Upgraded Acer 3680 Celeron CPU to a T5300!

Soon cable will surpass DSL in my area.Charter Communications is preparing to release 60m pipeline and Windstream seems to be stuck at 12m.real difference is the price.I have home phone with area plus calling,just upped to 12m,and a $40 bill for all of it.I own my equipment.Charter's 60m pipeline is $140 by itself,plus equipment costs.Charter also adds bulls***t fees to up there profit margin.There was a class action law suit in my area against them,the people won.Charter hasn't changed either.

Sorry guys.Didn't mean to hi jack.

 

You can stick up to 3Gigs (2G + 1G) of ram no problem and I think I remember reading a sucess story with the 2 x 2G but as it was discussed somewhere in the middle of this thread it is slightly annoying to find.

My model comes with a built in webcam so it is possible to stick one in but it might be tricky, see if you can find any on ebay or maybe even a broken screen that you could pull it out of.

@benvanderjagt
What did you use to paint laptops? I was thinking of giving my 3680 a fresh coat but I don't have much experience with painting plastic. I used to be a mechanic and have pleanty of experience with metal, would I be correct in assuming it would be somewhat similar with the priming and then main coat and then anti-scratch finish?

 

There are series of 3680 with Orbicam webcam, integrated in the shell of the screen:

So this kind of upgrade can for sure be done (on the mainboard it is present also a modified usb to connect the webcam), just i think it can be a bit expensive.

 

I got 4GB to work on a 3680-2633, and I just took it for granted that they all could take 4GB. I've sold that laptop, and since then, I haven't been able to reproduce the magical combination that makes that work. (I know it was the absolute cheapest RAM I could buy on eBay. It was like $30 for 4GB.) I've since been able to find one combination of a 2GB + 1GB that worked on a 3680-2682 (I think), but again there seems to be some compatibility requirement, whether it's the chipset or the RAM chips themselves. (Incidentally, the first laptop was running a T5500 with a 667 FSB, so that's two things the 943 chipset did that it's documented as being unable to do.)

I used to use primer, but now I recommend against it. First, get plenty of waterproof sandpaper. 320, 600, 1,000, and 2,000 should be fine. I used an old Socket 478 heatsink as my sanding block, because of its flatness. First, of course, I removed everything from the laptop.

I disassembled the screen and removed the LCD, hinges, antennae, and latch. I took the hinge-cover off and masked it so that I would only be painting the silver and the matte plastic edges. I took the handrest section of plastic and removed the touchpad and buttons. Remember to keep everything you take out. Even that metal tape over the touchpad is essential to the reliability of the laptop, since without it just a little bit of regular use could static-shock the motherboard to death. I also took out the S-Video cover, the metal bracket from that side, and the plastics for the LED lights to the left of the keyboard.)

I usually take out all identifying stickers and throw them away, then fill in the missing gap on the lid with Bond-o. Of course, you'll need some kind of spot-glazing to get a good hide there. I also take out the long rubber bumpers from the sides of the LCD, since they only increase the likeliness that pressure will break the screen anyway. Under the tiny "Aspire 3680" sticker on the bottom-right of the screen is a pinhole, also easily patched, but it takes a lot of sanding to eliminate the oval that goes around the sticker.

The reason I do NOT use primer on these 3680's anymore is that it builds up too much and shows up clear as day if there are any scratches. I'm usually painting these gloss black. (By the time I'm done with these machines, they're fully loaded. They paint fully-loaded cars black, so why not computers?) Believe it or not, the very best paint I've used for these comes in a spray can, at Wal-Mart in fact. The el-cheap-o ColorPlace Gloss Black (number 20008) sticks great, behaves consistently, cures evenly, wet-sands quickly, and clogs less often than the name-brand spray cans. I wouldn't use a compressor on these tiny plastic pieces; they'll just blow away.

Of course, the reason these 3680's always look like crap is that they put a thin layer of silver over matte-black dyed plastic. The plastic is ABS, so thin coats of spray enamel will stick perfectly fine and will be hard as, well, enamel when it fully cures. What I've been doing is completely wet-sanding with 320 until I've eliminated the silver. (In fact, in one case all I did was warm up the stickers with a hair dryer and carefully removed them, sanded all of the silver off of it, applied a little liquid electric tape to the plastic where the stickers were, and put the stickers back on. It actually looks quite classy, especially when you consider that it was just plain ABS with no finish on it at all.) When I used primer, too often when I was doing the final step with rubbing compound, I rubbed the paint off of some sharp corners and exposed brightly-colored primer.

Anyway, after sanding, I found it helpful to wipe it off with very warm water, since plastic particles like to stick to plastic. I gave each piece between 8 and 12 light coats of paint. Yes, the final total amount of paint on it was rather thick, but it sure is worth it, when it comes to finishing the surface later on.

I find that these are wet-sandable in about 18 hours, but if you're not in any hurry then I'd allow a week to cure. I went straight to 2,000 grit and sanded directly using my hand, since the sanding block would put too much pressure on corners and would sand straight through the paint. I sanded until the orange-peel was gone, then I washed it again, and I moved on to the rubbing compound. Instead of a terry cloth, I used Bounty paper towels. I always ended up picking up some kind of stray particle, and instead of cleaning the cloth between uses, I simply threw out the paper towel pieces I used.

After using the rubbing compound, the finish was smooth enough that I could easily read fine print in the reflection when looking at the surface at a fairly sharp angle. I did go back and re-rub one, and after a very sore shoulder I did have an even deeper finish, but it's up to you to decide how deep you want it. After it cures, which will take two or three months, it will be hard as a rock, and you may choose to wax it, or you can probably get away with clear-coat after just a week. If you have experience with clear-coat, you'll know what to expect.

I would like to add that I re-sanded and polished only the lid and the bezel. I did not sand the touchpad buttons or the hinge-cover, because that would be a pain in the neck. I sanded the wristrest plastics until the silver was gone. After painting these pieces, I simply gave them extra time to cure before using them. Keep in mind, enamel is very hard when it's cured, but until then just a little light use with the hands will rub the paint right off. I'd say the curing process could safely be accelerated by keeping it at 85F.

Yes, it takes patience, yes the end result is worth it, and yes you might want to find another laptop to use in the meantime, or use a broken machine for plastics.

Good luck. I'm sorry if I'm simply re-hashing stuff you already know about prepping and painting, but I want to make sure that if anyone else is reading this that it's clear what's involved.

Oh, I want to say that I actually rarely use any clear-coat or wax, because after the rubbing compound I'm usually pleased with the semi-gloss appearance. I build these things to sell, so it really all comes down to what my customers want. My next one is supposed to be navy blue, so I'll probably give that one a LOT of clear-coat. Remember, if you're planning to build these to sell or to give as gifts, remind the recipient that uncured enamel will scratch off very easily. A tissue will cut through uncured spray enamel.

 

That reminds me, has anyone tried using that connection as a simple internal USB port? I'd like to solder in a 32GB USB flash stick to use as a primary boot device or maybe a swap drive for Linux, but I don't want to tie up one of the existing external USB ports.

I've been experimenting and can now revise my question. I hooked up a 16GB USB flash drive to the webcam connector the way I thought would match, but all that happened was the flash drive got hot. I searched but couldn't find any pinout guides, except for the BlueTooth connector. I'll try the flash drive on the BlueTooth connector, but what I'm worried about now is that the front switch will turn off the USB flash drive. :-D If anyone has any experience with it and can offer some advice, please do... and maybe some of these posts should be moved to a "Pimp my 3680" thread or something, heh

*sigh* nevermind. so far, I can't even get a USB light or mouse to work on either the webcam jack or the bluetooth jack. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here, but I'm giving up for now.

 

It could be that the webcam usb has a lower voltage than a standard usb connector, just as the connector for internal bluetooth.

 

Aha, good point. And you are right! I hooked up a white LED to the normal USB port, and it turned blue-green right away, because the voltage was too high for the LED. On the webcam and the bluetooth ports, the LED lights up just right. Hmm, well, the solution is still rather simple. I can still use the webcam jack (since it will be useless for most of the laptops I'm selling) and steal power from the USB ports behind them.

I hope it works. Thanks! I'll let you know what happens.

(Thanks ATG for fixing my posts for me. I got kinda carried away.)

It looks like the BlueTooth connector is still powerful enough for a flash drive if I take advantage of the pin for the light, but now that I've burned up my flash drives I don't have any way to confirm. As for the webcam plug, fortunately stealing power turns out to be really easy, but I don't know if that's going to power down if the rear ports go into power saving mode...

 

benvanderjagt Please don't multipost. Some posts have been merged.
Thank you.

 

I finally got a mouse to move on the webcam USB port. The webcam USB connector is wired slightly backwards. From left to right, it's VCC, Data+, Data-, GND. You're right about the voltage, too. I had to tap into the nearby USB port. (Fortunately, that was very easy to do.) The BlueTooth connector is well documented already, and it also has a very low voltage, but it seems to also have a special power-saving mode, so in order to use it for any USB devices it would be a good idea to steal power from another USB port again. For the BlueTooth connector, if anyone is going to use it for internal USB, it might be a good idea to slip a USB hub into the laptop there. That way you can add BlueTooth, mobile broadband, GPS, etc. inside the laptop.

I don't want to hijack this thread, so I think I should make a "pimp my 3680" thread, since that seems to be the goal of all of my tinkering anyway. Thanks everyone for your help!

 

Well, About two years ago i got a hell of a deal on a 3680-2682 open box at circuit city ($100) and I gave it to my mom after throwing a spair 512mb stick of RAM in it. Well she recently gave it back to me because she got a new laptop.. It was in pretty bad shape to be honest. Needed a new keyboard, a nice cleaning, and a reinstall of the OS. I installed Sabayon on it and it ran kinda crappy. So then I put Windows 7 (7077 build) and wow! it runs better than it did with XP. So today I ordered a T5500 and a new keyboard. Cant wait to see how this cheap little thing is going to run!
Total Cost so far:
Notebook - $100
C2D T5500- $42
Keyboard - $18

I sure hope the T5500 installation goes fairly easy!

All that i have left to do is replace the battery, and possibly upgrade to 2gb of RAM.

 

Nice, that is the cheapest fast notebook I've seen. I would highly recommend 2Gs of RAM as it is dirt cheap and gives the laptop new life

I love Windows 7 on this laptop, runs way better than Vista and in some cases faster than XP and it also uses less resources so the laptop runs cooler and more importantly, quieter. Just wish the GPU had a little more omph to get all those fancy lights and gadgets running smoothly. I'm not the biggest fan of them but they are kinda pretty.

@benvanderjagt

Loving the stuff you've been doing with the 3680 and looking forward to the "Pimp my 3680" thread, wish I had a job that let me play around with hardware all day I'm thinking of doing the paint job but as I only own one 3680 and don't want to not be able to touch it for a couple weeks I might buy a broken one on ebay to use as spares and what not.

 

Meegulthwarp, if you just want to paint your lid and/or bezel and can live with your laptop being stationary for a while, then you can simply take the lid and bezel off and leave the screen on its hinges. obviously the screen won't be protected, and the wifi antennas will be loose, but the laptop will still be usable... oh, and I forgot to mention, when sanding be careful of those little plastic tabs. they break off VERY easily. of course, you can just use some double-sided mounting tape, and you'll end up with a stronger screen than before.

as for the "Pimp my 3680" thread, lemme eBay a couple more off, and then I'll make a point of putting everything I can into one single 3680. Letmealone had an awesome idea of putting a Digital TV receiver inside with the antenna in the screen. I love that idea, and I would probably spend more time in the fresh outside air if I had it!

@nicknations, yeah, that's a really fantastic deal! (-: I've bought dozens of 3680's and have yet to get one as cheap as you did. kudos!

 

believe it or not, i got two of them for $100 a piece. I worked at CCity for 3 years and I was pretty tight with the manager. Deals like that were probably the demise of the company haha.. Ben im all for your thread!!! id like to know what else i can do with this Acer.. since its only a toy computer

 

ohh man, I ordered my CPU on Monday and its already actually going to be here today! i hope this swap goes smooth. Pretty dang excited!! haha

 

well so far it hasnt gone so smoothly.. I installed it, and it powers up, but it just stays on a black screen.. never post.. any ideas?

 

Well,, if you have the chipset OK, the latest BIOS etc then the only thing left is..DOA. T5500 right?

 

well i have the 1.3505 bios that the original post said i needed. I have not updated to the newest bios since then :/ ill try install the other cpu back in it and try that

 

well, it seems i have officially fried the motherboard. Doing the same thing even after putting the original CPU back in it. This is a first for me

 

Woah, I'm sorry man.

But I really don't get it. You can't fry the motherboard by switching CPUs..

 

Very strange... as ATG said, I didn't think you could fry the motherboard by switching CPUs unless something was seriously wrong with the one you bought.

Make sure you have all the little wired connnections in place, RAM and whatnot all securely in place. Many a time I've thought I fried a motherboard only to find something wasn't quite "in". Good luck and let us know if you get it working again.

 

Well im guessing i must have had built up static electricity or something. Even though i made sure i kept myself grounded the whole time. It powers up, but the screen never comes on, and i dont get any beep codes.

 

What about the HDD or DVD Rom? Any noise from those? You could also try starting it on an external monitor to make sure it isn't a loose connection or what-not.

 

I think he sold the board and the CPU so we can't investigate any further.

 

Thats a shame, I love a problem.

 

what did i miss

 

nicknations appeared to have fried his motherboard and I love fried motherboards but he sold it already, bummer.

 

Yeah, that's a shame. I agree, I often find it to be a loose connection somewhere. Sometimes, for whatever reason, I can't get a 3680 to start unless the keyboard is plugged in... Well, if you still have it and need more help, nicknations, I think I still have a board or two, or maybe I can give you some better diagnostic help. not for profit, of course. (-:

 

I've been following this thread for a while. I have an Acer 3680-2633 that's almost two years old, I've upgraded to 2gb RAM (tried 4gb at one point, didn't work), 7200rpm HD, bluetooth, DVD burner, and I'm ready to upgrade the CPU. The machine feels slow, and if I can't upgrade the CPU I'm going to get a new notebook. It's currently running a Celeron M 520 B2 stepping proc. I'd like to upgrade to a T5600, because AFAIK this is the slowest, thus cheapest, CPU that supports hardware virtualization, which I can really make use of. Is this going to be doable? Also do I need to match the stepping? I'd like to figure out whether the upgrade will work before taking the machine apart. BTW the BIOS version currently is 3.505, but I've downloaded 3.508 and will update shortly. TIA

 

AAU, sticking a T5600 in your 3680 should work just fine but just to be double sure, can you match your RAM sticker with the following:

How To Identify Your Chipset:
If the Cover for the RAM bay is pulled off on the Ram Bay there is a sticker. The code on the stick identifies your laptop chipset.
Here they are:
MB.TEB06.003... If it starts with that it is a 940GML
MB.AZL06.... If it starts with that it is a 943GML
MB.TDX06.... If it starts with that it is a 945GML

If yours is either a 943/945 then the upgrade is perfectly do-able but if you have the 940GML then the best know CPU is the T1350.

There is no need to match the CPU stepping as those always vary between CPUs (its really what model number the CPU is in regards to bug fixes and whatnot, with A-0 usually being the first release and B-2 being a manufacturing improvement/bug fix) and your only worry should be the Chipset. Here is a recent thread discussing that topic (albeit with ES CPUs).

The T5600 should work fine on the 3.505 BIOS but it is always a good idea to update it to the latest just to make sure you have all points covered.

Hope all goes well with the upgrade and update on how it goes.

 

meegulthwarp: i get the feeling you like this thread.?
a few of us put a lot of hard work into this thread and have seen some great upgrades becauses of it......Glad you like it

 

Love the thread! I forgot to add you rep when I first joined so there you go.

I initially came across this thread when looking to overclock my dying 3680 (given to me by my girlfriend who bought a Macbook) but ended up doing something even better, upgrading my CPU + RAM. I was unlucky as I had a 940GML but it did put some extra kick into a laptop I was looking to sell. I am still considering buying a 943/945 motherboard to replace mine so I can get the max this lovely little laptop has to offer.

I was originally a desktop person and I've been building/repairing systems since I was 10 years old and was always turned off by laptops because they were so difficult to mod (11 years ago). It was only till I opened up my 3680 that I realized how much things have changed, I have since sold all my desktops and now own a Clevo M860TU and the faithful Acer 3680.

 

I think we have voided more warranties than anybody on the net lol
cheers for rep
Phil

 

I owned a 5315, and while trying to find out if it supported the Core 2 Quad Mobile (it almost definitely doesn't), I saw several links for this thread. Based solely on this thread, I decided to start hoarding them!

 

I does NOT. Definitive 100%.

 

I'm about 80% sure my 4330 would, but I'm not willing to spend hundreds just to try it out. (-: Maybe soon.

 

let use see what is possible for your laptop and then its up to you.

just remember we will help you all the way.

Phil

 

I have a spec sheet for intel chipsets
the the 4330 has the 960 gl chipset so you have 667fsb.
so Core Duo T2330 1.6Ghz
• Intel 960GL Chipset
• Core 2 Duo T5250 1.5Ghz
• Intel 960GL Chipset
is what that chipset likes to support + does your laptop have the celeron 530m ?

 

indeed i did sell it lol.. I took the Laptop apart 4 times trying to make sure it wasnt a connection and what not.. Tried shorting the jumpers, removing the cmos battery, and even tried the power button reset that works with some acers.. and it all pointed back to the mobo :/

 

I removed the RAM bay and the sticker inside had MBAZL06... so i guess I have the i943 chipset. PC Wizard 2008 also said I have a i943/940GML chipset, so I'm going to upgrade with a T5600. As an aside, what's the best CPU I could install? Is it the T7600?

 

@Hoggie - I thought the 4330 had the GM45 chipset. I've had it apart a number of times, but I haven't yet taken the heatsink off. Next time I'll be sure to check the chipset. Mine has the T1600 dual-core Celeron.

@Nicknations - Yeah, sorry. )-: Sounds like you definitely had a bad motherboard. Sorry to hear about it.

@aau - I believe that the T7600 is the highest you can get for your model. Also as an aside, I did a PCMark05 and 3DMark03 test on the T5200 and the T5500. The clock speed is only 4% different between these processors, and PCMark scores reflected this 4% difference, but 3DMark was more like 15% - 20% different. It seems as though a 667 MHz front side bus has a good bit of effect on the video controller.

 

not sure i think you may be lucky and have the i943

hope so

 

@Ben..will check

 

Another question. Can I use a CPU in FC-BGA package? Like T7200 SL9SL? TIA

 

You can't use FCBGA (ball grid array), because that's what's normally soldered onto the motherboard, but I think that the SL9SL may actually be FCPGA. CPU-World says it's BGA, but eBay listings have said it's a PGA, and considering the type of product I would consider finding a used BGA version on eBay very unlikely. I don't want to promise that a chip is one thing or another, but I hope this information helps answer your question.

 

T7200 SL9SL is BGA. If a SL9SL is being sold on ebay as a PGA then it could have originally been a BGA and they converted it into a PGA (I forget the technical term for this) or they just have their numbers wrong. If it is a conversion then they usually aren't as strong as manufactured PGAs as they just flatten the balls and then resolder some pins on which are more likely to break off then having the whole thing moulded as a PGA.

Go for the SL9SF if you are looking for a T7200.

 

hi i have an aspire 3860-2974 with a Celeron M 410 cpu,everest says the chipset is an Intel Calistoga-GML i940GML/i943GML

i have my doubts about this being upgradable to the core duo as ive been reading the thread for a while,thought id ask anyway

if it isn't am i able to put a core solo in it and if possible what the fastest core solo available for upgrade

many thanks

 

Welcome to NBR

As you can see on the very first page of this thread, CPU-Z is not a reliable way to identify your chipset. Do the following:

then report back.

 

thank you for the welcome
it starts with MB.TEB0600.....

 

Then CoreSole it is. T1500 is the best CoreSolo out there as far as I know but no idea if it will work with your computer.

All Core Solo CPUs

 

The fastest know working Core Solo is the T1350. The T1500 is the fastest Core Solo but it has not been tested on a 940GML chipset yet and I've found T1500's quite hard to find.

If you do find a T1500 you can go ahead and buy it to see if it works or if you want to be safe you can just stick with a T1350.

You should also consider upgrading to 2Gigs of Ram as it is very cheap and gives another boost to the 3680.