Thinkpads Forum

Hi everybody, I'd like to ask for some clarifications about the possible upgrade in subject.

I've in my hands an out-of-warranty T430 with an i5-2540M (dual core, second generation) and Nvidia graphics; and a i7-3632QM (quad core, third generation) which I'd like to swap in.

If I check on http://ark.intel.com/compare/50072,71458 , it would seem that the specifications are very similar, 35W TDP included. I also see that Lenovo was offering such Thinkpad with both i5-2XXX and i5-3YYY CPU's. This would give me some hope that the upgrade may be possible. But I am not sure about chipset support: were different motherboards involved, even within the T430 line, or a single one may really cover both Core generations, Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge? For what it's good, Wikipedia too would list the newer CPU's as backward compatible, but it also refers to possible need for firmware updates. Does anybody have some experience to share on such matters? Thanks a lot!
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Al.

I believe this has been done. There's a thread about it over on NBR, but there may be one here too.

I have been using one for more than a year without any problems.

Thanks a lot. I've tried, but seem to have some problem.
When I reboot after the CPU swap, the screen remains completly blank; caps lock comes on briefly (as the thinklight); and I hear the error sequence:

beep <pause> beep beep beep <pause> beep beep beep <pause> beep.

Then nothing, just the fan humming. Am I missing something? For now I've left the RAM modules that I had before.

Does anyone have the error code interpretation for the above sequence?

Thanks,
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Al.

mrmo wrote:Thanks a lot. I've tried, but seem to have some problem.
When I reboot after the CPU swap, the screen remains completly blank; caps lock comes on briefly (as the thinklight); and I hear the error sequence:

beep <pause> beep beep beep <pause> beep beep beep <pause> beep.

Then nothing, just the fan humming. Am I missing something? For now I've left the RAM modules that I had before.

Does anyone have the error code interpretation for the above sequence?

Thanks,
--
Al.

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/ht035729
You may want to check using the old CPU again.

1-3-3-1 beep means there is no RAM (or bad RAM) in that machine.

Thank you. I've found indeed, if somebody else may find that handy, the official listing here: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/ht035729

I'm still puzzled though. I've tried 4 different RAM modules, one by one and in either slots, always getting such error. All the modules work fine on the same laptop with the old i5-2540M CPU, and on a different laptop which uses an i5-3340M CPU.

Moreover if I try replacing the new i7-3632QM CPU in that laptop instead, I also receive the same 'Memory problems' beeps sequence for that machine.

So I suspect, may it be a faulty CPU itself? If the i7-3632QM is for any reasons broken, is it supposed to give a different error message? I recall that the memory controller has been integrated onto the Core architecture since a while...

Thanks a lot,
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Al.

Maybe a BIOS update might help, but I suspect a bad CPU.

Make sure you are running the latest BIOS.

The i7-3632QM is relateively new compared to when that laptop was first released, and the older BIOS may not support it.