Another T60 FrankenPad!...Different approach...Pic links

[Peak2Peak]

This version of the T60 FrankenPad takes a slightly different approach to get an Intel GM965 motherboard with GMA x3100 graphics into a T60's chassis with an IPS/FlexView panel... and should you need it, you still get to keep the dedicated Modem module too!

The T60 FrankenPad starts life with several T60 15.0" 4:3 used spares and a shelved spare R61 15.0" 4:3 motherboard – FRU: 42W7822 aka E89382 HannStar J MV-494V-0 [Rockwell – 4 15.0"] which was pulled from R61 model type: 8944-69G – AFAIK these R61 model types were generally available to European customers/markets.
R61 Motherboard FRU
R61 Motherboard top side
R61 Motherboard bottom side

Placing the R61 motherboard over the bottom of T60's structure frame revealed that most of the motherboard's screw holes (as far as I could see at this stage) seemed to near enough line up with the structure frame's screw holes – but due to an obstructing inductor topside it did not allow a flush fit against the structure frame.
R61 Motherboard – Obstructing Inductor

Also by holding the motherboard lightly against the structure frame and turning it over topside showed that the structure frame would need to be cut to allow the Keyboard, Back up Battery & Palmrest connectors access to the R61's motherboard.

Part-1

The first modification to the structure frame required the T60's lower interposer screw post to be cut away and grounded down to allow clearance for inductor and also for the motherboard to sit flush against the structure frame.
With the motherboard now resting against the structure frame and viewing the fit from several angles and through the ultrabay, all of the other redundant interposer screw posts and the single top alignment interposer post were ground down to allow clearance from any nearby motherboard surface tracks/pads/connections/components etc.
T60 Structure Frame Interposer screw posts
(See also "T60 Structure Frame Cut – View from Bottom – Close Up" picture link below showing the interposer screw posts grounded down)

With R61's motherboard temporary mounted onto the structure frame with a few holding screws, it was found that two screw holes (under where the battery sits) which on a T60 motherboard allows it to be secured to the structure frame was covered by black tape on the R61's motherboard and needed to be opened/punched through – this was achieved with a 3mm drill bit
R61 Motherboard – Black Tape Unpunched
R61 Motherboard – Black Tape Punched

Also two screws which goes through from the motherboard to DVD/CDRW connector block to the structure frame did not fully align with the structure frame. - (This was seen clearly by looking through from the bottom of motherboard screw hole pads to DVD/CDRW connector block to the structure frame in strong light)

Thinking it through one way to allow near/closer alignment is to widen the existing motherboard screw hole pads and DVD/CDRW connector block holes, this could prove fatal as there could be the possibility of cutting through hidden internal tracks if present and also any unwanted excess pressure to the DVD/CDRW connector block mounting could somehow damage it too!
Taking a risk it was decided to SLOWLY and VERY CAREFULLY drill through the two motherboard screw hole pads approx 1.5mm in depth, then drill from the top of the DVD/CDRW connector block mounting holes down through to the motherboard using a hand drill, first with a 2.5mm drill bit and then a 3mm drill bit – Although a little tight, the screws were able to be secured into the structure frame.
R61 Motherboard – DVD/CDRW Connector Block widened/drilled
R61 Motherboard – Screw Hole Pads widened/drilled

Part-2

The next job was to cut away the unwanted metal from structure frame to allow the Keyboard and Back up Battery connectors (which were completely covered) & Palmrest connector access to the R61's motherboard – This was done carefully with a Dremel which took close to an hour as I am not a Dremel expert and yes this was my first time using one –
T60 Structure Frame Cut – View from Top
T60 Structure Frame Cut – View from Top - Close Up
T60 Structure Frame Cut – View from Bottom
T60 Structure Frame Cut – View from Bottom – Close Up

Now with the R61's motherboard re-screwed down to the structure frame, it was found that when a stick of RAM was placed into the lower RAM slot, it was unable to reach the retaining clips – this was made good by very carefully hand filing along the lower inside of structure frame – Note: this part of the structure although seems solid is thin, hence care was taken to not apply heavy excessive file strokes!
T60 Structure Frame lower inside filing to allow fitment of lower stick of RAM

Finally with the R61 motherboard competely and fully screwed down to structure frame, the whole assembly was now lowered into the T60's base cover to check screw alignment with the structure frame – Once again the only screw that did not align was one that needed to pass from the base cover through the motherboard to DVD/CDRW connector block to the structure frame (which was already widened as per above) – this was fixed by carefully drilling the base cover screw hole with a 3mm drill bit which still retained much of the internal shoulder of the screw hole to allow the screw to be tightened against.

One of the palm rest base cover screw holes was blocked due to motherboard covering it – therefore making only three screws available to the palm rest from the base cover

The motherboard was also visable through one of the base cover docking station holes - a piece black insulation tape was placed onto the motherboard as a precaution just in case the dock station pin should short or damage any of the motherboard's pads/tracks/connections when attached.
T60 Base Cover
T60 Base Cover – Blocked Palm Rest screw hole & Docking Station hole with insulation tape already applied to motherboard
T60 Base Cover – Blocked Palm Rest screw hole covered with an LCD adhesive screw cap
R61 Motherboard – insulation taped applied and shaped to motherboard contour

Part-3

With the R61 motherboard attached to structure frame and mounted within the T60's base cover, the following components were installed to complete the FrankenPad:
T7300 CPU & T60 heatsink assembly
2 x 2GB sticks of RAM & Back up battery
Modem & WiFi module
LCD assembly with UXGA BOE-hydis IPS/FlexView panel
Keyboard, Palmrest, HDD assembly, DVD/CDRW drive & Main Battery

>>> T60 FrankenPad completed <<<

The FrankenPad fired up ok with no prob's -


Additional info:
At all times during alignment and fitting of the motherboard with the structure frame, extreme care was taken to thoroughly brush off and blow away any excess metal filings/swarf so as to prevent any shorts - ESD precautions were also taken.

The Palm rest seems to be secured ok with just three screws

The following ports are not compatible with the T60's chassis and therefore redundant from the R61's motherboard: S-Video & Mini FireWire assembly.

No IR port is available as per the T60 motherboard's as the R61 motherboards does not support one.

Middleton's BIOS has been applied so as to allow non-whitelisted WiFi cards and enable SATA II 3.0Gb/s throughput for a future SSD upgrade – No plans for a Penryn upgrade (if supported) for now .

This FrankenPad runs flawlessly and is quiet too! - Recommended -


Apologies if this post is a little long winded, but it is hoped that it gives an alternative insight to creating a T60 FrankenPad with an IPS/FlexView panel and spare R61/R61i 15.0" 4:3 Intel GM965 motherboard.

Of course an easier method is just to find a R61/R61i 4:3 15.0" (Model types: 8942 – 8949) and just replace the existing LCD panel with a 15.0" IPS/FlexView

[rumbero]

Wow! Congratulations!

Thanks a lot for this "long winded" post, as this very detailed report will enable other people to follow your amazing example. Very appreciated!

[TuuS]

Thank you much for this... I just got another T60p and was considering converting it... so now I can look for either the R or T 61 board... since the T61 in 4:3 is not common, this opens more options.

What I'd like to see is a way to get a 15.4" widescreen T61 board in a T60 flexview. Pretty sure that won't happen, or at least not without a lot of cutting, and potentially no ultrabay. I haven't compared the parts though, only that even if you mangaged to mount the board, the ultrabay would stick out almost an inch... you just can't shorten a printed circuit board... lol unfortunately


Thanks again peak2peak

[Peak2Peak]

rumbero & TuuS - Many thanks for your kind words - very much appreciated -

IMHO the R61/R61i 15.0" 4:3 models are just as hard to get hold of 2nd hand, have only come across three over the last year!

[ajkula66]

Great work...I admit that I would've taken the easy way out, but kudos to you for going around the bend...

[portsample]

Now this is my kind of mod.
Way to go.
Nice work, nice documentation so that others may follow.

[dozer]

Now this is my kind of mod.
Way to go.
Nice work, nice documentation so that others may follow.

indeed...well said.

I much prefer so-called "long-winded" posts which give complete (and coherent! ) details.

Thanks Peak !

ps; I'd never even thought of just starting with an R61 and sticking a t60-uxga lid on it! I suppose that, since I've seen "no t61 ever made in 15" 4:3" so many times, I just kind of generalized the thought to "no 61 series".

What does one really 'lose' with an R-series vs. T-series?

[dozer]

hmm....I'm sure this has been asked before...or at the very least, thought of and looked into by some sharp member...but to save me an hour of searching over slow dialup...

How close are the sizes of a T61 14" widescreen base...and a t60 uxga lid? And the hinge locations?

any way in h*ll?.....or no way a'tall?

hey, JB-weld is STRONG !!

[ajkula66]

hmm....I'm sure this has been asked before...or at the very least, thought of and looked into by some sharp member...but to save me an hour of searching over slow dialup...

How close are the sizes of a T61 14" widescreen base...and a t60 uxga lid? And the hinge locations?

any way in h*ll?.....or no way a'tall?

hey, JB-weld is STRONG !!

No way no how...

[dozer]

No way no how...

ok...thanks ajkula

[drrossum]

Nice build, Peak2Peak!

Have you ever tried to install a penryn cpu? Do you know if this 42W7822 board with Middleton bios does support penryn cpus? I have such a board myself and am considering to try if there's a chance of success...

Thanks,
Daan

[RealBlackStuff]

That 42W7822 board supports Penryn natively, even without M's BIOS.

[drrossum]

Hmm, just inserted a Penryn (T6670, fsb 800 MT/s, socket P) into my 42W7822 board, no post...

RealBlackStuff, I know (from your posts) that your the expert. Could you do me and other 42W7822 owners a favor and shed some light on what CPUs this board is capable of dealing with?

Much appreciated,
Daan

[ajkula66]

Wrong CPU for that board. None of the 6xxx series are supported.

T8100/8300/9300/9500 are.

[drrossum]

Awesome!
Thanks!

[drrossum]

Just put in a T8100, didn't post either. This was a slayp (M0 Stepping). Is this perhaps the wrong stepping? Does it need to be a C0 stepping instead? Or does the 42W7822 board not take penryn cpus after all?

Did anyone get this to work?

[RealBlackStuff]

There seem to be a few (like 5!) versions of T8100 around, most with Stepping M0 and C0.
AFAIK the stepping is rather irrelevant (M being the newest).
Put your old CPU back in, then apply the latest Lenovo (or rather Middleton's) BIOS, then put the Penryn back in.
Your mobo definitely supports it, but BIOS may have an influence there.
All mobos starting with 42W78xx support Penryn.

[TuuS]

First thing to do is put the original cpu back in and pray it boots. I don't see any obvious reason for any T8100 to not work so my first thought is that other cpu may have fried something if it wasn't designed for that board. If it does fit, follow RBS advice and try updating the bios, but please let the machine run for a few hours and check all your temperatures, it's never a good idea to put a machine together and immediately flash the bios, you could kill a board that way if it crashed due to anything like poorly seated chip/ram/hdd/cable/etc, or thermal shutdown.

Be careful and Good luck

[drrossum]

Thanks Tuus, RBS, and ajkula66 for your help!

I put the old cpu back, it's still working...

This is the R61 8943-A31 mainboard, with 15" 4x3 non-wide screen (man, I like this model!).

I already had the Middleton bios loaded. On the Middleton bios page the 'Thermal Sensing' fix is marked as 'N/A' for this model, whatever that may mean:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443

I know (from your posts) that you guys have modded tons of tp. Have you ever had success with this particular model?

Thanks,
Daan

[ajkula66]

I know (from your posts) that you guys have modded tons of tp. Have you ever had success with this particular model?

Thanks,
Daan

I honestly don't believe that any of us has seen a machine like that in person. You have a very rare, Europe-only, non-widescreen R61. Would LOVE to grab one for myself.

The only other forum member who actually owns one of these is Peak2Peak - at least to the best of my knowledge. He might have some additional info that we're lacking here.

Throw in an IPS FlexView screen (a must!), a X7900 CPU and call it a day if you can't get a Penryn to work...

[Peak2Peak]

ajkula66, portsample, dozer & drrossum - Thank you for your kind posts -

Unfortunately this FrankenPad was shelved after the pic's were taken for the original post earlier this year due to the complete LCD assembly been taken for a family members T60.

In response to Daan (drrossum) & Georges (ajkula66) posts - I have married up the FP base to a spare T60 XGA LCD assembly to see if this R61 MB (894x) supports a Penryn T8100 (SLAYP) CPU - I can confirm that both with the official Lenovo BIOS & Middleton BIOS the FP does not start up (LCD remains blank, but the Power on, Batt, AC power status & HDD LED's lit-up OK).

It seems that BIOS support maybe required for Penryn support and for now you are limited to the Merom T7xxx Socket P CPU's.

[umhhmm]

VERY IMPRESSIVE lot of work ?

[ilakast]

In response to Daan (drrossum) & Georges (ajkula66) posts - I have married up the FP base to a spare T60 XGA LCD assembly to see if this R61 MB (894x) supports a Penryn T8100 (SLAYP) CPU - I can confirm that both with the official Lenovo BIOS & Middleton BIOS the FP does not start up (LCD remains blank, but the Power on, Batt, AC power status & HDD LED's lit-up OK).

It seems that BIOS support maybe required for Penryn support and for now you are limited to the Merom T7xxx Socket P CPU's.

Strange that the 42W7822 could not take the T8100 whereas the 42W7791 took a T9300. I found a 42W7822 on ebay and if it ends in my hands I will try to investigate the Penryn support.

[Peak2Peak]

Due to renewed interest with a recent posting by forum member ilakast - I decided put this FrankenPad back together which has been shelved since Sept 2012 and have another look into this scenario with this R61i Type 894x - Motherboard FRU:42W7822 not supporting Penryn CPU's (T8100/T8300/T9300/T9500).

As I mentioned in a previous post, my thinking was that some sort of BIOS support maybe required for Penryn CPU's - So knowing the possibility of bricking the MB - I tried each one of the Middleton modded BIOS's for the R61/R61i Widescreen models via WINUPTP.exe - Version's 2.23-1.08, 2.24-1.08 & 2.29-1.08 - and as expected all BIOS updates were refused by the installer.

So my next thought was just to flash the BIOS with just the .FL1 file via the WinPhlash utility - chose version 2.24-1.08 to test - The following warning message was displayed:

"Part ID of system BIOS and new Image File are different (System=7QET42WW, file=7KET9WW)
The System Platform may be different from the Image file. Are you sure you want to proceed?"

Clicked "Yes" and watched as the BIOS update proceeded and completed OK - the system then restarted, I hit F1 to enter the BIOS utility and confirm that the BIOS had updated from version 1.24 to 2.24 - pressed ESC and booted into windows with no probs

Next requirement was to swap out the existing T7500 Merom CPU with a T8100 Penryn CPU - SUCCESS! - Penryn support confirmed!- The FrankenPad booted into windows OK


Notes & observations:

After BIOS update IEEE 1394 FireWire bus is disabled which of course is not required for this FrankenPad
With Middleton modded BIOS version 2.29-1.08 - unable to flash .FL1 or .FL2 with WinPhlash utility - error message received

I also have an R61i 4:3 - Type 8943-DSG - same MB FRU as above - was able to update BIOS version as per above for Penryn support and also update the EC from version 1.00 to 1.08 with .FL2, WinPhlash utility and the removal both power sources (battery & mains adapter) - However I have NOT been able to update the EC on this FrankenPad applying the same procedure

I hope that this project has now reached fruition - Sorry for the delay!

[lojo]

Hi guys,

I've just joined this forum as I've been searching the net in the last 2 days to figure out if my lenovo r61 could be upgraded with a Penryn CPU. The model is 8943-DMG mobo FRU is 42W7822.
On all websites I read that it's not possible except for the post above .. Peak2Peak do you think that following your procedure my laptop would work with a T9300 / T9500 as well?

Also could you clarify the upgade process as I'm not sure which was the base BIOS version that you upgraded with the FL1 file? Did you first install middleton FW 1.24-1.00?

Has maybe someone else tried this as well?

Cheers

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the forum.
Looks like you have the rare 15" 4:3 R61.
First apply Middleton's BIOS before you put in the new CPU: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443
Then put in a T9300.
T9500 is overpriced and hardly worth the extra 0.1GHz.

[lojo]

Thanks.
I've upgraded the FW to 1.24 already but I'm a bit reluctant to proceed.. Obviously I don't want to brick my laptop. Anyway I've opened a new topic on this as it's not 100% related to the original post.

Cheers

[kkk]

First apply Middleton's BIOS before you put in the new CPU: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443
Then put in a T9300.

Obviously, this won't make his board able to run Penryn CPU. That's exactly what are the last posts of this thread about - how to make these boards capable. So, lojo, You have two options - either go Peak2Peak's way, or wait for BIOS update with supported CPU codes, because I think that these R61s doesn't support them by default - if you look at the Parts list table with available CPUs in R60/R61 standard screen HMM, there are only Memron's generation 800Mhz bus listed, but the widescreen R61s' HMM states that Penryns are available for them. And I think that's why Peak2Peak was able to run T8100 on his mainboar - just 2.24 has codes for that CPU, it's not some motherboard issue or somethink.
RBS, why do you say that 42W7822 is Penryn board? I also have that same 42W7822, updated with middleton BIOS, and expectedly wasn't able to run T9500 - just got a black screen with power and AC LEDs on and fan turned off after few seconds. I din't try it before the BIOS update, but I doubt it would be successful. Now I am working on my idea for CPU support upgrade, but it takes time as I don't have experience.
Btw, I also didn't get it exactly which files from which BIOS Peak2Peak uses (if it's 2.24 for R61 15.4 widescreen, than why firewire is disabled?), and also find that way risky.

[RealBlackStuff]

42W7822 needs Middleton's 1.24/1.00 BIOS, as M himself states.

Code: Select all

R61 (15" normal screen): 8942, 8943, 8944, 8945, 8947, 8948, 8949
R61i (15" normal screen): 8943	                                             1.24-1.00

What you (kkk) think, and what is the truth, are two different things.

[kkk]

Yes, that's right, me too loaded this particular ver. and my board also is not able to run T9500(slayx) in my case, in other's case some T8100 CPU. And if you look HMM for this model, there isn't any Penryn CPUs listed there. That's why I think that this BIOS doesn't support them - both the original Lenovo 1.24 and the modified one, wich I believe, is based on original.