New and full of questions.

[c4warrior]

(unnecessary intro)
I've always wanted a T42 but never got around to buying one since I was in the Marine Corps and I was always deployed I had no real time or use for one. I am in school now and finally got around to buying one and now I have questions!

(questions)
1.) I've checked out cpu upgrades and the best I've found is the PM765 but the problem is I can't seem to locate many places that sell them. Actually, two places I've found so far- Ebay ($71) and buy.com ($411lololol). Can anyone recommend a better place to search?

2) My palmrest is cracked (this appears to be common) on the right side by the hd port cover. I've been checking out used ones on Ebay and I noticed the ones with the fingerprint reader so I'm curious if the fingerprint reader will work for mine if I get that one instead?

3)I see all these GPU horror stories for the T42, is there a preventative measure to be taken?

4) Last thing, I believe, is there a replacement drive that matches the case? I've seen a few that people put in and the cover sticks out a little.

Thanks in advance!

[Harryc]

@c4warrior, welcome to the forum.

[c4warrior]

@c4warrior, welcome to the forum.

Thank you!

[sarbin]

welcome to the forum and thank you for your service!

to your ?s...
1) you might want to post a 'wtb' in our marketplace here. lots of great sellers with big thinkpad parts bins.

2) i can't speak definitively to the t42, but i've read here that all t43/p's supported the fpr regardless of whether configured that way initially or not. might be the same for the t42/p. if you take a look at the hmm here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46464
there may be some clues. btw... is your machine type '2373' or '2737'. i couldn't find any reference to '2737'.

3) don't carry the machine around open by the front edge, for one. best to suspend, close the lid and then move it around as needed. other than that, there's not much you can do.

4) not sure about this. do you mean the ultrabay?

cheers!

[c4warrior]

welcome to the forum and thank you for your service!

@sarbin:

Excellent information, thank you so much. My service to this country was a pleasure for me, so you're very welcome.

I actually just started surfing the "wtb" and I am so glad you mentioned it, not sure how I missed it my first time through. I will definitely start there for parts. And I'll give that pdf a read to see if it states the info I need about the fpr.

You're very right. I just edited the number... appears I had a dyslexic moment.

Luckily, I have a habit of never moving my machines while they're on (minus my netbook asus but it's basically made for that sort of thing). So if all it takes is tlc to help prevent, I should be in the clear for a while.

As far as the drive, I didn't specifically mean upgrading as much as I meant replacing if this one dies. It is the ultrabay. I guess what I should have said is this: Are there any alternatives to the ultrabay that are maybe a little more cost friendly? Just in case this one goes out. I bought this machine used and although it looks to have been taken care of, you never know. I already did the ram/hdd upgrades so I'm just planning ahead for the ultrabay.

Speaking of which... I just found the ultrabay replacements that are batteries, hard drives, all sorts of things... I feel like a kid in a candy store

[sarbin]

"Last thing, I believe, is there a replacement drive that matches the case? I've seen a few that people put in and the cover sticks out a little."

guess i'm a bit confused. the ultrabay device should fit flush with the case. one exception, is that t60/p ultrabays with flat bezels (vs curved) fit into the t43/p. not sure if that's the case with a t42/p.

so... what is actually sticking out? do you have a link to a picture somewhere?

[c4warrior]

@sarbin

I'll try and get a picture tomorrow when I see my friend again. I think the confusion is my fault, let me try again.

I am looking for options for replacement optical drives that fit nicely like the stock drive. I've seen other brands that fit and work in the T42 but the drive cover sticks out past the case itself and causes a bit of an eyesore.

It's not a very serious issue, I was just curious since you folks around here are well-versed and I'm just learning the T42s.

[sarbin]

no worries, friend.
just want to provide good answers.

your description sounds like you might have a flat-bezel ultrabay device. if you pull it out, post the device fru # and we can investigate further. who knows... i might even have what you seek.

[c4warrior]

no worries, friend.
just want to provide good answers.

your description sounds like you might have a flat-bezel ultrabay device. if you pull it out, post the device fru # and we can investigate further. who knows... i might even have what you seek.

Awesome, I will check it out later on and post the fru#. This thing is really neat

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Kind of useless for me I guess since the 160gb I have is already probably too much. Still, that is pretty awesome.

[sarbin]

you'll need this one: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 64699.html
for your t42. it'll accept 2.5", 9.5mm height pata/ide drives of most any capacity.

[sarbin]

here's an example of pretty high capacity:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136345

[c4warrior]

here's an example of pretty high capacity:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136345

I really like that drive but I'm a student on a budget I'll be sticking with my 160gb samsung. If I happen to get lucky and have enough excess cash to consider it, I do like the idea of using that bay for a hard drive. I just have this feeling that as soon as I do away with the cd drive I'll need it for something, haha.

[sarbin]

no reason to ditch the optical drive. just do a 'safe eject' on the ultrabay hdd and snap in the cd/dvd for whatever task required. then reverse to reload the hdd. personally, though, i find that i'm using high-capacity usb flash drives more often than my optical drives. i even installed win7pro-x64 on my x200t from usb.

[c4warrior]

no reason to ditch the optical drive. just do a 'safe eject' on the ultrabay hdd and snap in the cd/dvd for whatever task required. then reverse to reload the hdd. personally, though, i find that i'm using high-capacity usb flash drives more often than my optical drives. i even installed win7pro-x64 on my x200t from usb.

Very cool! The best I've ever done from a flash drive is Ubuntu Never really tried windows like that. I may do the hard drive bay swap thing but again, on a budget. I'd like to go for the new CPU first.

[sarbin]

linux.
i just loaded mint 9 kde on the t43 in my sig.

[ajkula66]

BTW, your machine will not be able to drive a palmrest with fingerprint reader, since the motherboard doesn't support the FPR.

[sarbin]

^^^
thanks for confirming. i wasn't clear on this point.

[c4warrior]

linux.
i just loaded mint 9 kde on the t43 in my sig.

Nice. I went with the simple Ubuntu Netbook Remix. I like it for playing around with Android SDK and things like that. I'm still a Windows fanboy though.

[c4warrior]

BTW, your machine will not be able to drive a palmrest with fingerprint reader, since the motherboard doesn't support the FPR.

Aww man Thanks for the clarification, saved me some research. I just found a good deal on one too. Boo.

[sarbin]

^^^
don't sweat it too much. something's bound to turn up here.

[c4warrior]

^^^
don't sweat it too much. something's bound to turn up here.

Yeah, I already met someone on here that is going to sell me a good palm rest. I didn't really need the fpr, it just seemed like something cool to have just because I could. So now I'll just be surfing around for a PM 765.

I'm interested in putting a custom paint job on the shell but I have a long way to go before that happens. I just want a simple camouflage (yeah, I can't let that pattern go, still love camouflage) but that will take some research and practicing on other stuff first.

Thanks so much for all the help by the way, you've made my transition in to the world of the T42 a smooth one.

[sarbin]

you're quite welcome!
stick around. learn what you can. share where you're able.

[c4warrior]

you're quite welcome!
stick around. learn what you can. share where you're able.

I will. I look forward to the day I get to help others to return the favor.

[c4warrior]

Wow... I was checking out processors, originally targeting PM 765s, when I came across the 760s. They're literally averaging $25 or less per chip. I wonder why they're so much cheaper than the 765? Hrm.

[ajkula66]

The problem here being is that 760 will NOT work on your board...not properly, to be precise, and will not grant you any improvement in performance whatsoever...these are 533Mhz CPUs while yours is 400Mhz...

You might want to go for a 755 which offers almost the same performance (I wouldn't be able to tell a difference and I've owned many ThinkPads) as 765 for less money and with less heat...Intel SL7EM is what you'd be looking for.

[c4warrior]

The problem here being is that 760 will NOT work on your board...not properly, to be precise, and will not grant you any improvement in performance whatsoever...these are 533Mhz CPUs while yours is 400Mhz...

You might want to go for a 755 which offers almost the same performance (I wouldn't be able to tell a difference and I've owned many ThinkPads) as 765 for less money and with less heat...Intel SL7EM is what you'd be looking for.

Could you direct me to where I can get a 755 for cheaper? I've found 760s for $25. I know about the difference in fsb but I couldn't find a low priced 755.

[ajkula66]

When I said "cheaper" I meant "cheaper than 765" not cheaper than 760....

Good luck.

[c4warrior]

When I said "cheaper" I meant "cheaper than 765" not cheaper than 760....

Good luck.

Ah, right. I had already started my focus on the 760... I have like 3 different discussions going on so I think I assumed that was said in this one

So, even with the FSB restriction, the 760 would be better than that 755 or at least equal, correct? If so I'll just be going with the cheaper one of course

[Harryc]

the 760 would be better than that 755 or at least equal, correct? If so I'll just be going with the cheaper one of course

You don't want a 760. It won't work right in your machine. Take a look at the link below, and go to the Dothan list. Then look at the FSB column. Any cpu on that Dothan list with a 400 MT/s FSB will work in your machine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In ... processors

[c4warrior]

By that do you mean it won't work at full capacity because of the fsb? Because I've put procs in lower rated fsbs for a while now and as far as I can tell there is no problem except the fact you don't get use of the entire processor.

The reason for going with the 760 was that I found it cheaper than the properly rated 755. (see above post)