Upgrade travelmate 290 cpu?

I have above laptop with a pentium m 1.5ghz. I can't find anywhere if i can upgrade it, i am ok with taking the laptop apart but want to find out first if i can upgrade it, or if the cpu is even removable?

anyone?

 

Yes the cpu is totally removable.
Acer's Travelmate 290 CPU FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) List

INTEL PENTIUM M BANIAS 1.3GHZ
INTEL PENTIUM M BANIAS 1.4GHZ
INTEL PENTIUM M BANIAS 1.5GHZ
INTEL PENTIUM M BANIAS 1.6GHZ
INTEL PENTIUM M BANIAS 1.7GHZ

Service Manual specifies:
Intel® Pentium M processor at 1.3 ~ 1.7 GHz or higher

Should be a processor 855GM Chipset compatible.

You should run CPU-Z to confirm:

FSB 400 or 533Mhz
L2 Caché 1 or 2MB
and Socket Package 478 pin, Micro-FCBGA or Micro-FCPGA

Top Pentium M Banias:

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 780 - SL7VB

Regards

 

Acer's official specs state it's the 855GM chipset.
As a result, you're limited to CPUs with a 400 MHz FSB; the Pentium M 765 is thus the fastest CPU that'd be compatible, 2.1 GHz. (the 780 mentioned above requires a 533 MHz FSB that your chipset can't handle)

Honestly, you'd be better off putting the money towards a newer system.

 

Hi all, a 3-Acer-computer owner here.

My last laptop, an Aspire 5610 died about a month ago because I attempted to put a DDR mem on a DDR2 board (yeah, I made it fit, don't ask how). So now I'm restoring my faithful Travelmate 290, bought in 2003 and in regular use up until the Fall of 2009, when my wife retired it because the bank gave us a new Compaq for signing the morgatge.

Of the original 256 MB RAM on it, I upgraded to 1 GB (cost me about 70 USD; the vendor said that it's market price because these old modules -even used ones- are hard to come by these days).

I also did a BIOS upgrade (the latest version on the Acer site), a fresh re-install of XP, a full upgrade up to SP3, fitted the Aspire 5610's battery pack on it (because the original was so shot that it made the computer short-circuit and shut down), and I replaced the Travelmate's CD-RW/DVD-ROM, with the DVD-RW drive of the 5610.

Lastly, I got one of the retired Dell Latitudes D610 from my office, seeing it was also a Centrino, and tore it open to see what I could scavenge.

- First, I got a Intel Pro Wireless 2200 WIFI card, to upgrade the failing 2100 on the Travelmate. Worked like a charm (obviosuly after downloading the corresponding drivers from Intel).

- Second, and after several hours of research on the web, I came to the conclusion that the 1.7 GHz CPU on the Latitud was a compatible replacement for the 1.3 on the Travelmate. I swapped them and the Travelmate booted flawlessly.

The problem, if at all, is that now the CPU is apparently overheating: the fan is almost constantly running, save for periods of total inactivity of the processor. This is a great dissapointment for me because one of the many things that made me proud of the Travelmate was how quiet it was (the fan only switched on after CPU load was near 100% after quite some time). Now, the fan kicks in at 15-20% load. A testament of 6 years of quiet operation is that there was practically NO lint or dust on the cooling fan, compared to the clogged radiator on the Latitude!

Another doubt is that neither the Latitude nor the Travelmate had any thermal compound/putty smudged between the processor and the heat sink, thus when I did the swap, I didn't add anything in between (out of curiosity, I opened the 5610's dual core, and both cores do use the compound).

Finally, the last weird thing I saw is that, eventhough Windows can see the new processor as a 1.7, the BIOS still shows it as a 1.3 GHz.

So, my quesitons are:
- Am I missing a Windows or a BIOS upgrade for the new CPU?
- Do I need thermal compound between the CPU and the heat sink?
- Should I downgrade again to the old 1.3 to avoid burning the computer and the noise?

Hope to hear from you soon.

 

Hi cuyaya, and welcome to the forums! Your question is different enough to qualify for a new topic, but I'll leave this here for now.

You might need a BIOS upgrade to detect the new CPU, but since you've got the latest one, that might not be an option. Windows is usually smart enough to detect when the CPU's changed.

However, I'm led to believe that your CPU is actually running at 1.3 GHz. The 855GM chipset in the TravelMate 290 can only handle a 400 MHz FSB. If the CPU from your Dell Latitude is a Pentium M 740, it needs a 533 MHz FSB to reach its speed of 1.73 GHz. If it's placed in a 400 MHz FSB system, it might try to use the same multiplier of 13x and yield a 1.3 GHz clock speed. If it's a Pentium M 735, however, it should run at 1.7 GHz without a problem.

Check CPU-Z to see what the CPU is actually running at in Windows - I could be completely wrong.
If it's actually running at 1.7 or 1.73 GHz (which is awesome), then go ahead and toss some thermal compound onto it. I swear by the stuff.
If it's running at 1.3 GHz, then go back to the original CPU, and then add thermal compound to that. Never can have too much cooling.

 

I am amazed and greatful for the speed in replying and in-depth explanation. Thanks! I think you're totally on target with your diagnostic, but in any case, here is the link for the CPU-Z analysis. Can you check it out and confirm to me that I'm better off with the original CPU? Hope to hear from you soon.

CPU-Z Validator 3.1

 

Thanks for the kudos, cuyaya!

OK, it does look like you've got the Pentium M 740, which should be running at 1.73 GHz on a 533 MHz FSB, but since your chipset can't handle that, it's forced to a 400 MHz FSB.
The reason it's showing 600 MHz here is because it's using SpeedStep; dropping its speed and voltage when full power isn't needed, like all modern Intel CPUs do.
I bet you that if you did something CPU-intensive like run ORTHOS or encode a video, it'd spike up to 1.3 GHz and not any higher.

So if this thing is running hot and such, you may very well be better off going back to the original CPU.

Or like mentioned above, you could go for a real upgrade to a faster CPU. Look for a Pentium M processor with a 400 MHz FSB; you'll know because the Pentium M "model number" will end in 5 (i.e. 725, 735, etc).
The fastest CPU you'd be able to get is the Pentium M 765 at 2.1 GHz, but that's accordingly expensive off eBay. The next step down, the Pentium M 755 at 2.0 GHz is far cheaper. Just avoid engineering sample CPUs and best of luck!

(and if you think a 400 MHz speed up is big, imagine roughly double that!)

 

Thanks again, Teh. I'll do the downgrade and keep an eye out for an XX5 CPU, though the question still stands regarding the cooling: in case a find a proper upgrade CPU, would I need a diffrerent heat sink or should I just learn to bear with the fan noise?

 

I don't think you'd need a whole new heat sink. In terms of TDP (Thermal Design Power, basically how much heat the cooling system needs to absorb), your current Pentium M 1.3 is rated for 22 W of power, which your system handles just fine.
The Pentium M 7x0s (like your 740) are rated for 27 W, which means that your cooling system might be pushed to the limit like it was.
The Pentium M 7x5s are rated for 21 W, which means they should fit snugly into your system's cooling capacity.

And once you get the CPU upgrade, there's always undervolting! That's using a software program to tell your CPU to run at a lower voltage while keeping the same speed; it translates into lower temperatures and longer battery life.

 

Excellent. I'm going to go over to the vendor that I got the RAM modules from and see if he can dig up any of the 21W XX5 400MHz models. Great reply once again, Acer Chaser!

One last thing: what's your feel on second-hand CPU?

 

What do you think I'm running?
My original CPU was a Core 2 Duo T5550; I upgraded to a (likely-used) T8300 in November '08.

Best of luck with your search!

 

Update: I got a second-hand 735 @ 1.7 GHz for about 30 USD. Installed it, dabbed thermal compound on it, and booted the unit. First of all, BIOS can now see the the 1.7, which was not possible in the 740 (it kept seeing the 1.3 of the previous CPU). Windows can also see it.

Here's the CPU-Z validation: CPU-Z Validator 3.1

Best of all, the bloody fan noise is gone! It's nice and quite like it was with the old 1.3 GHz. CPU

Thanks a million, Chaser!

 

Hey, it's my pleasure. Always glad to help out!
Make sure you stick around on the forum and contribute when you can.

 

Hello again!

I've probably been stupid enough to continue spending on upgrades for the machine but have come across something that is pretty undesirable: I found a rather good-priced Pentium M 755 (about 30 USD, shipping and all) and installed it, and it's behaving a lot like the 740 (533 MHz) which I tried initially:

As soon as the CPU load goes over 40-50% the fan starts whirring. The 735 which I'd been using since 3 months ago had to go over 75-80% before the fan kicking in. I put a decent ammount of thermal paste on it, and double checked that the heatsink wasn't clogged with lint, but to no avail.

What could be the cause of this?

In the meanwhile, I noticed something which puzzled me: the round vent which opens on the bottom of the computer, just below the fan, is fully covered on the inside of the machine with a black plastic liner (no wonder I never got any dust in the heatsink). I'm also modding an Acer Aspire One AOA110 and while reading on cooling solutions, read something that maybe applies to the Travelmate: closed vents help cause negative pressure air flow over other components of the board. Now I'm debating wether to remove that liner to better cool the CPU while I risk other components overheating, or downgrade once again to the 735.

Let me know what you think. Sorry that my questions are so complicated.