Thinkpads Forum

After read most of the posts in this forum about 600E CPU upgrade, I ordered a INTEL PENTIUM III 650MHz MMC-2 CPU PMM65002001AA from eBay to upgrade my 600E (2645-55H).

It arrived today and I put it in according to the hardware maintenance manual.

Everything seems go smooth. After I turned it on, buttons lit up, fan spins, but screen doesn't come on ...... keyboard doesn't work and no sound!

I plugged and unplugged the new CPU several times, but it still doesn't work.

After that, I put my old PII 300 in, then my 600E works as normal again.....

Does it mean the new PIII 650 is bad? or it simply doesn't work with my 600E?
Should I upgrade my 600E bios (09/11/99 IHET 47WW) to latest one?

Any advice is welcome!!!
Thanks in advance.

Do you hear a beep when the system powers up?

If you do, it is a sign that the system has gone through POST successfully so the problem is likely to be caused by software, either BIOS or OS. In this case, it may be a good idea to upgrade the BIOS.

If you don't hear any beep, this means that the system doesn't even go through POST at all so there is a strong possiblity that the PIII CPU is not working properly. In this case, you should somehow make sure that the CPU is still alive.

Have fun.

Try updating the BIOS...I've done many CPU upgrades in all 3 600 models..Most of the time it works with no problems.. But the 600x I am typing on now,well thats been a problem child.. It's a speedstep machine and I've tried a 800,700 and a 650mhz CPU in it..None worked,all 3 displayed similar problems that you are having..BUT I put a 600mhz CPU in it I had in a 600e,and it works fine..

I have no idea if it's this machine or the CPU's..I had all sorts of problems getting the 650 and the 800 to work in any 600e or x I had..The 700 went into a 600e with no problems...

In other words,GOOD LUCK!!

No sound at all......
But with harddisk and power lights on :-

* x x x *

* - on
x - off

shined wrote:Do you hear a beep when the system powers up?

If you do, it is a sign that the system has gone through POST successfully so the problem is likely to be caused by software, either BIOS or OS. In this case, it may be a good idea to upgrade the BIOS.

If you don't hear any beep, this means that the system doesn't even go through POST at all so there is a strong possiblity that the PIII CPU is not working properly. In this case, you should somehow make sure that the CPU is still alive.

Have fun.

You mean 650mHz P3 CPU may not work on 600E?
Do anyone have successful experience on putting 650mHz P3 in 600E?

BillD wrote:Try updating the BIOS...I've done many CPU upgrades in all 3 600 models..Most of the time it works with no problems.. But the 600x I am typing on now,well thats been a problem child.. It's a speedstep machine and I've tried a 800,700 and a 650mhz CPU in it..None worked,all 3 displayed similar problems that you are having..BUT I put a 600mhz CPU in it I had in a 600e,and it works fine..

I have no idea if it's this machine or the CPU's..I had all sorts of problems getting the 650 and the 800 to work in any 600e or x I had..The 700 went into a 600e with no problems...

In other words,GOOD LUCK!!

But with harddisk and power lights on :-

Lights don't necessarily mean the CPU is OK. I think you should definitely first suspect the CPU.

Another point you should check is if the onboard memory has been disabled or not. If it is still enabled, you should first disable it with the original CPU, then replace the CPU to PIII.

From old posts, I found that to disable 32M internal memory, just need to chnge byte 2B of CMOS from 80 -> 81 at BIOS HEX editor. But does it work for all model of 600E? How can I know the 32M was disabled?

I will be too disappointed if it is the CPU problem......

shined wrote: Another point you should check is if the onboard memory has been disabled or not. If it is still enabled, you should first disable it with the original CPU, then replace the CPU to PIII.

badmanhk wrote:You mean 650mHz P3 CPU may not work on 600E?
Do anyone have successful experience on putting 650mHz P3 in 600E?

BillD wrote:Try updating the BIOS...I've done many CPU upgrades in all 3 600 models..Most of the time it works with no problems.. But the 600x I am typing on now,well thats been a problem child.. It's a speedstep machine and I've tried a 800,700 and a 650mhz CPU in it..None worked,all 3 displayed similar problems that you are having..BUT I put a 600mhz CPU in it I had in a 600e,and it works fine..

I have no idea if it's this machine or the CPU's..I had all sorts of problems getting the 650 and the 800 to work in any 600e or x I had..The 700 went into a 600e with no problems...

In other words,GOOD LUCK!!

I had no luck getting a 650 to work in a 600e I have..But the 600 and 700 worked fine.. I have no idea if the CPU was bad or there's something about this 600e.. IBM made sooo many different model numbers I'm not sure if one model is more apt to handle a CPU upgrade then other models..

again,Good Luck...

badmanhk wrote:From old posts, I found that to disable 32M internal memory, just need to chnge byte 2B of CMOS from 80 -> 81 at BIOS HEX editor. But does it work for all model of 600E? How can I know the 32M was disabled?

I will be too disappointed if it is the CPU problem......

shined wrote: Another point you should check is if the onboard memory has been disabled or not. If it is still enabled, you should first disable it with the original CPU, then replace the CPU to PIII.

With the orginal CPU in disable the onboard memory then watch as it counts up during the BIOS.. If it's 32 mb less then it use to be the 32 mb is disabled..

A bit confusing about 600E BIOS Changes for :-

Byte 20h change value 02->01 (disable trackpoint - solve 8611 error)
Byte 20h change value 02->0A (disable L2 cache - solve 127 error)
Byte 2Bh 80->81 (disable internal memory)

If they are correct, what value should I use if I need to solve both 8611 and 127 error? Should it be 0B?

These BIOS hacks are based on changing particular "bits" by turning them on or off. I'm not actually that knowledgeable about precisely how bit/byte encoding works, but I have a working understanding which I'll stumble through below. If you already know all about this BIOS/hex-editing stuff, then hopefully the information about what each specific bit actually controls will still be of value.

There are 7 or 8 bits or binary values in each "byte" represented in the built-in ThinkPad CMOS (BIOS) editor. Byte 20 seems to have a couple different starting values, depending on one's model. Some people have 00 in Byte 20, but it looks like the most common starting value is 02, which is the hexadecimal representation of the following binary value:
00000010

Note that this has a single bit (the second one, reading right to left) turned on. I don't know what this bit controls.

Other bits in this byte control different things. I think I know what 3 of them control, but I can't guarantee that I'm right. I'll identify the different bits by the letters W,X,Y,Z below:
000WX0YZ

W - enable/disable L1 Cache - default=0 (enabled)
X - enable/disable L2 Cache - default=0 (enabled)
Y - unknown - default=1 (unknown)
Z - enable/disable TrackPoint - default=0 (enabled)

If I'm right, then, you need to turn bit X (the fourth bit from the right) "ON" to disable your L2 Cache and turn bit Z (the first bit from the right) "ON" to disable your TrackPoint. Assuming you started with the bit Y (the second bit) also "ON" then you want to have the following binary value:
00001011

And, as you suggest, the hexadecimal value of this is indeed: 0B.

I can't guarantee that this will work, but that is the value I'd try if it were my machine.

Phil.

badmanhk wrote:You mean 650mHz P3 CPU may not work on 600E?
Do anyone have successful experience on putting 650mHz P3 in 600E?

I have a 650mhz P3 in my 600E. However, it only runs at 500mhz due to being non-speedstep.

Did you do any bios tricks to make it work? Or, just plug & play?

bosco wrote:I have a 650mhz P3 in my 600E. However, it only runs at 500mhz due to being non-speedstep.

I have also a 650 MHz Pentium III in my TP 600E. It was just plug & play and setting byte 20h to 0A in the BIOS.

But I read often in forums, that this is not always so easy! See also my thread "ThinkPad 600E and SpeedStep mod".

badmanhk wrote:Did you do any bios tricks to make it work? Or, just plug & play?

I just put it in and changed byte 20 to 0A as stated above.

I do have the most recent BIOS for my model, which I think is INET36WW.

There are alot of posts on upgrading the 600E cpu to a P3. I believe it's stated in a couple posts that there are some models that may not accept a P3.

I just found the BIOS I am using now (IHET 47WW) is the latest one.....
May be I bought a bad CPU from ebay....

harald612 wrote:I have also a 650 MHz Pentium III in my TP 600E. It was just plug & play and setting byte 20h to 0A in the BIOS.

But I read often in forums, that this is not always so easy! See also my thread "ThinkPad 600E and SpeedStep mod".

Tried 0B, but it seems not able to get rid of 8611 error.

pkiff wrote: And, as you suggest, the hexadecimal value of this is indeed: 0B.

I can't guarantee that this will work, but that is the value I'd try if it were my machine.

Phil.

Drat! Mmm...does the 8611 error go away if you try just 01 and don't try to get rid of the L2 cache error at the same time? You could also try 09 - this is the value you would have if you started with 00 instead of 02 and wanted to disable the L2 cache and the TrackPoint.

Are you sure you are editing the right value? You get into the edit CMOS screen and then the value you want to edit is marked with ** below:
Maybe I've got the wrong bit to disable the TrackPoint? I've not actually tried that one myself.

Phil.

Thanks pkiff! 8611 error went away by 09.
Unfortuneately, after I set

02h to 09
2Bh to 81

My new CPU still doesn't work......
Should I conclude it is a bad one?
:<

pkiff wrote:Drat! Mmm...does the 8611 error go away if you try just 01 and don't try to get rid of the L2 cache error at the same time? You could also try 09 - this is the value you would have if you started with 00 instead of 02 and wanted to disable the L2 cache and the TrackPoint.

Some more findings :-

When I turn on the power with my working CPU (PII 300) plugged, all lights go up for half second and then only left power light on.

* * * * * --half second--> x x x x *

When I plugged my new PIII 650 and power up,

* * * * * --half second--> * x x x *

* - on, x - off

Does it mean anything?

badmanhk wrote:Thanks pkiff! 8611 error went away by 09.
Unfortuneately, after I set

02h to 09
2Bh to 81

My new CPU still doesn't work......
Should I conclude it is a bad one?
:<

I have some suggestions for you here that will help you isolate what is causing the problem.

1. After installing the 650MHz, on your next boot go into the BIOS setup.

2. Now, I'm not directly familiar with the 600E, but look to see if there's a menu item in the 600E's BIOS that reports back on the CPU. Make sure that it is telling you the correct CPU and speed (±4MHz).

3. If it is not correctly reporting back the CPU type, then you can't get that CPU to work in your machine, period - either it's a bad CPU or your particular 600E won't recognize it, you can;t know for sure without putting the MMC-2 into another machine. But in any case if the BIOS doesn't correctly report the CPU type then Stop Here.

4. Assuming the BIOS does report back the correct CPU type, next find the BIOS setting to RESET your BIOS. Make sure you see some sort of confirmation, and not an error - if you do see an error after BIOS reset, stop here and report it back to us. Reboot, and then it should recognize the MMC-2. If you get any errors, report it back here.

5. If, after all this, you do not get a POST beep and you get the the same light sequence & the computer doesn't respond, shut down the computer and try booting from a floppy disk that is NOT a system disk. If you do not get a POST beep, you get the same light sequence, and the computer stops responding, try it with the floppy again except this time remove your 600E's hard drive and proceed to Step 6.

6. If you do not get an error saying something "Non-system disk in Drive A", then you probably have a bad CPU. If you DO get that error, good, you have a heartbeat from the CPU, Insert a system floppy disk into the floppy drive and boot again.

At this point, let me know how far you get with this procedure.

THANKS for help!

With 650Mhz installed, it simply can't boot into BIOS, no screen at all..........

Anyway, are there any known case that some old model 600E doesn't support PIII CPU?

BillG wrote:I have some suggestions for you here that will help you isolate what is causing the problem.

1. After installing the 650MHz, on your next boot go into the BIOS setup.

Finally, I order another PIII 600MHz from eBay. This time, just plug & play. No problem at all after folloing BIOS tricks

20h 02->0A (127 error)
2Bh 80->81 (disable internal memory)

Run happily now at 250MHz w battery and 500MHz with AC adpater!!

1000 thanks for all helps!