<Best CPU for thinkpad A31> <2 Gig DDR?>

[hackpad]

I been thinking about trying to get a SL7CH (Intel Pentium 4 3.4 GHz) for my hackpad. It is the right socket size but this chip intergrates hyperthreading.

How will my Hackpad handle this?

http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL7CH.html

If this chip is not suitable could someone point in the the direction of the best CPU the A31 motherboard can handle.

Also is there such a thing as 2 Gig DDR sticks flying around?

Thanks in advance.

Please no comments on graphic cards and gaming.

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

The CPU that you're interested in won't work in any A31/p. The fastest you can go is 2.6 Ghz with SL6WZ.

Also, there is no such thing as a 2GB DDR laptop stick, but a well-appointed A31/p can still be very useful with 2x1 GB.

My suggestion for the CPU would be SL6VC which is 2.4 Ghz but runs quite a bit cooler than 2.6 Ghz, at least in my experience.

Hope this helps.

[hackpad]

Looks like I've hit the top end with what i've got so far.

Currently running 2.4 with 2*1 Gig of ram - Could you explain to me why 3.4 wont work just so that know.
So i'm guessing that the DDR series has stopped at 1 Gig sticks. <Shame

Been looking at SSD for the hackpad, Just something to boot off. What are you thoughts on this, i was thinking 32gigs would suit my needs.

IDE SSD seems like the way forward on this front, super quick boot times for apps and what not. Or is it?

Could you point me in the right direction of a dual core system to get started on. One with the same great upgrade options with low starting start up costs like the Thinkpad A series.

Cheers

[ajkula66]

Well, the CPU you were looking at has 800Mhz FSB, where A31/p run on 400 Mhz. You need a CPU with Northwood core, but you already have that...

As for a Core Duo starter machine, nothing is as upgradeable as an A3x unit. They were pretty unique in their day, and still are in many respects.

With all of that said, T60/p or R60 would be a good place to start with. If you don't mind widescreen displays, Z61t/m/p are also quite interesting units.

I honestly don't have enough experience with SSDs to comment on them in a competent manner.

[eyestrain]

As for a Core Duo starter machine, nothing is as upgradeable as an A3x unit. They were pretty unique in their day, and still are in many respects.

What separates them from others, other than an extra spindle in some cases?

On the SSD, one thing to consider is a new sata ssd, in a sata to pata hdd ultrabay, if one of those will fit in the A31. (the slim one fits in the t4x and t6x among others, for example) The newer sata ssd's have good random write speeds, and can be found at reasonable prices sometimes, under $100 in US. And of course, the drive will be useable in a newer computer.

Another option is to use a CF card and a UDMA adapter, can go into the main drive bay or ordinary pata ultrabay, pretty cheap, fast for read, but terrible for random writes. Similar problem with some of the old pata ssds.

The X4x section of the board has lots of threads on ssd, including pata ones. Some are 1.8" though and don't apply, unless you can fit an adapter.

[ajkula66]

@eyestrain:

The third spindle is a big deal, especially for the fact that any A3x unit can run with a hard drive in each. In PATA world, that's 960GB these days... Also, options varied from a multiburner to a numeric keypad for what one could use in the second/third spindle. Anything you could possibly think of putting in there is available.

Secondly, A30p and A31p feature S-video in (as well as out, but that's normal) along with almost every port imaginable before they're placed on a dock. Even at this day and age, they are very competent media servers.

Unfortunately, SATA ultrabay caddies for UB 2000 are all aftermarket, and testing has shown them to be capped at speeds around 30Mb, which makes use of fast SATA drives - apart from sheer storage purposes - impractical.

[eyestrain]

Thanks for explanation. With big dock, I suppose 4 hard drives, all "internal" to software.

Too bad about sata speed cap. Of course, access time is the biggest benefit of ssd, more than sequential speed, depending on application. If it's just to hold over until use in a newer machine, and the aftermarket sata bay is cheap enough, I think it might still be an option.

I only own one real sata ssd, so I'm far from expert. Have done a fair amount of trials with CF with most my TPs tho. Started when SSDs were still expensive.

Typing this from a T60p with CF boot, and other main computer, T23, boots from flash in ultrabay. Overall I like it a lot, but I hate any source of noise enough to burn my lap and laptop.

[hackpad]

Hello folks, thanks for the info above.

On the topic of flash drives and slightly of it again.

I can't seem to boot any OS from USB and I can't find anything that says "here you go, get this and off you go."

Notes on problem

• I've never upgraded my BIOS - I'm thinking this is where the answer lies
  
  Using USB 2
  
  USB does not show up as bootable device
  
  I can boot USB on my larger Desktop.

I've search around and i reckon i'm not the only one, so a point in the right direction would be great because i quite like the idea of booting from USB on my thinkpad don't you?

Cheers

[RealBlackStuff]

I don't know if A31/A31p is capable of booting from USB, but here is a description of how to make a bootable USB stick:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/51 ... 28902.html

[hackpad]

And here is how you do it with linux.

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

My problem, it would seem is that i need an updated BIOS.

[RealBlackStuff]

Get BIOS here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4VGUYW

[hackpad]

To real Black Stuff,

I've updated the BIOS from 1NET06WW too 1NET16WW and still no USB Boot enabled.

Problems

• Would not let me update model no after updating BIOS
  Can't find anything in the BIOS settings to enable Boot from USB

[ajkula66]

The machine will show an USB stick as an additional hard drive, and not as a USB device, most likely.

[RealBlackStuff]

Problems
Would not let me update model no after updating BIOS

Model update on your machine is only possible using the Hardware Maintenance Diskette.
That functionality only applies to some much later models, but has been included in the 'standard' BIOS update programs.

[eyestrain]

For what it's worth, this page shows A31 as bootable from a USB HD:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Supported_Boot_Devices

With some old-ish TPs it can be done. I've booted T23, USB 1 or 1.1 from USB flash, without issues, even from pretty old BIOS (afraid an update might make fan come on more). T23 is different of course.

I supposed you already tried setting USB HD high up the list in the boot order in Config in Bios. And just selecting it directly using F12.

If your A31 is docked, try undocking first. Or, try a different USB port if undocking solved it. I've had that issue with T60 and T4x, IIRC. I don't own any Axx models.
Seems docking can change availability of some USB ports, at least during boot and maybe shortly after. Also similar issues with Acronis software, which I still haven't fully solved.

[eyestrain]

Secondly, A30p and A31p feature S-video in (as well as out, but that's normal)

Just noticed this in the HMM for R50(p)/R51, more recent than A3x of course:

Video-in connector

Maybe a typo, since I can't find on my R51, and it doesn't say "(some models)" like it does for 1394.

Today not a biggie for me. There's usb s-vid devices for under $10 on ebay, should I want to mess with analog.

But I can imagine this was a real nice thing on A3x back when.

What I used to really want was VGA in, and then when DVI came about, DVI in. Not for capture, but to use the screen as a monitor. LCD monitors have become so cheap over time, I no longer want this though.

[hackpad]

Hello there, On the point of booting from a USB on the A31, still no success and I don't think there will be. The only thing you can boot from the USB ports are USB diskettes - CD/Floppy and I reckon that's the final word on that. Shame.

I still hoped to be proved wrong tho, so if any one out there fancy's a challenge or has got a step by step.

Then by the grace of the thinkpad, I'll leave this train of thought here.

[tbartold]

Hello there, On the point of booting from a USB on the A31, still no success and I don't think there will be. The only thing you can boot from the USB ports are USB diskettes - CD/Floppy and I reckon that's the final word on that. Shame.

I did boot one of my A31p machines from a USB once for fun - Ubuntu 9.x (don't recall which version), I put a 'persistent' version of the 'live cd' on a 2GB USB flash drive. I only did it because I wanted to see if it would work, and it did. I then booted a desktop machine from the same stick and it actually booted up with a firefox window open that I had been viewing on the thinkpad. Configuring the thinkpad was tricky from what I recall, and it ran rather slow. It wasn't really worth doing except to say 'I did it'. BTW: I didn't try to configure wireless, that's enough fun without the extra USB challenge.