SpeedStep and Windows 2000 on a ThinkPad 600E

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#1 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:08 pm

I'm not sure what everyone will make of this but I figure I'll post it anyway for what it maybe worth to anyone out there with a ThinkPad 600E that's planning to upgrade or already has upgraded their CPU to a Pentium III.

I got a Pentium III 750 in the mail last week and when I installed it, my computer detected it as a 600mhz part and that's what it ran at. I was running Windows 98 at this point. This morning, I finish installing Windows 2000 and later on when I run WCPUID, I notice that it reports my CPU as running at the full 750mhz and when I run the realtime clock checker, it says the same thing.

My ThinkPad's BIOS still detects my cpu as a 600mhz part but in Windows 2000, it's the full 750mhz. I'm thinking that Windows 2000 has a driver for the SpeedStep cpu.

LtTPfan · #2 Post by **LtTPfan** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 5:10 pm

It's probably an updated driver for the chipset, an update that wasn't available for 98. It would be interesting if you had a before and after benchmark. Can you "feel" the difference?

#3 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 5:39 pm

Yes, too bad I never thought to do a benchmark before. Oh well...

As for the feel of the computer, yes, definitley. When I first installed Windows 2000, the very first thing I noticed was how much faster the OS ran and this is before I found out my machine was running at 750mhz. I was rather amazed at how much difference an extra 150mhz could make when I did find out. It's also nice to think that I now have a 600E that's faster than some of the original T series laptops.

marvelousmarvyd · #4 Post by **marvelousmarvyd** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 7:20 pm

Hmmm interesting because I was thinking of rolling my 600x with its 850mhz chip back to Windows 2000 just to see if it would run at full speed. Out of curiosity are you running Windows 2000 with SP4? - Marvin

#5 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 7:38 pm

Yes but my computer was running at 750mhz under Windows 2000 even before I installed the updates or service packs.

Also, i noticed that the computer actually runs at 600mhz until I start running software then it jumps up to 750 and stays there. I think Windows 2000 power management adds primitave software level support for the Speedstep chip.

DNA_DAN · #6 Post by **DNA_DAN** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:40 am

What is the serial number of your 600E?

There are at least 2 maybe 3 revisions of the 600E mobo out there. We should start a sticky for people who had successful mods like this and keep track of their serials. I have read posts from others who weren't so fortunate.

What is your FSB running at now? More than likely if it went from the 66mhz to 100mhz FSB when you put in the PIII, that is why you notice the big difference.

A little off topic here, but does anyone know the difference between the 2645 and 2646 serial numbers in the 600E models? Clearly there are two classes of models with a lot of sub- models in each. But what are the differences between the two main classes?

#7 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:54 pm

My ThinkPad 600E was manufactured in March of 2000 and the model number is 2645-4BU. You'll find this model laptop listed in the twbook.pdf and tbook.pdf files from IBM's website on the page that says "ThinkPad 600E (400mhz)."

The FSB did go up from 66mhz to 100mhz when I installed the Pentium III and initially, the CPU clockspeed is 600mhz ( then jumps up to 750mhz clockspeed after I'm booted into Windows 2000. The onboard 32mb of PC66 SDRAM has shown no trouble at all running overclocked at the 100mhz bus speed.

As for 2645 and 2646, I'd like to know that difference myself, especially as 2546 isn't listed in any of the IBM spec files I have.

DNA_DAN · #8 Post by **DNA_DAN** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:45 pm

I take it then that you have a 400mhz MMC-2 or MMC-1 module for sale? These are quite rare and will catch you a good penny on ebay.

With regards to your upgrade, I just put in a 650mhz PIII and it only runs at the lower step, 500 mhz. The 100mhz FSB makes all the difference in the world on these things. I am running windows 2000 PRO and it does not automatically boot at the higher frequency.

I decided to attempt the speedstep mod on the processor (ala sharedoc and Katch) and install the DeepSleep utility (ala wmarcusm). It works! The only problem I have is that the processor is supposed to be a 650mhz, but I can only get it to 600mhz at the higher step. So either I got robbed on ebay, or the Deepsleep Utility is not working it's magic 100%. I assume it's the former, however I don't really care to crack open my [censored] case again to check the part number on the PIII module. I took pics of what I did if anyone cares I can post them here.

#9 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:03 pm

Unfortunatley, I don't have a 400mhz MMC2 module. My laptop is a 4BU and is listed as originally having a 400mhz chip but when I got my computer, it had a Pentium II 366. It was also missing two screws so I'm assuming that someone swapped chips in the past.

As for the SpeedStep thing, who knows, maybe my computer is just a fluke as there are no known motherboard mods on my machine and the CPU chip showed no signs of tampering. I'm wondering if the fact that I used a fresh install of Windows 2000 might have had anything to do with my luck.

Also, before coming to any conclusions with your PIII chip, let your computer run for at least 10 minutes and make sure you've had some software running (Office, Firefox, etc) because every now and then, my laptop, as I stated earlier, starts out running at 600mhz then jumps after I've been running a bunch of software and/or the computers been on a while.

Regarding your CPU's top speed, it should be in the serial number printed on the CPU board. If it's a 650, you'll see 650 somewhere in that long number.

DNA_DAN · #10 Post by **DNA_DAN** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:49 pm

I think I will crack open the case again just to check.

I think I am also going to attempt the FSB mod tonight. That should get me that extra 600-->650 boost I am looking for

How is your TP with heat? Notice significant heat differences on battery power? Mine gets hotter than it did before, but seems very stable on stock memory and PC66 RAM. Man they just don't make RAM chips like they used to anymore......

#11 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:56 pm

Surprisingly enough, I'm still yet to see my PIII get hot enough to notice any real difference in heat from the PII 366. In fact, the PIII actually seems to run slightly cooler than the PII did most of the time. When I'm putting a big load on the CPU, it fares about the same as the PII did under high loads.

serverbook · #12 Post by **serverbook** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:14 am

FINALLY THE TP600X works perfect at max speed utilising speedswitch v1.14 and update the dumb microsoft processor driver by selecting intel only ,not intel p111 driver which interm reboots ok and shows intel p111 anyway,all along it was microsoft error ,not ibm,not its bios,not intel but microsoft win xp os intel p111 driver power managment issue.

hjulian · #13 Post by **hjulian** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 7:49 pm

serverbook,

Can you give us some links where we can download these utilities/drivers for SpeedStep?

Thanks.

serverbook · #14 Post by **serverbook** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:06 am

[quote="hjulian"]serverbook,

Can you give us some links where we can download these utilities/drivers for SpeedStep?

Thanks.[/quote

*only on cold boot there may be a boot hang ,depress fn/f8 and the boot process proceeds straight into desktop.
once the pc is warm theres no need for fn/f8 as boot hang is non existent.
i am still working on this very minor glitch,ironically the exact same thing happens in win 9x os too.maybe if i somehow force heat to the cpu
by either a/ blocking the cooling vent to pre heat cpu
b/ remove the arctic silver compound to get back to hotter cold boot temps.c/ add a resistor to the cpu to effectivly raise the vcore a tad.
d/try speedswitch xp v1.14 again to see if it eliminates the issue
however speedswitch xp v1.14 requires one to reboot the pc to change cpu speeds ,where as speedstep can change cpu speeds in windows.
go into google look up speedswitch xp and youll find it in no time.
asides from minor boot glitch the laptop runs very sweet and stable
in xp with full speedstep functions.

SpeedStep and Windows 2000 on a ThinkPad 600E

SpeedStep and Windows 2000 on a ThinkPad 600E

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