IBM IntelliStation Information and Software
This page serves to archive drivers and software for the IBM IntelliStation series of computers; and also provide information and support to common problems for owners. IBM has since discontinued the IntelliStation series in 2009 along with support and drivers. At the time of their production they were IBM's best performance x86 workstations (excluding the IntelliStation POWER systems). IntelliStations still remain property of IBM and have never been produced by Lenovo.
IntelliStation M Pro Series
System Type 9229 "Taroko"
--> BIOS 1.35A (latest version) .ISO
--> SoundMax Audio Driver (Windows Vista, 7, 8)
IntelliStation type 9229 (known as the M50, affectionately termed "Taroko" by the development team) was the last M Pro produced with the Intel Core2 architecture. Unfortunately the memory controller can only support up to 8GB of DDR2 memory. Although not documented in the manual, these systems can support a Core2 Quad Extreme 2.98 Ghz (QX6800). To utilize the quad core CPUs you must have the latest 1.35A BIOS installed. The system board was designed interally by the xSeries team and utilizes the mini-PCI SAS controller in other xSeries machines. Also interestingly enough, all of the features from 6225 have been carried over as well, which required a high degree of customization (not many computers can support firewire, 320K FDDs, IDE, SATA, etc etc). One problem by installing the vista-capable SoundMax drivers under windows 7 causes the system to de-initialize the soundcard after no sound is played for a certain period of time; just allow windows 7 to install its generic soundmax drivers instead. **this is the last small PC tower IBM ever produced**
System Type 6225
--> BIOS 1.41 (latest version) .ISO
This IntelliStation started its life as an MSI "server" systemboard. IBM must have paid MSI for the schematics as they did a heavy modification on this systemboard (moving the CMOS battery out of the way from the PCI slots, added more polymers in areas where necessary, and other such modifications). These IntelliStations use the taller cases which are quite thick and high-grade metal. They also have a back fender to make carrying easier. The best CPU they can support is an intel Prescott2M @ 3.8 Ghz. Unfortunately the memory controller only supports 4GB of RAM (even worse than 9229!)
IntelliStation Z Pro Series
System Type 9228
--> BIOS 1.45 (latest version) .ISO
--> Enable VT-x fix pack for 9228
--> SoundMax Audio Driver (Windows Vista, 7, 8)
This was the last Z Pro produced by IBM, and often coveted by a small group of IBM enthusiasts as being the highest performing x86 IBM computer available. Featuring dual PCI-e x16 lanes for SLI, support for up to 32GB of ECC FB-DIMM memory, and two cloverdale Intel Xeon processors. For whatever reason IBM disabled the VT-x option and disallowed it to be enabled-- and still refused to do anything about it even after many complaints. Fortunately, there's a way to modify the BIOS to forcefully enable V-Pro allowing you to run x64 VMs. Link to download this package is above: remember to install the latest BIOS before attempting the VT-x modification. Some people have attempted to water cool these systems, however adequate cooling for the hot running FB-DIMMs is required: unlike standard DIMMs, these ones get very hot.
System Type 6899
Notable for being the 'first' of the IntelliStations. They run two Intel Pentium Pros and up to a massive 1GB of EDO memory (most likely the 256MB ECC EDO DIMMs). The chassis was similar to the Aptivas of the time.
IntelliStation E Pro Series
The E Pro series were early IntelliStations, most of which based their chassis off of the PCs of the time, like PC 300.
IntelliStation A Pro Series
The A Pro series was a bit odd in that it supported AMD processors (perhaps following IBM's policy that they require a second CPU manufacturer?). Generally these tend to be elusive; some of these systems I saw went up to over $4000 on the second hand market. Unlike Intel, AMD systems supported up to 16GB of RAM on their single-core systems-- and as the 9229 shows, even Intel's core2 was limited to 8GB until then: most likely due to the fact they wanted to control the variance between core2 and xeon performance ratios. System type 6217 is the best of the A Pro series as it allows multi core Opertons.
IntelliStation POWER Series
System Type 7047 - POWER 185
The smallest (and sleekest) of the IntelliStation POWER series-- 7037 is the rack mount variant. Supports up to two POWER CPUs, and a rather high capacity of 8GB of DDR1 (four 2GB DDR sticks). The DIMMs have a rather unusual arrangement from the norm:
