SandyBridge to IvyBridge upgrade on Thinkpad Xx20 - Willing to pay for a solution

I tested a pentium 2020m (IvyBridge) in a T520 to see if it works or not, the keyboard lights came on, but nothing else, the processor didn't even become warm.

It is most likely possible, but it doesn't seem easy, to create a BIOS update that would allow this.

Some other manufacturers have released BIOS updates that make the SandyBridge chipset support IvyBridge.

Is it possible to ask Lenovo to work on something like this ? , it will not hurt them in any way, both SandyBridge and IvyBridge are now out of date compared to the newer Haswell and Broadwell, and Skylake at the end of this year supposedly.

So we are probably left with what the community can do about this, thoughts ?
I wonder if it would be possible to port back the processor relative parts from any Xx30 to Xx20 Thinkpad.

Why is this upgrade useful ?

- Last thinkpad version that allows custom BIOS flashing, and allowing non-genuine batteries, and simple update to allow WLAN/WWAN upgrade, possible Wireless-AC upgrade..etc.
- Much better power efficiency, up to 50% improvement.
- Integrated graphics is much better than Sandybridge, more than 50% increase in some benches, and support for new DirectX 11, among other things.
- Integrated graphics is better than T520's Nvidia in some games/benchmarks
- Better keyboard layout.
- Might be only hope for people who want a quadcore, and their heatsink does not support 45w processors, since there is a 35w quadcore ivy bridge.
- DDR3L 1.35v 1600 RAM support, for cooler less power hungry RAM.

- Fastest Ivybridge vs Sandybdrige is faster by about 20%, considering the increased efficiency per clock:
45w: 2860QM 2.5/3.6ghz - 3840QM 2.8/3.8ghz
35w: 2640M 2.8/3.5ghz - 3540M 3.0/3.7ghz - Quadcore option: 3632QM 2.2/3.2ghz

 

Never heard about any. It's not possible, all you can is allow Ivy chipset support Sandy processors. At least in mobile.
So you can't ask for something which is impossible.

 

Actually in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...qm67-chipset-mainboard-ivb-compatible.741560/

Someone was able to update the BIOS of that motherboard, to make the chipset qm67 work with Ivy Bridge processors.

The "QM67" chipset, is the same chipset in the T520/T420/W520/X220

 

I do hope that you're just kidding...our *61 series systems would've still been running at SATA I speeds if it were not for Middleton...so no, Lenovo is not going to touch any of that with a 50-foot pole.

 

You are correct, but just trying all that can be done, even if a very long shot.

I really hope that someone steps in a fix this issue like Middleton did with the SATA I/II.

Lenovo have made many bad decisions, and decreased quality slowly, and lost many old Thinkpad fans in the way, but starting with the T450 series, I am hoping that they are re-considering some of their strategies, like how they are going back to the old trackpoint button, and the promise of clean pre-installed OS image.

Supporting a laptop past its 3 years warranty may be something that could get some good publicity.

Crucial did something similar with their M4, which was was released with 415 MB/s maximum read, and they released a firmware making it go as high as 470+ MB/s

I know it is a long shot, but trying just the community may be hard with the decrease of interest that has happened to the Thinkpad through the last 5 years or so.

How we are going to reach out to Lenovo officials ?
I think if this topic got enough attention, they may notice it.

 

OK, I see there is something I never knew. Perhaps it's possible to flash ME8 the same way how owners of Asus x6_ chipset upgraded their. But will it help? Especially on Lenovo which for instance put CPU whitelist on business laptops? It will be 1-st step but to where?

 

I'm not aware of such a practice. Can you please clarify which series/CPUs this applies to?

You're wasting your time.

Lenovo will do absolutely nothing about the issue at hand. Take it from someone who's been involved in more than one petition, numerous forums initiatives and what not. They do NOT care about this type of issues whatsoever. I can't say that I blame them either, since this is all water under the bridge from their perspective.

You need someone like Middleton to get their hands dirty and get it done.

Good luck.

 

Pay for a solution , call up lenovo management/stock holders to put lenovo under you name, then they can make something work.

Not exactly true, never happened in the mobile sector.

There is no whitelist on cpu, but you need microcode for different CPUs. So manf don't really need to "whitelist".

 

T410. Can't put any quad there.
You may say that it shouldn't be done in the first place due to 35W TDP restriction but, well, OP is trying to put cpu of another generation, so yeah, I had all rights to say that.

 

True, but that's not "whitelisting" in the sense of what Lenovo - and some other manufacturers - do with wireless cards. BIOS is missing the microcode for the QC CPUs on these systems.

I've never questioned your right to say what you've said but it's really apples and oranges. Intel's chipsets are not built to be future-proof, quite the opposite...and on purpose, in my opinion.

 

While I agree that it might be not entirely in the same sence as wireless cards because you can simply hex-edit the model if I'm correct but with CPU I really doubt that it's just microcode stuff.
BTW I call a situation where one lenovo laptop could work with (quad?) cpu on older bios but not newer.

The only difference between cpu and wi-fi is that whitelisting wi-fi they don't protect owner from overheating.