R61 - 8943-DMG Penryn upgrade

[lojo]

I have an R61 8943-DMG 15" (some say a rare European model). Motherboard FRU: 42W7822, CPU is T7500.

I know it's been discussed before on this forum and everywhere on the net I've read that these models don't support Penryns even with Middleton's FW.
However according to this post by Peak2Peak this may still be possible. At least he managed to upgrade an R61i with a Penryn which has the same motherboard like mine.

For obvious reasons I'd like to avoid bricking my laptop so was wondering if anyone else has tried his procedure with success?

[RealBlackStuff]

I have built dozens of Frankenpads, many with Merom motherboards (like yours), that were first updated with Middleton's BIOS and then received a Penryn CPU.
On some I even went as high as the Intel X9000 CPU.
Not a single problem ever.

[lojo]

It sounds promising. I'll try to fit in a Penryn and will let you know how I get on.
Fingers crossed.

[Peak2Peak]

Did you fit a Penryn to your 8943-DMG motherboard? - AFAIK by default these R61 894x MB's only supported Merom CPU's (T7100, T7300, T7500 & T7700 etc) and the excellent Middleton BIOS (1.24-1.00) for these particular R61's did not change anything with regards to Penryn support.

[lojo]

Yes I've just tried it and I can confirm that the R61 with 8943-DMG motherboard _does not_ support Penryn CPUs even with Middleton's bios. The CPU I've tried is a T9500.

So the question is where do I go from here?

Can you explain again how you made your R61i work with Penryns? That laptop is very similar to my R61. It has the same motherboard (FRU:42W7822) and it's type 8943 as well.

Did you start with Middleton's 1.24-1.00 BIOS and then just flashed the .FL1 file from version 2.24-1.08 in windows?

Does your laptop still work OK?
After this mixed BIOS flash do the thermal sensors work and readable by the BIOS / OS?
Anything else to consider?

[Peak2Peak]

Did you start with Middleton's 1.24-1.00 BIOS and then just flashed the .FL1 file from version 2.24-1.08 in windows?

Yep - (Both were Middleton's BIOS versions)

Does your laptop still work OK?

Yes, still working a-OK

After this mixed BIOS flash do the thermal sensors work and readable by the BIOS / OS?

Thermal sensors do seem to be performing OK - Both TPFanControl and PC Wizard software utility can see temp reading of CPU etc

Anything else to consider?

None comes to mind immediately

[lojo]

Ok, so this morning I've flashed my 1.24 Middleton BIOS with the FL1 file only. I used Middleton's version 2.24-1.08 file from the well known page: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443 following Peak2Peak's description.

After extracting the files I started Winphlash.exe and browsed to $01B3000.FL1. Ignored the warning message about the BIOS versions (current BIOS version 7QET42WW, new BIOS version 7OETC4WW) and flashing completed successfully.

After a reboot I managed to enter the BIOS using F1 and the BIOS version showed 2.24 (7OETC4WW).

Then I replaced my T7500 with a T9500 and it worked without any issues. Everything works fine, sensors are read correctly and the CPU is cooler than before and the difference in performance is noticable. Happy days.

On the new BIOS I don't have the firewire interface but this does not bother me as I never had any firewire devices.

I have to say that before doing this I created a recovery USB stick with the original BIOS image just in case... but eventually I did not have to use it.

Thanks Peak2Peak for testing this - and obviously thanks goes to Middleton for his great work.

[Peak2Peak]

Good to hear your R61 - 8943-DMG is now Penryn supported -

[coolcat37]

I just did the same thing (flashed my 4:3 R61 8943 Middleton 1.24-1.00 with the Widescreen R61 Middleton 2.24.1.08).

The BIOS is now 2.24.
The Embedded Controller is still 1.00 => Could someone confirm me their R61 has also EC 1.00 and not 1.08?

[RealBlackStuff]

Yup.

[coolcat37]

The T9300 is in there alright. Along the way I lost the functionality of the TouchPad however.
Current situation:
If the TouchPad is not disabled, neither the TrackPoint or the TouchPad works.
If the TouchPad is disabled (either physically by removing the palmrest connection or via the BIOS) the TrackPoint works.

I suppose this didn't happen to any of you?

I tested this is in Linux, WinXP and Win7, with different hard drives and both AC and battery. The problem is present everywhere. I've installed Ultranav drivers in WinXP but the problem persists. A web search doesn't propose an immediate solution.

Any clues out there what might be causing this? Perhaps some wires not put back in place correctly? Perhaps I'll better make a new topic about this.

[lojo]

Both the trackpoint and touchpad work fine on my thinkpad after the BIOS upgrade.

[Hans Gruber]

The T9300 is in there alright. Along the way I lost the functionality of the TouchPad however.
Current situation:
If the TouchPad is not disabled, neither the TrackPoint or the TouchPad works.
If the TouchPad is disabled (either physically by removing the palmrest connection or via the BIOS) the TrackPoint works.

I suppose this didn't happen to any of you?

I tested this is in Linux, WinXP and Win7, with different hard drives and both AC and battery. The problem is present everywhere. I've installed Ultranav drivers in WinXP but the problem persists. A web search doesn't propose an immediate solution.

Any clues out there what might be causing this? Perhaps some wires not put back in place correctly? Perhaps I'll better make a new topic about this.

Two suggestions. Reset your bios to default settings. If that doesn't work, pull the bios battery for good measure. The last option is a hard reset of the bios and system.

[kkk]

The T9300 is in there alright. Along the way I lost the functionality of the TouchPad however.
Current situation:
If the TouchPad is not disabled, neither the TrackPoint or the TouchPad works.
If the TouchPad is disabled (either physically by removing the palmrest connection or via the BIOS) the TrackPoint works.

I suppose this didn't happen to any of you?

I tested this is in Linux, WinXP and Win7, with different hard drives and both AC and battery. The problem is present everywhere. I've installed Ultranav drivers in WinXP but the problem persists. A web search doesn't propose an immediate solution.

Any clues out there what might be causing this? Perhaps some wires not put back in place correctly? Perhaps I'll better make a new topic about this.

A little late reply, but here is my suggestion - the ribbon cable of your touchpad is broken. I had exactly the same symptoms with another system and that was the reason. If you look carefully you should see a small crack starting from the one end and continuing perpendicular to the cable. Also it is possible that you've pinched the modem cable somewhere around the palmrest's mounting holes - there is a thin metal plate underneath the palmrest which I think is connected to motherboard's GDN and if there is a faulty connection between some of the modem's cables and this plate, this may be the reason for your problems.

And finaly, you can try the pamlrest on another system or try another palmrest on you system to see what is wrong.