CAN I UPGRADE MY T41P TO A 2.0gHz 760 M Dothan C0 / 533fsb

[SimSamurai]

Hi folks I have a IBM T41p Thinkpad and I had a stock Pentium M SL6N5 1.7gHz at 400Mhz fsb. which I have upgraded to a SL7SM.

I upgraded the memory from the stock Infineon pc 2700 DDR 512
to a maximum cap of 2gb (2 x 1gb) of Crucial Micron pc2700 DDR
The memory is working fine but am having some CPU issues.

Some details of the original CPU vs. the upgrade :

Proc FSB Watt T.D.P. Cache Socket Volt E.B.D. 1.70 GHz 400 MHz 24.5 W 100 1 MB 478 1.484 V No

Upgraded to :

Proc FSB Watt T.D.P. Cache Socket Volt E.B.D.
2.0 GHz 533 MHz 27 W 100 2 MB 478 1.28-1.4 No

After what I thought would be a simple step up in GHz I have found a few threads on this forum with people having similar problems with the Core Clock running at only a sad 598-600 MHz.
Using the freeware utility CPU-Z it reads what the chip is correctly but is just running at about 25% of what it should be and thus is a quite a step back and certainly not up!

Apparently this issue may be due to the 533fsb and C0 stepping which is different from the original chips 400Mhz fsb and b1 stepping. - can this be updated or adjusted? (or must I scrap?)

My BIOS was previously updated to V 3.23 but I am not sure of the EC version and if this matters. Furthermore do I need to make adjustments to physical jumpers and or tweak the BIOS or CMOS to enable the 2.0 Ghz change as well the 533fsb / C0 stepping?

AND I guess the main Q here is any of this possible or is the change to a 533 / C0 chip non-compatible with T41 motherboard??

In a nutshell I am wanting to upgrade to the most robust 2.0 or 2.1 ghz chip possible as I need to run 2 - 3 robust programs simultaneously. If the answer is just find a 2.0 or 2.1 at 400 / B1 then that's what I'll do (and it looks like the only choice then is the 2.0 755-SL7EL or the 2.1 765-SL7V3 ..both of which are socket 478 and have a 400 mhz fsb .. the SL7EL however also indicates it is Excute Bit Disable capable and I wonder if that is also a better advantage over the 2.1 and again... can the motherboard even make use of E.B.D. ? If so I assume it would be much more advantageous over only a small .1 gain in core MHz.

Anyway ... If I can easily get the 760 SL7SM to work that would be great...as I already screwed it all back together! No big deal to crack it open again but I don't want to make the same mistake X2!

The devil is always in the details isn't it !

If anyone else stumbles onto this problem here are some of the other useful websites and threads that may help get to the goal !


http://processorfinder.intel.com/default.aspx

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/271/3

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... r+settings

Thanks in advance to anyone that can give me a CHECKLIST of all proper downloads, installs, tweaks, adjustments, etc !!!

[Harryc]

Your machine takes a 400Mhz FSB CPU. If you put a 533Mhz FSB CPU in it, it will not run at full speed. (period). Get the right CPU for the machine. A 400Mhz FSB 2.0Ghz Dothan for that machine would be - SL7EM. The correct 2.1Ghz CPU would be - SL7V3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In ... processors

[SimSamurai]

Thanks....after reading some of the other posts that are a few years old I had thought (and hoped) that upgrading the BIOS and Embedded Controller would help accept a 533 Mhz chip but no such luck yet.
Its up and running fine and is faster than before but I guess I will attribute that to the ram upgrade as the processor still appears to be running at a fixed core clock speed of 598 MHz.
I tried playing a few videos and DVD's as another thread had suggested but the speed did not appear to change any as I left the CPU-Z utility up and runnng for verification purposes. On the other side of things I have also installed and verified that I now have the latest sofware updates for the T41p (as of October 2008)

BIOS V 3.23
Embedded Controller V 3.04 (was running 2.04 previously)
Windows XP pro service pack 3
Windows Net Framework 3.0
IBM Think Vantage Upgrade Utility 3.14
CPUID ("CPU-Z") Utility (newest v)

Are you guys SURE there is no BIOS setting or anthing else to adjust to make the chip I have now function or is this 400 Mhz / B1 CPU a static requirement and limitation of the motherboard?

Lastly what about the 400Mhz SL7EL chip that is also Execute Bit Disable capable? (again does the motherboard support this or not and where could I find out more exact specs of the motherboard ability. ... so I don't have to ask any more stupid questions!)

Thanks again for the directional steers!

[ajkula66]

Yes we are POSITIVE that there is no BIOS setting that would make your CPU run at 400Mhz...

[FTC]

SimSamurai,

While it is true that ther is no way you will be able to run your 2Ghz processor at that speed in your T41p, it is also a fact that your processor can work with a multi of 15 (15x133=2.0Ghz), thus running in your system at 15x100=1500. Right now it seems you are only being able to run it at 600Mhz probably because the processor is not recognized by BIOS and it mantains it running at the *minimum* multi (6x). ....(or you have it configured for dynamic switching and the CPU is idle).

So i'd suggest you to load NHC http://www.pbus-167.com/nhc/nhc.htm and verify the multi in use, forcing it to run 15x if necessary. You can also use NHC to undervolt the CPU and a lot other useful things... just do a search in this forum for it.

[SimSamurai]

Thanks for all the help guys. I am just going to order a 2.0ghz SL7EM chip as they are readily available still on Ebay or elsewhere. The 2.1 SL7V3 765 I've found are not worth the extra cost (about $100 more...alot for a .1 jump) and ... I have been unable to even find any SL7EL 2.0 755's and if I did I assume the cost would also be more than its worth.

However I'm still curious if the Execute Bit Disable feature of the SL7EL would have any use or effect in the T41p ..i.e., is this feature something that the motherboard must support or is this used within Windows XP ? Anyone ...?

To the last poster, yes, this has been running at a fixed 598 core speed, a x 6.0 multiplier , BUS speed 99.7 MHz, rated FSB 398.7, and a core VID of a paltry .. 0.700 V (no wonder it's not that hot!)
So thanks for the multiplier changeup tips..maybe I can at least boost this one up a little until the new chip arrives!

Lastly, in addition to the SL7EL Execute Bit Disable question what other Thinkpads will make use of the 2.0 533Mhz SL7SM chip that I have now (in case I upgrade in the future ... T42 ? T60?)

Onwards .... Upwards !

[Harryc]

what other Thinkpads will make use of the 2.0 533Mhz SL7SM chip that I have now (in case I upgrade in the future ... T42 ? T60?)Onwards .... Upwards !

T43's and R52's, possibly a couple of models of R60i's if I recall correctly.

[ajkula66]

As well as some of the Z60 models...NOT Z61.

[SimSamurai]

Again thanks to everyone for the help. I downloaded and installed the NHC - Notebook Hardware Controller - and enabled the Dynamic Switching feature on both AC & DC for 10x to 15x - Is that dynamic setup ok for both AC & DC?

She runs idle now at 1.00 GHz and bounces up to 1.5 as needed. - and a voltage of 1.148 - certainly better than 598Mhz and will suffice until the 2.0 SL7EM arrives.

I actually got this T41p from my wife. She had got it from a clients company who were about to just trash it. For about $200 in CPU & memory upgrades and alot of updating in the software I think this is a pretty great little laptop and from what I've found it has alot more to offer than the regular T41's! So trash to treasure!

Does anyone know about the Execute Bit Disable question on the SL7EL chip and where I could find if the motherboard supports it.

Will the SL7EL work in the T41p? (it is also 400Mhz / B1)

[GACrabill]

Will the SL7EL work in the T41p? (it is also 400Mhz / B1)

The SL7EL is "Micro-FCBGA".
The SL7EM is "Micro-FCPGA".

As I understand this, the FCBGA models are soldered into place.

The FCPGA models are pins - this is the one that you want.

[sparta.rising]

The stock 1.7GHz should have been plenty fast enough for most tasks

[SimSamurai]

Yes the 1.7 would probably have been ok but since I had to crack open the top to replace the ram I figured that "while under the hood.."

I am going to be using this T41p to operate some music software, primarily three different recording / tracking /sampling programs at the same time so making this as robust as possible was a concern.

I'd love to have a high end widescreen Dell XPS but ...champagne wishes...beer budget.

(besides .... I spend all the big bucks on my flight simulator !)