Old laptop wrt. CPU Replacement. *It Works, but have speedstep problem*

[Excelsior]

So my GF has an Inspiron 1100 with the 2GHz Celeron cpu (Northwood core). Naturally it is a bit slow to use. I noticed the fan making quite a bit of noise so I decided to check out the HSF unit. Sure enough there was a thick layer of dust between the fan and the heatsink. I discovered how easy it would be to put a different processor in so I got to thinking.

I upgraded her ram to 640MB already and it could still go to 1GB. It looks like the S478 Pentium-4 M's are a drop in replacement if the FSB is 400Mhz. I've found some for $13 shipped. It appears they have over double the cache and less power consumption (~50W vs 32W), but are they really worth it? She'll probably get a new computer within the next year, but I thought for $13 it might be an ok upgrade.

Any thoughts?

 

[happy medium]

How could you go wrong for 13$? Don't forget the 30% better battery life also. I go all out and give her the 1gb ram too. Whats that cost? 10$?

 

[Excelsior]

Thanks for the reply. I am leaning that way. Just trying to get some opinions before I buy or just put it back together. In the meantime, I'll clean the computer out.

 

[Arkaign]

Pentium M Cpus will *not* work in a mobo that runs P4's or P4-based Celerons, at least in my experience. Pentium M Socket 478 and 479 are different than the desktop Socket 478 that some notebooks use.

The best you can hope for, and it's really not bad at all : P4 Northwood CPUs. I've checked around, and there are a number of people with P4's installed in Inspiron 1100.

A final tip : looks like the stock thermal compound used was a problem area, so when you replace the cpu, clean the heatsink contact area carefully, and put a very small amount of decent new thermal compound on the new cpu before installation.

*DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INSTALL PENTIUM M / CELERON M ONTO P4 478 MOBO*

 

[Excelsior]

Arkaign -

Thanks for the post. You're correct that Pentium-M cpu's will not work. I am, however, looking at Pentium 4 Mobile cpus, or P4-M for short. These will work, according to my 'research'. This is one I am thinking about here: http://processorfinder.intel.c...tails.aspx?sSpec=sl6fk vs the stock cpu: http://processorfinder.intel.c...tails.aspx?sSpec=sl6vr

Thanks for the head sup on the stock thermal compound. I am replacing it with some Shin Etsu I have. The stock stuff seemed pretty crappy.

 

[Arkaign]

The voltage is a lot different, though if P4-M is compatible with that Inspiron 1100 it will deliver better battery life and lower heat. It's a virtual certainty that the desktop P4 cpu will work, somewhat less so with the P4-M (though definitely worth trying if it's cheap enough).

Something else to think about : P4-M doesn't have IHS IIRC, which will make the contact to the heatsink trickier.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
The voltage is a lot different, though if P4-M is compatible with that Inspiron 1100 it will deliver better battery life and lower heat. It's a virtual certainty that the desktop P4 cpu will work, somewhat less so with the P4-M (though definitely worth trying if it's cheap enough).

Something else to think about : P4-M doesn't have IHS IIRC, which will make the contact to the heatsink trickier.

Yeah, I noticed the voltage difference. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. I doubt the bios allows for any adjustment in voltage, but i suppose it reads the CPU and determine the necessary voltage, right?

I went ahead and ordered for $13 shipped. If it doesn't work, no biggie. You're absolutely right about the lack of IHS. Hopefully that doesn't pose a problem with contact.

 

[Arkaign]

Yeah, that's not a big risk to take If it doesn't work out, desktop P4 NW are cheap too! Either way, huuuuge upgrade from the celly

A final tip : the stock HDD in there is likely a slow 40gb/60gb/80gb unit, popping a fast 5400rpm 160 or 250gb would juice things up considerably. Sadly, the DDR1 notebook ram is still $$$ for 1GB sticks, which would also help (2GB > 512mb / 1GB)

EDIT : This would make a monstrous difference : http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822148073

 

[Excelsior]

I sure hope it is a huge upgrade from the celly. That thing is a dog.

Yep, it is a slow 40GB Fujitsu drive. I told the GF that another thing we could do is upgrade the drive. I also was looking at a Samsung (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...?ProductCode=10007684). I think this comp doesn't support 48-bit addressing so 137GB should be the limit.

Crucial.com says the max is 1GB total for this thing so another 512stick of DDR1 would only be $23 or so. I think 1GB with XP would be ok, but I do feel like the HD would be equally as important if not more so than another stick of ram. I think the GF would rather have a new computer altogether, but this one is still serviceable and all she does is email, facebook, the usual.

 

[Arkaign]

That's a great deal on that samsung. I rather doubt you will be unable to run a 160mb partition on that system, I've put 250gb PATA on P3 systems before (815 chipset). Worst case is you have two partitions.

1GB from 512mb will be a huge boost. Modern antivirus + patched XP SP3 pretty well loads down a 512mb system just booting.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
That's a great deal on that samsung. I rather doubt you will be unable to run a 160mb partition on that system, I've put 250gb PATA on P3 systems before (815 chipset). Worst case is you have two partitions.

1GB from 512mb will be a huge boost. Modern antivirus + patched XP SP3 pretty well loads down a 512mb system just booting.

That is hopeful. I think this has 845 chipset of some kind. Good to know about the 512 to 1GB upgrade. It's been a while since I've messed around with XP to be honest. But now that I think about it I do remember by last Athlon system feeling better moving up to 1GB.

 

[Spikesoldier]

iirc mobile celerons of that age did not (still doesnt?) support EIST or Intel Speedstep, a power saving feature that kicks in when the cpu is not stressed.

i would go for it. i remember running a P4m inside a desktop machine of mine during the early pentium4 era. they are cross compatible (p4m and s478 p4)

windows xp also is a lot better with 1024mb memory instead of 640/512mb.

go for the ssd for maximum performance and even more battery life. they make them in pata as well as sata. 16-32gb should be plenty for xp and a little media.

 

[Excelsior]

I didn't know that they didn't support it. I'll definitely get another 512MB stick down the road. She never takes the laptop on the road so battery life isn't terrible important.

 

[o1die]

Check starmicro for cpus. They get mixed reviews, but I had no problems ordering from them.

 

[alkemyst]

I upgraded my dads 2650 from a 1.4 to 2.6 (the 2.7 and 2.8 were all extremely expensive).

The difference was night and day. I then upped him from 128 or 256MB to 1GB

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: o1die
Check starmicro for cpus. They get mixed reviews, but I had no problems ordering from them.

StarMicro is horrible. I tried ordering some parts from them once. I used their web site to register an account, and went partway through checkout. Well, their site timed out, and then I had to re-login, but now whenever I do that, the site just gives me "generic error".

So I called them to order, and they informed me that they don't take pre-paid Visa cards, like every other online retailer does.

I started a thread about this some time ago in Off-Topic, something about StarMicro being shady. (Why else wouldn't they take pre-paid Visa, unless they planned to stick you with some sort of hidden recurring charge.)

I wouldn't order from them. Geeks.com sometimes has a stock of older parts, although I realize that they've been selling out of a lot of their older P4s lately.

 

[alkemyst]

Pretty quick to judge a merchant on a website problem that may be your end and not taking a ghetto card.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I upgraded my dads 2650 from a 1.4 to 2.6 (the 2.7 and 2.8 were all extremely expensive).

The difference was night and day. I then upped him from 128 or 256MB to 1GB

Its funny you mention that. I just cleaned up the HSF on my buddies 2650 with the 1.7. It had a bit of dust and I replaced the thermal pad with shin etsu. I told him that if he ever wanted to he could upgrade to a 2.5 or so. How much was the 2.6? I found some on ebay and some are around $30. I wouldn't pay much more for such an upgrade.

An intersting thing I discovered is that the HSF on the Inspiron 1100 is much beefier. I suspect this is due to the Celeron's significantly higher TDW.

 

[alkemyst]

I thought it was a 2.6, it was the 2.5 (SL6WY) I paid $34 in 2007 and it was new old stock I found on Froogle. Even the 2.6's I remember now jumped to about $200 then. The 2.7 and 2.8 were about the same price but they never were available. He originally had a 1.6

 

[Excelsior]

Ok - The SL6FK is in and it works ok. However, the speed is stuck at 1.2GHz. This is apparently the lower power speedstep speed so it makes sense. But, this inspiron 1100 technically doesn't support speedstep. I am having trouble getting the processor to run at the full 2.0GHz.

 

[alkemyst]

there is a speedstep download, try to find that and run it.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Ok - The SL6FK is in and it works ok. However, the speed is stuck at 1.2GHz. This is apparently the lower power speedstep speed so it makes sense. But, this inspiron 1100 technically doesn't support speedstep. I am having trouble getting the processor to run at the full 2.0GHz.

the reason it doesnt work is your 1100's bios doesnt recognize it quite right. I ran into this problem upgrading P3 speedstep laptops. If the chip is a newer stepping than the bios recognizes the speedstep wouldnt work s oemtimes.

try to get a bios update.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: hans007

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Ok - The SL6FK is in and it works ok. However, the speed is stuck at 1.2GHz. This is apparently the lower power speedstep speed so it makes sense. But, this inspiron 1100 technically doesn't support speedstep. I am having trouble getting the processor to run at the full 2.0GHz.

the reason it doesnt work is your 1100's bios doesnt recognize it quite right. I ran into this problem upgrading P3 speedstep laptops. If the chip is a newer stepping than the bios recognizes the speedstep wouldnt work s oemtimes.

try to get a bios update.

That is exactly what I was thinking. The Bios recognizes it as a 1.2GHz P4-M from the start. I have the newest bios available from Dell. Is there a way to get an even newer one or a 'modded' one?

 

[Arkaign]

Have you tried SpeedSwitchXP?

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Have you tried SpeedSwitchXP?

Indeed. I've searched all over for a fix. I found one idea that I haven't tried yet but it looks promising: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=403617

It is hard to make sense of this paragraph though:

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep
Technology
The Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M, when used in conjunction with the requisite Intel
SpeedStep? technology applet or its equivalent, supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology.
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology allows the processor to switch between two core frequencies
automatically based on CPU demand, without having to reset the processor or change the system
bus frequency. The processor has two bus ratios and voltages programmed into it instead of one
and the GHI# signal controls which bus ratio and voltage is used. After reset, the processor will
start in the lower of its two core frequencies, the ?Battery Optimized? mode. An operating mode
transition to the high core frequency can be made by setting GHI# low, putting the processor into
the Deep Sleep state, regulating to the new VID output, and returning to the Normal state. This puts
the processor into the high core frequency, or ?Maximum Performance? operating mode. Going
through these steps with GHI# set high, transitions the processor back to the low core frequency
operating mode. The processor will drive the VID[4:0] pins with the VID of the current operating
mode and the system logic is required to regulate the core voltage within specification for the
driven VID.