upgrading help on r51e

[defong]

I have decided to give my TP r51e a new lease of life but I want to clear a few items first...

My plan is to get a second hard drive to replace the orginal hard drive, and have the orginal as a usb external hdd before starting my adventure.

1) Hard Drive dillema

I want to use one of these 3 hd but the problem is that I don't really know what interface it can support as far as I know the r51e supports PATA interface, and there is 3 different ones on offer here please can you help me chose as I don't want to buy and try then return.

Please can you tell me if there is any problem with it as reading about WD hard drives failures has put me off from getting the 250GB one.

Hitachi Travelstar 5K160 2.5 inch Hard Disk Drive 160GB (Parallel-ATA) 5400rpm 8MB Buffer
Manufacturers SKU: HTS541616J9AT00
Interface Parallel ATA-7

OEM - Seagate Momentus 5400.3 160GB 5400rpm 8MB Ultra ATA/100 Notebook Hard Drive
Manufacturers SKU: ST9160821A
Interface Ultra ATA/100

Hitachi Travelstar 0A25015 7K100 100GB 2.5 inch Hard Disk Drive - ATA6 7200rpm 8MB Buffer
Manufacturers SKU: HTS721010G9AT00
Interface Parallel ATA-6

Will there be any problems if i install xp cd on new hdd?

2 Firmware

Hard drive firmware update utility (Bootable CD ISO) - ThinkPad
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62282

Ok upon my search I think I need to update the firmware but from the site it lists r51 but not r51e is it ok to use anyway?

I haven't brought the hd yet so can't experiment... any help will be great.

3 Bios
I want to know will updating bios will allow for usb booting so i can still use old hard if all else fails?
I think my one is from 2005 haven't really looked in to it.
As currently I can't even thro i done the settings and tried with a Seagate FreeAgent (its works on my desktop pc)...

4 Ram
just wondering what ones i need to use? and how many slots and max i can have?

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Could you please post the 7-character model number of your ThinkPad to help us provide you with more specific guidelines?

[defong]

System details

Machine type/model: 1843-A23
BIOS version: 78ET56WW (1.46 )
Operating system: Windows XP Professional
Operating system version: 5.01
Total memory: 512 MB

[ajkula66]

Please delete your serial number, it should NEVER be exposed in an open forum...

As for HDD, I'd go with Hitachi 100GB-7200rpm if you can still locate one, run for it, they are getting next to impossible to find.

Your machine will take 2x1GB of PC2700 RAM, one slot is under the keyboard, and one has open access from the back.

You should consider upgrading your CPU to Pentium M, it's a very inexpensive yet effective upgrade nowadays.

You can update the BIOS, but if the machine runs well you can still hang on to the present one.

Hope this helps.

[defong]

If I can't get that drive will the other two do? I just found one but it was doubled from the last supplier think i give that a miss.

Of the CPU whats the max the board will support?

[ajkula66]

If I'm not mistaken, it will take up to 2.1 Ghz ...PM765, but these are expensive nowadays...you're looking at $200

On the other hand, Pentium M735 (Dothan) 1.7 can be found for under $30...and it will make a huge difference compared to one you have now.

Hope this helps.

[defong]

I think the is Front Side Bus 533 MHz

I can get this one Intel Pentium M Processor 740

From this doc
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 462_01.pdf
It should be right i think but I'm not sure on the ram side of things can you help please!

[ajkula66]

Well, if it's 533Mhz FSB you'll be looking at PC4200 DDR2 or higher...

The best way to find out is to identify RAM that you have installed, either by removing the keyboard, or by running CPU-Z.

[sjthinkpader]

You can find out what originally went in the computer at the factory by doing the following:

1. Go to the Lenovo Support & Download page
2. Select the Warranty lookup page and enter the type and serial numbers
3. On the warranty status page, click on the view parts lookup hyper link

[defong]

Processors Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores 1 (max 1)
Number of threads 1 (max 1)
Name Intel Celeron M 370
Codename Dothan
Specification Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.50GHz
Package Socket 479 mPGA (platform ID = 5h)
CPUID 6.D.8
Extended CPUID 6.D
Brand ID 18
Core Stepping C0
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 1495.6 MHz (15.0 x 99.7 MHz)
Rated Bus speed 398.8 MHz
Stock frequency 1500 MHz

Chipset
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge ATI RS400/RC400/RC410 rev. 01
Southbridge ATI SB400 rev. 00
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 448 MBytes
Channels Single
Memory Frequency 266.5 MHz ()
CAS# 4.0
RAS# to CAS# 4
RAS# Precharge 4
Cycle Time (tRAS) 12

DMI Physical Memory Array
-------------------------
location Motherboard
usage System Memory
correction None
max capacity 1024 MBytes
max# of devices 2


DMI Memory Device
-----------------
designation DIMM 1
format SODIMM
type DDR
total width 64 bits
data width 64 bits
size 512 MBytes


DMI Memory Device
-----------------
designation DIMM 2
format SODIMM
type DDR

Hmmm...
I'm a little confused now, rated fsb is stated as 400mhz is it because of cpu?
and ram is at 266mhz.

[denisky]

Just get Hitachi one, you won't regret it. It has more features than other manufacturers. You can customize the HDD by using Hitachi Feature Tool. I have four laptop HDD, all of them are TravelStar and they are still running without any issues. I bought Hitachi 160GB PATA to replace the R51e's stock 40GB HDD, it feels a bit warmer than the old stock HDD, but the capacity is more important to me. You can install any operating system you like without problem. Or you may consider to clone the old HDD to the new one, using Acronis True Image.

I also got 2x1GB Kingston DDR2 memory modules to replace the stock 2x256MB modules (2GB is the max limit, you can't go higher than that). Get the DDR2 type module, not the DDR because R51e and R52 are based on T43 system board, so get DDR2 instead, don't be mistaken with R51 which still uses DDR modules.

[defong]

just wondering is there any way of upgrading graphics?

I know its a silly q but hey I never know