Processor upgrade-Toshiba A15-s129 Satellite

I have a Toshiba Satellite A15-s129 that has had a faulty processor fan for at least a couple months but has worked fine, outside of the fan noise / grinding.

The laptop recently functions differently, turning off after a short while. I took off the cover for the fan, heat sink and processor and removed all these pieces, cleaned out the heat sink fins and reseated all the items, after putting some of the excess thermal conductive goo carefully back onto the heat sink where it touches the processor.

If I set the processor speed to low and the fan speed to maximum (in the bios) and allow the computer to boot to a prompt in linux it will run for longer than if I set the speed to high and let it boot up fully to the Gnome desktop (in linux).

I have also tried booting from a linux cd, the exact same one that worked perfectly before and it will still turn off after a short time.

Despite my cleaning of the heatsink and reseating / goo-ing the contact point, the laptop will still turn off after a short time under even light load on low processor speed.

When I have the cover off the fan area I can spin the fan several times by hand till it continues by itself at a speed high enough that I can feel the air moving from the exhaust port on the side. The air temperature is not even noticeably warm - certainly compared to the air temp. I typically experience from that area.

I am thinking that the fan is certainly a problem and needs to be replaced but it seems very likely that something else is now problematic and I'm leaning toward the processor as the likely source of problems. The heat sink / heat pipe combination unit has no moving parts, except maybe some coolant inside, and seems to be intact. Any comments?

I am considering a processor upgrade when I replace the processor fan. The manual indicates that the laptop can use:
***
Mobile Intel Celeron processor at 1.8 GHz, 2 GHz, 2.2 GHz

Intel Pentium 4 Processor - M at 1.8 GHz, 1.9 GHz, 2 GHz, 2.2 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 2.6 GHz
***
I have found that there are virtually no processors classified as Intel Pentium 4 - M at 2.6 GHz for some reason but I did find one with the following specifications:
***
One Intel Pentium 4 Processor 2.66GHz 512/533 478pins

Serial Number SL724

Guaranteed compatibillity on
Dell Inspiron 5100
Dell Inspiron 5150
Dell Inspiron 5160
Model : SL724
Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors

Results
sSpec Number SL724
Processor Frequency 2.66 GHz CPUID String 0F29h
Package Type 478 pin Core Voltage 1.300
Bus Speed 533 MHz Thermal Guideline 68.4W
Core Stepping D1 Thermal Spec 100°C
L2 Cache Size 512 KB Manufacturing Technology 0.13 micron
L2 Cache Speed 2.66 GHz Bus/Core Ratio 21
***

Will the processor, with specs listed above, work in this laptop and is it recommended?

How likely is it that the heatsink / heat pipe unit is faulty?

Would the above processor be significantly better than a Celeron 2.4 GHz?

I thank you for your time and attention.

 

Sounds like it could be a bad power supply just as much as anything, plus ram failure could give issues like this.

Even before that tho I would look into a new fan, your mobo probably as a safty shutoff feature and the bad fan is triping it.

Its deinfitly cheaper to get a new fan before anything else and you would need it anyways.

 

Thanks so much for the prompt response. When you say bad power supply are you referring to the external power unit that converts high voltage AC to lower voltage DC or are you referring to other internal components inside the laptop that regulate electricity?

How likely that such a thing is the problem? How could I determine this is the problem?

Regarding the RAM, there are 2 modules, the unit that came with it, a 256MB module and a PNY brand 512MB module I acquired maybe 2-3 months ago, new, from CompUSA. It has a lifetime warranty.

I will take out the older memory module and try just the new one, and the other way around as well.

 

your on the ball, best thing to do with ram is test the modules individually. If you have memtest86 thats good too (but if your comp is shutting down that wont do you much good)

in a desktop its the psu itself that causes issues but with a notebook, I suppose it would have to be the internal parts, because if it was your ac adapter from the wall, you should have no issues when running on battery.

as you dig abit deeper into this im sure we can figure it out.

 

i tried both memory modules, individually, in both slots, trying to run through memtest86 and it would turn off after a few moments, around a minute or so.

The external power unit that this came with is a Targus AC70u that looks aftermarket. I got this computer used.

The external power unit has a blue light that continues to be on at all times, never flashes, etc...that I can notice.

 

I have another power unit for an old laptop that I use for a DVD player. It has the same model of AC70u on it, but it's a little different shape. It uses the same interchangeable tips as the other Targus unit.

So, I used the other Targus AC70u with the tip for the Toshiba a15-s129 and tried it in memtest86 with the same results.

 

a further note, the fan has been starting on it's own tonight, but i can still hear the sound.

i feel the air coming out of the exhaust at reasonable speed, but it's not even warm.

the section of heatpipe near the processor is very hot but just 1-3 inches away on the same pipe it's just warm or barely warm.

 

Does anyone have comments regarding the processor I want to use as a replacement? I listed the details of the possible replacement processor in my first message, at the top of this thread.

The laptop specs, including existing processor, are listed here:

http://www0.dealtime.com/xPF-Toshiba-Satellite-A15-S129

I thank you for your time and attention.

 

The P4-M 2.66 looks like it won't work with your chipset. You have a 400MHz FSB on the Intel 852GM chipset, and the 2.66 uses 533MHz buss speed. It looks like the fastest P4-M you can use is the 2.6 (SL6WZ). Verify that you have the latest bios and that it does support the processor you want to install.

 

Thanks for the info!

Would there be much performance difference between the Pentium 4 M 2.6 and the Celeron 2.4?

It seems there are very few P4-M 2.6 processors available online.

 

The noise from the cooling fan on this model of laptop is a class problem. I have solved it by simply removing the fan and cleaning the bearing / spindle assembly then using a couple small drops of gun oil. Noise goes away. Works great for about 8 months, then you have to clean and re-lube. The fan bearing assembly is not a sealed unit and comes apart very easily.

 

I believe it comes down to what you use the laptop for, if you are gaming or using other cpu demanding processes (photo/video editing) then you may see a big difference in the processors, and go with the P4M. But if it's just for everyday stuff; email, crusinig the web, then the celeron should work just fine. Anybody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

My brother has this same computer, and I have been pondering the same question. He doesn't have his user manual any more, so I cannot see that these processors are supported by this motherboard or not.

My research has led me to believe that the celeron 2.4 is the best CPU to fit this computer. It is an intel 852gm chipset, but on the intel website, it seems to think that only celeron m processors work on this chipset.

http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/852gm/index.htm

Am I to believe that this page is outdated as it doesn't have a 2.4 ghz celeron listed as compatible, or would a pentium m actually work... Is this not the place I should be looking for compatible processors?

At the toshiba website, it doesn't seem to mention anything about processor upgrades or what's compatible.

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...30&rpn=PSA10U&smoid=true&ct=MH&ListType=Model