D600/D610 questions

[Cyrix_2k]

Ok, I need someone who has experience with the Dell Latitude D600 and D610 notebooks. Here's the deal: I recently received a dead D600. Everything except the motherboard should be good. After some research, I determined that most of the broken D600s are broken because they have broken motherboards. Great job Dell. These motherboards are obviously defective. So because of this, there seems to be a higher than usual demand for D600 motherboards. Well, I looked up the D610 and found I could actually get the motherboard for one of them cheaper! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the D600 and D610 cases are virtually identical, so they should swap. I know the LCD, battery, and media bay is the same and I'm pretty sure the CPU socket, keyboard and hard drive caddy is the same. The D610 uses DDR2 ram while the D600 uses DDR1, but that's not a problem because I have some DDR2 laying around. So... I ended up winning this (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180160743396&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=008) on eBay. It's the D610 motherboard, mobo bracket, base, palmrest, heatsink assembly, and touchpad. So, with the addition of my remaining D600 parts + DDR2 ram, this franken laptop should work, right? Does anyone know of any specific differences I should be aware of?

[Xenocide]

should be good. let us know. I have some decent experience with the D600, not that much, make sure your hinges are tight, i always have to tighten those up on people's D series.

[Cyrix_2k]

should be good. let us know. I have some decent experience with the D600, not that much, make sure your hinges are tight, i always have to tighten those up on people's D series.
The hinges seemed pretty tight, but I honestly didn't pay that much attention. It looks like the keyboard may be different, but I don't know what's different about it. I guess I'll find out when I receive the new base. Other than that, I'll give you an update in two weeks (The D600 + tools are at home and that's the next time I'll be home). Oh, I also found out the battery in the D600 was on the recall list, so I ordered a new battery which arrived at my house today. If all goes well, I should have a pretty decent spare laptop for a minimal amount of money.

[iD10t]

Well they have a lfew differences between the D610 and the older D600.

The 610 has the 915 chipset instead of the 855. It also supports different processors,
the 600 supports Banias and Dothan chips whereas the 610 supports the Dothan and Yonah processors.

Also, the mobos have different port arrangements so the bottom plastics won't line up right. **Edit: scratch that looks like you have the bottom plastics as well.**

They do share battery part numbers in some cases so you could be good there.

[Cyrix_2k]

thanks. So as long as I have a Dothan processor, I should be fine? I also see the D610 supports Yonah's? That means I should be able to get a Core Duo, correct? If my current processor doesn't work, I'll probably go that route as Core Duo's can be had pretty cheaply.

[iD10t]

Well, according to Dell's parts listings the D610 shipped with the 730-780 Pentium M's. The Dothans that shipped or are available with the 600 mobo were the Banias and the 715-755 Dothans.

Looks like Dell didn't support the core architecture until the D620 and the 945 chipset.

Sorry bout the confusion there, the Yonah chips are mentioned in one resource, but none are available from
Dell to ship as replacements. They do share the socket M with some Yonah chips so they shoudl fit, but I have no idea if the BIOS will support them as none of them mention the addition of Yonah support. :/

[Tweak486Dx2]

Well they have a lfew differences between the D610 and the older D600.

The 610 has the 915 chipset instead of the 855. It also supports different processors,
the 600 supports Banias and Dothan chips whereas the 610 supports the Dothan and Yonah processors.

Also, the mobos have different port arrangements so the bottom plastics won't line up right. **Edit: scratch that looks like you have the bottom plastics as well.**

They do share battery part numbers in some cases so you could be good there.



The main differences between the 600 and the 610 other then different chipsets were build. 600 was pretty flimsy compared to the 610. The 600's got hott by the palmrest, also the frame of the 610 was Magnesium. The 610 is a better notebook but its not terribly different. I have owend both and the 610 felt more solid then the 600. Of course with any newer models they fix old models problems. ALso the 610 will not support any core series cpu's, only Pentium M's and Celerons of that make too. I remember switching mine from a 730 to a 780 M. Basicially the Pentium m's are single core versions of C2D. I think my 780 did like a 27 1m in super pi. I was totally shocked by the power of that cpu. It was fast.

Now the D620 is a TOTALLY different notebook and nothing will carry over.

[Cyrix_2k]

The main differences between the 600 and the 610 other then different chipsets were build. 600 was pretty flimsy compared to the 610. The 600's got hott by the palmrest, also the frame of the 610 was Magnesium. The 610 is a better notebook but its not terribly different. I have owend both and the 610 felt more solid then the 600. Of course with any newer models they fix old models problems. ALso the 610 will not support any core series cpu's, only Pentium M's and Celerons of that make too. I remember switching mine from a 730 to a 780 M. Basicially the Pentium m's are single core versions of C2D. I think my 780 did like a 27 1m in super pi. I was totally shocked by the power of that cpu. It was fast.

Now the D620 is a TOTALLY different notebook and nothing will carry over.
hopefully my existing chip from the D600 will work. I don't have much money at the moment, but if it doesn't I'll look into a 780 M. It's also good to hear they fixed the flimsy base of the D600.

And yeah, I know the D620 is completely different. I'm typing on one right now :beer:

[Cyrix_2k]

ok, I promised to update you guys as I work on this. I got the D610 base which I assume is in working condition as it attempts to power up. More was different than I thought. The screen plugs in to the mobo just fine, but the frame around the screen is ever so slightly different. The D600 has rectangular "pins" while the D610 wants round ones, but they line up so I might just try to file the D600's frame pins to fit. The screw holes also don't line up quite right, but that can be fixed well enough if I get the pins to fit snugly. The keyboard plugs in, but at 90 degrees to the D600's, so you do need a new keyboard simply to get a 90 degree bend in the cable :-/ The keyboard is physically the same size though. The hard drive caddy is also different, but that's very cheap. The heatsink assembly & the plastic base is phsyically different, but I have all of that. As suspected, the processor I have is apparently incompatible with the D610 mobo :( Right now, with everything in the system, a few lights flash then the power light comes on and the hard drive powers up, but it doesn't post & the cpu fan doesn't turn on. So now I'm busy trying to get some more parts. I *might* talk to the IT department at my college and see if they wouldn't be able to help me out with some of these parts as Latitudes are the school supported laptops.

[Cyrix_2k]

I talked to my IT department today, but they can't help. They outsource all the laptop repairs to a dell rep, so back to eBay I go.

[Cyrix_2k]

Quad post, I know. Anyway, I can't believe how much of a design change some parts went through between the D600 & D610. The hinges are completely different internally. Thankfully, there are a bunch of auctions for just the D610 top screen cover + hinges. Now I hope the screen fits! Heh, if it doesn't, I'm sure I can mod it well enough. Now to go score a hard drive caddy, keyboard, and processor. Hopefully I can compile a list of parts to do this swap successfully at the end. It's a bit of work, but I feel it's the way to go. Not only do you officially end up with a D610 which is faster, built better, and worth more, but Dell seems to have corrected the motherboards that fry themselves. If you just replace the motherboard in a D600, I'd be worried about it breaking again.

:edit to avoid yet another post:

I just went on an ebay buying spree. I bought a 740 M cpu, new keyboard, and hard drive caddy. I also have a bid on the top screen cover + hinges. So hopefully I'll have a working D610 up and running pretty soon. It's costing me more than I wanted, but it's still a steal for a d610. I'm not keeping it anyway... My girl needs a laptop and she insists on paying whatever I have in it. Time to lie... "$10, total, honestly..." (I hate to admit it, but I really do need the money :()

[iD10t]

Haha, nice work on the Franken-'tude!

Good luck on getting a complete post!

[Cyrix_2k]

Well, it works! I just needed the new processor for it to post. So far I have received the processor, hard drive caddy and keyboard; I lost the auction for the LCD frame and I think I'll just have one sent to my dorm instead. The keyboard I bought is a for a D610, but the keyboard I received is for a D600, so I either need to call the guy up or email him so I get the correct keyboard. The best part is that the keyboard I received is a newer part revision of the keyboard I already have and that one doesn't even fit my d600! FYI, the d600 keyboard does work with the D610, it just doesn't physically fit. I also have three other minor issues to work out: a) I have the mini-pci wi-fi card, but the antennas aren't in the case... I'm wondering the D610 put the antennas in the screen? Either way, I can fix this either by retrofitting the D600 antennas or by buying the D610 antennas. B) I need the memory cover and the other cover on the bottom of the system. I don't know what is supposed to go in the second bay. C) the power button cover thing says D600 on it instead of D610 ;) But other than that, I now have a fully functioning 1.73 ghz Centrino, 512mb, 40gb, wifi enabled (part of centrino) laptop with a brand new battery & a CD-RW drive for ~$170.

[Cyrix_2k]

Just a picture of it running:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/Cyrix_2k/P1010020-1.jpg

[muhon_zen]

Congratz on your work!

[Cyrix_2k]

Thanks. I actually have a few more updates... the Wi-Fi antennas are in the screen cover for the D610 vs in the base for the D600. I received the new screen cover and the old screen fit without any issues at all, BUT I now need a new front bezel as the new cover is slightly larger. Go figure. The D610 power button/hinge cover bezel is also different, so the laptop will be properly badged as a D610 after all. I also still need the memory doors which are going for far too much money on ebay, but after that, I will be 100% done. My friend said she'd pay me for the laptop anyway while I'm waiting for a deal to pop up on the memory doors as long as the laptop is usable. This is officially a D610 at this point and started to nickel and dime me to death; it's still cost more to fix it up than just to buy an already functioning one though. Besides, I've learned a bit and can brag that I built/assembled that whole machine (because I did!).