IBM Thinkpad 600E bios mod for processor update

[MarkieTheGadgetGuy]

Sharedoc,

Thanks for the information, based on what you said about the price I'll probably go with the 750 which will still be a big improvement.

This forum seems like a great place for anyone looking to increase the performance or extend the longevity of their older TP, and I know I'll be back often.

I'm not familliar with the 600 series but I love my 390x, which I've had for about 5 1/2 years now. It's a big tank of a laptop, not exactly slim or long on battery life, but it's survived a lot of abuse that would have put a lot of other laptops in the trash.

Thanks again, I'll post back after the thansplant operation.


MarkieTheGadgetGuy

[Sharedoc]

Did you try booting with charger connected and after XP booted, run DeepSleep in a DOS commend window?

[Calvin & Hobbes]

Did you try booting with charger connected and after XP booted, run DeepSleep in a DOS commend window?

Yes, I tried all possible options as I know and could imagine.

I'll try to "repair" the ss mod tonight to see if my mobo has the speedstep utility.

Will be back later with the result.

[Calvin & Hobbes]

I "repaired" the ss mod to it's original layout. I have to say it was quite tricky to make an air wire to repair the "cut"! (I should have tested that before modding!)

The good thing is that my mobo seems to have speedstep technology. I have 747MHz on AC and 598MHz on DC.

The bad thing is that it's unstable when I go from AC to DC and back again.
It was a surprice for me because I have read that the pIII450&500 was non speedstep machines on other threads and impossible to upgrade to Speedstep processors.

I still have hang up's during boot, but only 5 times now.

[dtlee]

Version 1.1 appears to behave exactly the same way as 1.0.

Works from desktop but does not work from autoexec.bat nor from Windows startup folder.

How is it with XP version? Does it work always?

I wonder if the reason for not working always is that the processor is in a state (which?) where there is not possible to trigger transition to DeepSleep?

Sharedoc,

The XP version always seems to work, regardless of the startup process (either startup folder, or launch from a desktop icon).

I installed Win98 on a small fat32 partition on a spare drive, and reproduce the same (negative) result. I should be able to solve the problem now. Looks like on of two possibilities, either the processor never goes into deepsleep when run from a startup folder (win98), or it does go into deepsleep, but is transitioned between real mode (8086) and protected mode (i386) immediately after the deepsleep utility is run.

First thanks for all the great contribution on this forum & tech break through Sharedoc and wmarcusm.

I finally did the ss-mod mainly because of the deepsleep.
But having issues with deepsleep.exe.

win2000 sp4: Crashes on resume hibernation, (privileged instruction) see drwtsn32 dmp. (happens all the time) But works great other wise.

XP sp2: Also crashes on resume hibernation, more annoying it ask to send report to MS. Sometimes freezes the system (no input keyboard or mouse) need to reboot when starting. I think it maybe related to my usb wireless driver doesn't like the deepsleep triggering ok when I have it removed.

Thanks again

[beatoem]

I got rid of the memory stability problem by disabling the 32M PC66 memeory that is built in the motherboard. I found out that byte 2B of CMOS controls the SDRAM banks. Bit b0 disables internal 32M memory. By changing the content from 80 -> 81 the 32M is disabled.

Now I have two 128 Sodimms working fine. No need more to seek for cas3.

one must switch off the pc after changing the value from 80>81 and vica versa ,thats when it becomes effective.

[yeeeoman]

Sharedoc,

You seem to be the man in the know when it comes to TP600E's...so here is my situation. I am going overseas for up to two years, and rather than buy a separate 7" DVD player, I thought I would just upgrade my laptop to DVD capability. I have already upgraded the memory to the 288mb max, and have bought the 2x DVD drive and Margi DVD-to-Go PCMCIA hardware decoder on eBay. (all for less than $40.00 w\ shipping !!)

My question:

I would like to upgrade the MMC2 PII 300. However, I cannot run the risk of frying the board while I am overseas, as my ability to fix/replace will be greatly diminished. Soooo...is the PII 400 the fastest CPU the 600E can handle without errors requiring BIOS mods ? I have heard that maybe the PII 466 celeron might work, and is a little faster than the standard PII 400. As I understand the posts on this topic, if I go to a PIII, I have to mod the BOIS just to get 500mhz without an error, no matter what the speed of the processor. Then I also have to run the L2 proggie every time (?) I boot the machine ??

The goal here is to have a serviceable DVD machine without risking the loss of everything... Your guidance would be VERY much appreciated !

FYI: Running XP Pro SP2

Yeeeoman !!!

[dtlee]

Sharedoc,

You seem to be the man in the know when it comes to TP600E's...so here is my situation. I am going overseas for up to two years, and rather than buy a separate 7" DVD player, I thought I would just upgrade my laptop to DVD capability. I have already upgraded the memory to the 288mb max, and have bought the 2x DVD drive and Margi DVD-to-Go PCMCIA hardware decoder on eBay. (all for less than $40.00 w\ shipping !!)

My question:

I would like to upgrade the MMC2 PII 300. However, I cannot run the risk of frying the board while I am overseas, as my ability to fix/replace will be greatly diminished. Soooo...is the PII 400 the fastest CPU the 600E can handle without errors requiring BIOS mods ? I have heard that maybe the PII 466 celeron might work, and is a little faster than the standard PII 400. As I understand the posts on this topic, if I go to a PIII, I have to mod the BOIS just to get 500mhz without an error, no matter what the speed of the processor. Then I also have to run the L2 proggie every time (?) I boot the machine ??

The goal here is to have a serviceable DVD machine without risking the loss of everything... Your guidance would be VERY much appreciated !

FYI: Running XP Pro SP2

Yeeeoman !!!

DVD play is actually tide to AGP graphics processors for cpu speeds less that 1ghz. The only way that I got it to play right was to use the ibm mediamatics dvd software and set the video display to 16 bit. If you don't have the software, someone posted a link to version for compaq computer install it, and then get the update from ibm website, the update require that you have a previous version installed. Make sure you set the display from 24 to 16 bit (lack of video memory). You may not need to upgrade your cpu. My upgraded to 750mhz XP sp2 but not really acceptable in playing DVD with other software DVD player.

Good luck.

[beatoem]

one can get good dvd playback from a 266mghz 600 any 4x and faster dvd rom with power dvd xp ver 4.0, drives set to udma in device manager and set the software to run at 600x800 at the lower bit settings.in win 98/me/2k ,xp pro seemed sluggier ,then again why run a 266 cpu or any pc for that matter on a slug os when win 98/me/2000 runs smoother ,cooler and faster on all thinkpads at that?linux maybe better yet.

[prizal_a]

i've already have TP 600e, i'd like to buy a Tp770z from my friend..
Could I update the processor to PIII...?
I've already update my sweety tp600e...
I have piii-850 mmc2 processor, i'd like put it on to 770z..
I've put DVD Combo drive in to my TP 600E
thanx...

[Sharedoc]

Yeoman,

PII-400 fits without any modifications but it won't give a big performance improvement.

I recommend PIII-500. That will give you big performance boost because the system bus will switch from 66MHz to 100MHz.

You just need to do the L2 cache CMOS setup and install L2 enabler but they are easy and riskfree using the instructions in the thread.

[Sharedoc]

Prozac_a,

Pkiff has reported success with 770z processor upgrade
http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... c&start=15

[holmch66]

Hello all!

Recently upgraded my trusty old Thinkpad 600X with a 800 MHz MMC-2 module!

BIOS verison 11/30/99 - ITET55WW
Machine-type model: 26458EG
Slave controller version 10/08/99 - IHHT10WW

It runs at 800MHz, but only after unpluggung and replugging the power supply cord during the XP startup. Alternateively I can press Fn+F4 and or Fn+F11 in during the boot up. When the XP is up and running the Speed Step utility allows it to change the frequency, but it also locks up immediately. Pressing Fn+F11 unlocks the system and the CPU speed is then changed. But it freezes each time I toggle the speed.

I also tried the DeepSleep utility for XP (v. 1.3) I found here on the topics, but it does not seem to work with Thinkpad 600X, I guess it's only for 600E. Is it so??

I saw "Calvin & Hobbles" mentioning earlier excatly the same as I have experienced with 600X upgrade.

Has anybody some information how to get an CPU upgraded Thinkpad 600X to boot up the XP straigth away.


Calvin & Hobbles wrote:

"It runs @ 750, but I have to plug in and out the AC plug 15-20 times during the boot, this means that I must have AC+cable available to power on the TP. I manage this by chosing Deep sleep instead of power off, this requires only one plugin and out during start the hang up after the Thinkpad screen.

The first hang up is after the Thinkpad memory display just a blinking line. And then the it hangs up during loading windows.

Could anyone help me with this?
If you also have the sollution to the fsb mod on 600X i would be greatful! "

[Sharedoc]

600X: Hope somebody starts investigating it in more detail. I can't, because I have no 600X available.

[beatoem]

the software worked perfect on a hp 4150 non b p11 laptop with a p111 500/650 cpu
650mgz is the fastest non b laptop i ever seen (p111 450 rumored to work)and for some wierd reason doesn't detect p111 or celeron 500 non speedstep cpu.
the beauty part is that theres no need for cache program as the bios strings detected it ,now its got me thinking why doesn't the 600e which has exactly same chipset specs not do the same?did anyone attempt to try some random codes within the hex edit section in hope that it may somehow enable cache detection for p3 in a way that one may fluke the combo?