Assistance regarding the Samsung R45

Ok.
I just came over from the Sony board to ask this, so apologies in advance as I'm not familiar over here...

Anyways, I've got a old Samsung SENS NT-R45 laptop. It's old in that I use my VAIO Z26 these days ever since late 2008 (my sig).

I bought the R45 about 5 years ago back in Korea, so it's a completely Korean machine. So the BIOS is Korean, as is the OS and keyboard etc etc. These machines however were sold in the UK, and I also believe in Australia.

I am thinking of 'pimping' her up. That is, modding her hardware-wise to the highest specs possible. I'm looking at:
1. CPU upgrade
2. HDD upgrade (maybe even to a SSD)
3. Optics upgrade
4. And of course, more RAM

In Korea, there were about 6 or 7 R45 variants, all with different specs to cater for different budgets. And my R45 was at the lower end of the scale. The higher-end variants were offered the Vista upgrade promo. With mine, after the mods I wish to give it Windows 7. The higher-end came with a gen-1 Centrino CPU, 2GB of RAM, DVD writers, and 100GB drives.

I'm not too sure about the CPU yet, but I'm keen on upping the HDD to a 160GB 5400rpm (current is an IDE 60GB 4800rpm drive). RAM up to 4GB (if possible, 8GB), from a current status of 768MB.

Now, the questions...
1. Anyone know where to get a service / disassembly manual for the R45? Preferabbly free?
2. Does anyone here who owns a R45 use Windows 7 on it? Do you happen to have drivers for the OS?

I am not new to modding laptops. Heck, my Z26 is a modded laptop as it is.
Looking forward to a prompt reply, hopefully...
Thanks in advance.

 

I can't give specific help on your two questions. Samsung Service manuals are hard to find. Changing the RAM, HDD and ODD should be easy but the CPU may involve a complete disassembly.

However, here are the files for the R45. However, there is nothing for Vista, which is the next best option for Windows 7 if the Win 7 driver library can't fix everything. I put Win 7 on an R20. Most things got detected automatically but I had to use the R20 Vista graphics driver.

The R45 specs are quite detailed about the choice of supported hardware and mentions RAM up to 4GB but that may depend on whether your R45 uses RRD or DDR2 RAM. The BIOS may support an IDE HDD up to the largest available unless it is so ancient that it doesn't support 48-bit LBA (introduced in 2003).

John

 

Thanks for that.
I dug a little deeper (considering these are superseded machines now), and came across 16 different types of R45 in Korea. Some with specs not mentioned in the forementioned specs sheet...

The thing with laptops is despite their so-called limitations, there is always a chance one could take it further (my VGN-Z is one example). Though granted, if it doesn't work it'll turn out to be a rather expensive exercise...

Though for comparison, the highest spec R45 in Korea had:
- T2250 YONA (1.73GHz) or M740 SONOVA Pentium M (1.73GHz), both with same L2 Caches and and FSBs. Though the YONA is labelled as a CoreDuo, whereas the M740 is labelled a generation-one Centrino. There's actually a DOTHON Pentium M running at 1.8GHz but the FSB for that is 400MHz (unlike the 533MHz above)
- 100GB IDE HDD (5400rpm)
- DVD Combo
- 1GB DDR2 RAM

I also dropped by Samsung's Korean support page (zaigen.co.kr) and was unable to find any Vista drivers (minus a BIOS update designed for Vista).

And yes, I know the CPU mod will involve extensive disassembly, which is why I was seeking out a service manual in the first place. Though I should be able to do it blind as the R45 is a huge machine, a stark difference between my VGN-Z...

 

The UK R45 specs mention the Pentium M770 but not the Core Duo CPU. Which CPU do you have in your R45?

John

 

At the moment my R45 is running a Celeron M380 (FSB @ 400MHz), with a core clock freq. at 1.6GHz. And lol, checking on eBay now, these CPUs go for less than US$5 a pop...

Though being serious. I'm going to have to research a bit on the chipset side of things. Not too sure if the T2250 will work on my Celeron-intended R45, as the generation differences of the CPUs are quite significant.

Will have to fire her up and run CPU-Z when I get the time.

 

Yes, do research to see which CPUs use the same socket as the Celeron M380. I'm sure the info is somewhere in the hardware forum, otherwise Wikipedia is a good place to start.

John

 

Ok. Managed to do some research.
My current Celeron CPU:
Intel® Celeron® M Processor 380 (1M Cache, 1.60 GHz, 400 MHz FSB)with SPEC Code(s)SL8MG, SL8MN, SL8MU

Top R45 variant CPUs in Korea, starting with the CoreDuo (T2250 @1.73GHz dual-core):
Intel® Core? Duo Processor T2250 (2M Cache, 1.73 GHz, 533 MHz FSB)with SPEC Code(s)SL9DV

...and the Pentium M 755 (single-core @2.0GHz):
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 755 (2M Cache, 2.00 GHz, 400 MHz FSB)with SPEC Code(s)SL7EL, SL7EM

And according to the given spec sheet, the Pentium 770 (single core @2.13GHz):
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 770 (2M Cache, 2.13 GHz, 533 MHz FSB)with SPEC Code(s)SL7SL, SL7SP, SL868

It seems that all are usable across all R45. Their sockets are similar with H-PBGA479 and PPGA478. And considering the R45 has a TDP of 34W and those CPUs all comply within it, I'm spoilt for choice... Though that's provided all R45 use the same heat-sink, and that the high-end CPU machines don't use bigger fans...

On another subject, I may have to find a BIOS updater as CPU compatability seems to be restricted to which BIOS firmware is in use. An example, the pre-post splash-screen on my R45 shows a Celeron logo.

Just tried eBay and the Pentium 755 is the most expensive. But one's gotta take into account that has a TDP of 21W (thus better battery life). The Pentium 770 is next cheapest, but am I going to feel more power from a single core? Which brings me to the T2250 with the cheapest price. Dual core, but each running at 1.73GHz.

The thing with CPUs is that something like a T2250 doesn't equal to 3.46GHz of power. In fact, it's like telling a bright 25 year old PhD student to put together a 1000 piece puzzle, and telling a group of 15 year olds to do the same. Having two people doesn't neccessarily mean faster solving times... So who's gonna be faster...

Anyways, thanks John. I guess it now comes down to me and my preferences.