Busted USB ports on the T42, basically. Makes my job very difficult.

I really love the T42 though, but the T43 has now got a full 2GB RAM in it, and I want to make it my main PC.

It is a simple swap. I have done it with a few T43s with X300 ATI chips. As suggested, try to buy a complete lid assembly, as handling the LCD panel itself is easy to damage or create "pressure marks". Used SXGA+ lid assemblies show up on e-bay from time to time. Be sure to ask the seller if it has...

I have a T42 and a T43. I only just got the T43, so it is early days yet. The T42 has been an excellent machine. It was a major step up from the old Sony Vaio crap I was using before. The USBs broke on the T42 though, and I hear it is a common issue. Fixed with a PCMCIA USB hub though, so its all go...

That massively sucks!

Is there any way I can upgrade this?

Hey

I was about ask the very same question.

I have a T42 that I can get up to 2048 X 1536

The T43 I just bought, can only go up to 1024 X 768..

Not impressed!!!

So, is there any way to get it to a higher resolution using drivers and stuff?

Hey

Ah, I actually solved the problem myself.

Hilariously, the T43 doesnt use an Intel network card. Haha. It uses a Broadcom one.

I got the correct driver from Lenovo and it is online now!

Thanks for your reply, anyway!

Hey I bought a second hand T43 yesterday, and like my T42, I want to install English XP on it (it came with Japanese XP) I installed English XP in exactly the same way as the T42, and installed a lot of the drivers; Hotkey, Audio, etc. My problem... The LAN drivers will NOT install. I tried all the ...

Success! I am posting this message from my T42, with an English XP install. Not everything is working correctly at the moment, but I will work through this over the weekend and it should all be ready for work on Tuesday! Great stuff. Thanks so much for all your help! For the record, I downloaded the...

Hey guys. Great ideas thanks! The downloading idea is a really good one. The main problem I have though, is that the LAN cable doesnt work with my standard Eng XP install, so I can't download the drivers! I guess I could download them and put them on an external drive, and install them from there......

That looks to be the case!

So, how would I go about getting these? I have a legitimately bought T42, and a legit copy of English XP. I seriously hope I dont have to pay for them!

Thanks for all the help guys. This forum is fantastic. Now, I do actually have a set of Recovery disks, but I they will recover everythingin Japanese! This sort of defeats the object of the whole exercise. I thought I could keep the IBM partition, and just wipe the Japanese XP partition and install ...

OK thanks for the reply. So the SATA/PATA thing is news to me. I will check it out. As for cloning my drive, yes I know I can do that. My question was a bit more complex though. In the time since my first post today, I cloned my entire drive (with the Japanese OS on it) Then I tried to install Engli...

Hey guys. Not been here for a while. OK, I am planning to buy a Hitachi 7200RPM 320GB drive for my T42. Currently I have a Japanese T42, with a 60gb Hitachi 7200RPM HD, with Japanese XP on it. Now... I want to install English XP on the new 320gb drive to use in my Japanese T42. That part is no probl...

Hi again. Thanks for the info. Seeing as this thread is longer and has more info in it, I will post what I find here... Ok, so I went to the local electronics store and got a PCMCIA to USB converter. It works fine, although it look a long time to recognise. There was a rumour going round on a few ot...

Hi guys. Sorry to dredge up an old subject. I have a problem with my USB ports on my T42. This morning, my T42 just powered off with no warning. It didnt attempt to shut down, but literally the screen just went blank. I couldnt turn it on for ages, but it eventually powered up again. Now, the USB po...

Just a question related to this that someone might know... I am guessing like everything, the screen on a laptop would have a finite life... Would it be better to run it at low brightness as much as possible to lengthen the life, or is this not an issue / would not increase it by much? Just a thought.

OK, a bit of an update. Well, I finally shut down Ubuntu on my USB Enclosure (yes, Enclosure) and decided to see what if windows would boot with the caddy screwed onto the drive. It worked! So, hopefully I can use Ubuntu from my USB Enclosure and also my USB drive from now on and keep XP in the comp...

Hi, Sorry for the confusion in my previous posts regarding terminology. By "USB Caddy", I mean "Enclosure". I am not familiar with all the correct names for things like this, so apologies for confusing things. I am running my OS from one of these, with a 2.5 laptop HD in it. As for the MBR, I will l...

Hi guys Thanks again for taking the time to reply! OK, here is what I have so far... @Temetka; thanks for the info, but I am already aware of this, hence I have been able to run Ubuntu from a USB HD. @sojourner; thanks for the lengthy post! OK, in answer to your questions... 1. Yes, I have a differe...

Thanks a lot for your reply! Yeah, I figured it would most likely be at the HD end, considering I had the same isssue both times... I dont mind running from USB HD (my laptop is cooler, if anything, and I am using less electricity), but I wouldnt mind figuring out what is causing the issue and fixin...

I am using Ubuntu on a T42 Thinkpad.

It is not perfect, but it has been a challenge getting it running up to this stage, and I have learned a lot of things in the process, so it is all good.

Like someone said, the best way is to dl the LiveCD and try it out!

I am having problems a little bit like this too. I am trying to boot my T42 from USB HD, but everytime I shut down and power up again, I get a message telling me there is no OS installed. I have to shut down again, go into the BIOS boot options and check. The thing is, everything is always in the co...

No one?

This is a pretty major problem for me!

Any ideas at all would be great!

Hi, My problem is a bit confusing. OK, so my setup; I have an IBM T42. 1gb RAM. I installed Ubuntu on a 5400RPM 2.5inch drive which I installed in the computer, replacing the original. The original had XP on it. The new one just has Ubuntu. Yesterday the system seemed pretty sluggish... Nothing too ...

Hi, just to add to the conversation... I installed Ubuntu 8.04 on a 5400 40gb external 2.5 HD (the old one from my T42), in a USB Caddy. It is now up and running with Ubuntu, and whilst everything is not working as planned yet, I am making advances on a daily basis. I still have XP on my internal 2....

So guys, what is the conclusion then?

has anyone got the FN keys working in Ubuntu?

I absolutely MUST have access to the volume and mute buttons, and the Fn+F7 function (I make a lot of presentations at work with my Thinkpad connected to a projector)

Any info would be great.

Hi,

Muffd; You said you are going to install Ubuntu as dual boot. Could you point me in the right direction for instructions on this?

I want to do this myself!

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, I was wondering about the difference between my 3 year old 7200rpm drive and a new 5400rpm job

The drive I replaced was about 3 years old, so I saw benefits, although I am not sure how much I would have noticed if my T42 was new.

Hey I cloned my 5400rpm drive onto a 7200rpm Hitachi Travelstar. I tried it first with Norton Ghost, and it failed to work. I used Acronis software and it worked perfectly. Acronis recognises the hidden IBM partition which is needed to make the new drive boot. Use this software and you will be fine.

Hey Yeah, I have just installed a 7200rpm in my T42. I am not sure about the maths involved, but everything feels a lot faster and slicker (like I had wanted!) I do a lot of audio work with my T42 and the upgrade has made streaming samples and stuff a lot lot faster. You cant lose out from installin...