Swapping a T43 mobo into a T40 chasis

[the_bob]

Hi, just making sure it would fit and work properly after the procedure is complete.

I've ensured that the board I'm interested in is the same form factor (14") and both have ATI GPUs (radeon7500 / FireGL T2). While I'm not expecting this to become a killer gaming machine, it should allow me to play some games... Or do these FireGL chips suck ?

What other things can make such replacement problematic ? I've read something about the HDD connectors being incompatible. Also I've read somewhere in the Thinkpad maintenance manual that the screws are one-use only, or something like that, do I need to buy a set of screws for such disassembly?

I'm also looking into buying a larger HDD, what's that about T43 laptops complaining about larger drives ?

Oh and after swapping motherboards, will I be using a T40 or a T43 ?

Thanks.

[underclocker]

Welcome to the forum.

You won't have any swapping issues with the bases. I think there is a possiblity that the T43 base was strengthened in some way, but I don't know if anyone has ever presented hard evidence. Either way, the swap will work.

You'll want to use a T43 PC Card cage since the T43 uses one PC Card and one Express Card versus two PC Cards for the T40-T42's.

If you use the dual PC Card cage from the T40, I would guess that only one slot would work.

T43's use different memory, too. PC2-4200 vs. PC2100 for the T40. You can not use the T40 memory, but new memory is about $10 per GB.

The HDD will work with a fresh install of the OS, but you might get a warning a 2010 warning error with each boot if it's not one of the IBM firmware drives in the T43's authorized drive table. You can review the forum for much more info on this and upgrades to the 320GB Western Digital PATA 2.5" drive.

All other screws, parts and connectors will work.

When you are done, you'll have a T43 (that's my vote, anyway).

Two more notes.
1) If your T40 is a high resolution SXGA+ model, then you'll need a T43 board with the ATI video chipset. T43's came with either ATI or Intel, the Intel boards only support XGA resolution LCD's.

2) If you had Bluetooth on the T40, and want it again, you'll need to find a Bluetooth IV adapter. The T40 Bluetooth module won't work.

Summary: memory, pc card cage, Bluetooth are differenet & SXGA+ requires and ATI video T43 board.

Good luck.

[Harryc]

I'd also add that the CPU from a T40 is different than a T43 CPU. For the T43 you need a 533Mhz FSB Banias or Dothan Pentium M.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In ... processors

[underclocker]

I forgot to add that! Although, I thought to mention that I am pretty sure the T43 board will properly set-up a 400MHz bus CPU, even a Banias. Someone else should confirm this, it's been a while since I tried it.

[the_bob]

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer ! I'm looking for bargains for the needed parts at the very moment and it seems I can get away with less then $150 (relative to my local currency) for the upgrade - the mobo, CPU and RAM.

My budget is tight and this is pretty much the best I can afford in the regard of getting a better laptop. Better laptop being limited to a thinkpad of course

Would 677MHz DDR2 work with a 533FSB ? There's hardly a difference in price now and some of the faster chips are actually cheaper.

Also, is there anything wrong with the 2GHz Centrino (760) processors, like large power consumption and lots of heat to dissipate ? They cost 50% more then the 1,86GHz, and that ain't much actually - so if they're simply faster with no significant drawbacks then maybe I should get one.

Hopefully I can upgrade this laptop to live another year or two.

[Harryc]

PC2-5300 will work in the T43 board. The 760's are awesome and don't run that much hotter than the 750's.

[sjthinkpader]

...
If you use the dual PC Card cage from the T40, I would guess that only one slot would work.
...

The card cage connector is different. So the old one would not plug in at all.

Although the old fan will fit, it is best to get a T43 fan/heatsink assembly. The plastic spacer assembly under the KB may need to be shaved a little to fit the T43 MB.

[the_bob]

Thanks for the warnings, I'll be sure to report how it went. I should get the mobo next week and get to it as soon as I find enough time not to have to rush anything during the swap.

Are there any tricky parts involved in disassembling a T40, like hard to remove connectors or unintuitive procedures that the maintenance manual is rather unclear about ? Stuff that's not obvious but could easily damage my laptop ?

[sjthinkpader]

The gray color bar at the rear over the battery should come out together with the MB, then remove by the two hex studs on the parallel port. There are a single large screw near the USB ports and two small screws at the right near the Ultrabay pull bar.

[the_bob]

Gah, the parts are running late, I was hoping to get it done this weekend.

I wonder if there's a quick way to check if the motherboard still works after all the hardships it endured in transit. When I get a barebone motherboard, what would I need to connect to make it work ? A CPU, RAM, power supply, an external monitor... Would it run in such a configuration, if only to pop up an error message or a boot screen to let me know its alive ?

While it would suck to end up with a dead mobo on delivery, it would suck a whole lot worse if I found out after a couple of hours spent on putting it in my laptop... And then had to do the same thing backwards.

[fasterbybike]

I wonder if there's a quick way to check if the motherboard still works after all the hardships it endured in transit. When I get a barebone motherboard, what would I need to connect to make it work ? A CPU, RAM, power supply, an external monitor... Would it run in such a configuration, if only to pop up an error message or a boot screen to let me know its alive

If you have a dock, you can mount the mobo on the dock, add your RAM, CPU and fan and you're in business. Use the VGA/DVI out of the dock to test the external video and you could attache the LCD cable to tesr the internal video. Be careful however as the planar is unsupported so do not flex it while attaching / demounting anything.

HTH

D

[the_bob]

Well I did it. Just as advertised, it's time consuming rather then difficult, but has its quirks.

First of all, why didn't anyone tell me so many things will be glued on the inside ? The speakers and VGA cables (and mask) were the only problematic elements because of the glue. Took some figuring out and lots of unneeded checking for a hidden screw holding the element in place.

Apparently there was a 'misunderstanding' between me and the seller, since this is actually a T42 mobo - figured out by the active drive protection and before that - be noticing my new DDR2 RAM didn't fit. That last part got me a little annoyed, since upgrading to 2GB was one of the key points of the swap... And I already got the memory.

There were a few minor incompatibilities, mostly due to the seller including some 'extra parts' with the board - a parallel port/DC power mask, T42 card cage and something that was supposed to go on the hdd connector.

Right now I'm running with the short heat sink and it appears to be running fine with a little heat sink I cut to fit the GPU - is there any way to check what the temperature of the GPU is ? So far the keyboard is nice and cool over the GPU (it used to get a little warm) and the CPU seems to be running cooler as well - although the air coming out of the laptop gets warm, so I installed the radiator correctly... I hope.

All in all it was easier then I expected, used to think these laptops were a lot more difficult to take apart.

I'd really like some info on the temperatures and voltages on this new board, hmonitor doesn't recognize too many elements. Any suggestions ?

[msidd]

I went through the same process a couple days ago. My GPU was going bad on my T42 so I found a whole T43 with missing a few parts like LCD, battery, HDD, CMOS battery, WIFI, and CD drive. So I just transferred all the parts from my old T42 to the newer T43, I think that is the best and easiest way. As mentioned above, you will find the T43 with newer memory, WiFi, and HDD that will cause issues on boot. So it's best to buy a whole a T43.

[the_bob]

Well it was a lot cheaper this way so I was tempted into going this way.

A little update, the makeshift GPU heatsink appears to be working just fine... for now. I've played a couple of games and had no artifacts or crashes so far.

What I used was some old chipset cooler, or maybe one from a 486 processor, 8mm tall, about 3.5cm wide and long, cut it to fit the GPU size, filed the fins on the top-left side so the touchpad connector would fit and just dropped it on the GPU with some thermal paste. The laptop runs a bit warm on the bottom but the previous chip with no heat sink ran even hotter so I suppose I'm fine... for now.

I still intend to eventually get a long heat sink for this baby, but that's a matter of a few days to weeks from now. I'll probably reconsider after the first GPU crash, if it even gets up after that...

I'm still looking for a GPU monitoring program though. Tried GPU-Z , it told me about everything there was to know about my GPU except for its temperature...

[msidd]

Also regarding the T43 base, I have noticed the base flexes a lot less versus my old T42 (2374-4WU). So I would highly recommend a T43 base.

[RealBlackStuff]

FYI, based on your other post, you got the more powerful mobo from a T42p (because of the FireGL 128MB).

[sjthinkpader]

....I still intend to eventually get a long heat sink for this baby, but that's a matter of a few days to weeks from now. I'll probably reconsider after the first GPU crash, if it even gets up after that...

I'm still looking for a GPU monitoring program though. Tried GPU-Z , it told me about everything there was to know about my GPU except for its temperature...

The R50p also use a FireGL T2 and it uses a heatsink similar to what you made.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f228/ ... atsink.jpg
But it is the copper one in the picture. The Aluminum one is used for 9000 and 9600.

Also regarding the T43 base, I have noticed the base flexes a lot less versus my old T42 (2374-4WU). So I would highly recommend a T43 base.

I had a damaged base in my T43p 15 inch. The new replacement base is significantly thicker. The label arrangement is slight different also.