770Z CPU Upgrade

[Bookworm]

Does the 770Z use a socketed CPU or is it soldered in on a peplaceable board?

If it's socketed, what kind of socket?

[virge]

The 770X and 770X use MMC-2 processor boards. They're just like the ones found in the 600E and 600X.

[Bookworm]

What CPU upgrades are available on these boards? What is the fastest availabe? Where can I get one?

[hjanzen]

Read the Forum!

You 'll find plenty posts on this item.

[Bookworm]

I've been reading the forum, but I haven't found everything I need to know.

What is this "speedstep" thing the 600's have but the 700's apparently don't?

[pkiff]

What is this "speedstep" thing the 600's have but the 700's apparently don't?

For a good overview of what SpeedStep is, what it does, and what potential problems it can create, check out Bay Wolf's SpeedStep FAQ.

Generally speaking, SpeedStep is a technology that is found on a CPU, not on a particular machine, but in order for SpeedStep CPU's to work properly, they usually need a "SpeedStep-enabled" motherboard. None of the 770, 770E, 770ED, 770X, 770Z, 600, 600E machines have a SpeedStep-enabled motherboard, and none of them shipped originally with SpeedStep CPUs. The 600X has some models that shipped with SpeedStep CPUs and some that didn't.

However, the fastest CPUs that are available on MMC-2 boards (which you need to upgrade a 770Z) are all SpeedStep CPUs: PIII 850, PIII 800, PIII 750, PIII 700, PIII 650. You will not be able to take advantage of the SpeedStep technology if you install one of these CPUs in your 770Z. And furthermore, these CPUs will all probably run at 150MHz slower than their maximum spec speed unless you do some kind of hardware modification that requires soldering things onto your MMC-2 board, or you are lucky and your machine runs the CPU at max speed anyway for reasons that remain unclear to me.

Phil.

[Bookworm]

I see no reason to allow speedstep to slow down my ThinkPad. How do I disable it on the CPU board, forcing it to run at only 100Mhz buss speed?

[pkiff]

I haven't done this on my 770Z's, and I think there are few examples or explanations of how exactly to disable SpeedStep for those machines. There are many more for 600E machines, which are similar, but not the same.

The FSB issue is different from the SpeedStep issue. I think the FSB issue is explained in the 770 Official Upgrade thread. If you manage to get a PIII running in your 770 machine at all, then it will necessarily be running at 100MHz FSB. It is possible in the 770Z to replace the 66MHz onboard memory with 100MHz memory. If you don't, then the onboard memory is disabled.

For the SpeedStep mod, the site which used to have photos of these mods is down, but you can still find images in the Internet Archive here:
http://web.archive.org/web/200605040936 ... b/mods.htm

If you are going to go that route, then you will probably also want to read through the Official 600 Upgrade thread.

Phil.

[cmarti]

Be aware that when you upgrade the CPU to PIII you will get as a bonus artifacts in the screen and or the image displayed will be corrupted.

[pkiff]

Be aware that when you upgrade the CPU to PIII you will get as a bonus artifacts in the screen and or the image displayed will be corrupted.

Good point,cmarti. Thanks for the reminder. I should remember to add a note about that every time the 770X/Z CPU upgrades are discussed.

Phil.

[hjanzen]

@cmarti

By chance I found an old post of yours referring to these artifacts reading:

"By error i think i find a way to eliminate the video corruption in the 770 models when upgraded to PIII, I was following the instructions provided by back viper and after that the video corruption that somethimes surface was eliminated i been using the lappy for three days and i have installed and removed programs and no signs of video corruption."

This sounds contradictory to your above remark in this thread.

Could you explain to us the way to eliminate these artifacts if indeed possible?

Hans

[el-sahef]

I also had these artifacts on the screen since I upgraded to a Pentium III two years ago. They disappeared after I bent the contacts of the DIMM-Slots so that they had firm contact to the RAM-Modules again and after bending the VGA-PCB in a certain way (with some small rubber blocks). It might be the case that there is one trace in an inner PCB layer that gets damaged very quickly if you bend the PCB too much (e.g. when disassembling the laptop to swap your Pentium II for a Pentium III). It might be interesting if the problem also appears if you only use the plastic pin on the VGA-PCB to remove it from the socket (press and pull) so that the PCB is not bent. Or maybe it is a flexing problem.

[hjanzen]

Thanks El-Sahef, I 'll try to squeeze the contacts of the dimm slots but only those 2 that are easily accessible.
I shrink from the idea to dismantle the laptop again totally to reach for the 3rd one and the VGA-PCB...

[fasterbybike]

I find the video artifacts can be fixed by rebooting. Sometimes need to reboot a couple of times but once the machine is running with no artifacts they do not reappear.

[pkiff]

I find the video artifacts can be fixed by rebooting. Sometimes need to reboot a couple of times but once the machine is running with no artifacts they do not reappear.

Yes, that has been my experience with my 770Z's also.

I am, however, intrigued by el-sahef's suggestion that this might be related to some kind of flexing in or around the video card board and/or the memory slots. I have replaced both the main memory and the hard-to-get-to motherboard memory in both my 770Z's and have entirely disassembled both of them at least twice, so it certainly seems possible to me that somewhere along the way I have flexed the wrong piece the wrong way...

Phil.

[cmarti]

@ hjanzen,

Sorry I didn't update that, no after a few uses the artifacts start to be shown again so no fix for that that i know. I end up putting the PII back and giving the 770Z to my mother in law.

[hjanzen]

Thanks cmarti, I did hope that you had found a workaround.
But it is not too much of a nuisance and moreover I use the laptop only occasionally.

[DK6400Brian]

I've been away for some time and returned tonight with some newly discovered information.

It's mentioned in the 770 upgrade thread, but let me repeat it here as well.

I installed Powerstrip a couple of weeks ago for the sake of controlling the VGA-port.
Somehow I just noticed, that the video corruption is gone.
The machine has been rebooted several times and I frankly haven't seen the video corruption since. Not once !

My machine is a ThinkPad 770Z, running a P-III 850MHz@700.