T61 Mobo swap

[spurgeon]

The GPU on my T61 (6459-cto type) was destroyed by, what I assume to be, my excessive World of Warcraft playing.

I sent it off to a company named "superior reball" last year, when I got it back it worked for a few weeks and then went kaput again.

Here's a picture of what is happening, in the likely event that i'm incorrect.



I've reformatted and reinstalled drivers more times than I can remember, this problem even affects the bios - so I know it's a hardware problem.

I can't figure out exactly what new motherboard I need, I've narrowed it down to one of four part numbers - 42W7653, 42W7876, 42W7653, or 42W7877. (pulled from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 68229.html)

In any event, I can only find price tags above the $300 dollar range. I don't want to sell my beloved laptop for parts on Ebay, but I don't know if i can put up that much money to fix it. I suppose the primary question for making this post is to ask if there's any other compatible motherboards that I could use (searches on google aren't really providing me with any information) in place of the ones with discreet graphics, I now own a dedicated gaming computer, and having a higher powered laptop would really help with gradschool/work.


tldr - My mobo with discreet graphics is going to cost a small fortune to replace, is it possible to buy a t61 mobo WITHOUT discreet graphics and replace it? or, is there some super secret mobo repository that has cheap prices.


many thanks.

[underclocker]

My mobo with discreet graphics is going to cost a small fortune to replace, is it possible to buy a t61 mobo WITHOUT discreet graphics and replace it?

Yes. It's a straight swap for the integrated graphics Intel mobo. T61's were offered with NVidia or Intel graphics.

I am not aware of any secret, low cost motherboard supplier - but would love to find one, too!

[spurgeon]

Yes. It's a straight swap for the integrated graphics Intel mobo. T61's were offered with NVidia or Intel graphics.

I am not aware of any secret, low cost motherboard supplier - but would love to find one, too!

That's fantastic news, so you're saying I can find any t61 compatible mobo and swap it out? If this turns out to be true this random decision to post on these forums will have been one of the best things evar!

[underclocker]

Indeed, it's true and it's a fantastic forum. Welcome to it. Considering your going to be doing quite a major tweak, you may be back for more! Also, definitely download the T61 Hardware Maintenance Manual from Lenovo.com - taking apart the machine is easy, putting it back together is slightly more difficult. (Hint: I take pictures and notes as I go along.)

After the swap, you'll have to download the Intel video drivers and you can uninstall the NVidia drivers.

[richk]

You need to change the fan

[spurgeon]

You need to change the fan

can you elaborate on that?

[wap32]

can you elaborate on that?

The fan/heatsink for the Intel motherboard is different, I'd assume due to different placement of the chip.

[underclocker]

You should be fine with the NVidia fan, it fits perfectly and if anything, it will cool better. All the screws and clips are the same. It has extra copper and fatter cooling pipes. (I wouldn't go the other way though, Intel fan to NVidia GPU.)

Here are pictures of both (I happen to have two 14" WS T61's on hand, the situation should be similar or the same for 15.4" models, too).

T61 Fan Pictures - click here!

[sushiserv]

What type of GPU is it?

The GPU may actually be defective. I had an HP laptop do the same thing to me, except it had an nVIDIA geForce 6100, and my Apple MacBook had a 8400 in it.

I ended up having to sue both apple and hp becuase they refused to admit to what nvidia had admitted to, and did not want to fix my laptop.

I settled for about $2k out of court paying only $30 in court costs.

If you bought your laptop in 2007, 2008 it might be possible

[blackpit]

You should be fine with the NVidia fan, it fits perfectly and if anything, it will cool better. All the screws and clips are the same. It has extra copper and fatter cooling pipes. (I wouldn't go the other way though, Intel fan to NVidia GPU.)

Here are pictures of both (I happen to have two 14" WS T61's on hand, the situation should be similar or the same for 15.4" models, too).

T61 Fan Pictures - click here!

I am resurrecting this thread because I have a question and perhaps you could help me.

Do you know if the T61 14.1" standard screen fans (42W2821 and 42W2820) are also interchangeable? I have a 42W7648 T61 motherboard (Intel integrated graphics) and searching for a HSF. The 42W2820 (nvidia) is cheaper, and I imagine better as a cooler, but is it a perfect fit?

Looking forward to your reply.

Regards,
Panagiotis