T61 - Pre 08/08 survivors?

[Mogal]

Hi Guys!
First post here, and first time Lenovo/IBM laptop owner!

I picked up a T61, for $160CND - descent price?
And well of course, I found out about the bug 'AFTER' purchase...
The sticker says its from 08/03 with an FRU: 42W7652 - plagued with the NVidia bug right?
I have no history of the laptop; I don't know if it ever went in for warranty.

I purchased a new WD Scorpio Black SATA2 drive, 4gbs of ram and a new 9cell battery.
I plan on doing the Middleton BIOS upgrade, and when I go to install the new hardware,
I'll put some new thermal past on and oil the fan... and cross my fingers!

So, I was just curious, how many pre 08/08 T61s are out there still working like a champ?
With the bug, I've got myself thinking I have made a bad choice, and wasted a bunch of $$$.

Thanks!

[ajkula66]

Welcome to t he forum!

A solid percentage of pre-August machines is still around and running, no point in stressing over it.

Use and enjoy.

[RealBlackStuff]

Your machine is most likely in the 'survivor' group.
Most machines after 08/02 (2008 February) and at least 80% of before, are still running.
Your mobo is a Merom-designed one with Nvidia NVS140 GPU.

[Mogal]

Okay, thanks guys.
I must say for such an 'old' laptop, it runs great!!
Hope to get 2+ years out of this laptop!

Got the HDD in and the Middleton BIOS installed.
I'm also using READYBOOST with a class 10 SD card...
Much quicker with the HDD, now cant wait for the extra ram!

Chris

[pianowizard]

Avoid graphics-intensive applications such as watching videos.

[JeffCullen]

I have two T61ps:
--April '08 with unknown NVidia chip, equipped with a T9300 from new
--July 31st '08 with 0825 NVidia chip, so probably a safe machine. Came with a T7500, upgraded to T9300

I have really beat the crap out of the April machine and have experienced no hiccups. I think the cooler-running Penryn processor is probably a good thing for these machines... the Meroms are real blast furnaces...

I run TPFanControl set to aggressively keep the temperature below 65C with these settings:
Level=43 0
Level=45 1
Level=47 2
Level=49 3
Level=51 4
Level=53 5
Level=55 6
Level=57 7
Level=65 64

With a Merom chip, the fan's going to be working constantly with these settings... with light work on a Penryn, I find it cycles between off and setting 1.

Like others suggest, I'd say use and enjoy the machine. Do what you want with it. If it dies, it dies, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. You could move the hard drive and battery you've bought forward to a T500 in the future.

Good luck!

[Dawnbreaker]

I have one from 07/07 - bought it second-hand 2 years ago. The service I bought it from told me that it was used extensively before. It came with 140nvm, T7500 and 2 gigs of RAM. And it is showing no signs of dying even 2 years later. But I figured out one thing - it's all about how you treat your machine. Make sure you clean the dust out of it, because those nvidia chips are known for being hotty if you don't do regular cleanups.

Goodluck, T61 is one of the best TP's ever.

[TonyJZX]

i have an intel t61 and an nvidia t61 both pre 08/08

of course the intel one will last forever but i dont like the 1,280 x 800 screen but my kid loves it

the nvidia one was a gamble but from what i've monitored as far as temps go, this one will last too

[portsample]

I picked up an 08/03 w/a 42W7873 mobo off of eBay earlier this summer for $35 with what I thought was a blown GPU. I'd planned on scavenging it for spare parts and to swap the screen (SXGA+) onto a lower res LCD on my spare T61. Turns out the GPU was fine, but the screen was bad. So, I bought a Samsung SXGA and last week swapped it onto the Nvidia T61. Wow, I really like this machine. It's got a Penryn 2.4 processor and the colors seem way brighter than my Intel GPU T61 (w/an SXGA screen).
I think I might have a new daily driver in this unit regardless of the ticking Nvidia timebomb...don't know how long she'll last, but then again who does?

[pianowizard]

of course the intel one will last forever

Nothing lasts forever. Just because the Nvidia GPU will die sooner or later doesn't mean the Intel one will never die. This misconception is surprisingly common.

don't know how long she'll last, but then again who does?

Make sure you don't use it for mission critical. Also, don't spend too much money upgrading it.

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

Your machine is most likely in the 'survivor' group.
Most machines after 08/02 (2008 February) and at least 80% of before, are still running.
Your mobo is a Merom-designed one with Nvidia NVS140 GPU.

Where did you get that statistic?

[MTyn]

After many years T40P (got that one reflowed) and 2pc. T43 i bought myself a used T61P 2 days ago... for bargain... not knowing these T6* can have video problems.

Mine is a 6457 5KG and sticker tells 08/09. Guess i had my lucky day?

[RealBlackStuff]

Where did you get that statistic?

Based on the numerous posts (especially by TuuS) that have been made over the years on this forum.

[Neil]

Conclusive proof that 47% of all statistics are made up on the spot...

Or, if you are in need of statistics just go here: http://www.bomus.org/

[Thrakath]

In our german forum we made statistics which are a bit contrary to the opinion here. We had around 50 machines involved and T61 with Nvidia of 2007 are almost all dead. One has to say that a prerequisite was (work) daily use...keeping it in the cupboard certainly extends lifespan
Another thing was that most people encountered the "bug" when switching it on or returning when the GPU makes the highest Tempchange, so running it 24/7 should avoid dying also! On the other hand TP are business notebooks and most companies squeezed the 3 years out of them...so whenever workload cannot be determined you cannot say something about the "age" of your T61. Personally i had three Nvidias dying (2xG84/1xG86) and type on Intel now, because i have a "mission critical" TP!

With 2008 machines from Feb on you have a 50/50 chance of having a "good" Chip!

[RealBlackStuff]

Any forum (ours included) usually ONLY has posts about a laptop if they have a problem!
If there is no problem, these people don't look for solutions, nor will they report how good/bad their machine runs.
50 (bad?) machines in a country like Germany with ~82 million people means absolutely NOTHING!

[Cigarguy]

I've had about 10 pre-Aug 08 and none have failed so far. Considering it's been over 5 years that's a pretty good track record. Considering how cheap T61 and T500 are these days I don't baby it at all. I use them and enjoy them. When they inevitably break down (for whatever reason), I'll just replace it with another one.

[Thrakath]

Well RBS, how high is your n (number)? This is the only thing that counts for stats...And surely not every machine that dies is reported in our forum nor the ones that are still alive, but this is how all big stats are made and you upscale. In our forum the stats started with a lot of running T61 with Nvidia and over time those running machines were reported to die. Remember: people that still use it daily!!

@cigarguy: this is a nice report for T61 so you may have had a lucky lot!

[Cigarguy]

@cigarguy: this is a nice report for T61 so you may have had a lucky lot!

I did not buy all 10 at once so you can't call it a lucky "lot". It's also a statement of my own personal experiences with these machine and is not a "report". I know a lot of people, besides myself, who also have no problems with Nvidia pre-Aug 08 machines.

RBS' statements are based on some common sense and his experience with these machines. Not scientific and unproven yes as it is only a matter of opinion. Based on my own personal experiences and observation with these machines I tend to agree with him. It's nice that you gather your own statistics in whatever way you deem is satisfactory to you. But I respectfully disagree with your results and conclusion. IMO, it's just an opinion, just a RBS' number or any other number is just an opinion. I've lived long enough to be skeptical and cynical of "statistics" and "facts".

In the end no one will know with 100% certainty. Even Lenovo and Nvidia do not really know even though they have a pretty good idea and have set aside some resources to deal with this problem. Of course this is confidential information that is not posted on their website.

[MTyn]

After my T61p buy last week that was a SEP./08 machine i decide to update both daily used T43 in the house to T61p.
Only the 2nd T61p that i will receive will be a machine that have date FEB/08. I asked the seller, but unfortunately the seller dont have later T61P machines anymore.
Statistic the FEB/08 one is a TP that can die. The company who sells these ex-lease laptops for years had never seen one with a broken Nvidia chip.. Maybe the mainboard is already changed once, who knows? We will see, maybe i treat it with Arctic Silver and can check the date on the chip. Price is very good and i even got few months warranty!

[ajkula66]

Statistic the FEB/08 one is a TP that can die.

Honestly, after five years, any of them can die. Intel, nVidia or anything else.

My approach would be to keep the laptop on 24/7/365 to minimize the heat cycling, monitor the temps and throw in a Penryn if one is not already installed. Then use and enjoy. These are still very powerful machines for daily use when properly configured.

[Mogal]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
I now have a new battery, 4 gigs of ram and the new bios installed.
I'm keeping an eye out for a cheap T9300/T9500 on ebay...
I missed a T9300 that sold for $30

Its still a little slow then what I'd like, but doing the job well none the less.
After selling the old laptop, the final cost for this laptop was about 60 bucks.

As for leaving it on all the time, I can't do that, as its carried/stored in a backpack.
I have TPfancontrol installed, running high constantly...can't hear it with over ambient noises.
Temps generally stay around 45-50c (although I've seen it up around 70c)

I might revert back to Windows XP though... still debating with myself lol.

Cheers,
Chris

[Cigarguy]

^^^ I live in Calgary and my truck is my office. I don't bother leaving my T61 (Dec 07 with NV 140 GPU) on all the time. Talk about temperature fluctuations. In a typical day, I'll be using my laptop 2-3 hours and I'm constantly hibernating it on and off. During the summer months the air temp inside my truck gets very hot. In the winter....well you know about Canadian winters.

The point is, after all the abuse and after 2 years of constant use, it's still going strong. I've got a Sept 09 T61 and 3 T500 ready to replace it when it finally fail. Just use it and enjoy it.