I need some advice on a T21

[rmojo2]

I have a coworker that is willing to sell me his T21 for $50. The main board is dead. Should I take him up on it and replace the mainboard.

Since I need to replace the mainboard could I upgrade up to a T23 board and CPU?

Thanks,

Scott

P.S. The first post is always the hardest.

[verktyg]

I have a coworker that is willing to sell me his T21 for $50. The main board is dead. Should I take him up on it and replace the mainboard.

Since I need to replace the mainboard could I upgrade up to a T23 board and CPU?

Probably not very easily. The T23 uses a different chipset, has 2 USB ports vs. 1 and a lot of other smaller differences.

[verktyg]

I have a coworker that is willing to sell me his T21 for $50. The main board is dead. Should I take him up on it and replace the mainboard.

Since I need to replace the mainboard could I upgrade up to a T23 board and CPU?

Probably not very easily. The T23 uses a different chipset, has 2 USB ports vs. 1 and a lot of other smaller differences.

[rmojo2]

Thanks...

Do you think this is a good deal if all I need to do is replace the mainboard?

If so where could I get on and about how much do you think it would cost?

I have tried all the tricks provided in this forum on how to get it to work except replace the CMOS battery. I think the board is dead.

[verktyg]

When I was looking for a replacement mainboard for my T20, I saw them for sale from $75.00 to over $1000 USD.

The normal price on eBay seems to be around $125. Look at the seller's history - how many neutral and negative feedback reports do they have and what type of items have they been selling.

I lucked out and got a brand new IBM replacement board in a sealed box for $69.00 USD. Most of the boards on eBay are "working pulls" pulled from a working system but how well has the seller tested them?

The most frequent T20-T22 series failure to boot problem is probably the result of bad capacitors in the startup circuitry. This can be an intermittent problem and the TP will start working after it has sat for a while, especially without the battery installed.

There seems to be some repaired/refurbished boards for sale also.

Caveat Emptor - Ya buys yer tickets an ya takes yer chances. For $50 bucks, if everything else is in good working order and you can fix it yourself for under $150.00 then you saved $100-200 on a used T20. They've been seeling for $300-$400 USD.

Good luck.

[rmojo2]

Thanks for the help I need to see if I can find a mainboard for a reasonable price......Do you remember the sellers name to see if he has anymore mainboards?

[rmojo2]

I found this on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Thinkpad-T20-T2 ... dZViewItem

[verktyg]

Looks pretty good. Seller's feedback history looks good also. These are probably either pulls or refurbs.

The FRU (IBM part number) 12P3066 appears to be an older model board, maybe from one of the early PIII 650 or 700 CPU T20s .

Check this site for part numbers. These are probably the final production part numbers before model end so there are a lot more versions :

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... odelmatrix

If it is an older mainboard designed for a PIII 850NHz or slower CPU, the faster 900, 950 & 1000MHz CPUs may have some issues. They will fit but they require 1.7/1.35V and the older boards put out 1.6/1.35V.

Check my suggestions about fan/heatsinks in my other messages.

Good luck