I had a similar problem. I obtained a used Intel Pentium M 735A 1.7Ghz SL8BA (Dothan core) processor. Windows froze on boot-up and froze during installation (always on 35 minutes) on a L7300 with latest BIOS and 1GB RAM. My laptop has never crashed or had any other problems with a Celeron M 1.4Ghz.
I thought that the core revision may be a problem so I obtained a Banias chip (Intel Pentium M 1.7Ghz SL6N5) that worked perfectly. CPU speeds idles at ~600Mhz which helps with battery life.
There are 2 other Dothan Pentium M 735 models which are slightly older than the 735A model, I'd love to know if these work or not:
Intel Pentium M 735 1.7Ghz SL7ER
Intel Pentium M 735 1.7Ghz SL7EP
There is a complete list of Pentium M processors here for reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_M_microprocessors(Sorry for replying to an old thread, but I searched Google and this was the only info I could find on my situation. I solved it and thought I would post here for others to find in the future.)