Toshiba A200 x25 upgrade qx9300

hi fellas,

while browsing i found dozens and dozens of cpu-bios-mods for different rigs to get
more powerful cpu/grfx/ram to run. even quite exotic hw was modded to get more
power. but there is no mod for the toshiba a200-laptop-series which was one of
the most sold laptop-series in 2007/2008/2009. one reason for the success of the
a200 series - it was available with different hw-configs for small and mid-range wallets.
but why in hell is there no cpu-mod for the a200s??????????????????????????

so i decided to make a proof of concept, whats possible and what is not.
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my present config:
- toshiba a200-x25 (PSAE6E-0F10CGR), 10 years old, in detail:
-Mobo Manufacturer and Model : Toshiba Satellite A200 (PSAE6E)
-Bios Rev. : 2.60 (Toshiba webpage says: 21/01/09, internal BIOS date says: 28/08/08)
-Bios Type : Phoenix
-Bios Link : *h*t*t*p*:*/*/*w*w*w*toshiba*eu/innovation/download_bios.jsp?service=EU
................(go here, enter Archive, Satellite, A-Series, A200 (PSAE6), PSAE6E),
.................a direct link to the download page did not work for me, did it for you!?!
................or directly
................*h*t*t*p*:*/*/*w*w*w*mediafire*com/download/537kb7sds1h9l8x/_SKAA260ASLIC.zip
(slic 2.1, whitelist removed, additional features unlocked in bios)
-chipset: intel pm965 (crestline), ICH8M
- AMD/ATI Radeon Mobile HD 2600 (256mb, Vendor/Device=1002:9581)
- 8gb ram (2x4gb), yes it works, against all infos on the net
- 512gb ssd, samsung evo 850 pro
- cpu t9500 (fsb 800)
#################################################################################
what i have done so far (to get this ****ty qx to run):
i took, the "skaa260a_NWL_SLIC_ADV.rom" and updated the microcode to core2quad 1067A:

###############################################################################
then updated the acpi-table to 4 cores:

Code:

/*
 * Intel ACPI Component Architecture
 * AML/ASL+ Disassembler version 20170531 (x64 version)
 * Copyright (c) 2000 - 2017 Intel Corporation
 *
 * Disassembly of acpi03_my.rom, Mon Jun 12 23:09:10 2017
 *
 * ACPI Data Table [APIC]
 *
 * Format: [HexOffset DecimalOffset ByteLength]  FieldName : FieldValue
 */

[000h 0000   4]                    Signature : "APIC"    [Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT)]
[004h 0004   4]                 Table Length : 00000078
[008h 0008   1]                     Revision : 01
[009h 0009   1]                     Checksum : C4
[00Ah 0010   6]                       Oem ID : "INTEL "
[010h 0016   8]                 Oem Table ID : "CRESTLNE"
[018h 0024   4]                 Oem Revision : 00000001
[01Ch 0028   4]              Asl Compiler ID : "INTL"
[020h 0032   4]        Asl Compiler Revision : 20170531

[024h 0036   4]           Local Apic Address : FEE00000
[028h 0040   4]        Flags (decoded below) : 00000001
                         PC-AT Compatibility : 1

[02Ch 0044   1]                Subtable Type : 00 [Processor Local APIC]
[02Dh 0045   1]                       Length : 08
[02Eh 0046   1]                 Processor ID : 00
[02Fh 0047   1]                Local Apic ID : 00
[030h 0048   4]        Flags (decoded below) : 00000001
                           Processor Enabled : 1

[034h 0052   1]                Subtable Type : 00 [Processor Local APIC]
[035h 0053   1]                       Length : 08
[036h 0054   1]                 Processor ID : 01
[037h 0055   1]                Local Apic ID : 01
[038h 0056   4]        Flags (decoded below) : 00000001
                           Processor Enabled : 1

[03Ch 0060   1]                Subtable Type : 00 [Processor Local APIC]
[03Dh 0061   1]                       Length : 08
[03Eh 0062   1]                 Processor ID : 02
[03Fh 0063   1]                Local Apic ID : 02
[040h 0064   4]        Flags (decoded below) : 00000001
                           Processor Enabled : 1

[044h 0068   1]                Subtable Type : 00 [Processor Local APIC]
[045h 0069   1]                       Length : 08
[046h 0070   1]                 Processor ID : 03
[047h 0071   1]                Local Apic ID : 03
[048h 0072   4]        Flags (decoded below) : 00000001
                           Processor Enabled : 1

[04Ch 0076   1]                Subtable Type : 01 [I/O APIC]
[04Dh 0077   1]                       Length : 0C
[04Eh 0078   1]                  I/O Apic ID : 01
[04Fh 0079   1]                     Reserved : 00
[050h 0080   4]                      Address : FEC00000
[054h 0084   4]                    Interrupt : 00000000

[058h 0088   1]                Subtable Type : 02 [Interrupt Source Override]
[059h 0089   1]                       Length : 0A
[05Ah 0090   1]                          Bus : 00
[05Bh 0091   1]                       Source : 00
[05Ch 0092   4]                    Interrupt : 00000002
[060h 0096   2]        Flags (decoded below) : 0000
                                    Polarity : 0
                                Trigger Mode : 0

[062h 0098   1]                Subtable Type : 02 [Interrupt Source Override]
[063h 0099   1]                       Length : 0A
[064h 0100   1]                          Bus : 00
[065h 0101   1]                       Source : 09
[066h 0102   4]                    Interrupt : 00000009
[06Ah 0106   2]        Flags (decoded below) : 000D
                                    Polarity : 1
                                Trigger Mode : 3

[06Ch 0108   1]                Subtable Type : 04 [Local APIC NMI]
[06Dh 0109   1]                       Length : 06
[06Eh 0110   1]                 Processor ID : 00
[06Fh 0111   2]        Flags (decoded below) : 0005
                                    Polarity : 1
                                Trigger Mode : 1
[071h 0113   1]         Interrupt Input LINT : 01

[072h 0114   1]                Subtable Type : 04 [Local APIC NMI]
[073h 0115   1]                       Length : 06
[074h 0116   1]                 Processor ID : 01
[075h 0117   2]        Flags (decoded below) : 0005
                                    Polarity : 1
                                Trigger Mode : 1
[077h 0119   1]         Interrupt Input LINT : 01

Raw Table Data: Length 120 (0x78)

  0000: 41 50 49 43 78 00 00 00 01 C4 49 4E 54 45 4C 20  // APICx.....INTEL
  0010: 43 52 45 53 54 4C 4E 45 01 00 00 00 49 4E 54 4C  // CRESTLNE....INTL
  0020: 03 03 17 20 00 00 E0 FE 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00  // ... ............
  0030: 01 00 00 00 00 08 01 01 01 00 00 00 00 08 02 02  // ................
  0040: 01 00 00 00 00 08 03 03 01 00 00 00 01 0C 01 00  // ................
  0050: 00 00 C0 FE 00 00 00 00 02 0A 00 00 02 00 00 00  // ................
  0060: 00 00 02 0A 00 09 09 00 00 00 0D 00 04 06 00 05  // ................
  0070: 00 01 04 06 01 05 00 01                          // ........

################################################################################
then changed the acpi-code to 4 cores:

Code:

/*
 * Intel ACPI Component Architecture
 * AML/ASL+ Disassembler version 20170531 (x64 version)
 * Copyright (c) 2000 - 2017 Intel Corporation
 *
 * Disassembling to symbolic ASL+ operators
 *
 * Disassembly of dsdt.aml, Tue Jun 13 00:03:53 2017
 *
 * Original Table Header:
 *     Signature        "DSDT"
 *     Length           0x00006CEC (27884)
 *     Revision         0x02
 *     Checksum         0xC4
 *     OEM ID           "TOSCPL"
 *     OEM Table ID     "CRESTLNE"
 *     OEM Revision     0x00000001 (1)
 *     Compiler ID      "MSFT"
 *     Compiler Version 0x05000000 (83886080)
 */
DefinitionBlock ("DSDT.AML", "DSDT", 2, "TOSCPL", "CRESTLNE", 0x00000001)
{
    ...
    Scope (_PR)
    {
        Processor (CPU0, 0x00, 0x00001010, 0x06){}
        Processor (CPU1, 0x01, 0x00001010, 0x06){}
        Processor (CPU2, 0x02, 0x00001010, 0x06){}
        Processor (CPU3, 0x03, 0x00001010, 0x06){}
    ...
the dsdt-code is still work in progress, the more i read about it the more i come to
conclusion that i have to recode that in order to get full 4x support (speedstep, sleep etc)

################################################################################
then downgraded my PC2-6400-spd (=ddr2-800 with means 400 on each bank),
but santa rosa can only 333) to 266mhz (which means 533 in dual channel), thats
the lowest speed
################################################################################
then did the cpu-bsel-mod, eliminating D8, AA7, AA8, AC8, AE8 on my qx9300
################################################################################
so far i did not solder or cut anything on my mainboard, since i dont know what
to cut or solder and how to identify the pins (unfortunately i have no lenovo, as they figured out
where to cut and solder, GTLREF (Pin AD26) to GTLREF_2 (Pin D22)!!!!!!!!!
(h*t*t*p*s://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/172581-Anleitung-FSB-1066-CPUs-inkl-Core-2-Quad-in-Thinkpad-T61-benutzen-GPU-undervolten
)
the result of all this is: powering up, the screen stays black, the fan starts,
after 2-3 seconds stops, then after 10 seconds starts again and stays on, the cpu
is getting warm, ram and ati staying cool.
other cpus (non-quad, c2d, fsb 800 work fine)
anyone out there having a clue what else i can do, where is the lock, my favorite is ati?????????????????????????????????

 

well, reading thru the threads upNdown, i came to know that these hacks were
cool in the years 2008-2012, on present day cool kids seem to have new playgrounds.

never mind, i want to use my toshi another 3-4 years (no gamer!) and therefore i need the qx.
neither do i have 500eur today to buy a new one, nor was i brave enough to do this mod
in those former days with an almost new laptop (the qx was about 800-1000eur),
nowadays i get an iskaa mobo for 5eur and the qx was below 50eur.

so my next task is to identify my pll und do the pll-mod on my own, sadly the cool pics
which would help me here in the forum for this mod are mostly deleted.

you will hear from me on my odyssey...

 

back again, identified my pll its a damn SLG8SP510T


accoding to a similar polish mod tme is pin 4 and has to be grounded


the datasheet


but its so god damn small, two pins are as thick as the fingernail on my stubby fingers
and the wire/solder path is covered by paint, so im not sure where pin4 leads to

nevertheless i tried the needle-trick (solder 2 needles together with a wire and point with the two
needles to the places to be connected), mhmm nothing changed...cpu is getting warm, the device-on-led
glows but no screen output...

well i also tried a dos-boot-stick with an autoexec.bat which beeps on every line, but no beep doubtlessly means no boot...

i have to make further investigations and you are invited to make annotations...

 

b23-mod done, nothing new either

(pic is mirrored, so you look at the socket layout)

red already done, yellow follows as soon as i have small enough painted-wire
to shorten them
btw surrender is not an option (first pcb trashed, next one to come)

 

have toshiba l300 PSLB8E i buy new procesor t9300. i have bios 1.50 i need to upgrade the bios yes or not .
have black screen when i put this procesor way.

 

hi foreigner,

unfortunately your reply has hardly anything to do with the problems
i am facing here.
so i want to outline the concrete challenges which should be discussed here:
for those who didnt get it up to now, we have 2 compatibility issues.
- a bios which does "verifiably" only support dual cores (2 cores!), what could
be done to get quad cores (4 cores) to run, this is a software problem
- a chipset that does "verifiably" only support a fsb <=200mhz/800mhz,
the processor we want to install has fsb 266mhz/1066mhz, in combination
with the clock generator (pll) this is a hardware problem

more than that, the situation is so outstanding bizarre because for almost
every platform we could find the necessary mods already on the web,
but not for the toshiba a200-series, which was one of the most commonly
sold series in that time and in that price range.

and i asked why and how?

even ten years after sale there should be thousands and thousands of these devices
still in use and facing the problem that for an up-to-date os (win10, ubuntu17,
suse42, macos10.12,...) 3 things are needed to use your buddy furthermore:
- mass storage: ssd
- ram: >=8gb
- cpu: quad core
so this is a quite practical approach to save money, either you upgrade your machine
or you buy a new one

this was the starting point of this blog, although i didnt get any wise info
to this up to now...
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now to your questions (as far as i understood em):

you have a laptop called: Toshiba Satellite L300 PSLB8E
well the naming convention at toshiba is a little bit different,
p... is to identify the bios, they normally call their machines
L300-1A3, L300-1BD, L300-1CM etc.

now you want to install a faster cpu called T9300 (6mb Cache, 2.50ghz, FSB-800)
(sorry but in 2017 this cpu is not considered to be fast, my 3 years old T9500
is too slow for me, thats why i am upgrading)

after installing (hopefully in correct manner!) your screen stays black and
you assume that this might be the same problem i described above and
if you should flash a new bios to the machine?

first of all, you should always use the latest bios for your machine no matter
if you plan to use new components. that is always the first step.

the reason for this behavior is very unlikely the same as mine since your
bios should support the t-series cpus.
i dont know in detail your chipset, i assume GL/GE/GM/GS 40 or 45, but it
should be a newer one (since they support ICH9 so i assume 2008) than my
machine has and therefore the t-series is supported.

send some screenshots made with cpu-z, hwinfo, aida etc. so we can see
whats really in your machine (cpu, ram, mainboard, bios).

a very easy trick to see if a certain cpu is supported by the current
bios is as follows:
- make a backup of your bios with your standard flashing program
(winphlash, phlash16 etc.), now you have a 1-2mb raw-bios-file on your
hd or stick called *.bin, *.rom, *.wph, *.fd etc.

- now identify the cpu-id of your current or planed processor:
e.g. www.cpu-world.com
the normal T9300 should have 10676 although the stepping (some kind of
production revision) plays the crucial role here, look at your cpu there
should be something like "SLAQG" or "SLAVY" or "QADX" the latter one has
a cpu-id 676 not 10676!!!

- there are 2 gratis programs out mce and iml (microcode extractor and
intel microcode lister) which analyze your file for microcode - better
take iml (its easier), mce needs python and some python-addons to be
installed.
you get the following ouput:

(the red notation "outdated" doesnt matter, too hard to explain, forget about it)

here we see that bios version 2.20 for the L300 supports 10676 but not
676 and i said it already you have a newer bios and hardware you have
even native support for quad core (1067A).

the cpu-id of your cpu must be in the bios file otherwise the machine
cannot handle the cpu correctly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you can do this with every raw-bios-file and even with your windows
microcode-update-dll (mcupdate_genuineintel.dll and mcupdate_genuineamd.dll)

thats it for now, my train arrives in 5 minutes at the station and i am
back home - normally i do not write as much as here - but on a boring
train trip thats an exception...

 

some additional notes to dani azul
here you find the complete toshiba bios history list for l300:

http://support.toshiba.com/support/viewContentDetail?contentId=2619455

- there is no v1.50 bios, for what ever reason?!?
- whatever bios you have, there are so many changes und bugfixes up to v2.20, it might be
that whatever os you have, it will not boot any more after bios-update or drivers have to be
updated/reinstalled in order to get a device to run
- the microcode-list from the oldest v1.4 to the newest v2.2 did NOT change, so it is utterly
impossible that your cpu-problems will disappear after bios-update!!!!!