overclocking the Inspiron 9300 (400MHz->533MHz FSB pin trick) 56K beware

Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk. I'm not responsible for you breaking your computer if you mess something up. Consult the technical documentation online at www.dell.com if you cannot disassemble/reassemble your laptop.

I got a new Inspiron 9300 yesterday and had a P-M 715 running at 2GHz in my old 9300. I didn't document it before, but since I had 2 9300s opened, here's a guide to doing the 400MHz->533MHz mod. I recommend having a large, flat area to work in and be sure to keep track of all the screws! It took me about 20 minutes for the upgrade both times I performed it. YMMV

Preparation

STEP 0: Acquire a 400MHz FSB Pentium-M. A Dothan will give the best results, but a Banias core Pentium M might also work. I haven't tried overclocking a Banias CPU, so YMMV. Ignore the too much paste on the CPU.


STEP 1: Short BSEL0 and ground. Do that by shorting the 2 red pins together. The wire above is wrapped around both pins twice and bent inwards between the 2 to secure it. Fear my mad wire handling skillz. You could also drop a U shaped wire into the socket like ziddey did. I wouldn't do that, but it's probably easier for most than wrapping a strand of wire around 2 pins.

Disassembly

STEP 2: Bottom screw removal. Remove the battery and set it aside. Remove the 13 screws holding the bottom of the case to the top half. Yes, all 13 are necessary. I removed the hard drive, but it's not necessary. I was using Ghost to move my installation over at the time.


STEP 3: Top plate removal. Flip the computer over and open the LCD until it's flat (open 180 degrees). The plate above the keyboard pops up from the right. Use a flat screwdriver to open it. I recommend padding the screwdriver tip with paper so you don't make gouges.


STEP 4: Keyboard removal. Remove the 2 screws maked above. Lift the top of the keyboard gently while pulling it away from the touchpad end. There is a small ribbon cable with a plastic loop. Disconnect the keyboard from the laptop motherboard.


STEP 5: Remove more screws. Remove the 7 screws that hold the top to the bottom half of the case, LCD cable and LiIon battery cable as marked. The 2 halves of the case will separate with little pressure. If the case is stuck, you probably missed a screw from step 2 or step 5. The case will not come completely apart because...


this short cable will make your life a little tough. It goes beneath the motherboard. It's easier to shift the 2 halves of the case to remove the screws in the next steps than it is to fully disassemble the laptop.


STEP 6: Remove the CPU heatpipe. Remove the 4 screws by the X above. One is hidden in the picture, but you should figure it out. The heatpipe lifts straight up. Put it aside


STEP 7: Unlock the CPU. Twist the slot in the socket as shown on the diagram on the socket itself. The CPU comes out easily. Goodbye 1.6GHz/533MHz CPU.


STEP 8: CPU removed. That's all for disassembly.


A neat collection of parts.

Reassembly
Reassembly is of course just disassembly in reverse. You can test it after you put the CPU and heatpipe back in, but be careful with the open case.

Result

STEP 9: If all goes well, you'll see your new overclocked CPU in setup. Notice that the 1.5GHz minimum speed went from 600MHz to 800MHz due to the FSB bump.

Very nice, I was thinking of getting another 9300 for the gf, but did not want to shell out the big bucks on a speedy proc. This might be the best way to go to get a very speedy laptop at a much lower price, and have some fun doing it.

Thanks

Here is another method.

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=80879

Originally Posted by Sturmur

Here is another method.

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=80879

Ziddey also used a wire in the CPU socket back in April. I linked to his thread above in step 1.

For those of you who want to do this or take apart a notebook in general I recomend that you get a Shroud Gauge to take them apart with. It is a plastic wedge that hp/compaq, toshbia, apple etc all sell that is much better to pry apart units with. HP/compaq part number is 119070-001 and they are 12 bucks a peice. That is shipped. Just order it from partsurfer.hp.com. Apples is like 22 bucks I think. As a notebook tech I must say these things are used all the time by us. HP has overnighted these things everytime I've ordered from them so thats why I get them from them.

I have a question. I want to get a 725 (1.6GHz, 400FSB), and run it around 1.8Ghz... which means a 14x multiplier (i.e. 14x133=1862). The 725's native multiplier (or so i understand) is 16x. Is there any way to set it to underclock it to 14x? I want around 1.8GHz, to keep power consumption reasonable (2.13GHz will be a bit preposterous, no?). But I also don't want to pay for an expensive 533FSB cpu, when i can get a 725 for about $150.

iddq: so you want to do the pin mod and then underclock it to save a little power? i think there is probably some overclocking software that would let you reach 1.8 then you wouldn't even have to do the pin mod.

I'm sure you can set RMClock to a maximum multiplier of your choice. But if you slightly reduce voltage at max frequency, it will use the same power at 2.13 GHz as it does on 1.86 GHz.
Eg: 2.13 GHz @ 1.25v = 1.86 GHz @ 1.34v.

By the way, will this pin trick be possible with the Celeron M 360-380 series?

Originally Posted by Esben

By the way, will this pin trick be possible with the Celeron M 360-380 series?

Yep, it will work as long as the chipset & laptop support 533MHz FSB.

Originally Posted by pre1014

iddq: so you want to do the pin mod and then underclock it to save a little power? i think there is probably some overclocking software that would let you reach 1.8 then you wouldn't even have to do the pin mod.

I was hoping for a multi adjustment in the BIOS... or maybe changing max multi with some other pinmod?

Originally Posted by pxc

Yep, it will work as long as the chipset & laptop support 533MHz FSB.

That's great to hear. Unfortunately the laptop uses the 910GML chipset, which I assume doesn't support bus speeds above 400 MHz.

Originally Posted by Esben

which I assume doesn't support bus speeds above 400 MHz.

yep, just 400MHz FSB: http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/910GML/