Mod to force t42 (and possibly earlier versions) to 133fsb.

[Binh]

I tried to use 133fsb method described above, but every time I short 54 and 55 pins I get:
1) Normal windows boot, 100fsb.
2) Windows doesn't boot.
3) Windows blue screen error, different every time like:SOMETHING_BAD_HAS_HAPPENED.

I tried using setfsb, but if I change frequency sound shuts down. RAM works at 133Mhz(Binh, thanks for your guide ).Mb I should underclock other devices before using setfsb?

You are welcome, Marten.
Now, let's make more details about your unsuccessful OC attemp: can you post the config of your laptop ? There are 3 reasons that make failure at 133 fsb mod:
- Processor: if yours processor is Banias or high frequency Dothan (>1.8Ghz, i.e. PM 745) then it is more likely to be the reason.
- Memory: some modules can not work at 178Mhz (when FSB is set to 133 Mhz). But I never saw those modules. Try to check the memory timings to make sure that they have relaxed value.
- Chipset: some (rare) old 855PM chipset can not work at 133 Mhz FSB.
For eliminating the CPU as the reason of failure, you can set it frequency to Maximum Battery in the BIOS.

As for SetFSB, you are lucky that your laptop has CY28346ZI-2 PLL chip. But using SetFSB you are expected to get only about 10% overclock due to the fact that Sound and LAN controllers on 855PM chipset can not get higher FSB.

[Marten]

My CPU is 1.8 Dothan. Using setfsb I set 120Mhz fsb and memory worked at 200Mhz, so, I think, the reason is not in the memory. In BIOS I set CPU to fixed slow.

[Binh]

My CPU is 1.8 Dothan. Using setfsb I set 120Mhz fsb and memory worked at 200Mhz, so, I think, the reason is not in the memory. In BIOS I set CPU to fixed slow.

If the laptop can pass BIOS test then I think the problem is most likely due to un-overclockability of the chipset (i.e. the north bridge). If that, I am sorry to say that there is noway to overclock except for using software like SetFSB.
I am just curious, is your laptop hang up after changing FSB by using SetFSB several times repetitively ?

[Marten]

I am just curious, is your laptop hang up after changing FSB by using SetFSB several times repetitively ?

It is. Every time I change fsb rate it becomes slower and slower.
And another couple of questions:

T42p 2378-RVU UXGA 1.7@2.45GHz@1.404v

How did you do that? Using setfsb or other software? Also, I can't set voltage higher than 1.34v (I use RMClock), is it different in "p" models?
Thanks.

[Binh]

It is. Every time I change fsb rate it becomes slower and slower.

For Marten and those that use SetFSB: If you experience a problem when using SetFSB several times without restart (for example, after standby or hibernation the laptop will restore default FSB and thus you may want to change it again using SetFSB), there is a workaround:
In BIOS, go to Power options and change PCI Bus Power management from Automatic to Disable. That's all you need to do !

I've emailed Abo - the author of SetFSB, and he may include this workaround in the readme file of new versions.

And another couple of questions:
T42p 2378-RVU UXGA 1.7@2.45GHz@1.404v: How did you do that? Using setfsb or other software? Also, I can't set voltage higher than 1.34v (I use RMClock), is it different in "p" models?
Thanks.

I pin mod it to 2.26Ghz (stable at 1.276v)
After that I use SetFSB to set FSB to 144Mhz and pin moded Vid2 to get 1.404v. You can dig into voltage mod here.

off: Marten, I studied for 8 years at Moscow State Mining University. So, Privet from Hanoi

[Marten]

In BIOS, go to Power options and change PCI Bus Power management from Automatic to Disable. That's all you need to do !

Thanks, it really works!

I pin mod it to 2.26Ghz (stable at 1.276v)
After that I use SetFSB to set FSB to 144Mhz and pin moded Vid2 to get 1.404v. You can dig into voltage mod here.

Thanks a lot for the info, it may prove useful and the guide is awesome!

off:Binh, privet from SPb

[jiopsi]

Tried the wire mod, mine didn't boot up. Are the pins in same order in ICS950810 that in CY28346ZI-2? http://galeria.oneit.info/album/Seb/fsb133mod1.jpg

I have T40 2373 with 735 Dothan and two (512MB/256MB) DDR333 memory modules. I have to still try with one module and/ or swap them to rule them out of equation.

[Marten]

Did you set your RAM frequency to 133Mhz? Try doing it according to Binh's guide. BTW, if your set some wrong values and your notebook don't boot, put this RAM module inside after boot and restore original settings.

[jiopsi]

Yeah I used Binh's guide, succesfully flashed memory to forced 133. Just curious are the pins in same order in both clock generators.

[jiopsi]

Nobody knows?

[Binh]

Just curious are the pins in same order in both clock generators.

Yes. The pins are the same for ICS and Cypress. I tested both (ICS on T41 and Cypress on T42p).
If the pins are different, then they are not interchangeable, what requires two motherboard versions for each model of thinkpad !!!

[horacelau]

Any of you using two 1GB modules with this mod? If so, what kind of timings are you using to make this work?

If I have 2x1GB, the system hangs. If I replace one of the modules with a 256MB or 512MB, it works fine. I've tried both 6-3-3-2.5 and 7-3-3-2.5 but neither seem to solve the hang problem.

[masterjet]

Hi all!
I have i t41 banias 1.6 with ICS 950810, SetFSB didn't work so i used the pinmode.
With 1gb ddr 400 and 256 ddr 333 the system hang at password prompt or couple of minutes later. Flashed the ram to 266, but that didn't solve the problem.
Boot in safe mode pc frec is 2.12

I also tried to boot with normal freq on ram and with each ram separately.

What it could be? Maybe laggy windows?


P.S. crashed my battery...

[Binh]

Hi all!
I have i t41 banias 1.6 with ICS 950810, SetFSB didn't work so i used the pinmode.

The 1.6Ghz Banias can not work at 2.13Ghz. That is the problem, IMO.

[TribesMan]

Sorry for bringing this old thread up, but I just did this mod on my 5 years old T42 with 1.8 Pentium M Dothan CPU. It runs OK, but it has some stability problems at 2.4GHz (18x133MHz) at stock voltages. It crashes after about 10 minutes runing Prime95. I tried runing it at multiplier 17 and it works flawlessly at 2.26GHz. Even at lower voltages than stock. I tried raising core voltage at multiplier 18, but there is one small problem. Rightmark CPU utility does not allow to raise the CPU voltage above max stock voltage (1.34V). Is there any solution for that problem? I would really like to run this CPU at 2.4GHz.
I use DDR400 memory (2x1GB) and I can easily run it at 222MHz with CAS 2.5. So there was no need to lower the speed of RAM using SPD tool. I ran memtest in windows 7 to test memory stability.

I benchmarked the laptop before and after and there is a noticable improvment. Using passmark performance benchmark the system score went from 328 points to 415 points with 2.4GHz, or 400 points with 2.26GHz CPU. There is also noticable improvement in speed of the laptop in daily use.

[Raceboy]

Nice to hear! How about temperatures? And what VGA card your T42 has, 7500 or 9600?

[TribesMan]

No problems with temperatures, because I replaced the thermal pad on the CPU with thermal grease a few years ago. Around 75°C at full load.

Mine has a R9600.

[PuuFa]

I know this is an old topic already but I would really use some advice if someone knows better. I tried both of these methods (shorting FS1 & FS0 / FS1 & VDDREF) on T40 with absolutely no effect that I could see. The CPU still runs at the stock frequency, everything seems to work just like before the mod and I can't figure out how can it be possible. The model is 2373-22G all original except an additional 1Gb pc2700 ram (the original 256Mb pc2100 chip is still in place) and I tried with different memory configurations with no effect. CPU is the original 1.3GHz Banias...could this be the problem? I can't see why it would be but I'm really running out of ideas.

Also is it safe to leave the pins shorted when they don't seem to have any effect?

[Tycho]

I just did this over the weekend on my T42 with a 1.7 Dothan. The BIOS still reports a 1.7 GHz chip, as does windows, but windows says something like Dothan 1.7 ... 2.26 GHz. CPU-Z also reports it correctly.

I had PC3200 dimms, had to change the SPD on one of them to PC2100 so it runs at 172 MHz instead of 221. It wouldn't boot at 221 (low grade PC3200 apparently).

I would suspect that if you had successfully shorted those two pins on the clock generator your PC2700 would not have been able to post. See what CPU-Z says tho, then if you have a digital multimeter check to see that those pins are actually shorted.

[PuuFa]

I just did this over the weekend on my T42 with a 1.7 Dothan. The BIOS still reports a 1.7 GHz chip, as does windows, but windows says something like Dothan 1.7 ... 2.26 GHz. CPU-Z also reports it correctly.

Interesting... Is this the case with everyone? Anyways this laptop is running Lubuntu Linux and I used cat /proc/cpuinfo to check the frequency and it reports 1300MHz under load and 600MHz idle just like before. Should I check with something else? Bios reports 1.3GHz and the system boots just fine even if I remove the pc2100 which makes me pretty sure that something is not right. The pins are definitely shorted (I even did it with solder to be sure). I hate to give up but now I don't know what else to do

Could there be so big differences in these very old planars? I don't think so but I just can't explain why it doesn't work for me as it seems.

[Tycho]

There's a possibility that the chipset is getting the FSB clock from somewhere else, or that it's internally sourcing it off the PCI bus (which does not change speed when you short those two pins). The clocks have to be synchronized somewhere, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of them come from the same chip (as they do on the T42).

[ajkula66]

@PuuFa:

I'd be willing to bet that the issue is related to your Banias CPU. Pick up a cheap Dothan and see what happens...

Good luck.

[PuuFa]

Alright, I bought a 1.5GHz Dothan from ebay.co.uk for a reasonable £1.5 so after a few days I can report if the old Banias was the issue.

In the first place I only paid 5 Euros for the whole laptop so the investment was not very big and this thing really is performing surprisingly well under Linux, even with the very slow original 40Gb disk. My wife uses it for school and internet surfing and the only thing she complains is that some 480p Youtube videos are a bit laggy in full screen. Not badly at all but especially in some fast clips it's certainly skipping some frames so I hope to fix this by getting some more CPU bandwith.

[PuuFa]

I got this thing somewhat working. I don't know exactly what caused the problem in the first place but I guess cleaning the dirty motherboard had some effect, or maybe Linux was reporting incorrect MHz for some reason. I installed Windows 7 for testing as I'm not so familiar with Linux yet.

So the 1.3GHz Banias started to work at 133fsb but was not 100% stable...every time it froze after a while under prime95 which was quite disappointing. Anyways I got my "new and shiney" 1.5GHz Dothan but again I was out of luck, it sure works on 133fsb but the speedstep doesn't seem to work! It's fixed to the lowest multiplier and setting it to the max from BIOS doesn't have any effect. The only way I could make the speedstep to work is by using RMClock utility which really works and the system is very stable at almost 2GHz but this doesn't feel like a permanent fix...including that it doesn't work in Linux.

BIOS is the latest version available but I could try to reflash to see if it has any effect....any other ideas I could try to make the speedstep to work?

[Tycho]

Late stepping Dothans do not work properly on T42s (or T40/41s) because the embedded hardware controller does not properly recognize them.

I swapped a Stepping 6 Rev B1 735 SL7EP (Dothan 735) for a Stepping 8 Rev C0 SL8BA (Dothan 735A) as I wanted a non volt boosted 2.26 GHz and it was "stuck" at the low multiplier like you mentioned. Notebook Hardware Control worked a treat on it tho, and automates the process of speed step just about as good as the ThikPad power scheme software.

More info here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=32165

[PuuFa]

Alright...thanks! Wish I had knew about it before buying the chip but maybe it'll be helpful for someone else to mention it here. First I didn't even think there could be such compatibility issue with different steppings.

[Tycho]

I'm in the same boat. At least the chip was less than 5 bucks shipped for me. Hope you didn't pay too much either.

[PuuFa]

Somehow I was suspecting I'm not the only one. I paid total £4 shipped from UK so no big harm done...other than it was almost as much as I paid for the whole laptop!

I guess I will see if I could voltmod the original Banias to make it stable and change back to Linux. For Windows users RMClock/NHC should be a good solution with the wrong stepping CPU but in my case Win7 is a bit too slow on the original hard disk and it also uses much more memory and disk space than Linux.

[barada]

Hi all, I recently found this nice forum and decided to try overclock my T42 to 533fsb, but nothing happens ... the laptop is switched on but the screen does not light up, then nothing happens.
Connect pin54 to pin55 or Connect pin55 to VDDREF not work ... Setfsb can increase only up to a frequency 112Mgz, then falls off a sound card.
There are experienced people who can help me?

IBM T42, machine type 2373-FYG
Pentium M 725 step B1
Chipset i855PM step A3
Ati Radeon 7500
1gb PC3200 \ 256mg PC3200

Thanks.

[sledge_rp]

Dear All,

I'm very late with my oldtimer now. But's never to late, isn't it?

I have a t41p 2774 and would like to tune it up with a M770(133MHz). The problem is that I'm not able to download all relevant posted pictures anymore.

Does anybody has a collection/manual available? This would help a lot.

Thanks in advance!