600x (non-SpeedStep) with 850mmc-2

[pbraun]

OK, so I found out AFTER I bought the 850MHz mmc-2 that I have a non-SS 600x. I understand that it won't run at full speed (I'm checking with a friend who has a stack of parts machines to see if we can find a SS system board).

Meanwhile, if I install it, will either it or the system board be damaged? I can accept it being limited to 700MHz for the time being, but not if there are voltage differences or something that will cause damage to either half of the equation.

Thanks.

[pkiff]

Installing an MMC-2 PIII 850MHz into your 600X should not damage your system board or the CPU.

Lots and lots of people have installed SpeedStep CPUs into non-SpeedStep ThinkPads of the 600/770 series without causing damage to their motherboards -- though as with any CPU upgrade, there is the possibility that your new CPU may freeze up due to over-heating or some such, but that is not the same as damage produced by different voltages or some equally serious catastrophe.

Having said that, I would note that there appears to be some confusion or disagreement in the forum about whether or not a 850MHz SpeedStep CPU can run full-speed in a non-SpeedStep 600X, and indeed about which models are actual non-SpeedStep models. For more information, you might want to consult more yet, 600X CPU upgrade.

I for one must admit that I really have no idea any longer which machines will run the PIII 850Mhz full speed and which will not.

Regardless, I'm confident that simply installing it in any 600E/600X/770X/770Z should not harm either the motherboards or the MMC module of any of the machines.

Phil.

[440roadrunner]

I put a 700mhz in mine, and don't believe I'd do it again

I haven't got past the "Fn +F2" (battery) boot hang

It REFUSES to load XP

With "speedstep" loaded, it appears to run 98 or 2K ok, but with both of those systems soon to be abandoned, I REALLY wanted a low budget solution to speeding up XP


Frankly, I'm not sure this is worth the trouble. Having read some of the other threads, and in particular thehardtofollowtextprintedbyone "serverbook", who I'm convinced is a LOT smarter than I, he just can't type.----seems to me some of this stuff being bandied around is for the geeks.


Frankly, I'm considering pulling the 700 back out and reinstalling the original 500--no small feat, considering the risk of screwing up connectors and so on, and electrostatic discharge risk.

I'm just NOT gonna buy a new laptop anytime soon--this was meant to be a method of "getting by," as I have many accessories for my (now two) 600X's

[tfflivemb2]

@440roadrunner:

You could always try to sell the two 600X's to those that are looking to upgrade from their 600's or even 760's, then buy a T2x series for just a little more than the difference.

[AlphaKilo470]

I was on eBay late last night yesterday and actually found a few 600X's that had bids on them going for more than newer and faster T20's and T21's. If you wouldn't mind a change in formfactor, the demand for 600X's is visibly higher than that for a T20 or T21 and if you're looking for more computer power, you could take advantage of this favorable demand curve.

[440roadrunner]

Thanks for the suggestions, but no. I've got too many accessories and other stuff set up for the 600X. After recently discovering the lack of interchangeability between the various types of drive swap bays, I'll just keep the 600X a little longer. I'm getting old, and barely need a laptop anymore.

[AlphaKilo470]

I understand. I've only had me 600E for a few days and it's already grown on me. When the eventual time comes to part with the computer, it's going to be very hard and the day after will be a long one.

I'm sure someone here has already suggested checking the 600 Upgrade Thread at the top of the 600 forum but it definitly can't hurt to check it again for any possibly useful information.

For maximum speed with minumum hassle, I'd actually reccomend keeping the fastest CPU that works without error or trouble and focus on upgrading the RAM and hard drive. 256mb would be a good about of RAM to have and the hard drive, for the best results should be one with a 2mb data cache. When I recieved my 600E with 160mb RAM and no hard drive, I installed a 4200RPM Fujitsu 20gb hard drive with a 2mb cache and Windows runs like a dream on my computer. It's also good to make sure you have Windows set up for efficiency. If you run Windows XP, try Bootvis (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Syst ... tVis.shtml) which is a software that moves your bootup data to one are on one of the faster parts of the hard drive. Also be careful not to get spyware on your computer and make sure you don't have too many applications starting at login.

I think it's safte to say that with most 600Es and 600Xs, the biggest performance factors are page file usage and data access speed so a good hard drive and 256mb of RAM should make most 600s run pretty well.

[pbraun]

Well, I had some time to kill yesterday after work, so I cleared off the workbench and laid out the 600x. Bunch o' screws later, the keyboard/palmrest came off, and I removed another handful of screws to remove the MMC-2. Gently separated the heat pad, figured out how to hold the heatsink in place with two hands while using the third hand to gently press the new MMC into place.

Turned it back over, set the keyboard back into place (after years of tech support, I've finally gotten it through my skull to try things BEFORE you put 125 screws back into place... ), put the expansion bay battery in, the main battery, and fired 'er up. To my delight, it posted and booted into Win2k! Buttoned 'er back up, replaced the expansion battery with the dvd drive, booted again - and it stalled at the little white square. Rebooted and went into Setup this time, reset the bios, and noticed that Setup was reporting that I now was the proud owner of an 850MHz SpeedStep processor....

So, I guess I'm one of the lucky 4EU owners who seems to be getting the full capacity of the chip.

After resetting the bios, it happily booted with my normal assortment of hardware. Between the new cpu, the 7200rpm hd, and the 400-ish mb of ram, it's like I have a new laptop. Need to replace the one 128mb dimm with a 256, and I'm pretty well maxed out. Should get me a couple more years before I need to upgrade to a T-something.

[serverbook]

I put a 700mhz in mine, and don't believe I'd do it again

I haven't got past the "Fn +F2" (battery) boot hang

It REFUSES to load XP

With "speedstep" loaded, it appears to run 98 or 2K ok, but with both of those systems soon to be abandoned, I REALLY wanted a low budget solution to speeding up XP


Frankly, I'm not sure this is worth the trouble. Having read some of the other threads, and in particular thehardtofollowtextprintedbyone "serverbook", who I'm convinced is a LOT smarter than I, he just can't type.----seems to me some of this stuff being bandied around is for the geeks.


Frankly, I'm considering pulling the 700 back out and reinstalling the original 500--no small feat, considering the risk of screwing up connectors and so on, and electrostatic discharge risk.

I'm just NOT gonna buy a new laptop anytime soon--this was meant to be a method of "getting by," as I have many accessories for my (now two) 600X's

*YOU NEED TO REMOVE THE BATTERY FOR XP TO WORK WITH TP 600X SPEEDSTEP CPU"crazy but true,then your stuck on low speed,hot plug the battery back after the os has loaded,if it hangs tempoarily disconnect the psu and reconnect to switch cpu speed,if your lucky the system doesn;t freeze using ibms speedstep software,i ditched it and upgraded to speedswitch xp ,still has issues but atleast it works.

problem is the tp 600x doesn't function correctly under win xp pro (unless you run without the battery affixed)and then you only run lower speed,i have managed to find a short term workaround to run max speed in xp but this requires one to depress the power button 2 times at two seperate occaisions during the bootup process with the battery affixed in order to run max speed .better results are attained if one ditches the buggy ibm ver 1.1 speedstep applet and utilises software called speedswitch xp ,which atleast allows one to run xp with the battery affixed in order for the cpu to function faster speed.(power button boot trick)

*UPDATE
finally i sorted the issue out (worlds first here on thinkpad forums)
microsoft are to blame,their os did not identify properly the power managment requirments for the speedstep cpu operation but rather persevered with the desktop cpu parameters instead.
to remedy the problem and allow full clean shut down and boot in xp pro


* go to device manager and update the processor driver ,by selecting
i will choose a driver to install,then select intel(only),not intel p111
reboot and your in buisness .intel p111 will show up as before except now its loaded with the unseen proper speedstep supported features.

*then reboot with battery fitted this time,install either ibms speedstep ver 1.1 program or speedswitch xp ver 1.14 program ,set desired parameters
reboot,and your in buisness.

*damm you microsoft for forgeting to correctly address possibly the most robust laptop ever to hit the market,what da ya all run ?macs??

[holmch66]

Hello!!

I CAN CONFIRM THAT THIS SOLUTION WORKS!!! Just changing the processor driver in WinXP did the trick!!



Almost thought that my MMC-2 800MHz CPU upgrade was a waste but now... Thanks you so much for sharing this information!! This it really cool, I hate to leave projects unfinshed and now I got my Thinkpad fully working!!

Best regards to all of you and have a nice summer!!
holmch66

------------------------
Here is my upgrade HISTORY:

My 600X was originally a non-speed-step 500MHz:
BIOS verison 11/30/99 - ITET55WW
Machine-type model: 26458EG
Slave controller version 10/08/99 - IHHT10WW

UPGRADE:
Installed a 800 MHz MMC-2 speed step module to the old Thinkpad 600X (former 500MHz with no speed step)

->PROBLEM (now solved, see above):
It's running at 650/ 800MHz and the speedstep seems to be working, but with some hiccups. When XP starsts to load, it hangs, several times. By unpluggung and replugging the power supply cord the boot continues, but hangs again. Alternatively, I can press Fn+F4 and or Fn+F11 to continue instead of the power cord thing.
When the XP is finally up and running, the Speed Step utility allows it to change the frequency, but it also locks up immediately. Pressing Fn+F11 unlocks the system and the CPU speed is then changed. But it freezes each time I toggle the speed. That's not so bad but theWindows XP boot up procedure is really annoying.