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R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

R30/R40, A30/A31, G40/G50 and Z60/Z61 Series. NOT for AMD-Ryzen.
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wujstefan
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R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#1 Post by wujstefan » Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:03 pm

Hello,

I got a nice R61i lately, and was asked by my father-in-law to prepare it for him.
However, after modding it to middleton 2.24-1.00 it is unable to start on T9300. T7300 works fine and stable but extra power and less heat.

I got a bit confused, since I did the BIOS reflashing on more than 50 R61i units and never faced such thing. I was scanning the forum for some information but found two conflicting opinions about the board's capability.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#2 Post by 600X » Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:20 pm

My R61 is running a Penryn CPU as well. I had to flash the 15.4" R61 Middleton BIOS in order to get it working.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#3 Post by wujstefan » Sun Jan 22, 2017 6:01 pm

Looking at your systems I presume you've flashed 2.24-1.08 BIOS on 15,1" unit, right?
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#4 Post by 600X » Sun Jan 22, 2017 6:04 pm

I can't remember for sure but I believe so, yes. My R61 is a 15.0" unit.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#5 Post by wujstefan » Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:08 am

Worth giving a shot.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#6 Post by wujstefan » Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:46 am

Tried, but with no happy end. I get the message "BIOS image file cannot be found".

The system is 8943-dsg.

I am wondering whether the CPU is 100% OK... it's not I'm getting the thermal error message, the screen simply lies blank after swap. Wil try with another penryn.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#7 Post by RealBlackStuff » Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:31 am

A 15" R61 needs a different approach, doing so with a Merom CPU installed.
First install Middleton's 1.24-1.00 BIOS.
Extract the files from M's 2.24-1.08 BIOS, run Winphlash.exe in Windows and browse to the extracted $01B3000.FL1
Ignore the warning message about the BIOS versions not matching.
After the flash you can install a Penryn CPU.
That's what I did with your latest R601FL.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#8 Post by wujstefan » Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:54 am

RBS, you're like the Christmas Song. I was fighting it for a couple of weeks - it worked straight away now, and the system runs BRILIANTLY.

I'm seriously considering selling my top-end pimped T601 now. R6x build quality is just so dmn good and runs way cooler (even having in mind my T601 runs hardware modified T61p's fan). Put in a X9000 w/Dual-IDA and I can have a laptop computer, hammer, buckler and cutting board all in one.

Or maybe I'm just extremely used to A31 :)
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#9 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:52 am

Good to hear!
Just in case: 1304 Firewire no longer works after that particular double flash, but who really cares?

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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#10 Post by BigCatAndy » Sun Oct 28, 2018 5:37 am

wujstefan wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:46 am
Tried, but with no happy end. I get the message "BIOS image file cannot be found".

The system is 8943-dsg.
Hello,
Decided to post my experience here. At the present I also try to enable my new R61i (8943-dkg) to work with penryn (T8100). After installing Middleton BIOS in version 1.29, I wanted to install version 2.24. And I also ger an error "BIOS image file not found". I use boot CD, since no Windows installed on the system.

Any way to resolve the issue? One option - run it in Windows like others did - is clear, but do I have alternatives?

Regards,
Andrey

P.S. I have another thread where I posted this issue. I hope, i haven't broken any rule by this "double" posting.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#11 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sun Oct 28, 2018 6:37 am

No, the above is the only way (via W7).
Borrow (or spend a few Euros and buy) any working 2.5" SATA HDD, on which you then install a basic W7, no updates needed.

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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#12 Post by JGTC.co.jp » Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:54 am

Just a quick update from my experience working on this amazing machine:

I bought a sort of 'parts only' 8930-A63 last year, and got my hands on a nice T8300 for it. I did install Middleton's BIOS prior to the CPU swap and the machine booted at first, but once the processor got itself on operational temperatures, the fan would just keep spinning faster and faster, and the thermal proteection triggered a shutdown at all times on Windows 7 only (can't recall if this was entirely true for Linux as well). Kind of annoying.

Yesterday I swapped the T8300 for a T7250 I had on a project T61 machine, and not only it booted normally, but did not show any signs of thermal protection triggering a random shutdown (~3h straight use without a glitch).

In a nutshell: Your planar might be able to boot and operate with the Penryn, but if you encounter any sort of issues, better to stick back to a Merom.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#13 Post by ajkula66 » Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:11 am

JGTC.co.jp wrote:
Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:54 am

In a nutshell: Your planar might be able to boot and operate with the Penryn, but if you encounter any sort of issues, better to stick back to a Merom.
I would suspect that there's something wrong with that T8300 specimen that is in your possession. It would be interesting to see how it behaves in a different system.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#14 Post by wujstefan » Fri Apr 26, 2019 3:59 am

I'd also recommend testing the CPU first. I have Penryned more than 20 R61i (pretty popular system in Poland), never any issue with Penryns, some also pinmodded to accept 1066FSB CPUs.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#15 Post by JGTC.co.jp » Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:29 pm

Gents,

Quick update on requested test items, writing from the T61 6464-B51 test machine booted into W7 with the T8300 that caused the reported culprit:

@George: This T8300 is reported as Family 6, Model 7, Stepping 6 (Ext. Fam. 6, Ext. Mod. 17 Rev. M0) in CPU-Z.

@wjuste: The T61 machine is coping well with the T8300 under the usual loads that triggered the thermal protection in the R61i. Plus, both machines were acquierd as Parts and none of them have had thier fans worked out for alleviating the wear and tear their shafts have (rather noisy, not that annoying!)

Been monitoring the machine using OpenHardwareMonitor and it appears to be reporting clocks and temperatures as expected. Have not got past 1.6 GHz on SpeedStep, though. Will update as soon as I find something else worth of interest.

EDIT: Completely tested wtih a full Windows Update run, YouTube playback and big file copy. 2.4GHz attainable, and very stable on temps. No thermal protection triggering whatsoever (Shall I try and retrofit a new fan on the R61i then?).

Cheers,
--
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The one that started it all: T60 1952-B68 (In plans of a rebuild)

Personal ones: T60 2007-46S - T60p 8741-A11 - R52 1860-A73 - 600E 2645-5JU - T540p 20BF-S02S01

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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#16 Post by wujstefan » Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:33 am

JGTC.co.jp wrote:
Sat Apr 27, 2019 6:29 pm
EDIT: Completely tested wtih a full Windows Update run, YouTube playback and big file copy. 2.4GHz attainable, and very stable on temps. No thermal protection triggering whatsoever (Shall I try and retrofit a new fan on the R61i then?).
Well even a damaged R61i heatsink should cool the system enough so it can at least boot unless there is no contact between the heatsink and CPU.
Install it back in R61, launch hwinfo, and take a glimpse at the temperatures there.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#17 Post by JGTC.co.jp » Fri May 03, 2019 7:15 pm

Hi wujste,

Giving up already: If I connect it without battery, it sort of falls back to a fail-safe configuration and I can't get it past 1.6 GHz. If I connect it with the battery, it remains stable till I apply the AC Adapter and runs anything short of real stress. It is even able to properly reach 2.4 GHz, but I still think that either the planar or any of its DC stages might be acting up on this one, as I cannot really trust a 233 MHz FSB read while on battery power. Reported temperatures for a Penryn max out at ~75 degrees Celsius, although I can no longer trust any figure with the Penryn in. I'll update this post with the exact die and Planar numbers in a few.

EDIT: Planar FRU 42X6816; CPU sSpec SLAYQ. Many thanks for your patience!
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#18 Post by wujstefan » Wed May 08, 2019 6:17 am

JGTC.co.jp wrote:
Fri May 03, 2019 7:15 pm
I'll update this post with the exact die and Planar numbers in a few.

EDIT: Planar FRU 42X6816; CPU sSpec SLAYQ. Many thanks for your patience!
Drop me a PM. I should have a 4:3 plannar I can share for a shipping. I think I will also find some time to middleton it as well.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#19 Post by unixed » Wed May 08, 2019 9:49 am

wujstefan wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 6:17 am
I should have a 4:3 plannar I can share for a shipping.
Better if you gave it to someone who actually has this machine :wink:
JGTC.co.jp wrote: ...
The instructions summarized in this thread are a means of overcoming a BIOS limitation particular to the 15.0" 4:3 R61(i) which your R61 does not share. See the seminal post in Peak2Peak's sig for the context.
If you've followed the instructions you've either got the wrong EC firmware type or revision, depending on what exactly you've done.
If you've successfully done this
RealBlackStuff wrote: First install Middleton's 1.24-1.00 BIOS
then you have the wrong EC fw type.
If you didn't successfully update the EC fw as above, but proceeded following the instructions, you likely have the wrong EC fw revision.
On startup press the F1 key and read your BIOS and EC version. Tell us that and precisely what you've done (flashing which BIOS version in which order and how), also your screen resolution to confirm you don't have a 15.0" R61. Do this before doing anything further.

Burn the correct Middleton BIOS iso (2.24-1.08) for your machine [confirm this for yourself, there are about 4 different BIOS versions for the R61 depending on your machine-type] to CD, research how to do that properly if you haven't done so before, flash it and hope that it will flash your EC. Press F1 on startup and compare with the BIOS and EC fw versions obtained before.

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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#20 Post by wujstefan » Thu May 09, 2019 4:42 am

unixed wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 9:49 am
Better if you gave it to someone who actually has this machine :wink:
This is a good one :) I mistook the system for 15.0" 4:3 unit :)
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#21 Post by JGTC.co.jp » Sat May 11, 2019 8:20 pm

unixed wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 9:49 am
Tell us that and precisely what you've done (flashing which BIOS version in which order and how), also your screen resolution to confirm you don't have a 15.0" R61.
This particular machine is a 15.4" WS R61i. I went straight-through on flashing 2.24-1.08 on the BIOS the machine had when I first got it in my hands, quite a while ago.
wujstefan wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 6:17 am
Drop me a PM. I should have a 4:3 plannar I can share for a shipping. I think I will also find some time to middleton it as well.
Sounds like a nice project machine! I might need to source some 4:3 Magnesiums and plastics, mostly... :)
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Personal ones: T60 2007-46S - T60p 8741-A11 - R52 1860-A73 - 600E 2645-5JU - T540p 20BF-S02S01

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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#22 Post by TinkerMan » Fri Jun 07, 2019 2:57 pm

wujstefan wrote:
Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:54 am

I'm seriously considering selling my top-end pimped T601 now. R6x build quality is just so dmn good and runs way cooler (even having in mind my T601 runs hardware modified T61p's fan). Put in a X9000 w/Dual-IDA and I can have a laptop computer, hammer, buckler and cutting board all in one.
what do you mean better quality? the R series was a lower end series, lower than the T series at least.
W530, 3840QM, 32GB, K2000M
P1, XEON 2176, 32GB ECC, P2000, IPS
X230, 3320M, 16GB, HD4000, IPS
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T61 14" 4:3, T9500, 8GB, NVS140M
T60 14" 4:3, T7600, 3GB, GMA950
P71, 7700HQ, 16GB, P600, IPS
T470 6300U
R61i, T430s
RIP: T43p, X201

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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#23 Post by ajkula66 » Fri Jun 07, 2019 3:45 pm

TinkerMan wrote:
Fri Jun 07, 2019 2:57 pm
wujstefan wrote:
Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:54 am

I'm seriously considering selling my top-end pimped T601 now. R6x build quality is just so dmn good and runs way cooler (even having in mind my T601 runs hardware modified T61p's fan). Put in a X9000 w/Dual-IDA and I can have a laptop computer, hammer, buckler and cutting board all in one.
what do you mean better quality? the R series was a lower end series, lower than the T series at least.
That was the idea at the time, yes. But the reality is that I'd much rather have a 15" 4:3 R60/61 as a modding platform than a T60. The only weak spot of the R series is cooling and that's a fairly easy fix. Their frames don't break and their hinges don't get wobbly from just being looked at with an evil eye as opposed to T6x series.
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George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

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Abused daily: T520, X200s


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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#24 Post by wujstefan » Sat Jun 08, 2019 3:51 am

ajkula66 wrote:
Fri Jun 07, 2019 3:45 pm
TinkerMan wrote:
Fri Jun 07, 2019 2:57 pm


what do you mean better quality? the R series was a lower end series, lower than the T series at least.
That was the idea at the time, yes. But the reality is that I'd much rather have a 15" 4:3 R60/61 as a modding platform than a T60. The only weak spot of the R series is cooling and that's a fairly easy fix. Their frames don't break and their hinges don't get wobbly from just being looked at with an evil eye as opposed to T6x series.
Not to mention scratch-proof surface, non-touchpad palmrest and ability to sport a R500 motherboard.
All my T601s are long gone. I'm with my R600 now, super-happy with what I can still do on this system.
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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#25 Post by TinkerMan » Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:00 am

wujstefan wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 3:51 am
Not to mention scratch-proof surface, non-touchpad palmrest and ability to sport a R500 motherboard.
All my T601s are long gone. I'm with my R600 now, super-happy with what I can still do on this system.
this is a type of frankenpad I am unfamiliar with, what are the exact parts ( and from what models) , and what type of display are we talking about here wide or 4:3?

I've built 2 T601Fs with X9000 and also 2 reverse T601s using the T60 mobos inside the T61 frames.
but I also own an unmodified 15,4 inch wide screen R61i, which was in fact my very first laptop 11 years ago.
W530, 3840QM, 32GB, K2000M
P1, XEON 2176, 32GB ECC, P2000, IPS
X230, 3320M, 16GB, HD4000, IPS
T601F X9000, 8GB, X3100, UXGA FlexView 1600x1200
T61 14" 4:3, T9500, 8GB, NVS140M
T60 14" 4:3, T7600, 3GB, GMA950
P71, 7700HQ, 16GB, P600, IPS
T470 6300U
R61i, T430s
RIP: T43p, X201

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Re: R61i motherboard can't handle Penryn?

#26 Post by BigCatAndy » Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:28 pm

wujstefan wrote:
Sat Jun 08, 2019 3:51 am
Not to mention scratch-proof surface, non-touchpad palmrest and ability to sport a R500 motherboard.
All my T601s are long gone. I'm with my R600 now, super-happy with what I can still do on this system.
Hello,
some time ago (6-8 months) I bought R61i (15 inch, 4:3) for 40€ and replaced its display with UXGA from T60p, added CPU (T8100) and put 4 GB of RAM. I'm more than happy. R61i is definitely bulkier and less elegant than T60 or T61, but it's stable, quiet (comparing to my T60p with ATI card) and does its job as expected.

Regards,
Andrey
- in use -
(1) TP R61i Frankepad - 4 GB / C2D T9500 / 180 GB SSD / UXGA display
(2) Lenovo 3000 N200 - 2 GB / C2D T7300 / 160 GB
(3) TP T450s
- in museum -
IBM 600x, IBM TP T43p, Lenovo TP Z61t, Lenovo TP X60 Tablet

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