T60p 2007WUK - Toast motherboard

[Think43p]

Recently I posted a topic about my T60p 2007WUK working hotter with a Sandisk SSD than a Samsung SSD and I eventually went for the Samsung.

As of today I realized the mobo is toast as its not booting past POST with a single beep and then a blank screen. Added to that it works sometimes and sometimes dosent. Very unpredictable.

Now the overall laptop being in excellent shape, Im wondering if it has any value left and therefore sell it as a whole or break it up into parts for a better overall yield or buy a a replacement motherboard and where to buy with the right specs.

Specs:
Purchased in the US in 2010 from IBM certified used store.
US QWERTY layout
US power adapater
OEM battery

Product: ThinkPad T60p 2007-WUK
T2600(2.16GHz), 4GB RAM, 15in 1600x1200 LCD, 256MB ATI FireGL V5200, CDRW/DVD, Intel 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, UltraNav, FPR, 9c Li-Ion batt

TIA for inputs.

[Droider]

Hey, sorry for your loss but you can have a very nice frankenpad with that mint chassis T60p with 15 uxga display. It is not the end but the beginning of your real thinkpad modding journey.

[RealBlackStuff]

Ditto, you can get the 14.1" 4:3 T61 non-widescreen motherboards here: https://www.theboardroom.info/t61mobo.html

[Think43p]

Thanks for the inputs.

I'm not that tech smart to get into the modding business plus Im busy with work. The best I could do is simply put in a used T60p working mobo.

Can i use ANY T60/T60p 15" mobo - basically anything that requires me to only disassemble, switch, assemble. Can I use one off of a 14" T60/T60p as well?

Any recommendations about a better CPU than the one that currently exists.

I'm ok with the unreliable heatsink and fan overheating. I really dont have time to do a full makeover although I understand that would be the better way forward. Thanks.

[RealBlackStuff]

Any motherboard from any NON-widescreen 14.1" or 15" T60 will be a drop-in.
Best CPU is T7200/T7400/T7600.
However, the T60 is still limited to max. usable 3GB RAM.
A Frankenpad T601 can use up to 8GB RAM.
Get the T60 manual from the HMM link above.

[unixed]

You can get a 15.0" R61(i) -- gives you a much better CPU (T9300/T9500), up to 8GB RAM and won't run hot & loud. No discrete GPU option though. You can swap the LCD panels when you get time. You can minimize the downtime by first swapping the panel into a 15.0" R60 lid at your leisure, then swapping the complete lid.

Other than that you can use any 14.1" T60 planar together with your current interposer card or 15.0" T60 planar (the planars themselves are identical), these satisfy your straight swap requirements. It is only the 15.4" widescreen T60 you have to avoid.

You'd probably have to refer to the Hardware Maintenance Manual (HMM) linked to at the top of the page either way.

[Natakranta]

Best you can do is to make a Frankenpad out of it.
I'll be doing it with my T60, waiting for parts I ordered and spare time (exams mid June).
Watch these videos:

https://youtu.be/83JR4O-oTDE

https://youtu.be/EWEiXnbKJ04

https://youtu.be/c_vN0kCqxdw

If you will not decide going the Frankenpad way, I'll have spare working motherboard from my T60 4:3 15" which as far as I know is a drop in replacement to your T60p (guys please correct me if I'm wrong), but you can't enjoy better CPUs that came with T61 motherboard and most of all Middleton BIOS that unlocks SATA 2 speed for the SSD drive and up to 8GB RAM in crazy expensive DDR2 sticks

[Think43p]

Hi All,

There is something really weird going on and I'm at my wits end. This well taken care of T60p has some sort of a love/hate relation with Samsung SSDs. This damm thing has started working again. How and why I'm still trying to figure out.

Here's the story so far:

Till Feb of this year, I was using this T60p with a Samsung 850 EVO 250Gb and sometime back this very symptom started showing up(single beep past POST and nothing more) and at that time I thought the 850 was dead, so I ended up buying a Sandisk Plus 250GB which ran ok but hotter than the 850, so I ended up buying a 860 EVO 250gb and used it for about a month till a few days back the same symptom showed up again and so I thought this is now toast.

Today, just as a random action and before I could decide what to do with this burnt out T60p or so I thought it was, I decided to put back the Sandisk and voila --> she was up and running. I restarted 3-4 times and each time was ok so I went and put back the 860 and bingo --> here I am typing this message on what I thought was a dead T60p.

While I'm definitely happy that she ain't dead yet, any any idea what the heck is going on? Is it the heat cause it runs warm-hot with the fan on all the time. Thanks for any input to this odd weird problem.

PS: At this point Im really thinking I could put in a new T7600 processor and a heatsink hoping its just a straight off swap. Any recommendations on the right heatsink/fan?

[RealBlackStuff]

When was the last time you refreshed the thermal paste between CPU and cooler?

[Think43p]

Never!!

[RealBlackStuff]

That explains your toaster.

[dr_st]

"Refresh your thermal paste" has become a general advice people give when they have no idea of what the problem is. It's not something that generally has to be done if the paste was applied properly to begin with.

[RealBlackStuff]

I have no idea what the problem is?
C'mon, heat has been his problem all along!

[dr_st]

Did he actually report any temperatures? All these threads are a lot of yadda-yadda, with very little concrete data. Just because "the fan is on all the time", doesn't mean that there is an actual overheating problem. The fan is supposed to run.

[Think43p]

Thanks to all for the valuable inputs.

After these past few days and doing CPR on the laptop, I think I'll spend some time to replace the heatsink/fan and the processor.

Relevant specs as of now:
ThinkPad T60p 2007-WUK (also says 2007-CTO)
BIOS - 2.20 79ETE0WW
T2600(2.16GHz) - Also has 2.17Ghz written right beside the 2.16 so dont know what this dance is all about
15in 1600x1200 LCD,
256MB ATI FireGL V5200
Win 10 32-bit, 4Gb ram.

From what I read online, the T60p HS/Fan were sub par and the W500 or T61/T61p were better replacements. In any case I was thinking of putting in some new thermal paste AS5 anyway.

Could you advise me on the following:
1. Should I put in a new CPU - say a T7600 or T7400 (15" standard)
2. Should I replace the HS/Fan? If so whats the better between the W500/T500 or T61/T61p. (15" standard). If there is minor modding required, I could do that as well.

Thanks again for all the help.

[dr_st]

If you are already removing the fan, and you have that CPU handy, might as well replace it. A T2600 is rather high-end, so don't expect any noticeable performance benefits.

While it is generally agreed that T61 and especially T500 fans are better, it's not that the original fan is inadequate. It's perfectly fine. It might be a little louder, system might run a couple of degrees warmer, but none of is a deal-breaker. Now, if the fan dies and you need to replace it anyway (it happens), then I would change out the whole HSF to a T500/W500 HSF.

[Think43p]

Hi All,

I decided to go it step by step and thought it was would be best to start off with whatever I have and go from there. So as I had some Titan thermal paste lying around, I went ahead and applied a new layer of the thermal compound to the CPU and the laptop's now running a lot cooler than before --> almost 15 deg C cooler on each core. The heatsink and fan had almost no dust so no blockages there, so I guess the only issue was improper heat transfer.

Here are the before and after values and couple of pics from the HSF right after I pulled it out and before cleaning.






Hope this solves the problem permanently. Thanks to all for your valuable inputs.

[PowerPC]

Ditto, you can get the 14.1" 4:3 T61 non-widescreen motherboards here: https://www.theboardroom.info/t61mobo.html

Please remind me again, if I have a T60 shell and the T61 planar, what other parts do I need?

[TPFanatic]

If it's a 15" T60 you need the interposer board from the 15" T60 motherboard. No other parts are needed. You do need to remove or file down some magnesium frame as the Modem card placement changed between the two series, and I believe Modem functionality is eliminated.

[RealBlackStuff]

T61 also uses different CPU, fan and PCMCIA cage.
See the PLEASE NOTE section on my webpage https://www.theboardroom.info/t61mobo.html

[PowerPC]

If it's a 15" T60 you need the interposer board from the 15" T60 motherboard. No other parts are needed. You do need to remove or file down some magnesium frame as the Modem card placement changed between the two series, and I believe Modem functionality is eliminated.

Thanks for the information on the interposer. The time for dial-up modems is gone, anyway.

T61 also uses different CPU, fan and PCMCIA cage.
See the PLEASE NOTE section on my webpage https://www.theboardroom.info/t61mobo.html

Duly noted. Now it's time to grab the parts. My old T60 was stolen, and I'm searching the local Brazilian market for a new palm rest and a keyboard bezel.
I will use the T60p base ajkula66 sold to me.