T40 - just bought used and need to check it before gifting

[jmk59]

I just received a used T40 that I bought on ebay for my niece as a cheap first computer. It will be used mostly for internet and maybe some children's games.

So far so good in that it turns on, battery doesn't die in 10 minutes, the wireless seems to work (although I am not currently within range of a usable signal), etc.

Do any of you have suggestions for a reasonably quick routine to run it through its paces before I give it to her on Xmas? I know to put in a CD to make sure it reads, try a wireless network, etc. I'm wondering if there is anything more structured or methodical that I can do instead of just hitting buttons I know to hit.

Also, the Fn+F5 does not seem to toggle the radio off and on like it does with my T42. I looked at a T40 Service manual that I found online and it looks like it is because I am lacking software. Not terribly important, but does that sound right?

I'm reasonably computer literate, but nowhere near the level of tech knowledge that is on this board. I can at least stumble my way through about half the posts.

So if there are some fairly simple (to a normal user) items I can check to try to prove out this computer, I would really appreciate it.

J

[Tim82]

Also, the Fn+F5 does not seem to toggle the radio off and on like it does with my T42. I looked at a T40 Service manual that I found online and it looks like it is because I am lacking software. Not terribly important, but does that sound right?

As I recall, for that You need the Access Connections and the Hotkey Manager utilities installed. Then the Fn+F5 combo should work.

I would try the speed of the USB ports with file copying from/to a pendrive. T40/41 series have an issue with the mobo's northbridge and the USB ports can act as they are 1.1, not 2.0. Beyond that there's no real issue with your T40.

Oh, I forgot to mention: IBM has a hardware-testing utility called PC-Doctor, You can use it for testing.

I would try memtest86 for the RAMs and maybe HDTune for the hard drive too. Maybe You should test the LCD's perfectness too with some monitor testing programs.

The battery can be checked with mobmeter. http://www.cs.rit.edu/~rjy2985/mobmeter.html

One final recommendation: Everest Ultimate http://www.lavalys.com/products/overvie ... UE&lang=en is one of the best monitoring/testing programs, maybe You should try this too.

[mgo]

I
Do any of you have suggestions for a reasonably quick routine to run it through its paces before I give it to her on Xmas? I know to put in a CD to make sure it reads, try a wireless network, etc. I'm wondering if there is anything more structured or methodical that I can do instead of just hitting buttons I know to hit.
J

If you want "reasonably quick" just defragment the drive, run some sort of virus scan and try and see if the ThinkPad System Update program is on board. It will automatically find any missing programs and suggest updates, which you can say yes or no to.

For "thorough" method, see if you can use the hidden recovery partition (if it is even there) to bring the machine to original factory spec, and then download updates, etc.

[Mike Blake]

Tim82 made the suggestions I think many of us would
have made.

I just noticed the other day you actually have to have a
working network connection before PC-Doctor will try to
test it. Oh well.

You could also install and use Net Stumbler
to test whether your card is picking up access points.
I noted you said there was no wireless to use to test
at your current location.

Wireless is an important thing to verify before gifting the
laptop, obviously, so I would suggest going to a local
library or Starbucks or whatever that you know has free
working wireless and check it out. I don't see a location
under your name, so I hope you're not someplace where
these are few and far between!

[rkawakami]

@jmk59: Welcome to thinkpads.com!

I will have to "third" the advice about using PC Doctor to diagnose/test the system. However, use the DOS version as it can perform tests which are not available in Windows. You can download it from the Diagnostics section here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 46258.html

Also on that page will be the Access Connections software.

Create the boot floppies or CD, boot the system and under the Diagnostics heading are various test categories. I generally select each one (skipping the "Normal" and "Quick" routines) manually and loop the tests at least 3 times (press the F2 key and change the "Set Pass Count" value). You can save some time and execute each screenful of tests by pressing CTRL-Enter.

I go as far as connecting loopback plugs on the serial and parallel ports (and enabling the external loopback tests) so that I know the signals are getting out and being read properly. What PC Doctor for DOS will not be able to test are the PCMCIA, USB and infrared ports. For that, you can connect equipment to those ports under Windows and verify that they work properly.

You should also run most of the Interactive Tests in PC Doctor. Especially useful is the keyboard diagnostic. You press each key and a "map" on the screen indicates if it was detected. A word of warning: the Fn key can require a couple of presses or one long one. Also, if you run the Interactive CD/DVD tests and have booted PC Doctor via a CD, then you might be warned to leave that CD in the drive during the test. You can ignore that message and swap out the PC Doctor disk for another (full) one, but run the CD/DVD Reset test first before attempting any other CD/DVD tests.

You can also test the CD/DVD drive under Windows using a program called DVDInfoPro. The registered version costs $30 but a trialware version is available:

http://www.dvdinfopro.com/

Launch the program and it will tell you what formats the drive is supposed to support. Insert a completely full CD or DVD disk and run the CRC test. That routine checks to see if each sector is readable. Like the PC Doctor tests, if you don't use a full disk then the outermost sectors won't be tested. You can create your own test disks by burning a bunch of data on various disks (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, etc.).

[jmk59]

Holy cow. Thanks so much for the advice. I will admit with some embarassment that I can't quite figure out what all of it means, but I am miles ahead of where I was yesterday at this time, that's for sure.

I am off to a local coffee shop with wireless and then over to her house while they are out of town, where I will try the wireless there and also run through some of the suggestions here. I will bring along my T42 so I can have the instructions on this page running while I'm trying to execute them on the T40.

Thanks again so much for the help.

J

(PS, until I get Access Connection and whatever else I will need, how in the heck do you turn the wireless radio off and on? It seems to be on now, but is the Network Connection area the only way to turn it off and on?)