System failure and IBM is leaving me out to dry!

[sharpie]

Yesterday my nearly 1 year old T41p died on me. From what I can tell the power socket where the AC adapter plugs into is broken, because when the AC cord is jiggled, it shorts out the laptop and shuts down immediately. Either that or the cord itself has something wrong with it on the end.

In any case, I am out of batter juice and all my important data is on the hard drive.

I spoke to IBM and they said that it will take 3-5 days (from Tuesday) to order a new mother board. I am looking at possibly a whole week until I can use my machine again.

I know when I bought this thing I paid through the nose for what I thought was the best possible service, but apparently I am now told I did not, and there is no upgrade that could get me a temporary replacement unit (unless I'm an IBM employee).

This obviously leaves me with a bad taste for something less than a year old that cost me in total $5k.

I need the data on my HD for my work and I need it ASAP, not a week from now. All I can think of is to either order a new Thinkpad and return it in 30 days, using it until mine is repaired (take that IBM), or to remove my HD and try to connect it to my desktop IDE chain, but I don't know if that's possible or how to do that (I have the 7200 RPM 60GB IBM drive).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[anonymouse]

Assuming that the unit has to be sent it for service, you would probably want to remove the HD anyway. If you can get the HD out, I would recommend this, it has proven to be extremely useful for me (it works and comes with both firewire and usb, this unit will NOT work with 12.5mm drives):

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 330&depa=0

I just used the drive to read/copy my critical files (although there should be no problem writing to the drive, I felt more comfortable not doing that, since I did not have a backup of my files).

Good Luck!

EDIT: I intend to carry a spare drive in this enclosure once I get my new thinkpad, and periodically backup files on it. Losing important files is just too painful. I also presume that I should be able to boot via USB in case the main drive fails (I did exactly that a few days ago w/my 2-year old hp).

[sharpie]

Well to be clear they are coming out to my house to repair it *once* they get the new motherboard in.

Does anyone know what size the 60GB drive that comes with the T41p is and whether it will work with the product that anonymouse suggested above?

[sharpie]

Crap, the product you recommended is USB 2.0 and my desktop is USB 1.0. Does that mean it will still work just at slower speeds? That would be fine with me.

EDIT: Nevermind I just looked it up and answered my own question, they are backwards compatible, albeit at slower speeds.

This just may do the trick, if only I can find one available in my local area.

[admsteiner]

It will work at the slower speed.

--Adam

[anonymouse]

Check this hardware manual. I believe you have a 9.5 mm drive (there was NO reference to a 12 mm drive in this doc, I apologize, I am new to thinkpads, it appears that your drive is 9.5. You should be ok).

I just pulled out a 60 gb drive from my old hp (2 years old) and it worked fine.

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 2p2252.pdf

Yeah, USB 1.0 should be fine, I am currently using it with one.

[anonymouse]

Here is one @ CompUSA, I have never used this one, I am just pointing it out (usb only, no firewire) :
http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... pfp=SEARCH

[mdarnton]

I got something similar from tigerdirect.com. I think Compusa, Microcenter, and probably every other big computer store has them, though they'll cost more (mine from TD was $15). It came very fast.

Yes, it will work with your (9.5mm--that's what it is) drive, no problem at all. Your USB1 computer will sense it as USB1, and it will just be slower, that's all. It's a very handy thing to have around. I got mine for using my old drive (I upgraded to 80Gb) for backups.

Doing the installation for using the case as a permanent thing takes some screwdrivering, but since you're just using it temporarily, I wouldn't even remove all the IBM bracket stuff--just pull the drive from your computer, plug the plug part of the adapter into your drive, and forget about using the case--you don't need it if you're just going to use it on your desk for a couple of days--just put the naked drive somewhere where you won't hurt it, and don't touch it. Then when your computer's good again, unplug the adapter and put the drive back in--no muss, no fuss.

[sharpie]

The stores around me only have a 3.5" enclosure, will this work with my drive or do I need to have a 2.5" one? I assume the only difference is height, not the connection right? so it would be suspended in air and i could just put something underneath to rest on.

Make sense or am I wrong?

[anonymouse]

I assume the only difference is height, not the connection right?

The connections are different. I think regular IDE uses a bigger sized 40-pin (w/12V) connections. Laptops use smaller 44-pin (5V) connectors. You should drive down to a CompUSA, BestBuy etc in your area (sometimes these things dont show up on their web sites). It may depend on the enclosure, but I have yet to see one that supports both 3.5 and 2.5" drives.

You will need an adapter, etc. going from one to the other. You might also approach IBM to see if the local service guys carry something like this, just to let you copy your files over. I purchased a 2.5" drive mount (packaged rails, connector) for my desktop years ago, which connects a 2.5" to a regular IDE cable for $5. I am not sure, however, if you want to go through all this trouble If all else fails, you should mail-order from tigerdirect or compusa or newegg. It wont hurt to have something like this handy. I would suggest getting a spare drive to backup your important files periodically. Best Wishes!

[Leon]

IBM might be out of stock for 3-5 days, but other vendors would be "talking and stalling" for at least that long before they even thought of ordering you a new motherboard.......

[mdarnton]

I needed a new lid skin for my Compaq, and they held my computer for more than a month. That's why I got an IBM. "Send it in!" Compaq/HP said. If they'd said "By the way, it's back-ordered, we won't have it for weeks, and we'll call you when it's in" the whole situation would have been different (I'd probably be reading the Compaq boards, for one thing) since the break was non-fatal.

[sharpie]

I thought of something else. Don't the port replicators have battery charger slots? Or is that the docking bay?

I might order one of these since I can just charge the battery and run the laptop on that for a few hours while I back it up and even use it. That would beat setting up all my development environment on my gaming desktop just for a week.

UPDATE:

Here we go, this will do what I want right? I have the standard and an extended battery for my T41p. I can simply use one while the other is charging and never have to power down.

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... &storeId=1

A
Any thoughts on this solution? (Besides being expensive)

[anonymouse]

I prefer a mini-dock instead (which would enable me to not mess with cables while at home, I purchased one with my order). I believe the mini-dock will let you work and charge your batteries simultaneously. Plus the dock lets me plug in an external monitor. It will wear out your replicator slot instead

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... Id=8582164

[sharpie]

Guess what?

I had the idea that what if it is not the mobo but the AC adapter itself. So I went to staples and picked up a universal adapter that was rated with a tip to be used with the T series. Voila!

So I take back my horrible angry words. I love IBM again!



Of course I still have a slightly bent USB port on the side that the technician will still need to replace the mainboard for, but at least I can work until then

Thanks for the tramendous help on here. You all kept the hope alive