Thinkpads Forum

Hi just to ask if lets say I get a T61p now, what are my chances that I would be able to upgrade it to a Penryn CPU myself when its released.
Never mind that i void the warranty, just wondering if a mobile Penryn will work on the board the T61p is using now.

It should be... I have a ES Xeon 2,33 GHz Yorfield, it works on a regular P35 mainboard with a bios update.

It should be because Penryn is like Dothan to Banias

It should be any thermal issue because Penryn TDP is lower. Fan assembly will be *over sized* => less noise.

It should not be because WRM can not provide specific voltage. I doupt.


Intel have sample of 45 nm CPU for month (only for OEM developpement puropose). Lenovo will refersh T61 with 45 nm in 2008 like all manufacturer. They should have included the support of Penryn to avaid a new main board design.

=> YES, most Santa Rosa will be *upgradable*

CPU gets more energy efficient, and what is nVidia doing? Mobile heating...

Nice topic. I think it's upgradeable. Maybe I will buy a new low-energy one to replace my T7300.

On the other hand, that much euro's for 5-15 minutes more batterylife and decreased noise.. I can spend it on other things.

I tried to upgrade to a T9300 (retail from Newegg) from the original T7500. I get a thermal sensing error.... so it appears that not all T61p's can be upgraded to Penryn cpus. I would be interested if someone has successfully done this.

tselling wrote:I tried to upgrade to a T9300 (retail from Newegg) from the original T7500. I get a thermal sensing error.... so it appears that not all T61p's can be upgraded to Penryn cpus. I would be interested if someone has successfully done this.

Did you upgrade to the latest BIOS?

Version 7LETB0WW ( 2.10-1.08 )

* (New) Microcode updates of the processors.

yeah, you probably need the latest update. As far as i know the T61p support 800Mhz FSB so it should run them... it will just run RAM in 667mhz still tho. No worries as the RAM is still faster

Yes, I have been running the latest bios for quite awhile.

I tried upgrading too, I got the same error, but I found that you can bypass it by pressing escape. My Thinkpad will just boot normally, but the fan won't turn on, so it will get hot very quickly. I'm gonna try using Thinkpad Fancontrol to let it run all the time, untill I find another solution.

Maybe new T61 notebooks are using an even newer BIOS version that's not in the driver matrix yet?

Edit: Thinkpad Fancontrol does do job very well, I just need to press escape everytime I boot the system

Edit2: I found out the newer T61's have BIOS version 2.12 instead of 2.10 in the driver matrix, did anyone ever try to flash their T7xxx series T61 to 2.12?

Hi SneakyViper,

Did an upgrade to my R61 as well and had the same "Thermal Sensing Error". Pressing Escape as you advise DOES work, great tip !
However, I have found I am unable now to access either BIOS options or boot device choice, since if escape isn't pressed at boot time, the Thinkpad siimply shuts itself off.

Please let us know if you find a way to access BIOS or startup options after the CPU upgrade ?
Thanks

jflores wrote:Hi SneakyViper,

Did an upgrade to my R61 as well and had the same "Thermal Sensing Error". Pressing Escape as you advise DOES work, great tip !
However, I have found I am unable now to access either BIOS options or boot device choice, since if escape isn't pressed at boot time, the Thinkpad siimply shuts itself off.

Please let us know if you find a way to access BIOS or startup options after the CPU upgrade ?
Thanks

You should try pressing F1 first at the boot screen and press escape at the 2 beeps. It worked at my system.

I also tried a new BIOS version in the meantime, but it didn't solve the "thermal sensing error"...

hi SneakyViper,

Do you think there is a way out for that issue apart form using tpfan, I was about to upgrade mine to T9300 ?

Now I am puzzled on whether to do it or not

Right now I don't see any solution, I'm thinking this is more of a hardware problem, because T61p's with exactly the same BIOS version (2.14 or 2.12) work perfectly fine...

It would be an interesting exercise to compare part numbers (and EC levels) on the T61/P system boards between those that work and those that don't. Also, what about this BIOS 2.12 described in the thread linked below? Could that be a clue? If I had a T61/P with a Penryn upgraded CPU, I might be tempted to try it ...
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

Harryc wrote:It would be an interesting exercise to compare part numbers (and EC levels) on the T61/P system boards between those that work and those that don't. Also, what about this BIOS 2.12 described in the thread linked below? Could that be a clue? If I had a T61/P with a Penryn upgraded CPU, I might be tempted to try it ...
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

I don't know where to get an official 2.12, but I got a backup from someone and I just tried it, but didn't solve anything, still the "thermal sensing error".

I noticed something else though, at first I thought the fan didn't turn on when not controlled by tpfancontrol, but it does! While flashing the BIOS, the fan started running at some higher speeds (probably because the cpu is running at it's full speed at those moments). Maybe this is a difference between 2.10 and 2.12/14, because I never saw the fan running when using 2.10 with this CPU.

Where should I look for part numbers? (what part of the system board)

Edit: I've been looking around some more and found this: http://magicboxlive.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... enryn.html. A thermal sensing issue is mentioned, which would be delaying penryn cpu's. Maybe I'm interpretting this wrong, but maybe there could still be faulty batches being distributed? Maybe I should try testing the CPU on another board (which I don't have...) or try another T9300 (which I don't have) in my T61p.

The easiest way would be to plug in the machine type and serial number at the below link and at the next screen select 'View parts lookup results for this system' -
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... -WARNTY#sw

The system board part number would be listed next to 'FRU PLANAR ASM'

Harryc wrote:The easiest way would be to plug in the machine type and serial number at the below link and at the next screen select 'View parts lookup results for this system' -
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... -WARNTY#sw

The system board part number would be listed next to 'FRU PLANAR ASM'

Thanks for the link. I found 2 lines though:

42W3817 42W7653 SYSTEM PLANAR; FRU PLANAR CARD ASM NVIDI
42X7212 42W7653 SYSTEM PLANAR; FRU PLANAR CARD ASM NVIDI

Are there others in here who tried to upgrade to a Penryn CPU or have a Penryn CPU standard? If you could also look up you're system planar FRU, maybe we can make a list.

Hallo SneakyViper,

In the "ThinkPad® T61 and T61p (15.4-inch widescreen) Hardware Maintenance Manual" (ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 546_03.pdf) on page 140 (pdf page 148) you can find two types:
a. System board assembly, nVIDIA NB8M-GS with AMT 42W7652 is used for 7xxx
b. System board assembly, nVIDIA NB8M-GS with AMT 42W7876 is used for 8xxx or 9xxx

So there are two different types of board, because of the new Thermal device for the new Penryn.

So now my question. Can I work with a T9300, Bios 2.14, and TPFanControl on your board and just get a thermal sensing error" every time I boot the system? Well are this all problems cause the T9300 is now cheaper than the T7700.
All in all can I just work normally with this upgrade (just pressing escape)?
Because then I will also go for a T9300 than a T7700.

Thanks

ms42 wrote:Hallo SneakyViper,

In the "ThinkPad® T61 and T61p (15.4-inch widescreen) Hardware Maintenance Manual" (ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 546_03.pdf) on page 140 (pdf page 148) you can find two types:
a. System board assembly, nVIDIA NB8M-GS with AMT 42W7652 is used for 7xxx
b. System board assembly, nVIDIA NB8M-GS with AMT 42W7876 is used for 8xxx or 9xxx

So there are two different types of board, because of the new Thermal device for the new Penryn.

So now my question. Can I work with a T9300, Bios 2.14, and TPFanControl on your board and just get a thermal sensing error" every time I boot the system? Well are this all problems cause the T9300 is now cheaper than the T7700.
All in all can I just work normally with this upgrade (just pressing escape)?
Because then I will also go for a T9300 than a T7700.

Thanks

I'nm working that way now all the time, just press escape at every boot. I'm thinking I'd maybe rather have a T7700, it's just as expensive over here and I wouldn't have this error all the time...

On my T61 it says:

42W3784 41W1489 PLANAR ASSEMBLY FRU YES

so can I upgrade to Penryn or not?

Have a look here guys

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=