IBM Thinkpad 600E bios mod for processor update

Don't ask how to hack password. (BIOS Passwords)
Sharedoc
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Pincellone,

Congratulations for finding a 850MHz CPU, they are difficult to find.

SpeedStep ASIC is 724661-002. Cut folio coming out from pin 4 top-right (around 1400 hours). Cut before the first dot.

Then on other side connect north end of R1 to +end of C13 with a 2.2k resistor.
pincellone
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Sharedoc,

Thank you very much for your support. I'm a true newbie and I would really appreciate if somebody could show your mod on the pictures that I posted in order to prevent any error.

With regard to the processor, I bought it on Ebay, I believe there are still a few of them available for sale.
zandirgator
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What will you use the ASM code for?
Williham
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Hey im just wondering, you guys are all upgrading your laptops from pentium 2 366 up to way higher speed pentium 3s. What are you doing for cooling? cus i would have thought that a pentium 3 850mhz would not last long on a pentium 2 366mhz cooler, and you cant usualy shove a bigger hsf into a laptop because of space!
Williham
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Also would any of these mods work on a thinkpad 770Z?
Sharedoc
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Zandirgator,

I am writing this ASM program for the purpose of teaching assembly language programming to students.
Sharedoc
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Williham,
P3's run cooler than P2's, so no big problems with cooling unless you overclock a lot.

As far as I remember 770Z can be updated to P3. See page 2 (Pkiff)
Williham
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Awesome!
Thank you! 8)
squink
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First of all, thanks to everyone on this board. You've inspired me in so many ways with the ideas that we can modify and upgade our laptops. How sharedoc figured this out in the first place is absolutely beyond me, but I digress.


I've been making some modifications to my pad. Infact I've contructed a small unit (well, a set of units connected by wires) which replaces the modem card with a Ethernet port, Bluetooth and a usb hub to control these. With a little (ok, a lot) of modification to the boards, these sit happily under he left side speaker bezel - on top of the hard disk enclosure.

This is all good and well and works. At least I think it does- it worked on when I plugged it into a desktop. I've attached this to the board by severing the usb connectors on the port, and routing the usb to the hub, and then back to the port.


Anyhow. I have a problem which needs to be diagnosed :)

I installed an 850 PIII chip this weekend. I also applied the speedstep and 8% mods. I also removed the pins from the Docking port, and then abandoned that project shortly after. I guess there's more airflow now, though.

When I first turned it on, the fan span up, but nothing happened. I figured this was because it wasn't all screwed back together, so I did that. Turned it on. same thing happened.

So i switched the CPU back to the old one. Turned it on. Nothing. No fan, no beep, no screen.

Which I'd put down to being a busted system board, except - after about 20 seconds, the hard disk begins to spin up. It occured to me earlier that I might have set the audio to mute before I started this mod, and hence I can't hear the beeps, so I'm going to reattach the keyboard and try turning the volume up, just incase.

However. The fan doesn't spin up. The processor seems to warm, though.

Anyone got any ideas, or did I completely fry my system board (yes yes, it was a risk worth taking!)?



Also, the usb combo unit thing.. it's really cute. If I can get this all up and running, and prove i works, I'll post a guide. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants builtin ethernet and bluetooth (and one other usb device of your choice... wifi?).
Sharedoc
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Squink,

I think the bios post beep codes are not muted by any sound controls, but they may be muted if the keyboard cable is not connected.

Look forward to reading more about your USB hub devevelopment. I am in a need of one more USB socket in my 600E.

Difficult to say what went wrong with the motherboard/processor combo. If you have an old processor, try it. Then if you have some other mainboard, try you P3 on it to find if it is still ok.

It is good practise to test that everything works between any phase of making modifications. Then you always know what to undo to recover from faulty system. At least you know what caused failure so you learn.
squink
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Thanks for the prompt reply, Sharedoc

I had another play around with the board last night, and after finally removing the 850 CPU (one of the screw tops has been mangled... which is odd, since I didn't do that. And I know the cats don't have opposable thumbs so...), I stuck the old 400 back in.

The good news is, nothing changed. I say good news because that infers - to me at least, that it's the board and not the shiney new P3 chip.

Next step for me will be ordering a new systemboard and hoping for the best.

How tolerant to heat are the surface-mount components? I fear this may have been caused by the soldering iron... [I'm certainly no professional electrical engineer or anything.. I'm a coder ;)]

In the meantime I may work on refining my USB device into something a bit more presentable.
Sharedoc
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It is not the heat that kills but spinoffs of tin or metal that cause electric shorts somewhere. Also applying force to the mainboard may twist it and cause fractures in the PCB wiring.

My 750MHz MMC2-PCB has somewhere internal fracture, so it works unreliably in car environment where there is vibration. I can still use it in home use.
squink
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Ah hah. I also noticed the board, when plugged in, makes an almost too-high-frequency-to-hear whistle, going from high pitch to a lower inaudible pitch. It goes

Code: Select all

"WWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEE EEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
Not sure if that's of any relevance.. There was definitely a lot of tin wire shavings around at the time - that sounds like a very likely explanation.
der_fette_fuerst
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Hey guys

after i got my p3 500 and it only ran on 330Mhz cause the FSB is hardwired on MY TP i bought a celeron 433 on ebay. So everyone knows the celerons only have 128K L2 Cache and my P2 300 which was originally installed had 512K L2 Cache. So if i change the address 20 in hex editor to anything else than 08, the TP won't boot with the celeron.

So i don't know which value i should put to this location. Of course i can change the value to 08 from originally 00 so L2 Cache is off and then turn it on on windows. But that's not the best way. I thought the celeron 433 is easily to change.

Hope you guys got an answer on that issue....
beatoem
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assuming your running a tp 600e the celeron 433 will work just fine with no hex edit mods needed to run l2 cache,i beleive this is the fastest readily available cpu to run with no hex edit mod needed on the 600e,intel made a 466 celeron but i never ever seen one,nor anyone else i know for that matter,with the 108 fsb mod the 433 will run 466 anyway,as will the 366 run 400 +400 run 433 approximately.
d saint"
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