T30 2.4 GHz CPU - Is 91P7210 = SL6VC

[rbartick]

My T30 2366-86U came with a 2.0 GHz CPU. I am running the latest BIOS and Embedded Controller software. IBM shows part # 91P7210 for the 2.4 GHz CPU. I recently bought a 2.4 GHz Mobile P4 CPU on eBay, I got Intel part # SL6VC.

The CPU runs ok in my T30 and it passes every PC Doctor test. The problem is my heat sink fan does not run properly with the SL6VC I was sold. The fan will not turn on until my temps hit 77C (much too high) and the fan is unable to keep the temps below the throttle back temp of 79C. I've even seen the CPU get up into the 80s. I'm basically stuck running this CPU at 1.2 GHz because it keeps throttling back under a load. Once the fan starts to run it turns off when the temps drop to 70c (also too high). The TPFanContol utility does NOT work with this CPU. I bought a 2.4 GHz CPU heat sink/fan assembly from eBay (part # 91P8908) and this fan did not help at all.

I put my original 2.0 GHz CPU back in my T30 and my fan behavior went back to normal. The fan turned on at much lower temps and it ran much longer. My operating temps went way down to normal levels (36C-60C depending on load). TPFanControl works perfectly with my 2.0 GHz CPU.

Does anyone know if a 2.4 GHz SL6VC should control the fan properly in a T30 2366-86U?

[RealBlackStuff]

I never went over the 2.0GHz barrier with a T30, because of heat problems.

Some members here have the 2.4 running fine.
Did you put Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste between CPU and fan?
If not, that would partly explain the hot temps.

If I were you, I'd sell the sucker and stay with the much more stable 2.00.

[rbartick]

Yes, I used Artic Silver 5. The problem is the fan does not run properly with the SL6VC I got.

[RealBlackStuff]

You know there is a special fan for the 2.4 CPU?
P/N 91P8908
Any other will probably not work properly.

[rbartick]

I have both the 46P3132 and the 91P8908 (got it from eBay, said that in my initial post). They both work the same exact way, it's not the fan.

[sncdrvr]

I tried the same with 2.4 cpu and same matching fan and got identical results, slow running fan and overheating cpu. At the time I needed it back up running quickly, so swapped in a 2.0 cpu/fan and it runs great, on a System 2 board I should add. Now I've accummulated enough parts(System 2 boards) to build up couple more T30s and I'm going to try using that 2.4 cpu and fan again, but this time I'm first going to update the model number in Bios to that of a 2.4 machine by using the HMD and then update the Bios and Embedded Controller by exactly specifying the model number when requesting the downloads. Perhaps different versions or values/settings of Bios 2.10 or Embedded Controller 1.07 are loaded depending on model number or even board serial# registered in Bios. Going to be couple weeks until I have time to try this and will update results. If anyone has any hints or help I'd appreciate it. Yes I know battery life would be short, but thinkng about using it in a Dock 2 with external video card for the kids games. Thanks!

[sncdrvr]

Success using a 91P7698 system board, 2.4 cpu with its IBM 11S# entered into eeprom(readable by Bios?) with the HMD, made up model # 2366JBU also entered into eeprom, system board #, and battery # also entered. Rolled back to earlier version of Bios and Embedded Controller specifying JBU version(dont know if it matters), then rolled forward to 2.10 and 1.07 versions of same. Specified "Max Performance" in Bios and XP power settings. To test it, started antivirus scan, opened browser to You Tube videos, opened several other programs, and started playing a DVD that ran perfectly on the Intervideo Windvd player. Had 5 programs running excluding the DVD player and task manager(2 GB of ram installed). Let it run for appx 30 minutes while monitoring fan speed/cycling and cpu speed. It ran great with no issues. Fan speed/cycling differed from a 2.0 machine in that fast spinups and frequent cycling are replaced with slower spinups, quieter fan, and longer run times. With use, started noticing slight volitility in fan operation, so wiped hard drive and reloaded XP and IBM utilities because I suspected issue with XP/IBM utility power settings which had been loaded under a 2.0 cpu previously. Fan now operates extremely consistant depending upon cpu load and the the hottest part of this machine is the ram/hard drive area, not the cpu. Success!

[RealBlackStuff]

Good for you (or rather your T30).
I've never seen them, but there seems to be a newer RAM cover/door with slits or a profile, that is supposed to give better cooling.
Another recommendable option is to look for "heat spreaders" which you can attach to the RAM modules, to keep them cooler.

[jronald]

I have 2 of the slotted MiniPci doors
Its 4 rows of 3 holes directly under the fan, so viewed from the top
Its in the 10am position, closest to the rear of the laptop
With a little talent, you could do a pretty fair imitation of the same thing
I have never seen a Winblows 2000 have one
Both of mine are XP
Heres one
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Thinkpad-T30-La ... |294%3A200


Ron

[RealBlackStuff]

I have never seen a Winblows 2000 have one (slotted MiniPci door)

I have a T30 here (my last one) with a W2000 slotted door!

There also seems to be a 'slotted' RAM door (which I have yet to see).

[sncdrvr]

A really excellent idea about the ventilated covers, seen them in photos on Ebay. Definitely going 2 drill the covers first chance I get. Ram I am presently using in the 2.4 is presumably 1st or 2nd generation pc2100 1gb sticks with the black metal(do not remove! sticker) I guess heat spreader. One is a IBM and the other a Kingston. I have later IBM pc2100 1gb sticks which have exposed chips. Didnt know they made accessory heat spreaders. Would it be better to use the later sticks with accessory heat spreaders or the I guess early sticks which have the chips covered? Using the machine now for this light browsing session the ram area is very warm(removed cover and both sticks evenly very warm, not overly hot), cpu area is cooler, but major heating appears to be coming from the wireless card. With the cover removed the card is very hot(yes I"m using it), the daughter card very cool, fan very cool where I can touch it, same with system board. Its clear I've got to do some work ventilating the covers. I've got 1.6, 1.8, 1.9, and 2.0 cpu T30's and none of them run quite this warm in the area around the covers. Guess the 2.4 really works those components. Got the cpu heating problem solved, now got to get ram/wireless card heating reduced. Thanks!

[mwester]

sncdrvr-

Couple of questions for you, I'm hoping you'll be able to walk me through the changes to eeprom, or can point me to a resource that helps me figure out what to set.... I'm facing the same upgrade issue. 1.8ghz upgraded to 2.4. Upgraded to proper fan91P8908 and still runs super hot- more quickly in linux (dual boot machine) than XP, but XP gets hot too. 80c+. Anyways, I've looked (googled) around for some sort of guide to the settings and how to use them and am not finding anything. Any suggestions for resources?

2nd- anything that you can think of that might be specific to linux? I hear reports of T30 functioning, (and the 1.8 did fine), but nothing specific about T30 2.4... Thanks for any insight you can offer.

[RealBlackStuff]

To make eeprom changes, you can find the HMD here: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... tm23us.exe
It self-extracts onto a floppy disk.

Boot from it, then follow instructions, that's all.
If you need to make a change, erase the 'old' number first, then write the 'new' number.

[jronald]

Keep in mind there are different exits slots also
My later model 2.0 has huge exhaust openings compared to my earlier 1.8/1.9
It probably would not hurt to remove the exit grill all together, if your a worry wort
Take it out and remove either every other upright, or all of the horizontal bars and reinstall it.
Dont forget the vented minipci cover either.
Also look real carefully at the grey 'sponge' they use on the heat sink.
Its supposed to seal top and bottom, many, many times it obscures the exits, move it back into place and button the machine up.
Finally, Arctic Silver the heatsink. use way less product than you think you should.
Install the heatsink, then take it back off and make sure it spread over the entire heat surface on the cpu

Ron

[sncdrvr]

mwester- Sorry for delay in responding, job and family demands keep me busy. Research the HMD(Hardware Maintenance Diskette) and download it as per RBS. It is floppy based. You can update system component serial#'s and model# into the eprom, however I am unsure if they are read or used by Bios or Emb Contr, or are used solely to manage/identify hardware by I.T. techs. My understanding from RBS is you must or should use a System board 2. Download the HMM(Hardware Maintenance Manual) and you will see the part#'s on pg 146. I've seen additional 91Pxxxx part#'s on IBM refurbished boards, so that list is not complete. Set system performance to max in Bios 1st, Thinkpad Configuration utilty 2nd, then go to Display>Screensaver>Moniter Power>Power Schemes>Advanced Settings to check additional settings. I suspect the Configuration utility overides and dictates settings in XP Power Schemes. If your not satisfied with fan operation at this point, try fresh install of operating system, doing so seemed to make my fan operate more consistant. Note: I have a cool running 2.4 cpu in that T30, but very concerned about heat off wireless card(Intel 2200bg) and more concerned about the system board(i.e. ram slot solder joints) between the 2gb of memory and the 5400 hitachi HD. Ran it with covers removed and was much, much hotter than this 2.0 T30 sitting on my 18 wheeler steering wheel right now, so I tore it down and rebuilt it with a different # 91P board(cant recall the #, but a IBM certified rebuilt board, that had a 2.4 model #2366-QU5 already loaded in Bios screen). Result: Same cool running 2.4 cpu, nice steady/responsive fan, but very, very hot wireless card and too hot(compared to my other T30's) ram/hd area. So, going to install a 2.0 cpu/fan and reconfigure it. Like RBS stated on other post, 2.0 is the "sweet spot".

[sncdrvr]

Well I"ve decided not to give up on trying to build a cool running 2.4 T30. Swapped out the older 1 Gb ram sticks for some newer Kingston sticks with open uncovered chips with IBM fru#'s on them, and a older 4200 rpm drive rather than the 5400. Been downloading XP updates on a fresh reinstall for last 2 hours with unventilated covers in place and temps are definetely cooler in the ram/hard drive area than with the earlier configuration, whole machine no warmer than a 2.0 would be. But then I'm downloading updates over ethernet rather than wireless as I havent installed the wireless drivers yet. I'm going to get to this figured out and will update.

[RealBlackStuff]

FYI: the HMD will work an any Thinkpad motherboard, of every Series and Model, at least including T/X/Z60 and T/X/Z61, T400 and X300

Those serial numbers are not stored in the BIOS but in the same chip where system passwords are stored.
Can't further elaborate as per Forum rules.

[sncdrvr]

RBS- I appreciate the info on where those serial #'s are stored, I've gotten up close and personal with that chip a few times in a totally legal and ethical way. A question. Lets say the board is bootable, could corrupted or residual data on this chip cause bios volitility or instability? Have you ever deleted all of the component serial #'s and model # and observed results? Just trying to gain some insight. Thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

Certain errors (such as CRC ERROR 0175) can happen in this chip, which is really an EEPROM.
Under normal circumstances, you'd have to throw such a board away.
In some -but not all- cases this eeprom can be replaced (if you know surface-mount soldering techniques).
Upon replacement, you'd have an 'empty' chip which needs to be programmed to become functional.
In some other cases, it can be repaired by overwriting the faulty data with known good data from another matching laptop.
This chip is independent from the BIOS, but BIOS reads out data from it, like the Type/Model, serial numbers and passwords.

[sncdrvr]

RBS- Got it. Good info!

[discus3388]

Success using a 91P7698 system board, 2.4 cpu with its IBM 11S# entered into eeprom(readable by Bios?) with the HMD, made up model # 2366JBU also entered into eeprom, system board #, and battery # also entered. Rolled back to earlier version of Bios and Embedded Controller specifying JBU version(dont know if it matters), then rolled forward to 2.10 and 1.07 versions of same. Specified "Max Performance" in Bios and XP power settings. To test it, started antivirus scan, opened browser to You Tube videos, opened several other programs, and started playing a DVD that ran perfectly on the Intervideo Windvd player. Had 5 programs running excluding the DVD player and task manager(2 GB of ram installed). Let it run for appx 30 minutes while monitoring fan speed/cycling and cpu speed. It ran great with no issues. Fan speed/cycling differed from a 2.0 machine in that fast spinups and frequent cycling are replaced with slower spinups, quieter fan, and longer run times. With use, started noticing slight volitility in fan operation, so wiped hard drive and reloaded XP and IBM utilities because I suspected issue with XP/IBM utility power settings which had been loaded under a 2.0 cpu previously. Fan now operates extremely consistant depending upon cpu load and the the hottest part of this machine is the ram/hard drive area, not the cpu. Success!

I have just bid Intel SL6VC 2.4Ghz CPU / 91P8908 Heat sink with Cooling Fan and preparing to upgrade my IBM T30 1.6Ghz notebook.

I have already upgraded the BIOS to 2.10 and Embedded controller version to 1.07

I am quite confused what data should I need to enter into the eeprom with the HMD in order to solve the temperature problem. I can read data from eeprom

40 11S...............
08 11S...............
20 1S236661H.........

Please help !!!

[sncdrvr]

discus3388- 08 is the cpu serial#, 20 the model#, 30 the battery#, 40 the system board#. The above information is available on the HMD, you just have to navigate to the proper screen, I think it was under "Add information to Eprom". Also, look at page 58 of HMM, there is info there about using the HMD to change system board#. But be aware that your machine probaly has a System 1 board, not a System 2. Also note from one of my previous posts that I am unsure if changing Eprom data really has any effect on what values are loaded into Bios or Embedded Controller when updating. I suspect but haven't verified that one could erase all the 08,20,30,40 values with the HMD and perhaps have a perfectly functional and perhaps more stable machine. Going to try it on a board that has unstable video, works perfect until machine picked up and then video breaks up(micro crack or video card loose on board), cant find the fault so good test board. I'm thinking those serial#'s are used by corporate techs to manage hardware and IBM to manage warranties. Of course System Update uses a model# to select updates, so perhaps we would want that entered. **What I think is most important is that the board be a System 2, the matching fan is used with the 2.4 cpu, they are installed before updating to latest bios and embedded controller, and power schemes are properly set in bios, thinkpad utilities, and operating system.** As for the 2.4 T30 I was building, my job keeps me away. It was running perfect and cool without wireless card, with a 4200 rpm harddrive, not the 5400. I'll get back to it in couple weeks and try different wireless cards and retry 5400 rpm drive and update. If it runs hot then its got to be the wireless card and faster harddrive, which is very stange, as this 2.0 sitting on the steering wheel of my truck runs so cool with wireless and 5400.

[pmx]

Did anybody try a mobile Celeron?

They were manufactured upto 2.5Ghz and would never throttle back because they don't support this

The question is how big is the performance difference between 256 and 512 kB cache. And if T30 Bios supports them? A desktop Celeron will not run in mine.

[sncdrvr]

My understanding is the bios will only support Pentium 4 Mobile cpu's, most probaly from 1.6 to 2.6 Ghz, 2.4 was fastest offered in T30 per HMM, reports of success using 2.6 have been made, although I have to wonder if it was really running at 2.6 or throttled to 2.4 Ghz. Now have my 2.4 T30 configured with a pristine SXGA, new 5400 60 Gb Hitachi with fresh/updated XP install, 2 Gb Kingston PC-2100 made for IBM ram, and IBM/Ambit/Atheros mini PCI wireless G card, havent had time to ventilate any covers yet, not sure if I will as the 1 hour of light internet surfing I put on it didn't stress/heat it up at all. Next thing I'm going to do is clear the serial #s out of bios except for the 2366-xxx and stress it, burn it in(I see Dell has a burn in program), in a fireproof area overnight and see if it survives. Unfortunately its sitting on the work bench and I'm on the road working so its gonna be a while. Will update.

[emeraldgirl08]

@ sncdrvr

Sheesh. It sounds like you have a second full-time job aside from driving eh

I think it's good information you're sharing with the forum. I really was thinking of buying a 2.0 P4 for my T30. It's a 1.8 and I'm not sure if it will be worth it. I also am not sure if I will need a new fan or will the fan I have work???

2.0 P4's are pretty cheap on Fleabay. I've installed W7 on my T30 and it's running quite well I also installed Linux Mint on it but it's getting me pretty angry. I can't get the Broadcom wireless drivers and the Radeon 7500 to work right. I should have just went with Ubuntu. It needs more time so I'll see how I can figure this out.

[cparker]

Emerald Girl:

So you finally got windows 7 installed? Did you do it as dual boot? How does it compare to XP? I've put w7 on some desktops with 2gb ram and no problems at all, but have been reluctant to try it on the t30 because I've gotten mixed reports on others' experiences. I do have lots of space on the new hard drive and left a large unpartitioned area in case I want to install w7 in dual boot configuration someday.

[cparker]

Emerald Girl:

I saw your post about w7 on your t30 on the w7 area and got the gist of your installation details. How does the t30 on w7 compare in terms of performance with the t30 running xp? Will you keep w7 as preferred OS or revert back to xp later?

Thanks, and congratulations!

[emeraldgirl08]

I did it b/c I got bored!

It works fine Parker. I prefer the "look" of W7 over Xp at this point. It is a relief over the memory hog Vista is! I have only 1 gb of RAM in my T30 and it works fine for my tasks. I'm not opening up massive windows and programs so YMMV. I have about four tabs open in Firefox and keep my Yahoo Messenger on. I don't use the Windows Media Player as I don't store music or videos in my HDD. I keep everything on DVD, Flash Cards, or my PDA.

I should also add the drivers I got from the Lenovo site work pretty good. Things seem fluid as far as this graphics card can muster. I have the calender and clock widget on and on 60% opacity and things still work fine

and Yes. I did do a dual-boot.

[cparker]

Great, Emerald Girl! Looks like you're squeezing the most functionality out of the video dept. with the Lenovo drivers. That's probably been the problem with the disappointing w7/t30 installations that I've read about. I'll give it a shot just for fun while the RC is still working when I have some free time. I have to expose my stalwart, friendly t30 to new vistas, whoops...I mean new horizons!

[pmx]

I think it's good information you're sharing with the forum. I really was thinking of buying a 2.0 P4 for my T30. It's a 1.8 and I'm not sure if it will be worth it.

No, difference will be neglectable