Thinkpads Forum

I have a 600E with a P3 500mhz cpu using Powerleap to enable the L2 cache on startup. I noticed that when the laptop goes into standby the L2 cache gets disabled and Powerleap has to be launched again to enable it.

I bought another 600E for my wife and intend on putting a P3 in it also. My wife is not one to be bothered by clicking on an icon everytime the laptop comes out of standby.

Therefore, my question is, how significant is the L2 cache? I've used my 600E with it enabled and disabled and, frankly, I can't tell a difference when just surfing the internet.

I've read in other posts that L2 cache helps significantly for DVD playback. However, both 600E's will not have DVD drives.

The only request from my wife is that she wants to be able to check email and play games on Pogo.com. The games on Pogo are all Java based and the 600E meets the system requirements. Therefore, will she notice any degradation in performance if the L2 cache is disabled on her 600E? I will put Powerleap in the startup folder, but if it goes into standby from time to time I doubt she will remember to enable the L2 cache each time.

I can't speak to your questions about the performance value of the L2 cache, but another Forum member named shined posted information about a program that can automatically restart the Powerleap utility after resuming from Suspend. The post is found on the third page of The official 770 Upgrade and general information Topic thread.

For your convenience, I've cut and pasted the relevant information here:

shined wrote:BTW, let me give you one piece of info, As you know, the L2 cache of the PIII retrofitted to 600E/770X/Z is turned off when the system goes to stand-by and wakes up. So you need to launch the powerleap utility to enable the L2 cache.
I found a utility called "restarter'
http://www.vector.co.jp/soft/winnt/util/se311201.html
This can automatically launch the powerleap utility and enable the L2 cache when waking up. If you feel bothered in needing to click the powerleap after waking up, try this.

I haven't tried this restarter utility myself, nor have I found one with an explanation in English. And it will probably only work on certain versions of Windows.

Phil.

I haven't tried this restarter utility myself, nor have I found one with an explanation in English. And it will probably only work on certain versions of Windows.

OK, let me give you a step-by-step instruction about how to install and configure this small utility to make your 600E with PIII CPU even prettier. This small utility works on any language version of windows 2000/XP, and once installed, it does not disturbe you. It just stays on the taskbar and does it's job. Believe me, I think this is a must-to-have utility for 600E/770X/Z users who upgraded the CPU to PIII.

Prerequisite for using this utility.
OS should be Windows 2000 or XP.
Powerleap CPU Control Panel should be used for enabling the L2 cache. (Cache Utility does not work well.)

1: Download this file.
2: Melt the file to anywhere you like. (ex:"c:\Program Files\Restarter")
3: Create a shortcut of 'restarter.exe'
4: Right click the shortcut and choose 'Properties'
5: Choose Minimized in 'Run' item and click 'OK'
6: Put it into startup folder
7: Launch restarter.exe
8: The setup window should show up if this is the first launch. If the setup window does not come up, right click the taskbar icon of restarter.exe and choose the top item in the menu shown as ??(s)
10: Check the checkbox 1
11: Make sure that the box under the checkbox 1 has a value of 0
12: Make sure that the checkbox below the box of 0 is unchecked
13: Click the button having "????????"
14: Choose c:\PowerLeap Utilities\pleapu.exe
15: Make sure the checkbox next to the button is unchecked
16: Click the center button at the bottom having "?????????"

That's it. Reboot the system to make sure that this utility starts up and stays on the taskbar when booting up. Then put the system into standby and wake it up. What do you see? If you see the Powerleap launch automatically and enable the L2 cache, you are all set. If you have any problem with this procedure, let me know.

Enjoy!

MOD EDIT: Try to shorten up links, long links change page format.

This is great. Thank you. Now, anyway to automatically minimize Powerleap when it launches coming out of standby? I still have to click OK to make it go away.

I know, I know...I ask for too much.

This is great. Thank you.

Glad to hear that.

Now, anyway to automatically minimize Powerleap when it launches coming out of standby? I still have to click OK to make it go away.

Yes, there is.
1: Open the Powerleap CPU Control Panel window
2: Click the 'configuration' tab
3: Uncheck 'Dock to Taskbar' checkbox
4: Click 'OK'
If you do this, the Powerleap will enable the L2 cache right after being launched, then automatically be closed, not going to the taskbar. You can still check the L2 cache status by using for example CPU-Z.

Try this and let me know if it works fine or not.

Works great. Thanks again!