CF-51 CPU upgrading

Panasonic only list a MK3 or MK3LL . It's the same as mine CF-51RC4K FBM ? The picture of the bios I took on post #44 was from the parts 51 I have. I put the T7200 in this one I use and it has the finger print reader in it and the bios/embedded controller is V3.50 L12 . Check out the pic. If it's the same one you have a MK3LL . I bought my from "Buybest15"

 

got mine from same guy, same numbers, mine was real dusty inside so I blew it out and cleaned it up a bit has over 8000 hours on it. When I get my hands on a T7200 I'll try in on the other cf-51 and see if it works on the Q model which was a federal with the core duo 2.0 ghz cpu but was V3.00 bios, thanks for all the info and I don't mind trying the cpus in these laptops to see if they work...............Driller

 

I also have the Q model(2.0Ghz CPU) that I haven't touch when I leaved for vacation and right now I installed Win 7 but for some reason I can't make the aero interface to work while on the bios it has 256 video Ram. It has an ATI video card on it. It is also a federal unit on which I installed the pcie wireless card, luckily the two antena is there and works 100%.

ohlip

 

Who ever did it thank you for renaming this . Should be easier for others to find

 

Yes

It needed a new name as we really went off track this time
I left the original first 2 pages in the original thread


Alex

 

Another info that I want to share to those with CF51 dual core is: I have an extra new battery for cf-30 that I bought a few months ago and notice that it can use on cf-29. I take out the little plastic tab(knob) on it to fit on CF-29 but to my discovery it won't work on it. Initially it charge for a few second and then suddenly it turn red and flashing. You may say its dead but not its brand new battery. Then I've tried it to CF-51 dual core and it works like a champ..I have now cf-51 with new battery that last more than 5hrs. FYI.

ohlip

 

hi guys,I wasn't sure if the cpu T7500 was working so I got up enough nerve to plug it into the gutway laptop that has been my mainstay for 3 years now. the C2D T5250 SLA9S 1.50/2M/667. swapped the T7500 in and it's working like a champ so far, we'll see, was amazingly simple swap and the fan and heatpipe in the gutway was impressive to me, but again,with FAN, not at all like the TB's. So this rules out the T7500 as being defective. It also was 800FSB as opposed to the 667 FSB which tells me that isn't an issue at least in the gutway. the socket is the 478 one on the gutway, what difference should this make? do we need a cpu for the TB that is an issue here, don't know, any you sages know what I surely don't know, pipe in and let us know.............Driller

 

Yes

I was like a new thread but wait... I somehow posted in it already. I haven moderated in years I forgot about merge threads option.

 

just got the T7200 in and put it in the cf-51RC4KFBM, booted up registered in bios and seems to be working well. think this confirms toughasnails experience with his cf-51. wished the T7500 would have worked but I ain't heard the fat lady singing yet.. so I'll scratch my head and see where to go from here.............Driller

 

I really don't think the T7500 will work on the Core Duo 1.6 Mhz BUT am still hoping and yes I will still try . I checked Intel web site again and this is what I got
Core Duo 1.6 ......945PM chip set.....T2300....mine
Core Duo 2.0.......945GM chip set....T2500....driller/rusty

Core 2 Duo 2.0....945PM chip set.....T7200....works
Core 2 Duo 2.2....965GME chip set...T7500....no boot,driller / will boot,rusty

As you can see three different chip sets so how Rusty got his to work, good question. I guess we will have to wait untill he gets his stuff back from overseas to see.

To be continued.....I hope

I have been running the T7200 Core 2 Duo 2.0 for about a week now with no problems. I was on it for about 4 hours one night and run great and did not over heat. I have 4GB memory,W7 and 160GB 7200Rpm HD installed

 

I just skimmed the pages but didn't see one... is there a confirmed CPU compatibility list?

 

I been using intel site , in the drop down , pick the CPU and it will give you all the info

Intel® Core? Duo Processor T2500 (2M Cache, 2.00 GHz, 667 MHz FSB) with SPEC Code(s) SL8VP, SL8VT, SL9EH, SL9K2

 

Well my Core 2 Duo mod is complete now 20PC Core 2 Duo AMD centrino for Win7 XP VISTA sticker - eBay (item 250540741329 end time Nov-26-10 09:46:37 PST) $1.99 shipped and only took 8 days to get here

 

Hey guys, just got T7600 in and put it in the CF-51QG5EEBM bios V3.00L22 chipset 945PM and it boots to bios and desktop so far no issues! yahooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................Driller

 

Yes I thought it might as it has the right 667 MHz FSB speed , as does the t7400

 

just put the T7600 in the cf-51RC4KFBM 945GM chipset , biosV.3.50L12 and it works, the core temps read 33/40 at the moment. this unit has 8700 hours in bios reading............again, yahoooooooooo!.........Driller

 

YES......that's what I wanted to hear . Very good Driller

 

For anyone wanting to upgrade to the T7600 here is a good price $139.00 shipped Intel Core 2 Duo SL9SD T7600 2.33GHZ Processor TESTED - eBay (item 220702367935 end time Dec-26-10 13:40:13 PST)

 

You guys are my hero. Little too late since I sold my 51 like 4 months ago. Haven't found a completely working one under $380

 

I have been lucky this week. I picked up 2 Core Duo 1.6 + 2.0 with caddys/3+hour batterys/dvd-cds and chargers for $140.00 shipped for 2 ($60 + $80) . Both from 2 different sellers. They listed them as a "CF-51 COMPUTER" thats it....so I emailed them and when I got the reply I hit "The buy It Now" All they needed was 2 harddrives. By the time I am done I will have (2) Core 2 Duo T7200 2.0 GHz 51's for under $300.00 .I think my daughters will love their christmas presents.

The funny thing was these sellers both had these 51's listed on fleabay for almost a week and no one grabbed them. It all comes down to how the seller list them, if he had listed them as a core duo they would of been gone the first day. I just love these new sellers

 

Yep I love those sellers.

 

So anyone out there in Toughbook land figure out how to get the T7500 CPU to work in the CF-51 yet.

 

I am finally at a point where I have to humbly apologize to all here. I must have goofed and got my numbers mixed up. During the transit back from Iraq, my containers were raped and my modded CF-51 was one of the items missing. Therefore I cannot beyond a shadow of a doubt prove what I THOUGHT I had done. I recently purchased a T7500 and TRIED it in one of my other CF-51s identical to my original modded one. IT DOES NOT WORK! The reason is that the FSB is different. The T7500 has a 800 FSB vs a 667 FSB required by my CF-51.

I think what I did was mix my CPU numbers up when I first mentioned the CPU upgrade. I did NOT have my CF-51 with me at the time. With the original CPU being a T2500 and what I must have put in (a T7200) I believe I mixed them together thinking it was a T7500. I cannot prove anything about the first CF-51 but I can attest to the fact that a T7500 will NOT work. Please accept my apologies. I never intended to mislead anyone and I hope I did not cause much heartburn about this.

I would highly suggest that anyone go to: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting, download and then run this software. This will give you quite a bit of info about your system. Pay attention to the chipset listed on the motherboard tab. Once you have that you can do more research to see what cpu is compatible with your system. This is what I did on my first system and with research I determined that I could in fact upgrade the CPU. In this instance you will find that a CPU with a 667 FSB will work.

Look on the bright side of this situation. I did get alot of you started with the whole CPU upgrade process. I again humbly apologize for my mistake.

Now to sell the T7500 I bought and get a T7200, T7400 or T7600.

 

teflon was made by a mistake and look where it took us. No apologies are needed here as your experiment worked in many other areas and got us to use CPUID to learn more about all that was available and just to try it out. We did learn that either of the core duos will take the T7200 as well as the T7600, at least I've done this with the cf-51 that came equipped with a 1.66GHz and the T2500 cpu. That did tell me the bios wasn't an issue here as I mistakenly sought to blame it on. Anyway, I wonder if we would have tried this any sooner had it not have been for your lead here. My greatest respect for your service to our country and to your innovative and inquisitive nature for extending the life span of the cf-51. Now I want to know if the cf-52 will take the T9600 that I bought on a whim since the FSB is the same on both. I think it uses a P8400 cpu and of course I can't rattle off the exact specs cause I have to look it up. Thanks for your contribution and talent in so many areas here, not just toughbooks. I SALUTE YOU RUSTY503!............Driller
now if I can find an inexpensive cf-52, frakkenbook, here I come!

 

I am with Driller on this , Thank you. I now have 2 CF-51's Core 2 Duo T7200 + T7600 that run great. The best bang for your buck is the T7200 @ $40.00-$50.00 . The T7600 @ $130.00-$180.00 is a lot and did not see the speed for that extra + $100.00 . I am going to pull the T7600 out and put in a my spare T7200 in and put the T7600 in my XPS.
If anyone is looking to do this upgrade I would look at the MK3 T2500. This has the better video card in it. The MK3LL T2300 has the onboard video.

 

OK You guys talked me into it. Just got a T7200 headed my way. Also another 51, it has to be a sickness....:wub:

 

Oh god....we sucked another poor soul in .

 

You say that like it's a bad thing!
I've been working with computers for years, my first was a ZX81, then a VIC-20. Last few years I have been working laptops more and more. I've had Toughbooks before, Don't recall the model number, but it had a Pentium 366, and you flipped up the wrist rest to access the hard drive and battery... So when I rediscovered Toughbooks, the CF-51, all was lost....

 

Yeah I'm finding 51's but in pentium m only. 2.0 duo are rare $600 units.

 

Kidding.... You can't go wrong with the 51 . I find they are very good to work on and a lot less problems with them. I put W7 on mine and it runs great. Did you get yours from Buybest15.

If you shop around like I did it will not cost you $200.00 . The one in my sig cost just under $160.00

 

Doing more research on this topic I came across a very good article. If you haven't decided yet on this upgrade, read this article. Even if you have already done the mod, you may find this interesting reading.

Check out Mobile CPU Wars: Core 2 Duo vs. Core Duo - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

 

My first 51 Mk3 was at a Hamfest for $250 complete except hard drive. I have bought a couple Mk1s to rebuild for friends, then I just scored a Mk3 (maybe) shipped for $80. Once here I'll know if it's a Mk3 or not,
My first Mk3 I put W7 and it ran so good I never changed it! It's now my everyday computer.
The Mk1s are upgradeable as well. I just swapped in a 2.1 Ghz Pentium M and it is noticeably faster than the original 1.7 G CPU.
I also had a CF-48 and the layout is quite similar, yes very easy to work on. I'm having fun!

 

To get the max out of upgrading the CPU in the CF-51 consider this. For maximum performance you should also change out your RAM. I notice alot of CF-51s come with DDR2 PC2-4200 RAM. You should be running DDR2 PC2-5300 if you upgrade to the T7200. If attempting to use the T7500 you should be using DDR2 PC2-6400 RAM. In other words, your RAM should match your system's FSB. In some cases you can use a faster speed RAM stick in a slower system but there are instances where the stick will not work. For example, you can use a PC2 6400 stick in a system calling for PC2-5300 or PC2-5300 in a system calling for PC2-4200.

 

According to this http://www.intel.com/design/intarch/prodbref/316683.pdf the 965GME chipset does support 800 FSB and DOES IN FACT support the T7500.

 

Driller tried it in both of his 51's and no boot but worked in his gatewaay. He never did figure out why.....BIOS maybe

 

on the gateway I went with the same crucial ram as we used for the cf-29 mk4-5 256mb 2GB upgrade compliments Azriel, it was the PC2@5300 and I used total of 4GB. I thought about if the ram and the FSB speeds had anything to help out, asked a question and never got any direction from there. Go for it Rusty!.......Driller

 

I've been following this adventure casually with no intention of getting a CF-51. Now Mrs. DF is having a problem with her Dull which is a 3 year old D-620. The spec on the Core Duo 51 is about the same as the Dull. Anyway, I bought an all up really clean looking MK3LL for $220 shipped. Thanks for this post, I don't think I will be bothering to upgrade the CPU for her purposes, email and web surfing. 5-7% upgrade in speed doesn't seem worth the trouble. Now to get rid of the last Sony TV and we will be a 100% Panasonic household.
CAP

 

Lol..Captn! Just what happened this afternoon, my daughter ItchP I mean HP suddenly broke the right hinges. I open it up to see what can I do and during the process of opening the plastic part. It was fall a part. What the heck! Anyway, I've got three cf-51 all dual core but I've got only one Hdd caddy and those one with the caddy was confiscated by my wife a month ago. Now! I am in immediate need of those hard to find caddy for cf-51 to change this junk HP.


ohlip

 

How would you like that HD Caddy? Bare, 40GB or 80GB?

 

Agree
This is very important
After the upgrade make sure that the ram is 5300 speed

On my cf-30 mk-1 with the standard Centrino Duo it comes with 4200
The MK-2 with C2D runs 5300

In most cases you can run the higher speed ram ,downclocked , but you will limit your performance as you say by running pc2 -4200 ram
The ram prices are the same so at least go for the pc2-5300

 

I just checked both of my 51's and they both have 2 sticks of 5300, 4gb each .

 

This also gets you W7 64 bit option.....





or Vista 64 bit.

 

I'm so not tempted by either option I'm just happy to learn that the two 1GB sticks of matched Crucial ram that came in my CF-30 are going to go right in. Its been bothering me to have those hanging around. I also have a couple of NOS Samsung 160GB drives in stock, and a couple of good CF-29 batteries so I don't need anything to get this one up and running for the bride.
CAP

 

So are you running 8GB in each 51? Or is that meaning you have 4GB in each 51? Curious minds want to know. It would be fantastic if the 51 could run 8GB. I know the specs say 4GB max but it might be worth a try.

 

Wouldn't make a bit of difference for him... he's running XP, which won't even use all of 4GB. 32-bit memory address limitation, etc.

mnem
Memory almost full...

 

Understood the limitations of the OS. I was just curious for those wanting to upgrade to Vista or Win7 64 bit.

 

8GB Wow , boy would that be something but no. It has 2 - 2GB sticks installed, 4GB total in each 51 along with Windows 7 and the samsung drive and this thing flies.

 

I scored a T7600 today for free! I will be throwing that in maybe tonight.

 

I would say you scored.......my so called score cost me $130.00

 

OK, maybe I will upgrade the bride's processor. I have read all I can find here and have three questions. The 51 is a MK3LL.
1. I have seen no mention of thermal paste, required or not?
2. Bios have been mentioned, do they need updating for the T7200?
3. The CF-51 is coming today. If I build the new hard drive, load all of her programs, and move all the non-junk files to the new drive will there be any problem adding the new processor after the fact?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Merry Christmas to all,
CAP