Thinkpads Forum

Hi guys,

I've had a Frankenpad T601 for about 5 years, and it is of course my favorite laptop. It has an SSD drive with Windows 7 and the Middleton BIOS, and the X9000 CPU.

Even from the beginning however it would run hot, getting up to 90+ degrees per TPFanControl, so I put in a T61 heatsink with T500 fan and new thermal paste, and things were workable. But if I had say multiple open webpages with videos, it would get into the upper 90 degrees and shut down.

Now however it gets hot running just a single youtube video.

So my plan is to open it up, change the CPU to the T9500, and re-apply new thermal paste.

This is a very newbie question (I didn't do the original build and don't have those skills), but will the BIOS just automatically recognize the new CPU?

I also periodically refresh the whole system with a stored System Image-- can I still use that System Image? It took me a long time to get everything on the laptop exactly how I want it, so I want to be able to keep everything the same.

I could of course though just do the CPU swap right after refreshing the system, and then create a new System Image I suppose.

As you can tell, I am not super experienced with this, thanks so much for any helpful replies!

Yes, with a Middleton BIOS the T9500 will be plug-and-play. No need to update the image for a new CPU.

I have a T9900 in mine; it rarely gets into the 70s at full power. Have you considered the 1066 FSB mod? It's actually quite easy IMHO if you aren't concerned about enabling quad cores.

I really appreciate the reply, thanks!

Open invitation for someone with the skills to do the 1066 FSB mod on my machine to do it for pay!

Send me a message!

Hi, before you swap to T9500, why not just open it, clean dust of the fan and replace thermal paste with new. Then see now it goes, if it helped decrease temps.
My Frank with X9000 shuts down only if I go way too far with overclocking and at the same time stress it with benchmark. X9000 on stock clock and T500 cooling should not go beyond 90 degrees and definitely should not shut down, from my experience.