New T41 on its way

[NTL1991]

After being a quite member here for some time, and getting the most out of my T21, I've decided to buy a T41 and give my T21 to my father, who has a Dell Inspiron 8000 (A Definite BEAST!). Now the laptop I bought for $349 (a T41 2373-4GU with 1GB of RAM) comes with a Dock and the power charger. I am planning on buying a new battery for it, maybe an extended one. Where's the best place to buy a new or "re-celled" one?

This Christmas my dad and I purchased a T40 (from eBay again) for my mother. She loves it, and I loved it from the moment I set it up and configured it for her. She has the Cisco B Wireless Card, but it looses the connection all the time... Like once every 10 minutes or so. After going into Window's Wireless Manager, and connecting, the status is "Disconnected", but the Cisco tray icon shows you are connected, and you can access the internet fine... Is this common with these cards, or is it just my router? Will I have this problem with my IBM a/b/g card? Where are the antennas located?

Also, the DVD/CD-RW drive in her laptop is very picky. CDs of all kinds read fine, but when you put a DVD in, it has to be freshly burned or in pristine condition to read successfully. If it has multiple scratches in it, it will keep on reading it and then give up. Is this also common?

Are there any other things to look out for or be aware of with these laptops? I've heard of motherboard flex of some kind and saw some of them on eBay with the graphics card not working unless you hold the laptop a certain way... Should I be worried about this happening?

Sorry for all of the questions!

Nick

[syedj]

Congratulations on your new T41. They are much zippier than T22, especially with the 1GB of RAM.

There are a lot of rebuilt or fake batteries on eBay so be wary of what you buy. I would suggest buying a new battery from a trustworthy forum member. They often pop up at very reasonable prices. If you are not concerned about the extra weight then you will get much better battery life with a 9-cell battery.

If you are using Cisco's application then the Windows Wireless Manager will be disbarred from controlling the wireless card and hence will show disconnected. If thats indeed the case then this is not really a problem because you can only use one application to control the wireless card at a time. Your IBM a/b/g will also show similar behavior. I believe the wireless antenna is located in the LCD cover.

Most of the old optical drives have a hard time reading/writing newer media. Chemical and physical properties of the modern media has changed (different polymers and less reflective surfaces) such that the older optical drives don't recognize them. This comes into picture the most when the media has scratches on it.

Read through the forum on how to care for your Thinkpad and avoid body flex as well as prolong the life of the body. e.g. don't carrry it from the corners on either side of the touchpad when the laptop lid is open. This stresses the body the most because you are pivoting the whole weight of the battery just through that corner.

There are some T4x line laptops with graphics chips problems. Some of them are solvable through more complex and daring reflowing the solder or simply sticking a folded piece of paper strategically located under the keyboard. No need to worry, if its going to happen its going to happen. Avoid developing body flex. For now enjoy your new Thinkpad.

IHTH.

[NTL1991]

Thanks for the post, you got all of my questions answered!

When the wireless problem occurred, first it was just with the Windows Wireless Manager. Last Night, though, after looking through the Lenovo support site, I found updated drivers for the Cisco card (because I forgot to update the drivers after the IBM Recovery last week) along with the Aeronet utility which now keeps a solid connection.

Nick

[syedj]

I am glad things are working fine now. Feel free to post on the forum should you have any more questions.

[NTL1991]

OK, My laptop is here and I love it. It's in perfect condition. I've finished Restoring the factory defaults and now I'm updating to SP2... I did notice a small buzzing, though, when the computer was idle. If I opened a program, though, it would go away until all activity stopped. It sounds like its coming from the left rear around the Network and USB Connections. Its just really annoying because of the pitch of the buzz.

Does anyone know what this problem is?

Thanks,
Nick

[Peak2Peak]

Would that be a high pitch buzz? - if so, sounds like the heatsink fan unit- which have been known to make this noise, it seems to be a characteristic of the T-Series - My T60p has the faint high pitch noise, which I try not to tune into because it would drive me Crazy.

I have heard louder high pitched buzz/whining from my clients T43's & T60's which I would point blank refuse to work with - but my clients say they can't here anything - I guess their hearing is not as sensitive as mine or they have a higher degree of tolerance or maybe they are stone Deaf!

You could try software to safely control the Fan's RPM and hopely lower the buzz etc - I'm sure members of this forum will point you in the right direction etc.

Keep us posted if you manage to sort it out.

[NTL1991]

Thanks, I'll try that and search around the forum for some more insight.

Nick

[BigMacSangwich]

There are some T4x line laptops with graphics chips problems. Some of them are solvable through more complex and daring reflowing the solder or simply sticking a folded piece of paper strategically located under the keyboard. No need to worry, if its going to happen its going to happen. Avoid developing body flex. For now enjoy your new Thinkpad.

Is there a list of T4x models that are affected by this? I hold my laptop with one hand by the palmrest all the time ... I hope my T41 is not affected.

[syedj]

Is there a list of T4x models that are affected by this? I hold my laptop with one hand by the palmrest all the time ... I hope my T41 is not affected.

If there is indeed any list of models than at least I am not aware of it but generally speaking most of the T4x models can show this behavior.

I would suggest holding and picking up your laptop as close to the battery as possible from now on so that the body gets the least buckling strain.

[ajkula66]

BigMacSangwich wrote:

Is there a list of T4x models that are affected by this? I hold my laptop with one hand by the palmrest all the time ... I hope my T41 is not affected.

The only T4x which is not affected, or affected to a far lesser extent, would be T43. Your machine would certainly make the list if one was ever to be created.

[Johan]

Would that be a high pitch buzz? - if so, sounds like the heatsink fan unit- which have been known to make this noise, it seems to be a characteristic of the T-Series - My T60p has the faint high pitch noise, which I try not to tune into because it would drive me Crazy.

I have heard louder high pitched buzz/whining from my clients T43's & T60's which I would point blank refuse to work with - but my clients say they can't here anything - I guess their hearing is not as sensitive as mine or they have a higher degree of tolerance or maybe they are stone Deaf! ?

Have you checked the threads: LCD Pressure Marks & buzzing sounds from cpu area and Fan Whine? The "fan noise" or "fan whine" or "high pictched CPU noise" is a commonly known issue with T60/p's. Try search the T6x forum for these terms yourself... many reports and suggestions for solutions will come up!

Best regards,

Johan

[Peak2Peak]

Have you checked the threads: LCD Pressure Marks & buzzing sounds from cpu area and Fan Whine? The "fan noise" or "fan whine" or "high pictched CPU noise" is a commonly known issue with T60/p's. Try search the T6x forum for these terms yourself... many reports and suggestions for solutions will come up!

Yep, I have read most of the threads you have quoted above and agree there are many report and suggestions for solutions - I must admit that I have become very tolerant to de-tune myself to the High pitch noise/pulsing, so I am at ease for now at least - I also previously owned a T43 (1.86GHz) & T43p (2GHz) both with high pitched pulsing/buzzing noises too (nice!)- kindest regards for your post.

NTL1991 - Alternative info on ThinkPads with Buzzing, pulsing & High pitch noises are here and here I hope this sheds a little more light on possibly what you are experiencing.