[HELP] ThinkPad T61 static 4x multiplier

[2HD22]

Recently i tried to bsel mod my ThinkPad T61 to fit core 2 duo t9400 in it. I did the bsel mod following the instructions from this post
(viewtopic.php?f=29&t=110620&start=30#p728624) but unfortuantly after the modifications my ThinkPad still din't work with core 2 duo t9400. After that i decided to put core 2 duo t7500 in my thinkpad and it successfuly booted into windows, but the multiplier was stuck at 6x even with 100% cpu load. I undid all modifications and flashed the bios backup, but multiplier was still stuck at 6x, then I assembled my thinkpad and after that the multiplier stuck at 4x.

(I don't think the problem is in my soldering skills, since I have fixed a lot of laptops and even successfuly replaced several bga chips)

Does anybody now any solutions for this problem?

[kfzhu1229]

Please post pictures (preferbly in links) of what exactly did you do when you followed that guide. First time modders, even for experienced board repairers, they can make small mistakes for this process here and there as they are still taking shots in the dark.
Also, post a picture of your clock generator as well, as if you are extremely unlucky you *might* come across a clock generator with no 1066Mhz BSEL presets, and would select a random FSB when it gets confused with 1066Mhz (266Mhz) settings.
You might first want to SPD mod your RAM before you attempt any of the hard wiring changes on your motherboard. This is more tricky for first timers as they have no "known good" SPD modded RAM for them to try with.

[2HD22]

I just dissasembled my ThinkPad and I noticed something was wrong with one of the resistors under the north bridge, I unsoldered the resistor and one of the pins was gone.
(https://imgur.com/a/JqvAd4D) According to boardview this resistor connects CPU BSEL_0 to the north bridge.
Clock Gen https://imgur.com/a/WuSdkhq

[kfzhu1229]

Well with BSEL0 track incomplete with the lack of that resistor, the Northbridge would then miss the signal and BSEL0 pin is floating at the Northbridge, which may confuse Northbridge in thinking it is a High (1) signal and 1 1 0 (BSEL0:2) corresponds to 667Mhz FSB, which is not 800Mhz that your CPU is supposed to run at. Northbridge compares that with the Microcode and see a mismatch and will then lock your CPU down to the lowest multiplier (yes, both Mobile Intel 945 and 965 chipset would do this while 915 and earlier does not; This is also why you cannot get a 667Mhz FSB part and raise the FSB to 800Mhz like you can on 915 and ThinkPad T43).
So, how do you fix this? The simplest fix would be to hook that pin of the Northbridge to ground. You are never gonna plop in a 533Mhz or 667Mhz FSB chip in your T61 and 800/1066Mhz chips have BSEL0 as low/ground/0 anyway.
If you are unsure which side of the resistor is the Northbridge, just hook both sides to ground.
Then, make sure your CPU FSB and multipliers are working properly with the T7500. Flash Middleton, SPD Flash RAM and try the mod again. See my post for a potential easier alternative rather than cutting the trace.
Both this fix and the FSB mod's point is to send the 0 1 0 signal (200Mhz quad pump to 800Mhz) to the Northbridge, even if your actual FSB is 1066Mhz (0 0 0) as set to the clock generator.

[2HD22]

Thanks for help! I soldered BSEL_0 to the ground and now if the CPU load is 100% the multiplier rises to 11x. But when the CPU load is under ~20% multiplier instead of dropping to 6x rises to 12x. It seems the northbridge operates the multiplier wrongly. And I think the problem is in the northbridge itself.

[kfzhu1229]

Thanks for help! I soldered BSEL_0 to the ground and now if the CPU load is 100% the multiplier rises to 11x. But when the CPU load is under ~20% multiplier instead of dropping to 6x rises to 12x. It seems the northbridge operates the multiplier wrongly. And I think the problem is in the northbridge itself.

That is normal behaviour known as Intel Speedstep - where the CPU clock can dynamically switch to lower speeds to save power consumption while not in use. In fact on ThinkPad T43/R52 you want this to work, as on some laptops like that, if the CPU draws full voltage under full clock but it is not fully utilised it gives this very annoying high pitched whine to it.
Now that you reverted back to a known good configuration, flash middleton BIOS, then SPD mod the RAM using SPDTool so that your fastest speed is 533Mhz and under that, you have the timings of 667Mhz (save an original backup and then use the timings chart to compare). Only after this should you attempt FSB mod the second time.

[2HD22]

Thanks for help! I soldered BSEL_0 to the ground and now if the CPU load is 100% the multiplier rises to 11x. But when the CPU load is under ~20% multiplier instead of dropping to 6x rises to 12x. It seems the northbridge operates the multiplier wrongly. And I think the problem is in the northbridge itself.

That is normal behaviour known as Intel Speedstep - where the CPU clock can dynamically switch to lower speeds to save power consumption while not in use. In fact on ThinkPad T43/R52 you want this to work, as on some laptops like that, if the CPU draws full voltage under full clock but it is not fully utilised it gives this very annoying high pitched whine to it.
Now that you reverted back to a known good configuration, flash middleton BIOS, then SPD mod the RAM using SPDTool so that your fastest speed is 533Mhz and under that, you have the timings of 667Mhz (save an original backup and then use the timings chart to compare). Only after this should you attempt FSB mod the second time.

I know about the intel Speedstep but 12x is not a normal mulitplier for core 2 duo t7500. I alredy flashed mod BIOS from 51nb with lowered NVS140m voltage. This mod bios also has cpu microcodes for unsupported cpus. I will try to SPD mod my ram, but I don't think it will help, because I have done all motherboard moddifications again, put core 2 duo t9400 in my t61 and with t9400 my ThinkPad doesn't even beep without ram.
By the way I have 4:3 t61. Widescreen t61 motherboard and 4:3 t61 motherboard are a littel bit different. Maybe the Clock Gen on 4:3 t61 doesn't have 1066mhz preset.

Sorry for my bad english.

[kfzhu1229]

I know about the intel Speedstep but 12x is not a normal mulitplier for core 2 duo t7500. I alredy flashed mod BIOS from 51nb with lowered NVS140m voltage. This mod bios also has cpu microcodes for unsupported cpus. I will try to SPD mod my ram, but I don't think it will help, because I have done all motherboard moddifications again, put core 2 duo t9400 in my t61 and with t9400 my ThinkPad doesn't even beep without ram.
By the way I have 4:3 t61. Widescreen t61 motherboard and 4:3 t61 motherboard are a littel bit different. Maybe the Clock Gen on 4:3 t61 doesn't have 1066mhz preset.

It is very possible after FSB overclock the laptop won't beep without RAM. I had that on my FSB modded Dell XPS M1330 where even without RAM it just sits there with no activity after power on (whereas normally there would be some flashing LEDs going on).
Since you have the NVS140M board, the easier SPD mod might be possible, where you take an unlocked 800Mhz PC2-6400S module and change the 667Mhz (333Mhz) profile into a (533Mhz) 266Mhz profile. You may need to try 2 different brands of such RAM as a few RAM stick models may not be stable.
If your clock generator does not have the preset, what end up happening would be you get a weird speed and that would be lower than 800Mhz.
Did you remove that resistor and hook that Northbridge side of the pad of the resistor to the VCore capacitor (so that it would be read as an 1, and preferbly with a resistor)? If you did this mod correctly, the computer would work normally at regular speeds with any 800Mhz FSB processors, like your T7500.

[2HD22]

I know about the intel Speedstep but 12x is not a normal mulitplier for core 2 duo t7500. I alredy flashed mod BIOS from 51nb with lowered NVS140m voltage. This mod bios also has cpu microcodes for unsupported cpus. I will try to SPD mod my ram, but I don't think it will help, because I have done all motherboard moddifications again, put core 2 duo t9400 in my t61 and with t9400 my ThinkPad doesn't even beep without ram.
By the way I have 4:3 t61. Widescreen t61 motherboard and 4:3 t61 motherboard are a littel bit different. Maybe the Clock Gen on 4:3 t61 doesn't have 1066mhz preset.

It is very possible after FSB overclock the laptop won't beep without RAM. I had that on my FSB modded Dell XPS M1330 where even without RAM it just sits there with no activity after power on (whereas normally there would be some flashing LEDs going on).
Since you have the NVS140M board, the easier SPD mod might be possible, where you take an unlocked 800Mhz PC2-6400S module and change the 667Mhz (333Mhz) profile into a (533Mhz) 266Mhz profile. You may need to try 2 different brands of such RAM as a few RAM stick models may not be stable.
If your clock generator does not have the preset, what end up happening would be you get a weird speed and that would be lower than 800Mhz.
Did you remove that resistor and hook that Northbridge side of the pad of the resistor to the VCore capacitor (so that it would be read as an 1, and preferbly with a resistor)? If you did this mod correctly, the computer would work normally at regular speeds with any 800Mhz FSB processors, like your T7500.

I finaly got my hands on my t61 again. I rechecked everythinng I did and all of the modificationd look correct, but still with my core 2 duo t7500 under 100% cpu load the cpu frequency doesn't rises higher than 1200mhz. CPU-Z shows, that the fsb is correct(800mhz)(https://imgur.com/a/ANAqJbt), that means, that the mod is done correct, but the multiplier doesn't rise higher than 6x.
Couple of month ago I tried heating the north bridge with lukey 702 hot air gun ant after that the cpu frequency became normal, but not for long, after approximately a week the multiplier locked to 6x again, for me that looks like the north bridge is broken.
I'm thinkng of replacing the north bridge, but I'm not sure if it's worth it or not, new motherboard for my t61 costs 50$ on aliexpress.

[kfzhu1229]

I finaly got my hands on my t61 again. I rechecked everythinng I did and all of the modificationd look correct, but still with my core 2 duo t7500 under 100% cpu load the cpu frequency doesn't rises higher than 1200mhz. CPU-Z shows, that the fsb is correct(800mhz)(https://imgur.com/a/ANAqJbt), that means, that the mod is done correct, but the multiplier doesn't rise higher than 6x.

For the sake of sanity check, what charger do you have at the moment? When I was experimenting with upgrading to T7400 for my 14.1" XGA version of T60 with GMA 950 graphics, I also learnt that the laptop does not like being on 65W charger, and that the CPU would lock to the lowest multiplier when with a 65W charger and on load. 90W works perfectly fine.

[dr_st]

When I was experimenting with upgrading to T7400 for my 14.1" XGA version of T60 with GMA 950 graphics, I also learnt that the laptop does not like being on 65W charger, and that the CPU would lock to the lowest multiplier when with a 65W charger and on load. 90W works perfectly fine.

Never heard of that happening, unless there is no functioning battery attached to the laptop.