Purchased a refurbished T61p, some advice

[vursodotuk]

Hi,

As per the title, I have made another purchase of a refurbished T61p with the following model number: 6460-6YG.

I wanted to know if anyone has an idea if this laptop will have the dreaded nVidia/overheating system problem?

Secondly I plan to upgrade the CPU to something like a T9500 (currently it's a T7500), is this possible and if not, what CPU can I upgrade to?

Cheers,

V

[miro_gt]

I upgraded from T7500 to T9500.

However I read on here that some MBs dont support Penryn CPUs so cant tell for sure. What I'm thinking is since all are Santa Rosa they should support all of them, but again others have said not all support it.

though it might be just bios update related ..

[TuuS]

If your build date is before 08/08, then you could have the earlier less reliable nVidia chip, and odds are that it is, since that is the last month of full production for the T61 line.

If your build date is before 08/03, then you definitely do have the less reliable chip. There is a ton of misinformation about this, and the best evidence is that the actual date on the chip is meaningless and I believe that some good chips and bad chips carry the same production date (date on chip, not date on system), so the only conclusive way to know is to go by the date on the bottom label of the laptop, then confirm the serial number matches the one on your bios screen.

If you have a unit that has a Lenovo warranty board installed, then this could possibly be verified by visual inspection, as most will have a chip date of 2009 or newer.

As for the CPU, some Meron systems come with Penryn capable boards. I'll look up your system and see what I can find out, but Lenovo's database hasn't been working well, so you might want to look for the FRU number either under the battery on your board, or under the ram Chips. Some boards have the number on the under side of the board which makes reading it exceedingly difficult, but hopefully it will be in one of those two places.

Also, the T9500 I believe was only available special order, so finding one won't be easy, nor cheap, but I can get you a T9300 with would give similar performance (2.5ghz vs. 2.6, all other specs equal).

I also have some 08/08 penryn system boards, but the supply is almost exhausted.

[vursodotuk]

Thanks guys.

TuuS I will probably speak to you sooner or later about the CPU and board.

Well I plan to refresh the newly purchased T61p with parts from my US purchased T61p which only ran for about 4 months before the motherboard died due to the nVidia problem - this should at least bring the current laptop up to date with newer parts (my US purchase was brand new at the time and has remained boxed ever since the failure).

While I have the system open I was thinking it would be a good idea to take off the heat sink, apply some fresh thermal pads/grease on the CPU and GPU dies and then put the lot back together again (after adjusting the heat sink slightly to make sure it has better contact with the nVidia GPU).

I was also toying with the idea of modifying the case to allow more air flow and possible modding in another fan (yeah I do this kind of crazy stuff).

The memory is going to get upgraded 4GB as well, hopefully this won't cause an issue?

Do you folks thing the above will add some life to the system or is the nVidia problem something you can't avoid?

[miro_gt]

I've got mine in 2007, and the GPU has been running overclocked big time for the last 3.5 years, lol. Just keep the GPU away from reaching the 80 deg mark and all should be fine, such is in my case

plenty of T9500 for sale on ebay, just saying. X9000 is harder to come by on a reasonable price though.

[TuuS]

X9000 isn't officially supported on the T61 series, but I'm told it works. The T9300 is the most cost effective, about $70 I think. I have some but I'm hoping to get a quantity of them. Another cost effective chip is the T8300, it's 2.4ghz, but has only 3mb cache, not the 6mb that the other Penryn chips have, but I've seen it sell in the $35 range. One member here pointed out some credible reports that 6mb is overkill, and this may be the case, but I think the way I use a computer, with many programs running simultaneously, that the 6mb is well used, but I guess this is subjective.


@OP, why did you not get your GPU fixed under warranty if it only lasted 4months???

Anyway, I strongly suggest you do clean out your heatsink and (sparingly) use some Artic silver #5 thermal paste. Be careful if you try to alter the heatsink to get better contact, if you were to make a bracket to press harder here, the heatsink would contact less there, like a seesaw... the designers did a good job on these cooling systems, which is why lenovo wasn't hit nearly as bad with the nVidia failures, compared to other manufactures. As for adding another fan, I can't imagine where you'd put it, there is n internal air passage like on a desktop, it's a small area in the corner with an intake, and exhaust, and heatpipes conducting heat from the cpu, gpu and chipset. The chipset doesn't need thermal paste, there is a silicone gellpad that softens when heated, just keep it clean, don't get any fingerprints on it, and it should be ok. The cpu and gpu can be cleaned with alcohol. Don't use any scented or with oils added, get the strongest % you can find.

Other then the effects of dried out thermal paste combined with heatsink movement from shock and movement, these are some of the best cooling systems and do their job well.

Good luck

[vursodotuk]

Thank you for the info TuuS.

I received my T61p today, replaced the 80GB hdd with my 200GB unit from my old T61p and hey presto all my stuff is back after nearly 3 years, what a relief

The laptop is in very good condition however the top cover is worn so I am going to replace the whole top unit/lcd with the newer one I have on my dead T61p, then I will do some stress testing and check the temps, make sure everything is okay.

Also appears to be a much newer unit, my old one is 6459-CT0 08/02 while this one is 6460-6YG 07/11 which would suggest it can take the Penryn CPU's?

Thanks in advance,

V

[TuuS]

I'm afraid you have an older one, with a production date of 2007/november. This predates the introduction of Penryn in January 2008

[vursodotuk]

I'm afraid you have an older one, with a production date of 2007/november. This predates the introduction of Penryn in January 2008

No problem, what CPU do you recommend as an upgrade for model?

[TuuS]

I believe the T7800 is the fastest meron processor you can run, 2.6ghz with 4mb cache. I have a T7700, 2.4ghz if your interested. If you want to install a custom bios you can run penryn, and I can get you a T9300 2.5ghz with 6mb cache, T8300 2.4ghz 3mb, or T8100 2.1ghz 3mb, or if you feel like doing something insane, I can get you an X9000, which is a 2.8ghz that can be hacked to run faster (unlocked), but in my opinion you'd only be asking for trouble running one of them on an older nVidia board.

[vursodotuk]

I believe the T7800 is the fastest meron processor you can run, 2.6ghz with 4mb cache. I have a T7700, 2.4ghz if your interested. If you want to install a custom bios you can run penryn, and I can get you a T9300 2.5ghz with 6mb cache, T8300 2.4ghz 3mb, or T8100 2.1ghz 3mb, or if you feel like doing something insane, I can get you an X9000, which is a 2.8ghz that can be hacked to run faster (unlocked), but in my opinion you'd only be asking for trouble running one of them on an older nVidia board.

I will PM you if I want the CPU, budget is blown at the moment lol

Yeah I don't see the point of mega speeds on a laptop, you want good all round performance i.e. fast memory, lots of cache and a good IO set up (fast HDD etc).

I am pretty happy with my setup now, it does run a bit hot but I am hoping a fresh install of Windows 7 will resolve it, failing that I will switch to Debian Linux (runs whisper quiet and barely heats up on heavy work).

Thanks, merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[miro_gt]

x7900 is the fastest Merom that can be installed, but it's kinda stupid to put one of those as it's such an oven ..

I think all Santa Rosa platforms support Penryn CPUs, which are the way to go. If you got an older MB then it could only pop up the famous "thermal sensing error" at start up, but that's easily eliminated with the middletons hacked BIOS (thank him for the wonderful work). The difference in real world would be that programs that report CPU temp based on the CPU sensor will be off with some 10 deg. However, TPFanControl gets the temp from ACPI sensor that sits near the CPU socket thus reporting much more accurate temp, and frankly that's the one you want to be more accurate as this program should control your fan.

cheers

P.S. even Lenovo's posted atm BIOS supports Penryn CPUs. You just have to press ESC if you see the "thermal sensing error" and the laptop keeps booting, or else it will not boot at all. Tried it already.

[TuuS]

The first thing I'd do is remove the heatsink, clean and reseat it with some artic silver #5, that should fix your heat problems.

I'd also run thinkpadfancontrol (TPfancontrol.com). Switch it to manual when doing heavy stuff. Mine idles at cpu 62c gpu 51c, and 10 degrees cooler on manual.

[JeffCullen]

I've got my tpfancontrol tweaked to keep things consistently below 55C, usually hovering around 45C... too aggressive a cooling policy?

[TuuS]

I don't think there is a problem with overcooling, but keep in mind the "wear n tear" comes from deep cycle heating then cooling to room temp, so avoid unnecessary starting stopping. a properly cooled unit that runs for 8hours each day would likely outlast one that ran for only 4 hours, if started four separate times during the day.

[vursodotuk]

TuuS do you know if it's possible to put more memory in my system i.e. go from the current 2x2GB=4GB setup to something like 2x4GB=8GB setup or is that only possible on the newer boards?

Cheers.

[TuuS]

TuuS do you know if it's possible to put more memory in my system i.e. go from the current 2x2GB=4GB setup to something like 2x4GB=8GB setup or is that only possible on the newer boards?

Cheers.

All T61 series will support 8GB of ram now that 4GB chips are available. The original specs said max of 4GB only because the largest available was 2GB (x2) at the time.

I have 8GB installed in several of them. If you want I can recommend an Ebay seller that has Generic modules and sells 8GB for $82 shipped. They work well, lifetime warranty and the only way you'll beat the price is if you play the "rebate" game when they are on sale.

[vursodotuk]

All T61 series will support 8GB of ram now that 4GB chips are available. The original specs said max of 4GB only because the largest available was 2GB (x2) at the time.

I have 8GB installed in several of them. If you want I can recommend an Ebay seller that has Generic modules and sells 8GB for $82 shipped. They work well, lifetime warranty and the only way you'll beat the price is if you play the "rebate" game when they are on sale.

That's great news as I am a .NET developer and could certainly do with the extra memory for a Virtual Machine and development work.

As a bonus, I had a surprise when I ripped apart my old burnt out T61p. It's a 6459CTO model which had all the upgrades done so to my surprise, there was a shiny T7800 CPU hooked into the motherboard.

I took the whole thing apart so now I have a nice box of spares including a virtually brand new T61p XWGA screen and case.

I will follow the upgrade and cleaning guide when I get round to fitting the CPU.

[TuuS]

That's great news as I am a .NET developer and could certainly do with the extra memory for a Virtual Machine and development work.

As a bonus, I had a surprise when I ripped apart my old burnt out T61p. It's a 6459CTO model which had all the upgrades done so to my surprise, there was a shiny T7800 CPU hooked into the motherboard.

I took the whole thing apart so now I have a nice box of spares including a virtually brand new T61p XWGA screen and case.

I will follow the upgrade and cleaning guide when I get round to fitting the CPU.

If you want to build your parts into a complete system, I have some boards, including a T61p with 08/08 date code still mounted in the lower chassis with matching #s.

[vursodotuk]

Hi,

I am going to purchase some SODIMM memory from the UK where I am based and I have found a good deal but wasn't sure of the specs, anyone know what the ideal spec SODIMM's I should use (I plan to purchase 2 x 4GB SODIMM's).

Cheers,

V

[TuuS]

Hi,

I am going to purchase some SODIMM memory from the UK where I am based and I have found a good deal but wasn't sure of the specs, anyone know what the ideal spec SODIMM's I should use (I plan to purchase 2 x 4GB SODIMM's).

Cheers,

V

Most DDR2, 200 pin sodimms will work. Lenovo specs are for 667mhz, but 800 should work fine, although they will run at the slower 667 speed. I do recommend the chips match, I never liked mixing speeds, but I've seen it done.

[JeffCullen]

I'm having no problems with Mushkin part number 996685 which is a 2x4GB kit.