A Bug in Lenovo System Update Service is Driving Up CPU Usage and Prompting Fan Noise in Laptops and Desktops, Customers Say (lenovo.com) 50
New reader allquixotic writes: Since late January, most users running a pre-installed Lenovo image of Windows 10 has been bitten by a bug in Lenovo's System Update Service (SUService.exe) causing it to constantly occupy a CPU thread. This was noticed by many ThinkPad and IdeaPad users as an unexpected increase in fan noise, but many desktop users might not notice the problem. I'm submitting this story to Slashdot because Lenovo does not provide an official support venue for their software, and the problem has persisted for several weeks with no indication of a patch forthcoming. While this bug continues to persist, anyone with a preinstalled Lenovo image of Windows 10 will have greatly reduced battery life on a laptop, and greatly increased power consumption in any case. As a thought experiment, if this causes 1 million systems to increase their idle power consumption by 40 watts, this software bug is currently wasting 40 megawatts, or about 1/20th the output of a typical commercial power station. On my ThinkPad P15, this bug actually wastes 80 watts of power, so the indication is that 40 watts per system is a very conservative number.
Lenovo's official forums and unofficial reddit pages have seen several threads pop up since late January with confused users noticing the issue, but so far Lenovo is yet to issue an official statement. Users have recommended uninstalling the Lenovo System Update Service as a workaround, but that won't stop this power virus from eating up megawatts of power around the world for those who don't notice this power virus's impact on system performance.
Lenovo's official forums and unofficial reddit pages have seen several threads pop up since late January with confused users noticing the issue, but so far Lenovo is yet to issue an official statement. Users have recommended uninstalling the Lenovo System Update Service as a workaround, but that won't stop this power virus from eating up megawatts of power around the world for those who don't notice this power virus's impact on system performance.
So (Score:3)
Uninstall the stupid update or get rid of the service? OEM update services do little besides push bloatware.
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Yes, I would be very curious about wifi traffic and any recording of audio or video during these periods of 'high fan use'
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Uninstall the stupid update or get rid of the service? OEM update services do little besides push bloatware.
Lenovo's System Update pulls firmware, drivers and minimal software specific to things like touchpads, cameras, Wifi and power-management. While this story is about an unfortunate bug, Lenovo's default image for business computers is very light.
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Windows Update has never handled the firmware on my ThinkPads before, up to and including my E14.
Re: So (Score:2)
Windows update sometimes delivers driver updates, some of which come with firmware.
Re: So (Score:1)
some bios / Firmware in windows update but not al (Score:2)
some bios / Firmware in windows update but not all
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Uninstall the stupid update or get rid of the service? OEM update services do little besides push bloatware.
To be fair they also remove programs, like my bootloader when I update the bios.
Not surprising from Lenovo (Score:1)
Maybe its not a "bug" (Score:2)
Maybe Lenovo decided to do a bit of mining at their customers expense.
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That service has a spinlock in a routine that contacts lenovo servers, but those servers arent answering, so it spins, and spins, and spins....
Think of the service like VGER from the original Star Trek movie.
Inaccurate... (Score:1)
...because I own a Lenovo laptop FANLESS...
So, it doesn't affect "Lenovo laptops", but just the ones with fan.
Joking or serious? (Score:1)
If it is the latter, let me tell you that you still have half of the problem:
Your laptop may not get loud, but it will still consume more energy than normal and battery runtime will be shorter.
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Melting solder does really hurt if it falls on your lap.
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It doesn't affect my Thinkpad, or my wife's Thinkpad Yoga, because we run linux. And they both have fans.
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Lenovo has HORRIBLE customer service! (Score:3)
This is a good notebook, except for that extremely annoying issue. Granted it doesn't usually happen at all, but when the computer locks up you can't hard power off, you can only send the machine into sleep by holding the power button. Which as a developer, happens from time to time, and the fact this same bug has existed between lines and generations, just shows their total lack of quality. On a different line they actually build in a reset button to get you out of sleep lock, instead of fixing the firmware.
What models are affected so I don't buy one? (Score:2)
It doesn't happen with my P52 on which I immediately loaded Linux (thus also dodging the bad Thunderbolt-breaking firmware update) but I'm in the market for a second notebook and want to dodge that bullet.
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How do you get it back? Is it stuck in a catatonic state until the battery is drained?
Also seems odd that you can't do a forced power-off, that's a hardware feature to deal with otherwise unresponsive devices.
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Re: Lenovo has HORRIBLE customer service! (Score:1)
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Re: Lenovo has HORRIBLE customer service! (Score:1)
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Re: Lenovo has HORRIBLE customer service! (Score:1)
Lenovo software sucks (Score:2)
I have a Lenovo yoga tablet.
Hardware is nice.
Software they added to stock Android makes the hardware almost unusable
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Re: Lenovo software sucks (Score:1)
Well this explains a lot... (Score:2)
Official update from Lenovo (Score:1)
Lenovo has acknowledged the problem on their forums and is releasing a fix later this week. Funny how that happens less than 24 hours after it hits /.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T... [lenovo.com]