Is this a good price for a T30?

[cheystar]

I found an ad for a thinkpad t30 for $40 cdn. Description by seller below.

Notebook - ThinkPad T30, with power adapter
Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3
Pentium 4 m1.6GHz, 256mb ram, 20GB Hard Disk Drive, DVD
picky power button - otherwise works fine.

type: 2366-61U -
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500

I didn't get a chance to ask if it has the ram slot problem. I am going today evening to check it out. Is this a good buy? What other things should I check out before I buy it? I will be upgrading the ram since I have 2 512mb from another laptop and also be swapping the hdd with an 80gb one. I will also be upgrading the wifi with a mini pci broadcom wifi n card from the other laptop as well.

[jronald]

Its an OK price if it looks good to very good
The HDD is small, check for ram issues, check the PS for 4.+ amp output. The smaller supply is much more abundant.

It does not have enough RAM to run XP, so it should boot slow.

Ron

[Unknown_K]

256MB means it is either stock or somebody stuck the smallest RAM SODIMM they could find in it and the second slot is dead.

[cheystar]

Thanks for the reply. Actually he was able to come down to $30. The laptop is in really good condition I was shocked. The adapter is 4.5 amp in good shape. There was even a battery included that held charge was able to get close to 2hrs was surprised. Both ram slots work but am scared to put any ram in the front slot towards the speakers. I read thats the slot that fails alot. Any advice on how keep those slots functioning longer? I have replaced the 256mb with 512mb and loaded another 512mb in the other slot to see if it works which it did but took it out for now. I was bummed to find out there was no wifi but i did the no-1809 patch and installed a broadcom wireless n card which worked after i installed the drivers. I will be swapping the hard drive soon and will do a dual boot with xp and a linus ox or win7 and linux os. Lets see how that goes. Any advice on how to get youtube to run faster? Again thanks for the advice and a Happy New Year

Chey

Its an OK price if it looks good to very good
The HDD is small, check for ram issues, check the PS for 4.+ amp output. The smaller supply is much more abundant.

It does not have enough RAM to run XP, so it should boot slow.

Ron

Yeah its stock as the seller mentioned and the other slot works.

256MB means it is either stock or somebody stuck the smallest RAM SODIMM they could find in it and the second slot is dead.

[ajkula66]

If you want to run Linux on that T30 a Broadcom card will lack support and might turn out to be a real pain.

T30 is really not up to W7 standards. Enjoy XP on it.

As for the slots...if they fail, they fail. Install 1GB RAM in the spare one, get a bigger hard drive and run the machine as-is...

[cadillacmike68]

To support the RAM slots you can place a small thickness of cardboard against the plastic center where both slots go in so that it has just a little pressure against the mem slot cover. Does yours have the expanded mem slot cover that later production models came with? The newer cover had a molded extra bit of space that allows a little more air to circulate.

I agree that you would do best to stay with XP, and do get two 1GB ram sticks for it.

[jronald]

For what its worth, I always installed the "shim", not in the center, but at the end of the memory chip. George is correct, with W7, good luck with ever getting it to run more than marginal.

Youtube is a combo of things, wireless speed and processor/gpu speed.
The 1.6 should run ok with a little buffering, Im not a big fan of Broadcom cards although there is nothing wrong with them. I think you will find Atheros, and Intel cards are the preferred. I swear by Atheros, and other than my Centrino machines, all of my built, used, given away, sold(darn few of these) or otherwise have left with the Atheros on board.

The sweet spot on these machines is the 2.0 CPU and 1.5 gig of memory. You can get by with the fan you have now with the 2.0 but it will cycle often. The CPUs are dirt cheap and easy to swap. If you go higher than the 2.0, it runs warm to hot and you MUST change the fan or it will scream all the time.

Ron

[cheystar]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I couldn't access the site for the past few days. As everyone suggested I have stuck with windows xp I did install windows 7 and got everything working but its not as speedy as windows xp. At the end I have 3 hard drives with windows xp (original 20gb hard drive), windows 7 (loaner 40gb) and lubuntu 12.10 (main 80gb hard drive). I am currently using lubuntu 12.10 but running with issues when suspending and resume. I am going to post my question in the linux section later. Oh btw setting up the broadcom wifi was a huge pia but got it running and it was fine after restarts. Any suggestions on what flavour of linux to run ? As everyone suggested about placing a shim on the ram, my question is this something you do after your ram slot fails or to prevent it from failing. Also it looks like that the ram cover is not the modified one is that bad? I am in the process of getting a pcmcia usb 2.0. Does anyone know if there are pcmcia versions of the broadcom crystal hd card? I am love with my thinkpad I think might get another one my POS hp tx2000 gpu finally died the 3rd time I don't think I can revive it this time might as well look for a cheap thinkpad which takes ddr2 ram. Any suggestions?

[robert213]

As everyone suggested about placing a shim on the ram, my question is this something you do after your ram slot fails or to prevent it from failing. Also it looks like that the ram cover is not the modified one is that bad?

IMHO, placing a shim is something you do after the ram slot fails. This allows as much open air to circulate around the ram slots.

I purchased the modified ram cover for one of my T30(s). My other T30 has its original ram cover. I have NOT experienced any memory slot issues with either machine.

I am a cautious person, so I would acquire the cover with the extra space when you encounter one at a reasonable price.

I am in the process of getting a pcmcia usb 2.0.

Search older posts on this T2x, T30 forum, and you see that many folks like the AKE USB 2.0 PC Card because it mounts flush.

As a reminder, if you plan to use a HD enclosure, then you will need to acquire 5V power from one of your USB 1.1 ports. Purchase a AKE USB 2.0 PC Card from a seller that includes USB to single male connector cable. Otherwise, you will need a cable from your HD enclosure that has a long "Y" USB connector to reach USB from PC Card and USB 1.1 port on back of your machine. Another option, you could use a 120V AC powered USB Hub.

[jronald]

I have a T30 HHDs that run uBuntu, and Macbuntu. I tried 6 or 7 flavors, for my money I leave the Macbuntu installed 99% of the time. It looks good, runs well and I like it.

On the shims, I installed them before the fail, and have had no issue!

The shorty USB 2.0 card is the way to go

Finally, if you need T30 Recovery discs, I can provide them.

Ron

[cheystar]

Thanks I installed the shims as instructed and ordered the ake usb 2.0 card its on the way. I have tried alot of different linux distros all having similar sleep and hibernate issues which are driving me nuts. I posted a thread about the problems and what I have am hoping I can sort it out. Which ubuntu are you running. I have tried lubuntu 12.10, kubuntu 12.04, bodhi linux, xubuntu 12.04 and mint linux 14 nadia xfce. All except xubuntu 12.04 gave me issues with suspend and hibernate. Btw thanks for the pm a friend of mine is actually sending me the original recovery cds for the t30 so I am good with that. Thanks again for all your suggestion as well as everyone else.

I have a T30 HHDs that run uBuntu, and Macbuntu. I tried 6 or 7 flavors, for my money I leave the Macbuntu installed 99% of the time. It looks good, runs well and I like it.

On the shims, I installed them before the fail, and have had no issue!

The shorty USB 2.0 card is the way to go

Finally, if you need T30 Recovery discs, I can provide them.

Ron

[jronald]

I believe all of the buntu I use, are 10 or 11 flavors. Ill check and let you know. No issues with Hibernate or sleep.

Ron

[cheystar]

Thanks appreciate it. You mentioned earlier that a 2.0ghz cpu would be ok with the current fan. I found this http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... Track=true looks like a mobile cpu sent a message to the seller so lets see his response. Would this be appropriate for the motherboard?

I believe all of the buntu I use, are 10 or 11 flavors. Ill check and let you know. No issues with Hibernate or sleep.

Ron

[jronald]

The Macbuntu I use is based on 11.04

I believe you need a SL6V9, SL6FK, SL6CL OR SL9DF. I dont have the HMM handy to double check those numbers though.

I also spotted a 2.2 gig Mobo Combo with base and bezel, that is a good buy at $36.00

Ron

[cheystar]

hey ron thanks for the reply. I got the cpu above its a sl6ra today. I installed it and it works woohoo am using the laptop as we speak. I noticed youtube doesn't pause as much as it used to. Other than that didn't notice any difference yet but I haven't used it much. Just waiting on a 1gb stick and that will be it for upgrades for me. Will try out the Macbuntu when i get a chance but am fine with xp for now. Thanks again for you suggestions. Will report back thanks

The Macbuntu I use is based on 11.04

I believe you need a SL6V9, SL6FK, SL6CL OR SL9DF. I dont have the HMM handy to double check those numbers though.

I also spotted a 2.2 gig Mobo Combo with base and bezel, that is a good buy at $36.00

Ron

[jronald]

Macbuntu is a heck of alot prettier than XP, and at least with my set up, it seems to run faster than XP also. My 11 year old took to it like a duck on a june bug. I use it on a spare Z60t at least 50% of the time. The t is a generation later than the T30, but overall not that far removed.

Im not going to upgrade to a different windoze if I can help it. Ill migrate over to some form of Linux. YMMV.

Ron

[priono2000]

Last Month, I'am buy T30 with price IDR. 1.500.000,- around USD 120 in excelent condition (like new). procie 2 ghz, 2 GB memory, XGA display and installed Win XP SP3. Windows XP run feel fast.

[josh5k]

I'm unable to find the AKE USB 2.0 PC card on the bay.
Any other suggestions for adding USB2 on the T30?

[dr_st]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCMCIA-to-USB2- ... 27fa521a53

[rambo47]

When you think about the price, include the cost of upgrading/updating the computer to your desired specifications in your calculations. Then compare that to buying a newer, more modern used laptop. As much as you might love the older classics, they will limit you as to what you can actually do with them.