Max CPU: P4M 1.8 or 2.0 for Toshiba Satellite 1115-s103

This is one of those Compal built Toshibas where you have to completely disassemble it to replace drives, etc. It is torn down on my bench waiting for a hard drive so I thought maybe to upgrade the CPU to max allowable.

As bought it is a 1.5gHz/256L2 Mobile Celeron 478 pin 400 fsb Northwood BIOS v1.2

The latest BIOS v1.5 states:

Version 1.50 Â Â Â 11-20-2003

* Added support for "C1" step CPU of Pentium 4m 1.8 GHz
* Added support for "D1" step CPU of Intel Celeron 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0 GHz and Pentium 4M 1.8.GHz.​

From what I have read, with the netburst architecture, the P4M 1.8 is the pick of the litter.

However, my question is,

Would a P4M 2.0 work?

This would be identical to the P4M 1.8 except for a 2.0 gHz multiplier, a multiplier already established for the Celeron choices.

No where does Toshiba state what the Supported CPU's are so the BIOS note adds to a List which is unknown.

I guess the question is how does the BIOS communicate with the cpu for identification? If it translates stepping codes, then the P4M 2.0 probably won't work. However if it merely detects the multiplier, then it might.

Maybe I can specify the multiplier in the BIOS?

Any ideas?

I think I am going to quick assemble the the laptop with the new HD, install the OS and see what the BIOS looks like. My guess is that nothing regarding the CPU will be adjustable.

There is also the thought that the 2.2 P4M which is a 35w dissipation cpu (all higher P4M's are 35w) might be a good choice too. In this case, a new multiplier would be required and then, might the 35w increase from 30w be asking too much? I suppose if I assemble the laptop to investigate the BIOS, I could hopefully take some cpu temperatures and see where I'm at.

Thanks in advance,
Regards,
Tom

PS. Some comment on dissipation. All the v1.5 CPUs are 30w except for the 2.0 Celeron which is 32w. The 1.8 P4M is 30w and the 2.0 P4M is 32w so in that case, the cooler and psu should be able to handle it.

I suspect that the BIOS may work off stepping codes so that higher dissipation CPU's are disallowed since they would be a big problem if used.

 

I'd take what that BIOS says with a grain of salt. Nothing in there regarding the CPU will be adjustable, but your socket/chipset (845/478) combination should be able to take any of these Pentium 4-Ms:

Pentium 4-M 1.4 1400 512 400
Pentium 4-M 1.5 1500 512 400
Pentium 4-M 1.6 1600 512 400
Pentium 4-M 1.7 1700 512 400
Pentium 4-M 1.8 1800 512 400
Pentium 4-M 1.9 1900 512 400
Pentium 4-M 2.0 2000 512 400
Pentium 4-M 2.1 2100 512 400
Pentium 4-M 2.2 2200 512 400
Pentium 4-M 2.3 2300 512 400
Pentium 4-M 2.4 2400 512 400
Pentium 4-M 2.5 2500 512 400
Pentium 4-M 2.6 2600 512 400

These chips were all released at around the same time, so if your BIOS supports one of them, it should support all of them. At the very least the 2.0GHz chip should work without a problem.

You've also got these Celerons if you want another Celeron:

Mobile Celeron 1.4 1400 256 400
Mobile Celeron 1.5 1500 256 400
Mobile Celeron 1.6 1600 256 400
Mobile Celeron 1.7 1700 256 400
Mobile Celeron 1.8 1800 256 400
Mobile Celeron 2.0 2000 256 400
Mobile Celeron 2.2 2200 256 400
Mobile Celeron 2.4 2400 256 400
Mobile Celeron 2.5 2500 256 400

 

Commander Wolf,

I just put the 160 HD in and the BIOS recognizes the HD Model # so that looks good. As far as the CPU, there is NOTHING in the BIOS regarding that - which is just what you said (!)

So this is really interesting, It sounds like I might be able to put a really souped up P4M in this laptop. However, do you have any thoughts about the cooling and PSU? Would going from a 30w to a 35w cpu pose any problems?

Thanks so much for your reply!
Regards,
Tom

 

I second what commander wolf said. You should be fine up to the P4M 2.6Ghz cpu.
Please make sure you buy a processor with a 400MHz FSB. The 533MHz FSB processors will not work.
I have been looking for years, for a 2.6GHz P4M, but the fastest I have ever found was a 2.4GHz cpu which I am currently using in my inspiron 8500

As a side note, I believe the cpu power usage was 31watts for up to the 2.4GHz processor, and 35watts for the 2.6GHz processor

As far as my upgrade went, the 2.4Ghz P4m does not run any different in temperature than the 2.0GHz cpu it replaced

I have a 1.6GHz P4M and a 1.8GHz P4M, if you are interested, send me a Personal message. Just click my username, and you can send me a PM.

K-TRON

 

See? Listen to K-TRON. He knows what he's talking about.

Concerning power consumption, it's more than likely that your laptop was originally designed to take all of the Pentium 4-Ms up through that 2.6GHz part so your current cooling system and power circuitry will very likely suffice. In a worst case scenario you can undervolt your new processor.

After a brief search I couldn't find the 2.6GHz processor either, but everything from 2.5GHz and below seem to be available in relative abundance on eBay starting from just about $50.

EDIT: K-TRON is right; you can't undervolt the P4-M. That's news to me, actually; I was under the impression that anything with SpeedStep could be undervolted.

 

My Dell Inspiron 8500 manual actually states the fastest cpu is the P4M 2.0GHz processor. The 2.4GHz one works fine though

and just to correct Commander wolf, you cannot undervolt Pentium 4M processors.
The cpu should run very similar in temperature to your current one, this is because the temperature threshold which forces the fans on is the same regardless of the processor installed. So as long as your processor is getting to say 140F, the cpu fans will kick in, and than shut off when say the temperature drops to 120F.

My Dell has I8KFANGUI installed and the peak temperature is about 145F. I always have the fans maxed. Before I found I8KFANGUI, the max temperatures were as high as 185F, which is a bit hot for my taste

Their is one site online which sells the 2.6GHz P4M, but I believe they want $140 for it, which is more than I would pay for it. I got my 2.4GHz P4M for $40 if I recall correctly


K-TRON

 

status is installing sp2 right now.

Restore CD's resulted in HD 137gb limit due to XP SP0 on the CD's IMHO.

I'm going to put SP3 on and then use a Partition program to expand the limited partition to the full HD size. (Hope that works. Other method is to define 2 partitions each under the 137 limit.)

Then will start trolling eBay for processor. Turns out prices are dropping.

If all this works out, this is an amazing little laptop Compal made with its totally insane upgrade ability:

DVD-ROM => DVD-RW DL
20 => 160 gb HD
1.5 Celeron => 2.4(?) Pentium 4​

One other question is: Is the 512 mb memory limit is true since the 845MZ supports 1gb?

The only downside is no USB 2.0 and that is only a downside because Xircom no longer makes PCMCIA cards. Did you ever see their flush mounting LAN card? It took up both Type II spaces and was flush with the case. It had a LAN, MODEM, Some other micro connector, and indicator lights. I saw it years ago on a laptop a guy had sitting next to me on an airplane.

WHY OH WHY DIDn't ANYONE MAKE FLUSH USB 2 and IEEE1384 CARDS ?????

 

the harddrive capacity is not limited by your operating system. Your motherboards IDE controller has a 48 bit LBA restriction forcing your max harddrive size to be 137GB (formats to 128GB). You will not be able to use any software to make this partition larger. All you can do is partition the rest of the drive to use it. So you can have a 137Gb partition and a 23Gb partition.

My inspiron 8500 has a Intel 845 chipset (probably 845PM, or 845GM), and it has 2Gb of PC3200 in it. The memory automatically clocks down to PC2100 speed and has insanely low latencies. 2-2-2-6

K-TRON

 

I do believe you're looking for this. I used to have one in a C600...

http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=xi...id=m270.l1313&_odkw=xircom+readport&_osacat=0

 

Isn't this true for only the boot drive (which I know is a mute point in a laptop) but I have a very old celeron 333 system that I assume has the 48 bit restriction. I was unable to use a 500GB drive has a boot drive (it wouldn't recognize properly in the bios, but putting it has a second HDD with a 10GB primary allowed me to get the full 500GB on one partition in XP.

 

Commander Wolf,

Yes, that is the nifty Xircom flush mount PCMCIA card. It is a tragedy that no such card was ever made for USB 2 and IEEE1394. Xircom was bought out by either Intel or Microsoft - I dont remember which and is probably the reason no such newer tech cards ever appeared.
_____________________________

JakeJm79,

There are issues regarding recognition of the >137 and actually using it.

Combinations of OS and BIOS result in a condition where there appears to be a 160 drive but when you attempt to actually write to a location >137, all kinds of problems occur. Such as scrambled data and drive ceases to function properly.

I'm trying to find if anyone has written a problem which will test a PC for full LBA-48 compliance.

I was under the impression that the 845MZ was LBA-48 compliant???

 

I am pretty sure that if the parallel controller has a 48 bit LBA limitation, the limitation is on all of the drives connected. Their is no way around it other than generating multiple partitions to get the full use out of the drive.
If your system recognized the full 500gb in one shot, I have no idea how it is possible unless you are using a PCI PATA/SATA controller

MrCreosote let me know if you want a 1.6 or 1.8GHz P4M, i have one of each, and I can meet or beat ebay prices.

K-TRON

 

LBA48 support???

Intel Application Accelerator 2.2.2 appears to upgrade the IDE controller for big drives. 2.2.2 is not the latest version but IS THE VERSION for mobile applications. In particular the 845 chipset and the 82801CAM IDE controller which is exactly what I have.

From Intel:

1. The system must contain the following Intel products:

* Intel(R) Pentium(R) III or Pentium(R) 4 processor
* Intel(R) 82801AA, 82801AB, 82801BA, 82801CAM,
or 82801DB controllers​

Saw someone else comment that all they did was the IAA and they were large drive functional (!)

(While I know of a number of mobos that require a BIOS change for LBA48 support, I guess that doesn't have to always be the case.) Wait a minute [edit], I know for a fact you can get a PCI LBA48 IDE controller card and use it with a small drive mobo. So this controller upgrade from Intel is basically just that. I'll bet!)

So, this little laptop just keeps looking better, and better, and better...

[edit]

But now I have Chicken and Egg problem: I'm doing it this way:

1) Run factory Recover Image Discs: 137gb partition on 160 HD.
2) Install SP2 then SP3
3) Install IAA
4) Install Partition Magic (or similar)
5) Resize the 137 partition to cover entire HD.​

This sound OK?

Thanks
Tom

 

I will do some more digging into the specs, but I know gateway said the max size was 80GB. Anyway I couldn't use the 500GB as a boot drive, it wouldn't recognize in the bios, therefore when I booted the XP CD it wouldnt recognize the HDD to install on. I did get it to work by cloning the 10GB HDD on to the 500GB, but it wouldn't boot after a couple of restarts.

Also I am fully aware of the data corruption issues going over 137GB (I have several modded xboxes and before the newer bioses they had the 137GB limit). But I have about 400GB on there with no issues. Maybe it doesnt have the 48 bit restriction.

Edit, did some digging seems like it has a 440BX chipset (tho with a customized gateway bios) and seems like that is indeed limited to 137 GB without using a separate controller (which I am not) or a "software walk around"