Merom Swap in an M115-S3094 ??

Hello,

Anyone know where I can find BIOS update information for Toshiba notebooks?
Anyone know about Merom Swaps in Toshiba notebooks?


I checked the Toshiba download center for Bios updates but could not find anything.


M115-S3094. I want to swap my 1.6GHz T2050 Yonah chip for a 2.0GHz Merom Core 2 Duo chip. I believe all I need is a BIOS that will recognize Merom processors.?

 

Since the M115 is a new model, I would guess that the factory BIOS already supports Merom. If you look at the M100/M105, which is the predecessor to the M115, Merom support was added to the BIOS back in April.

 

where can one view Toshiba BIOS release information? I could not find any information on their US site.
thanks!

 

You can find support information here:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_home.jsp

You can also get there by following the technical support link from here (easier to remember):
http://www.toshibadirect.com

 

Ditto....I want to go with a Core 2 Duo as well for 64bit Vista....and VMWARE 64bit guest OS's.

I check their site weekly for a BIOS update. There will probably be one when Vista comes out.

Here is a guide to take it apart....very close model to the one we own.

http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-M105/take-apart-notebook-1.htm

All that said I love this little notebook. I added 2 gigs of Crucial DDR2 and it purs. I dont even use my desktop now that I have moved my gaming over to the Xbox 360.

 

that site shows a complete disassemble of the notebook. nothing about just replacing the cpu. useful, nonetheless.

has anyone tried a Merom in their notebook yet? I don't want to purchase a $400 CPU that won't be recognized by the BIOS. No BIOS for the M115 on the Toshiba site that I could find.

 

Update:

Toshiba released BIOS v1.4 for this discountinued M115 series.
In the BIOS, the notes mention the T5500 and T5600 Merom CPUs specifically but give no mention to other Merom chips. So, I called Toshiba Support, spoke to a nice young gentleman by the name of Theodore, and he warned me about Warranty issues. He then proceeded to tell me that he cannot find any information regarding the CPUs supported by this new BIOS.
So, with that....

I just ordered a 2.0 T7200 Merom chip that I will be installing, along with an Hitachi 7K100 7200rpm 100GB hard drive, and 2GB DDR2-667 memory.
If everything works, I'll try selling the old parts on EBay.

I know so many of you M115 users were curious about Merom Upgrades, so stay tuned....
;]

 

Update:

Last night I switched out the new Memory (G.Skill 2x 1GB DDR2-667 5-5-5-15). I just finished putting the notebook back together after installing the new Merom chip with Arctic Silver 5.

Everything is running smoothly. My only concern is now heat. Everest tells me it is ranging from about 43-49° at idle. From an Everest report prior to cpu swap, the temps were idle at 49° also. Not sure how much cause for concern is there. I have applied Arctic Silver quite a few times, so I am pretty confident that it was applied evenly and correctly. Is this hot for a T7200 or intel in general or is there a problem with everest's sensor reader?

After I finish backing up my files, I am going to swap the HDD. Might get a little hotter after that. ;]

 

Glad to hear it worked! Good luck with the heat... don't think it'll be an issue though... these processors shouldn't be all that different in that sense. How close was the inside to the M105 at irisvista.com?

 

it was very close except for some minor differences with cable placement. i took a couple of photos of the motherboard to show the differences. but yeah, the M105 guide is Very close, I had no trouble except getting the motherboard back in place after cpu swap. i was trying too hard not to hurt it. oh and getting the speaker bezel above the keyboard off, that was a pain. and also getting the top casing (where keyboard sits) seperated from the bottom casing (memory cover, etc).