IBM Thinkpad 600E bios mod for processor update

[clarence]

Gilf

Many many thanks for helping out in such detail. I appreciate you have done this despite that I should have gone to a Grub/Linux forum. Currently I have got CPUMSR working as a first step for L2 cache enabling and now want to implement Grub as the longer term, faster boot solution.

[gilf]

The Grub method of enabling the speedup is nice because you can use it with any operating system, and multiboot. You never have to add another driver when you change or add new OSs. It just works.

[gilf]

Found something that might have a bearing on the inability to get recent XP to speedup (non-Grub).

Does this mean anything to you? (From Beatoem's post on page 46 of this thread):

i finally sorted out speedswitch and xp issue,problem layed in microsoft os which could not defy the diff between desktop and notebook cpus power managment requirements,fortunately i didn't trust microsoft and selected intel only ,instead of intel p111 cpu and it now seems to work perfect.

[gilf]

Okay, back to my hardware problem.

It's definitely not the memories, but definitely appears when ANY memory is put in the bad slot.

Hoewever, i wonder if this slot is truly bad or just being affected by the 108 FSB speedup, or if it is being affected by the onboard 32K memory running at 108 FSB.

To try out each of these possibilities, I'd first like to disable the 32K onboard.

I just can't find the section in this (giant) thread where you do that.

Does anyone know where (what page) those instructions are located?

Thanks in advance.


EDIT: Found it, actually, right at the beginning on Page 2 -- I forgot, it's not a hardware mod but a bios mod. Did it.

But no change as far as the bad slot is concerned.

I guess the next thing to try is dropping 108 fsb to 100. But I have a feeling this won't make any difference at all.

Other possibilities are to open the case and look for physical problems I guess -- maybe a loose solder whisker somewhere, etc.

I have a feeling it's probably a bad component -- IC or an old capacitor. It's the lowest data bit that's giving the problem.

[KevP]

May be KevP can elaborate on his Win XP deep sleep utility as to whether it already does/can incorporate L2 cache enabling and would it be an appropriate solution for L2 cache enabling by Win XP users. Also will it still be harmless for those who do not need the deepsleep component and only need L2 cache enabling.

Hi Clarence, yes my enable_p6 utility does cache enabling and/or speedstep (S3) transition, it is easily configurable and allows a fixed port number or auto-scan for the speedstep. Also, no install is required.

There are two reasons I made it:

1. CPUMSR does not like XP's limited account mode. Just try logging on to XP with a limited account and it will flash up "write errors", it also does not do the speedstep transition which I required.

2. Since I am doing these upgrades with the Compaq machines, the Grub speedstep method did not work for me, even when I recompiled the thing to use the Armada's port number (0xF00), it just locked up. Also, it is not compatible with the Compaq bios setup partition, which must be primary.

With all that, I still perform these upgrades weekly on old machines and have only had a single dodgy speedstep CPU (650mhz). Since the "performance mode" never worked, I assume the speedstep controller chip was somehow faulty, but it ran ok at 500mhz.

[clarence]

[quote="Since I am doing these upgrades with the Compaq machines, the Grub speedstep method did not work for me, even when I recompiled the thing to use the Armada's port number (0xF00), it just locked up. Also, it is not compatible with the Compaq bios setup partition, which must be primary.

With all that, I still perform these upgrades weekly on old machines and have only had a single dodgy speedstep CPU (650mhz). Since the "performance mode" never worked, I assume the speedstep controller chip was somehow faulty, but it ran ok at 500mhz.[/quote]

Hi KevP

Many thanks. I will certainly try your utility. I have a few questions based on your above experiences, somewhat unrelated to each other as far as topic is concerned.

1. Where do you get the grub code for recompiling and what do you recompile it with? Although I may not need any recompilations for my Thinkpad, it may come in handy for other machines.

2. With all your experience with upgrading Thinkpads regularly, have you come across situations where there is a heatpad glued to the heatsink but was pristine clean and unstuck to the plate on the processor's top, as if the film on the processor side of the heatpad was never removed by the original assemblers? Mine was like that (it is an original one I had got new) and I have changed the processor to a high speed one. Because the heatpad looked so good I just decided to re-use it, did not use any thermal grease and forgot to check if there was any unremoved film on the bottom side, trusting that as an IBM factory assembled machine it would not have such an error. My sensor readings show 51 degree C after a few hours of use and I do not feel any great heat coming out of the fan. Is that temp. too high? Do you think the sensor reading from Everest is reliable? I am thinking of opening it again and attempting to remove the film however do not want to do all that unless necessary as the Thinkpad is running fine.

3. On 2 occassions only, the Thinkpad's trackpoint cursor froze on start however the machine continued to work fine and I was able to attach a PS/2 mouse and continue to work with the mouse. At other times, the trackpoint has worked fine. It is a 600e 2645-4AA. I am a little concerned if temperature is affecting the trackpoint function as the cable goes very close to the plate on the processor. Any thoughts? Do you think I must reopen and at least attempt to remove heatpad film if any? Should I discard the heatpad alltogether even if it looks excellent and apply a lot of thermal grease? As you know the gap to fill is quite large, about 1MM.

Thanks

[clarence]

Found something that might have a bearing on the inability to get recent XP to speedup (non-Grub).

Does this mean anything to you? (From Beatoem's post on page 46 of this thread):

i finally sorted out speedswitch and xp issue,problem layed in microsoft os which could not defy the diff between desktop and notebook cpus power managment requirements,fortunately i didn't trust microsoft and selected intel only ,instead of intel p111 cpu and it now seems to work perfect.

Gilf
My Thinkpad is only a 600e and I have not done any hardware speedstep mod on the CPU board so I did not expect to get the new processor to work at full speed. Still, just as an experiment, I did change the Win XP Intel processor driver as described by Beatoem some time ago as if it would somehow miraculously enable higher speed on the 600e without any speedstep mod on the CPU board. However as expected it did not increase the speed. I am soon upgrading a 600X that started life as a 500MHz PIII. I still do not intend to make the hardware speedstep mod on the new processor board at the first attempt and just test speed with a change of driver. As some 600X mbs are supposed to support speedstep (although generally only those that started as 650 MHz) I may be able to get the higher speed. Let us see.

[fje]

Hi,

I'm trying to upgrade my old (but still working) Thinkpad 600E 2645-550.

I already found in eBay 256 memory DIMMs (low density) that I'm already planning to order.

But I'd like to also take profit of your experience upgrading to a Pentium III processor. Looking into eBay I already found some offers of mobile PIII, but when looking more detailed to them I found that all of them seem to be socket 370 but have different "specs#": SL4CM, SL3VH, SL3NL, SL3XU, SL443, etc. etc.

Does this make any difference at the time of installing them of the 600E ? Is any particular recomendation from you about it?

Additionally, the memory I'm planning to install is the IBM FRU 33L3070 (or OEM equivalent) that is PC100, if I finally succeed to upgrade to a PIII 600/650 would I be able to install and run PC133 memories?

Finally, I tried to have a look to all this topic, that has very valuable info in some of the posts, but it is rather long and difficult to follow at all its length, is there any particular posts I should look at in order to have the detailed path to do the upgrades? Is there any way to print the full topic (easier to read for me?)

Thanks !

[clarence]

Fje

You need to make certain that the Mobile PIII processor that you are buying is a MMC-2 type packaging. This is reflected in the name of the processor which should be for example Intel Mobile Pentium III 800 MHz MMC-2 Processor. This processor comes on a what is called a CPU card which is a complete assembly of the CPU, some bridge components that would otherwise be on the motherboard and metal plates over the CPU that make contact with the heat sink. You cannot see or pull out the CPU (processor chip). It is soldered onto the card and the whole card is sold as a part. You replace this whole card in the Thinkpad 600e or 600x.

I do not know how to print the whole topic in this forum however there is invaluable information everywhere. Suggest a patient, but full read. As you read you will find the references to some sites where condensed tutorials are available. Also, the IBM Thinkpad 600e Hardware Maintenance Manual is a must. This can be downloaded from the Lenovo website. All the best!

[fje]

Clarence, thanks.

I'll try to find out if the MMC-2 is marked in the processor name....

And regarding to have a look to the full topic, you are right, there is very valuable info on it, I'll try to read 4 pages at least per day )))

Any other cue regarding the other questions (PC133 memory with PIII)?

Rgds.

[clarence]

Fje

I will try to answer just your memory question in brief however as you have acknowledged it is best to read the entire thread as there are many cross connected issues while upgrading a Thinkpad's processor.

1. The type of memory that will work with a particular Thinkpad may depend on the original motherboard model as some older 600e models appear to have more limited memory support as their bus speed appears to be hard wired to 66 MHz and does not automatically appear to change to 100 MHz when a PIII MMC-2 processor is installed which has 100MHz FSB and the circuitry on the CPU card directs the motherboard to switch to 100 MHz FSB.

2. However, these models are probably more rare and most models, once updated with the latest bios, appear to support 100 MHz memory modules (or 100 MHz compliant 133 MHz modules) and up to a total of 544MB (32MB on board+ 256MB + 256MB) provided they are LOW DENSITY modules as described in point 4 below.

3. Please check the Lenovo site for the latest bios update for your motherboard model. In general, while CPU upgrades can be done without the latest bios, many issues, particularly large memory issues, are avoided by having the latest bios before attempting any upgrade. As you know you must excercise all the care while updating the bios per Lenovo site as an improper update process can cause the motherboard to die.

4. In a Thinkpad 600e that I have experience with, which is a 2645-4AA with bios version INET36WW, date 20 Nov 1999, (the latest available for this model), 256MB Micron memory modules MT16LSDF3264HY-13E or what appears to be its Crucial equivalent CT32M64S4W7E.16FGY seem very stable, the Micron web site data sheet indicates 4K refresh rate, 100-133MHz compliance and 2-3 CAS latency support. These modules have 16 chips on them. Although this by itself does not indicate low density, together with their refresh rate spec. of 4K, from everything I have read, that makes them low density. I also understand that unlike 600x, which supports CAS Latency 3, CAS latency 2 support is needed for 600e at bus speeds of 100MHz or greater which these modules have.

5. Finally, most people's experience, including mine, on this forum appears to indicate that on 600e, after upgrading the processor from a PII to a PIII, their original on board 32MB memory module continued to perform fine at the 100MHz bus speed although it is an original 66MHz memory part. However, a few people did have problems which were resolved by disabling the on board memory and making do with the rest, which can be maximum 512MB.

6. Sharedoc's instructions on editing the 600e bios using the IBM provided bios editor which are at the bottom of page 1 and top of page 2 of this thread are critical to absorb before attempting any upgrade. They cover the disabling of the L2 cache, and if required, the disabling of the on board memory, for the 600e.

All the best.

[clarence]

Fje

As your Thinkpad 600e model appears to be one of the oldest, annouce date September 1998, please excercise extra care before assuming anything about bus speed support to 100MHz. Probably best to check the forum for posts from other users of this model who have been able to, or otherwise, make the motherboard function at 100MHz without any hardware modifications.

A possible grey area may be that even for a given model such as 2645-550, forum members experience may not appear to be uniform, leading us to wonder if the same motherboards were used in all machines with this model number or if the oldest production models had 66MHz hard wired motherboards. Therefore, finally some experimentation with a PIII processor may be the only way to find out.

[fje]

Clarence:

Thanks a lot for your answer....

I'll try step-by-step and will feedback this forum with my findings. For the time being I'm trying to find the appropiate processor, what it is not easy, I found several of them in eBay, but most of the vendors don't ship out of USA and the ones that do have a shipping cost much higher than the processor cost.

Thanks again and best regards.

[clarence]

Fje
I am sure there may be lots and lots of sites selling MMC-2 processors with pictures, on ebay and elsewhere. You may want to put something like "ebay store + MMC-2" in google. There are suppliers there offering full pictures and even fixed price deals.

[fje]

Clarence:

Thanks, you were too fast in answering my "also too fast" last update (thanks for it indeed!).

In fact, if you look to it, I had already edited it and deleted my question about MMC-2 pictures because I went into google images and found many of them...

Thanks again and I commit to maintain this forum updated with my findings and experiences.

regards