amilo-forum.com

[v2030]

I decided to make this tutorial because I couldn't find any good info when I decided I wanted to upgrade the 1500 Celeron M processor in my Amilo Pro V2030 to a Pentium M of a higher speed, the Processor I decided upon was a 1700 Pentium M with a 2MB cache. I'm not going to go into the theory of processors and why the one I picked would work in the Amilo Pro V2030 as that's another thread and probably one for somebody who knows more about processors than myself. The processor I chose was the SL7EP - it's a 1700MHz Pentium M processor with a 2meg cache, I sourced this used processor from Ebay as these processors are no longer in production. I will try and make this tutorial as easy as possible as I know not everybody has experience in opening a pc/laptop, I'm not the greatest writer in the world so if I miss anything out or it's difficult to understand please let me know and I will write/rewrite what is needed.

[v2030]

To upgrade the laptop I first had to gather a few things;

1) The processor (SL7EP).

2) Thermal paste - I used intel brand but any will do.

3) Philips Precision screwdriver.

4) Small flat head screwdriver.

[v2030]

Now you have your equipment gathered you need to get into the laptop to begin work, turn the laptop upside down and remove the screws with the precision screwdriver. It always helps if you place the screws in a cup or somethig else which will prevent them from rolling away or getting stuck to your socks or kicked about the room or whatever else might happen to them. Once you have removed the screws pop the cover off by carefully using the flathead screwdiver, if you're a bit worried using the screwdriver to prise the cover off a hard guitar plectrum works great.

[v2030]

Once the cover is removed you need to begin dismantling the cooling system in order to get to the processor, removing the fan is pretty simple as it's only fastened on with two small screws. Remove these two screws using the precision screwdriver being carefull not to drop them into the computer as you don't want to dismantle the whole machine looking for the lost screws.

Once the screws have been removed the fan will just lift out of place, if it seems a little stiff just give it a little jiggle and it will come out easily enough. Be very gentle with this though as the fan (and the rest of the laptop) is very delicate and very expensive to replace.

[v2030]

Now we have the fan out of the way we just need to remove the heatsink and we have access to the cpu, removing the heatsink is really easy and not only allows you access to your processor but also gives you a chance to give the vent on the heatsink a good dust down as it's more than likely full of dust causing your laptop to be hotter and noisier than it needs to be.

To remove the heatsink you just need to unscrew the three large screws with the precision screwdriver, the screws will remain fastened into the heatsink when loosened but the heatsink will rise away from the board. When the screws have been loosened it's time to remove the heatisnk, to do this just wiggle it to the bottom right of the laptop as you lift it gently and it will come free from the case.

[v2030]

We now have access to the processor which is really easy to remove and replace, to remove the processor you need to use the small flatheaded screwdriver to turn the little locking mechanism 180degrees anticlockwise. This 180 turn will unlock the processor meaning you can very gently lift it out of it socket being very careful not to bend any of the pins on the processor, it's very important to look after this Celeron M you are about to replace incase the Pentium M you are about to install fails one day - you will then have a backup.

[v2030]

Now the processor is removed we have reached the halfway point.

You should now be looking at something like this...

[v2030]

Now it's time to start putting it all back together you need to get your Pentium M and your thermal paste ready for action. Being carefull to get the processor facing the right direction according to the pins on the chip and the holes on the socket drop the processor into the socket, this should go in with no trouble at all if the processor is the right way 'round and none of the pins are bent. Once the processor is snugly in the socket it's time to lock it back in place by once again turning the locking mechanism 180 degrees but this time in a clockwise direction, now the processor is locked in the socket it's time for the thermal paste.

You only need to use a tiny bit of paste on these Pentium M processors as there is very little surface area makes contact with the heatsink, just place a small blob (just a few mm) in the centre of the metal part of the CPU. There's no need to spread the paste around if you get it in the middle as the pressure from tightening the heatsink will spread the paste for you. Ideally you will now clean the thermal pad off the heatsink using a new clean lint free cloth and some isopropyl (rubbing alcohol), I didn't do this as I had no rubbing alcohol to hand but I would suggest that anybody following this guide would do so.

Once the paste is on the processor it's time for the next step.

[v2030]

Now the heatsink goes back in as easy as it came out, but just be carefull not to rub the paste off the processor as you wiggle the heatsink back into place. Try and hold the heatsink above the processor as you replace it to prevent the paste from being spread all over the bottom of the heatsink. Once you have the heatsink back in place tighten the three screws nice and tight to fasten the heatsink to the board, don't go overboard with the tightening though as I'm sure it's quite easy to damage the board or processor by doing so.

[v2030]

Place the fan back in the area it was removed from and line up the screw holes with the pilot holes in the board, now screw the two little screws back into place nice and tightly.

[v2030]

Now we're almost finished with the hardware side of things.

Replace the cover back over the exposed part of the board and carefully snap it back into place before replacing all the screws that hold the cover in place, screw these in nice and tightly to keep the dust out and vibration noise down.

[v2030]

Once the processor has been replaced and the system put back together it's time to turn the laptop on and see the results.

My laptop has Windows XP installed so I will show you here how to check the processor has been recognised as a 1.7GHz Pentium M, for Linux I'm afraid I can't help here but if you're running Linux you're probably clued up enough to do this part yourself.

When your laptop has booted up right click on the My Computer icon and select Properties and this screen should be displayed, as you can see the new processor has been recognised.

[v2030]

As the cooling system in the Amilo Pro is designed to keep the temps from a 1500MHz Celeron M under control it's a good idea to keep an eye on the CPU temp of this newly installed Pentium M. There are several programs which will allow you to do this, I use a program called Notebook Hardware Control which I found through this site. You can download Notebook Hardware Control here, it's a great tool and real easy to use. So far my temps have not gone past 52degrees C, even with many hours of use which I am happy with.