Upgrading a laptop processor

[BoeingBoy]

I know that another thread is running on the same subject, but my question is this.

I have a two year old Gateway 9150 laptop with an MMX mounted Pentium 2 366mhz. Gateway tell me that the motherboard will only support a Pentium 2 450mhz. I have upgraded the BIOS to the latest available but cannot find any way of finding out how to go about buying a P2 450 or how to fit it. Every time I broach the subject to Gateway I get meet a brick wall, and any independant companies seem to write the idea off as uneconomic.

This seems a shame as the computer has all the bells and whistles of the latest machines bar the processor.

Any good idea's from you IT techie's out there?

Thanks in anticipation.

[Tinstaafl]

I upgraded the processor in my laptop without any problems, apart from needing a BIOS flash to fully recognise the new chip.

One of the main problems is to identify what sort of module is used. For example, mine was originally a PII-233 using a MMC1 module.

The catch was that that Intel changed the form factor for mobile modules eg the later MMC2.

From Intel's website I was able to find out that there was up to a 366 MHz produced in the MMC1 form factor.

Luckily for me my original supplier had an MMC1 PII-366 for sale. So, 80 quid later I now have PII-366!

Intel change the mounting format fairly frequently so you need to be careful about identifying the module you need.


A clue about what you can do is to look at the original processor options advertised by your laptop's manufacturer. For a given model available at any particular time at a range of speeds, all they do is drop in the appropriate speed module.

I pulled my laptop apart so I could see the module, and then used Intel's website to identify it.

[mutt]

I wouldnt have thought that changing your processor from 366 to 450 mhz would be worth the effort. Try increasing the memory first, if that doesnt give you the desired results, buy a new laptop with at least twice your original processor speed.

[BoeingBoy]

Thanks to both the above replies, and of course Mutt you are correct to say that buying a new laptop is best. However, since I have a DVD drive, 256mb of RAM and LS120 Superdisk integrated into the case it seems a shame to chuck it in the dust bin for another two years yet.

Any other idea's would be appreciated.

[Tinstaafl]

BB,

Something else that might be an option: Some manufacturers use the same chassis for several model generations, just changing the motherboard when there is a change.

My Twinhead for example, uses the same chassis for both PII & PIII. According to Twinhead techs a different m'board is used while the chassis retains the same part no.

I haven't investigated thoroughly since I can't justify the cost of a new m'board for my machine.

So far in its life I've installed 256Mb RAM, a DVD drive & a 20Gb HD as well as the CPU upgrade I mentioned earlier. It performs well enough for me now.

Just as well, really, because I don't think there was an MMC1 module for a PII faster than what it now has nor was there an MMC1 module for the PIII. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif

Perhaps a new motherboard & faster processor is an option for you?

Intel's developer website has lots of info about their processor family, as do sites like `Tom's Hardware' etc.