My how to: overclock the Toshiba Satellite L25 series laptop.

This is a mini guide to overclocking the Satellite L25 series. This laptop was offered at low cost on a few black friday sales, so I know there are more then a few overclockers who own it.
This laptop comes with various cpu's. Mine had a Dothan (Celeron 64K L1 1Mb L2) at 1.4ghz 14x100 (400). It also came with 192mb 100mhz ddr2.

I found a how to on pin modding the cpu to run at 133. You can see that here http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3226

But I was not satisfied with 1860mhz 14x133, so i loaded up the program called clockgen and went through the pll's one by one until I found the one which works. Just so you all know the pll is ICS 954119, and it has fsb adjustments in 1mhz increments from 100mhz (400) to 500 (2000). i doubt any of these satellites would ever make it to 500 though.

But I was able to take mine to 166! Anything higher and it freezes up running prime95. going from 100mhz fsb to 166 means my 1.4ghz cpu is now sucessfully running at 2314mhz. thats a pretty sweet overclock. And it's prime stable after 12 hours.

I had previously taken the laptop apart to replace the thermal pads on the heatsink with artic silver. this dropped the temps 20 degrees. If i had not done this I very much doubt i would have gotten this high of an overclock. So before anyone goes off on their overclocking binge, take the laptop apart and replace the crappy thermal interface matereal with some good ol artic silver. There is an excellent how to guide on the L25 disassembly here. http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/ToshibaL25/satellite_L25_laptop_overclocking_1.htm

I also installed 2 gigs of 166mhz ddr2 ram if that matters. Overall the overclock and ram upgrade made a nice difference in usability. Internet webpages with graphics and flash files no longer studder or skip., and i am able to play lightweight 3d games at the full 1024x768 resolution such as torcs and trigger, and still get a respectable 40+fps with the details set on high.

My next step is to try overclocking the intgrated ati video chip. I'll let yous know how that turns out.

Maybe in a year or 2 i will upgrade the cpu to a real Pentium M 2ghz with a native 13mhz fsb, and overclock that to 166 or higher.

Hi CryptokiD,

I thought I was the only crazy that thought he could overclock a laptop!

Well I have a IBM T-30, all though I did not mod the cpu or the socket I did up grade the CPU from a 1.8 GHz 400 FSB to a 2.5 GHZ 533 FSB with a 1 Gig PC2100 (133 MHZ) memory module, and a 60 Gig SSD. (Actully got 575 MHz FSB so says CPU-Z)

And like you I applied new heat sink grease, Antec Forula 5 (a very small amout will do ya!).

So for under $200 I have a rejuvinated laptop, it isn't Core 2 nor will it do Hyperthreading but it is faster now.

Two things about my upgrade.
The processor does run a little hotter than the 1.8, how much I don't know the computer doesn't have the sensors for it. I know it runs a little hotter becase it has a two speed fan and I can hear it spinning up to high more often than it used to. But the SSD creates less heat so there is a pretty good trade off.

I thought that the battery would last about as long as it used to a little over an hour but the SSD vs the hard drive I get just over 2 hours of battery time.

So with the new battery I still have a good lap top for under $300 and it should last three or so more years.

The only thing I haven't done because it is my travel and back up computer for my business is load up Windows 7, I may put the old 40 Gig hard drive back in and see how it looks, but right now I am working on a project I need to finish by the end of next week...

Good luck with the Video chip, that sounds like something I would be willing to try - as soon as I get my Core 2 Qaud laptop that is.

goodluck on the ibm. if you need some help pin modding let me know. it sounds like you have it down good though. my laptop is like yours. it isnt a dual core, its not the fastest thing in the world (actually even with overclocking it is still slow). but its good enough for windows apps, internet, and light 3d gaming.
want to sell you're old 1.8? that would not be a bad upgrade from my 1.4 because my celery does not have speedstep, so it's multiplier stays at 14 even if the laptop is doing nothing. thats a waste of energy.

my toshiba uses ati chipset and ati video. so i figure atitool is worth a shot?
I downloaded atitool and was able to overclock the gpu from 300mhz to 425mhz. thats nice increase. in fps while running 3d games. i think that between overclocking the cpu/fsb and the gpu, i increased the fps by a factor if 2.5!!

I'd better hold on to it, I have three laptops that are my network for our RV, never can tell when you may need a spare part, especally out in the middle of nowhere.

You can find them on the web, I paid $22 for my 2.5, cost more to ship it from NY to Az. Just be sure they aren't pulls, sometimes pulls are dead when the computer goes in the recycle shop. Got a couple of pull Xenon's and one was DOA, had to wait a week to get another one.

Where can I find a local satellite tv installer? I want an independent satellite installer to set up my satellite tv. How do I find a local satellite installer? Is there any company on the web?