated the computer beforehand). If I put the computer to sleep, I do not have this problem, instead it goes right to the fingerprint scan screen when I turn it back on.

There was no physical damage to the computer that may have caused the problem (although there have been times when I have been tempted....).

During this waiting period there is no hard drive activity.

Once the computer finally boots to Windows it works fine.

If I press the "ThinkVantage" button on startup, under the "Startup Interrupt Menu" there is an option (F11) to diagnose the hardware or recover the system. If I press F11 I get two beeps and a message to "press F1 to setup". The same message is given if I press F12 (to select a temporary boot device). F1 takes me to the BIOS Setup Utility.

In the BIOS setup utility, I have loaded all defaults.

I ran all the Lenovo diagnostics and there were no exceptions taken. I also downloaded and installed all updates from the Lenovo website. I used the Windows diagnostic tool, and even did a system restore back to before I had this problem. All of this is to no avail.

I also downloaded Puppy Linux to CD, and tried starting up the computer with the CD in the docking bay drive, but I still have the 10-15 minute wait before it will boot to Puppy Linux.

Any suggestions? I updated the BIOS several months back, should I try that again?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[emtee3511]

I had a similar issue with my X200 about a month ago. The machine took about ten minutes to boot, with similar symptoms as yours. As long as I didn't shut down the machine, it ran perfectly -- but any shutdown/restart took the same ten minutes. I traded out the drive to see if maybe it had anything to do with my SSD, but the backup HDD did the same thing -- slow boot. Before this started, I had updated my bios -- can't remember now if it was days prior or weeks prior to the slow boot issue.

I called Lenovo and they told me these symptoms meant I needed a new system board. After the board was replaced, I've had no further boot issues. Hopefully it's not your system board, but for whatever reason, that is what fixed mine.

[STBickerton]

Success!!! I got a solution from another forum and I disassembled the computer, removed the CMOS/backup battery for 1 minute, reinstalled it, then booted up. I had to reset the date and time but it has worked fine since then with no problems.

Hope this will help someone else who has a similar issue.

[emtee3511]

That's great for you!! -- don't know about me, though -- Lenovo told me it was a system board problem, and I didn't even look 'under the hood' -- they replaced the system board under warranty, and then a month later I had it open to check the wireless card and found out it had no cmos battery installed -- duh!

After getting advice on the Forum, I installed the CMOS battery, and no further problems -- I have no way of knowing if it was the CMOS battery all along, but after your success, I'm guessing it may have been --

Congrats on getting your machine up and running again!