Thinkpads Forum

hi
just got a like-new IBM Thinkpad T61, T7700 2.4GHz-Core2Duo, 3GB RAM, 100GB 7200rpm HD, 14.1" 1440x900 LCD, nVIDIA G86M Quadro NVS 140M, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn, Firewire R5C832 ieee 1394, Bluetooth, Fingerprint reader, 6c Li-Ion. works great!

BIOS version 2.27 2010-04-08
Main board [corrected] FRU# 41W1489 [part# 42W3784 CDPOP ExtrnlV AMT MS]



as I'm worried about the nvidia bug, I wanted to know if this T61 is prone to it? -- if yes, what can be done to avoid the bug? (I've already read about undervolting, but would like to avoid any hardware mods.)

as precaution against overheating I set the bios mode/scheme for AC/battery to 'maximum battery' and 'balanced':


thanks!
0.

Check the build date on the bottom of your laptop (I think there is also a build date on the Motherboard and GPU as well). Anything 08/08 and newer should be free of the bug, and anything from 08/02 to 08/07 will have a 50/50 chance of failure (Nvidia shipped out some, but not all, revised GPUs during this time). BIOS dates are not reliable since anybody can flash them to an updated version.

the build date is in the subject of my post: 07/12 (yy/mm)

by the way, here is the gpu-undervolting-success post I mentioned above:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardwar ... ccess.html

wouldn't it avoid my gpu falling ill?

Ah, just noticed that, my bad. Undervolting it may delay the process, but I doubt it would be a permanent fix. The defective soldering is mainly the issue, and overtime with contraction and expansion, from the heat, will cause problems. Undervolt it if you want, and just use it. If it fails, the Intel graphics boards are not too expensive, so you could replace it with one of those. As long as you don't play games or do graphics intensive stuff, there should not be much of a difference (and it runs cooler).

It's a critical production date and the nVidia bug is bound to happen at some time.
Update the T7700 Merom CPU to a Penryn T8100, T8300, T9300 (best value) or T9500.
Either one will run cooler than the T7700.
Apply Middleton's BIOS and get SATA II speed and a few other goodies.
It also will allow for Penryn CPUs.

0liver wrote:I've already read about undervolting, but would like to avoid any hardware mods.

Ok. Read post from C2Q story http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 30#p728397
and check out german site. Try modded non-quad bioses with programmatically NV undervoltштп. People from my local forum reported some temperature decrease (0.95 ~> -10*C).

> Ok. Read post from C2Q story http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 30#p728397
and check out german site.

Though I understand, the thread runs over 16 pages.
are the mod-bios rar-files linked on thread page 1 still viable?
do I need to make other changes apart from choosing the appropriate bios.
and make sure that I have EC-Firmware 1.08 before flashing?

@0liver
http://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/172581 ... ndervolten
this is better for you I guess

RMSMajestic wrote:@0liver
http://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/172581 ... ndervolten
this is better for you I guess :)

this is the German thread FryPpy referred to.

0liver wrote: are the mod-bios rar-files linked on thread page 1 still viable?
do I need to make other changes apart from choosing the appropriate bios.
and make sure that I have EC-Firmware 1.08 before flashing?

Go to german site and locate aproprite rar-file. I can download nonQuad nonASMP 0.95 verson now.
No hardware mods needed for nonQuadCore.

FryPpy wrote:Go to german site and locate aproprite rar-file. I can download nonQuad nonASMP 0.95 verson now.

ok, did it. with Bios 2.27, I already had EC-Firmware 1.08.
I took 专门网论坛_T61-BIOS(0.95) as recommended.

here is the flash procedure's result:
http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3659 ... u5_jpg.htm
http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3659 ... dx_jpg.htm
http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3659 ... 9w_jpg.htm

what bugs me is, it didn't change the bios version nor date compared to my first post in this thread:
http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3659 ... 7f_jpg.htm
is that an expected result?

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3659 ... p5_jpg.htm

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3659 ... hc_jpg.htm

the power config changed compared to my 1st post:
http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3659 ... t6_jpg.htm

from mode/scheme for AC/battery = 'maximum battery | maximum battery' and 'balanced | balanced'
to mode/scheme for AC/battery = 'automatic | battery optimized' and 'maximum performance | balanced'

so something changed.

on first boot after bios flash, I had diagnostics boot enabled, and I pressed the blue button to get into bios, there appeared shortly a checksum error message but it booted through.

core0/1 temp is 45°C in idle (ubuntu 12.04 64 bit), maybe 3° to 5° C less than before.
fan constantly runs quietly as before at almost 3000 rpm, about as before.

teh highest temp shown is lmsensor nouveau-pci-0100 temp1 68°C, but also about 3°C cooler than before, but due to weather, yesterday's room temp. was a bit higher.

i use psensor and don't know how to get gpu temp. (needs some driver I guess)

the question is: was the flash successful?

and what about sata-ii?
HD is wdc3200bekt, disk utility read benchmark result is min/max/ave 60/125/97 Mb/s, average seek is 16 ms

*

p.s.: independent from the flashing, yesterday it was sunny, today I first remarked one bright (green) single pixel error about in the middle. ((

The mod BIOS versions are based on 2.27, which is what you had before, so it is normal that the number did not change. These mod BIOS versions have Sata2 enabled, whitelist and thermal sensing error removed (like the middleton BIOS).

Seems to me that the flash was successful.

If you have windows installed, you can check with GPU-Z if it shows 0.95V in the sensors tab.

0liver wrote: the power config changed compared to my 1st post:

from mode/scheme for AC/battery = 'maximum battery | maximum battery' and 'balanced | balanced'
to mode/scheme for AC/battery = 'automatic | battery optimized' and 'maximum performance | balanced'

so something changed.

First of all. After all bios flashes it is recommended to go to defaults bios settings (F9 in BIOS screen) and save. After reboot you can tune all things you needed in BIOS.
This mod does nothing to CPU undervolting - there is no problems with it. It does GPU undervolting to cool our hurted nvidia down. I don't know how to monitor nvidia temp / voltage under linux. May be proprietary drivers and nvidia applet will show some info.

PS
If you noticed some cooldown on GPU so you achieved a point. As cooler will be GPU as long it can survive.

> First of all. After all bios flashes it is recommended to go to defaults bios settings [...] After reboot you can tune all things you needed in BIOS.

ok. thanks. did it and put back in Power setup:

mode/scheme for AC/battery = 'maximum battery | maximum battery' and 'balanced | balanced'

in idle (and psensor intervall 4 sec):
core 0/1 run at 39°C
temp1 (highest indicated value; see above) at 56°C

fan always on at 3300 rpm; after 30 mins while idling it dropped to constant 2960 rpm while temp. values remain unchanged.

in screensaving mode: another one or two °C less resp.
after a while in screensaving mode, fan goes off from time to time. exiting screensaver, the temp. values are unchanged (means it wasn't suspended; temp. changes should be avoided to keep GPU from getting ill as I've read in sticky nividia bug main-thread.)

power consumption is 36 W with max screen brightness in idle. (27W in screen saving mode; 41W while charging).
[compared to my T60 14" 4:3 Intel-XGA the T61 with 0.95V GPU consumes 10% less power]

> This mod does nothing to CPU undervolting - there is no problems with it. It does GPU undervolting to cool our hurted nvidia down.

right! being unable to read the GPU temp under linux, I indicated my CPU temp instead because I concluded if one of the chips is cooler the other would also run a bit cooler. (except if their heat sinks were completely decoupled)

by the way, why was it recommended to use T61-BIOS(0.95) instead of the same with _ASPM version if the latter saves power?

I have the 0.95V ASPM version on two boards with NVS 140m and no problems. If you want maximum powersaving, you should use this version.

above I wrote

> highest temp shown is lmsensor nouveau-pci-0100 temp1 68°C, but also about 3°C cooler than before, but due to weather, yesterday's room temp. was a bit higher.

nouveau-pci-0100 is actually GPU temp. (nouveau is the name of the Nvidia linux driver), see
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2010895


(current room temp. 20°C; screenshot taken on just resurrected and undervolted (0.95V) 15.4" T61p: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=114570)

I have the same T61 6457-A88 (12/07) and will be trying to prolong the life of GPU with flashing the custom BIOS in the above links. For this purpose would it be advisable to use the non-ASPM version or the ASPM version? Would the non-ASPM version prevent Powermizer mode switching and is that switching hurtful to the GPU? I expect that all Powermizer levels have the same base voltage with these modded BIOSes, therefore same heat dissipation characteristics?