Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I am planning to update and upgrade my ThinkPad x60s (Model: 1702-3JU).

I have done some due diligence in previous topics, but I'd thought I'd open up a new thread for the context of late 2013.

I did encounter this inspiring thread:

... Resurrecting a Thinkpad X61s ...

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=110338

I remain enamoured and admiring of the engineering excellence of my ThinkPad X60s with its 4X3 screen; much more suited to code and document preparation than the HD letterbox screen of my X220.

My questions are of two types: pragmatic and blue sky; pragmatically I will be only upgrading on a budget, hence will be paying attention primarily to the memory and the disk drive; the blue-sky questions concern what could be done to upgrade the functionality of the machine if money was not an issue.

Pragmatic questions:

1. Is it possible to kit out the x60s with 4 GB of DDR2 SODIMM RAM?

(I realise < 4GB would be useable on an x86 process and O/S).

2. Can the x60s take 9.5 mm standard sized SSDs?

3. Are there any BIOS mods that can be installed to make the most of SATA-III SSDs?

The existing hard drive is one of those Hitachi ones with the notorious clunking sounds; I could upgrade it to a 7200 rpm spindle traditional hard-drive.

However I am intending to install an SSD, even though I have been burnt with a "SSB" (Solid State Brick) catastrophe in the early days with my X220.

That was an OCZ VERTEX, with the x60s I am going to play it safe with an Intel SSD, one of these two:

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ ... eries.html

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ ... eries.html

4. Are there any issues with ThinkPad utilties and drivers on Windows 7?

After making some Rescue DVDS for installing the Windows XP factory environment on fresh bare-metal disks either spindle or SSD, I am planning to install Windows 7 SP1. Are there any substantive problems with ThinkPad drivers and utilities using Windows 7 on the x60s that I should be aware of?

Blue Sky questions:

4. Would there be any spare Mini-PCI slots for my model?

4(a). If so spare, would one be "WWAN ready" for my model?

4(b). If so spare, could a mSATA drive be deployed, or would bus speed limitations contraindicate?

4(c). If so spare, could a Broadcom Crystal HD video processor be used?

5. Can the screen be upgraded to a 4X3 IPS?

6. Would be worthwhile to upgrade the factory installed WLAN card?

7. Are there any other update or upgrade refinements that are possible?

I apologise for any due diligence negligence on my part; any assistance would be most gratefully apprised, thank you.

Hmm....lots of questions, I'll give some of it a shot.

1. Is it possible to kit out the x60s with 4 GB of DDR2 SODIMM RAM?
Yes it will physically take it but a L2400 is a 32 bit processor so you won't be able to use all of it. 2+1 GB is much more practical.

(I realise < 4GB would be useable on an x86 process and O/S).

3. Are there any BIOS mods that can be installed to make the most of SATA-III SSDs?

Like it's T60 brethern you are limited to SATA I even with a modified BIOS. Middleton's BIOS is a wonderful thing but is only good on the X61, T61, etc generation.

Like you, I have a couple negative random BSOD experiences from SSD due to me being an early adopter. SSDs have come a long way since then and you don't hear of common problems anymore.

Another alternative to consider is a Hybrid drive. I have a Hybrid (Seagate) drive in my X61 Tablet and like the overall balance between speed and capacity. My ideal Thinkpad setup is a 80-128 GB SSD in the main bay for OS and programs with a 500 GB HDD in the Ultrabay for data. X series Thinkpads have only one drive bay so a hybrid is a good compromise for me.

4. Are there any issues with ThinkPad utilties and drivers on Windows 7?

On my X60, X61 and X61 tablet, there's no issue. Windows 7 works great. Window 8 was and still is a pain with drivers. I highly recommend Win 7 over XP for various reasons but mainly because Win 7 plays nicer with SSDs.

Blue Sky questions:

4. Would there be any spare Mini-PCI slots for my model?

What's the matter punk!? Don't know how to count?

4(a). If so spare, would one be "WWAN ready" for my model?

4(b). If so spare, could a mSATA drive be deployed, or would bus speed limitations contraindicate?

4(c). If so spare, could a Broadcom Crystal HD video processor be used?

5. Can the screen be upgraded to a 4X3 IPS?

Yes but not easy or IMO very feasible.

6. Would be worthwhile to upgrade the factory installed WLAN card?

No, load a modified BIOS put a 6200N in there. I my experience these run much cooler than the factory cards.

4. Would there be any spare Mini-PCI slots for my model?
The X60 only has one Mini-PCIe slot. The one beside it is not a full mini-PCIe slot-- only the USB signals are connected, which the WWAN card uses.
Also, not all X60 models have the slot installed. Only those that were sold with the WWAN card have the slot, others have the solder pads and no connector.
My aunt's X60 had the WWAN antenna on the lid, but doesn't have the mini-PCIe connector on the board. T___T

The best way to make sure is to open up your X60s.

4(a). If so spare, would one be "WWAN ready" for my model?
If the WWAN antenna is on the lid, then yes.

4(b). If so spare, could a mSATA drive be deployed, or would bus speed limitations contraindicate?
As stated earlier, the second mini-PCIe slot is USB-only, so no.
Also, the X60 was made long before mSATA came out, so it's impossible.

4(c). If so spare, could a Broadcom Crystal HD video processor be used?

No, for the same reason stated above.

You might be able to make it work on the first slot, sacrificing the wifi card in the process. You might also be able to use USB-based wifi cards on the 2nd slot.
I say might because I don't have any of these these cards nor a 2nd slot and can't test if they work or not.

6. Would be worthwhile to upgrade the factory installed WLAN card?
If the right palm rest feels uncomfortably hot, or you want to use 802.11n or 11ac, then an upgrade is worthwhile. Take note that you need to flash the modified Zender BIOS to use non-Lenovo wifi cards.

@Cigarguy: Thank you very much for your technical reflections!

Yes, I will have to open up the baby and do an internal audit.

This model:

Seagate SSHD Hybrid 500GB, 5400 rpm, 8GB NAND (ST500LM000)

http://www.seagate.com/au/en/internal-h ... ST500LM000
http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_ss ... st500lm000

Is available at a reasonable price OTC; I may well go down that path.

The depth is 7mm, would I be correct in presuming that that will not be a stability issue within the existing spindle HD tray?

@axur-delmeria: Thank you, too, for your reflections!

Such information greatly simplifies my ambitions solely to memory and disk drive.

I am considering buying, (since they are easily source OTC, for me) two 2GB sticks of:

Patriot Signature DDR2 800MHz Non-ECC Unbuffered SO-DIMM PC2-6400

(PSD22G8002S)

http://www.patriotmemory.com/product/de ... 663&type=5

Any advice on whether this is a stable, workable solution to maxing out the memory, most gratefully apprised, thank you.

I realise that only circa 3.5 GB of the 2 + 2GB would be addressable.

Hi everybody.
I too started to work again on my beloved x60s, and it is not time to upgrade the wireless card.
I have used my x60s but always bothered by the palmrest getting extremely hot.. i have just bought an Intel 6200N half-sized mini-PCIe with a bracket, and can't wait to start the modd.
I also have used an SSD Kingston 128GB disk in my x60s previously, with great results.
Now comes the problem: i read that i need to flash my bios using the zender method.
I did lots of research, but as more i search as more i get confused: i seem not find a straight forward procedure in my X60s. apparently all the instructions/files are dated 2008/2009, and they refer to rapidshare links which do not exists anymore.
Would anyone in this forum point me to a good start link, where i could find these answers?
Thanks very much in advance and hope to post some results soon.
Danilo

@Danilo2K: Welcome to the Forum!
Check to see if anyone has sent you a PM (Private Message).

@axur-delmeria

Zender Bios on x60? The only modded BIOS i was aware of was the Middleton BIOS for the *61.

So i got the zender bios and prepared the bootable CD.
all good, but when i try to "Update System Program" i get the message "An update is not necessary at this time. The process has been canceled". From the zender page , i see that i have to "Type flash2 /u to force update when you already have this version". but i do i get the commend prompt from the booted cd? It may seem an easy question, but i fail to grasp it.
Thanks for your patience.
Danilo

So after much thinking and testing, i finally figured it out.
I downgraded the bios to a previous version (26) and then flashed the bios again with the zender one: no problems!
Now my beloved x60s is sporting a brand new intel 2600N card, the old ssd kingstone disk and 4 GB (3 only available, but who cares).
I am sooooo happy! (and i am doing the dance.. again!).
Once Ubuntu finished to install, i will be an happy man!
Thanks everyone in this forum for the great help received!
Danilo

Well done and I bet your X60s really feels fast now! I have an X60s 1702-YAB and I upgraded it to 3GB RAM but it still has the original Intel 3945ABG WiFi and 160GB SATA drive. So does your Intel 6200N card perform much better, e.g. cooler and faster with longer signal range? My X60s already feels very snappy and quick with Win XP Pro SP3, so I am looking forward to improving it further if I can!

Do you mind telling me where you bought your Intel 6200N card from? Most of them on Ebay are around £15 but there is one seller at £5.13 + P&P Ebay item number: 180846170158. However there is also this one for £15 Ebay item number: 400426748281 which states, "Genuine Intel product, not a copy or ES (engineer sample) version.". So did you choose a seller offering one that is classed a genuine and paid a bit more?

So.. after a day of work with my x60s and ubuntu 12.4, i am very happy with this new setup. The new wifi card seems very fast and i didn't have any troubles so far. i bought it from ebay uk (400426748281 - Intel WiFi Link 6200 802.11n Half Mini Card Advanced-N, £14.99) and setup was flawless under ubuntu. It is much cooler than the original one, but it still bothers me that the palm rest is still getting warm when the wifi is on.. i guess it was not a brilliant idea to put the card there when they designed the x60s.. i will see in the next few days, and in case i may disable the card and buy a wifi usb nano adapter, and the problem will be solved.
For the rest, the machine feels really good with the ssd disk on board, incredible how these laptops can get new life with few upgrades.
Will post more updates on the palmrest temperatures, if you guys are interested.
Danilo

Did you have to flash the bios to make the wifi card work? I'm considering replacing mine with a 802.11 N card too. Thanks.

Here's an example of X60s that I have modified to some extent: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=109008

Pretty much everything that can be done, has been done (it is easy to swap in the SXGA+ panel now too, just no need at the moment).