Thinkpads Forum

I've run an Intel X9000 Extreme CPU in both my previous R61e and current T61p. In neither the CPU has got hot enough for the laptop to need to shut down, it would seem that the factory Lenovo cooling system is capable of handling this CPU.
Now in both machines I got the thermal sensing error. However, running CoreTemp, I've monitored the CPU temps, which means that the machine can still read the CPU temp. So perhaps is still able to shut itself down if required due to overheating.

I would love a hacked BIOS to get rid of the error though.

Wow, an X9000 in your T61p. I'd be scared to install a CPU that Lenovo never offered considering that your X9000 has a TDP of 44W and the fastest CPU in the T61p was 35W. So it seems like heat output might exceed design specifications, unless the T61 was designed with great tolerance..

What's interesting is that you have the exact same T61p model as me, but you say you get the thermal sense error - my machine supposedly has a new planar that supports the Penryn. So do our two machines with identical model number have different planar revisions or is it that my T61p doesn't actually support the Penryn CPUs (although it has the latest FRU for the planar)..?!

Your machine is totally fine temperature and stability wise??

Ross..

Unbelievable, in a few days we will have a solution for the Thermal Sensing Error problem.

Middleton, user and BIOS programmer in the notebookreview forum has programmed a BIOS for T61(p) and X61(s)/(t) which:

- activates S-ATA II
- added whitelist for other WLAN cards
- added SLIC 2.1 support
- deactivates the "Thermal Sensing Error"

I am using a Beta BIOS of middleton in these moments, everything is running perfect.

Read here for further details.

Greetz,

XStoneX

Hi Rambler76,

could you or anybody else in this Forum tell me, which CPU I am able to upgrade into my Thinkpad T61?

The Notebook is a "7664-17U" with a serialnumber "L3-E0251",

I had a look to the "IBM warranty Page". But in the list I can only find this parts:

42W3784 41W1489 PLANAR ASSEMBLY FRU YES
42W9377 0000000 MALIBU-1 EXT PLANAR-EHABW (NB8M-GS/HYNIX NO

At the moment there is a T7300-CPU build in.

Up to thich CPU I'm able to upgrade
1. without ModBios?
2. with ModBios?

THanks for your help.

With best regards
Speedy

Without BIOS mod, your planar is not Penryn ready. If you install a Penryn, you'll get an error message.

Hi,

TTY wrote:Without BIOS mod, your planar is not Penryn ready. If you install a Penryn, you'll get an error message.

well, what does it mean? That I'm not able to upgrade the CPU to a faster one without BiosMod?

and which CPUs I will be able to Upgrade to with the BiosMod?

Thanks for answering.

There were a group of T61 BIOS mods done recently, and that was one of them. See this thread -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo- ... ution.html

You can upgrade to a faster processor without BIOS mod. Your motherboard is made to work with Merom processors. The fastest Merom is the T7800, running at 2.60 GHz. A quick look into tabook version 336 from March 2008 indicates that the fastest Merom processors installed in 14.1" wide T61 models that are listed in that tabook was the T7700, running at 2.4 GHz. The T7800 has the same thermal design power (TDP) rating as the T7700 (35 W), so your T61 might be able to cool away the heat that a T7800 generates, but i cannot guarantee it. Using a T7700 should be OK, though.

Sorry to thread hijack, but is it even worth me upgrading a T61p T7700 CPU to a T9500. I know there will be less heat (65W v 45W) but is the 200 Mhz and 2Mb extra cache and SSE4 going to add to performance?

I've already upgraded to a SSD, and have the hacked BIOS (so I could run the SSD @SATA2 speeds and potentially run a new CPU).

The T61p is struggling with Civ5 - and gets very hot during play, so wondering whether a CPU upgrade may help with performance (and heat).

I have the 1920x1200 screen and 570M graphics card.

Feel free to correct me, but I have an integrated GPU board in my T61 (42W3813/42W7651, 42W9399/42W7651) which wouldn't support Peryn's, and figure it's not worth a Merom upgrade compared to a swap out for a nVIDIA board in the first place (which should allow Peryns as well).

Did anyone ever figure out if the esc trick works on all T61?
Also, is there a list somewhere of T61-cpu compatibility? Any Socket issues to be aware of when buying or will all T9300 fit for example?