Can I upgrade my t40's processor?

Hi Guys. I have a t40 model 2373 with a 1.5 ghz processor. Can I upgade this? I have pretty much given up hope on Lenovo ever shipping my x60 tablet. So now I am thinking of just upgrading from b wireless to intel a/b/g. Doubling my ram and putting an ultrabay battery in my t40. Save myself about 3 large (i ordered a LOT of extras for the x60).

Thanks peeps!

 

I don't see why not. You just have to stick to the same generation of pentium m processors.

 

You don't even need quite the same generation processor...

There is one main requirement, and that is you get the latest bios and install it. Then your T40 *should* be able to use dothan cpus in addition to the banias cpu it shipped with. Go back through the revision history readme notes for every bios update they've released for your computer, and see if it mentions expanded cpu support.

Curiously enough, I just upgraded my T41p cpu to a Pentium M 755, and documented it here:

http://www.chaosmanorreviews.com/open_archives/sl_20070205.php

I got the cpu on ebay for about $160.

Warning - if you screw it up, you could kill your laptop, and I only have experience with my t41p, not other t40 models. And you definately want the latest bios first otherwise you may end up with a computer that won't even boot and if the bios doesn't recognize the new cpu, it could over-volt it and kill it. So definately get the latest bios first.

 

Thank you sir! This gives me some serious info to chew on before I make the decision to do the cpu upgrade. The internet is great!

 

A faster hard drive will give you a bigger performance bump.

 

Regarding faster hard drives, keep in mind that even a 5400 rpm drive today may be faster than the 60 gig 7200 rpm drives that shipped with the original T4x computers. I just bought a 120 gig 5400 rpm drive for use with the ultrabay slim HD chassis, and it benchmarks significantly faster than the original 60 gig 7200 rpm drive that my T41p came with. So pretty much any hard drive upgrade, even if it's just a larger 5400 rpm drive, ought to give a bit of a speedup.

Still, as pretty much everyone already knows, a fast 7200 rpm drive will typically make the computer *feel* faster no matter what cpu is in there.

 

Thanks again guys. Here are the upgrades I have already done to my t40

100gb Seagate 7200 rpm
256 additional ram to bring to 512

Here is what I have ordered over the past couple of days:

2915 a/b/g to upgrade from b wireless
2 gb ram (2 dimms)
9 cell battery
ultrabay battery
and drum roll please...1.7 ghz Dotham processor (to upgrade from 1.5 banias)

After I have broken down the machine and accessed the cpu, is it as easy as just swapping the chips? Other than bios do I need any special heatsink, creams, lotions, water to sprinkle on the mobo? I hear people talk about some kind of blueice or something like that. Do I need any?

Thanks again!

 

Read my article and then see if you have any more questions. I think it covers most of what you're asking about for the cpu swap. It has pictures too, although they're a little under-exposed.

http://www.chaosmanorreviews.com/open_archives/sl_20070205.php

 

just a quick note is that you may want to look for mini pci-e cards sporting the atheros chipset. They perform much better than the intel ones. I have just ordered a T60 and am waiting for it to arrive in march ~.~...

 

This will DEFINITELY prove to be a helpful article once I receive my chip(s). Based on your post I just purchased the same chip you have (M 755). Did you have to do anything special to make your machine properly utilize the "b" stepping? I have read reports that some of the chips manufactured in and after 2004 require some tweaking to the bios and controller. Otherwise it gets stuck and doesn't maximize its battery saving capabilities.

Thank you but which card specifically would you suggest? I think you are referring to the wireless card? Please note that not all of the cards that work in the t60 will work in the t40. I am only saying this for the benefit of those who might read this later. The card I purchased is mini pci intel 2915 a/b/g and has since late last year been reported to now work well in the t series. How did you arive at your opinion?

Thanks to both of you for posting!

 

You mentioned before that you bought a 1.7ghz Dothan... The SL7EM Pentium M 755 cpu is 2.0 ghz.

I didn't do anything about the cpu stepping and hadn't heard about any problems. It seems to work fine, although it does appear to use just a tiny bit more power than the original 1.7 ghz banias I removed.

 

Yes sir. I bought the 1.7 dothan on Friday first. But last night I did some more research and found out that since this chip was manufactured in late 2004, it is not included in the controller that was released by lenovo in 2004. I believe the chip you have and that I bought last night are included in the most recent bios/controller. Both will work in the machine but it is possible that neither will work properly without downloading a program that I saw on the thingpads forums to update the t series compatible cpu list in the bios/controller. Here is the forum to see if yours is working properly:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=36509&highlight=t40+processor+upgrade

I am guessing yours is since your cpu was produced in 2003 and has "b" stepping rather than "c".

 

that upgraded of yours is nice

arctic ice or something like that just helps the cpu connect to the heatsink, so helps cool the cpu better.

 

I'm positive I don't have the stuck at 600mhz problem. The mobo and bios fully recognizes the cpu. I think if you install the last bios update you should probably be fine.

I ran cpuid cpu-z and it reports cpu stepping 6, revision B1. My bios is dated June 2 2006, version 3.21.

For what it's worth, I installed the fan speed controller utility and after some fiddling, I realized 2 things - first, the fan can be safely shut off about half the time when it's idle, and second the fan wasn't running at full speed when it was getting really hot. The cpu doesn't get very hot, but even at idle the graphics chip runs hot enough to need the fan on occasionally at it's lowest speed. I created a profile that ends up cycling the fan on and off at idle and runs it at full speed when it gets really hot. That's a minor drawback for having the T41p instead of the T40. According to the battery utility, that saves me about 0.05 watts at idle, not a huge amount but it'll probably give me 10 more minutes of run time during mild battery usage since the fan won't be running most of the time when it's just sitting there idle.

Boon, I used a paste called "artic silver 5" and it works great, although I probably used a little bit too much and it's important to not let the stuff get on other components because it's slightly capacitive and can cause problems if it gets spread around where it doesn't belong. Other pastes sold by the "artic silver" makers such as their "artic ceramique" don't have that problem.

 

Thanks again. Do you think I will have to do any fiddling with my fan? I am looking for the path of least resistence with this cpu upgrade. In a perfect world I would like to just update the bios/controller and pop the processor in with a little arctic silver 5. Do you think you would have damaged your machine by not changing the fan settings. Thanks again for paving the way for the rest of us.

 

I don't think you will need to do anything with the fan settings. The bios settings for the fan should be fine. I only messed with my fan settings because I'm a geek.

 

thanks again

 

Just want to report back that I completed my upgrade to 2 g of ram, the 2915a/b/g card and the 2.0 dothan processor and everything is working like a charm. Dont think I will have to upgrade to a new machine for quite some time. Thanks for the help guys!

 

That's a really nice upgrade, bigwormie! Hope you enjoy it.

Matt