Wrong model number in BIOS !!!!

[cpustlauk]

Hi there,

I have the following question/problem. I recently bought a T30 and I am suprised to see that the model number in the BIOS shows 2723-2FG which is apparently a R40 model.

My first thought was. OK someone changed the mainboard and only the housing of the notebook and the LCD is T30. But then I updated the BIOS and I can only update with a T30 version (2366-R7G is the model name printed on my notebook).

IF I try to install a BIOS for the R40 model number, which shows up in my BIOS info, there is an error message, saying that it is the wrong version or something.

Since I want to know what the deal is (I might try to get my money back), I would really appreciate if you could help me out.

Thanks a lot in advance

Christian

[LtTPfan]

An easy way to tell if the motherboard is an R40 is to look at the back. If there is a male DB9 serial connector then it is definitely not an R40 as they don't have serial ports while T30s do.

Why someone would put an R40 number into a T30 is beyond me. I also recently bought a T30 and its serial number also did not match but it was at least a T30 number. It was also obvious whoever worked on mine did not know what they were doing and didn't bother to download the HMM to tell them what to do.

If you don't already have the Thinkpad Maintenance Diskette v1.69 needed to change the serial number, you can download it here: LINK

[cpustlauk]

Thanks, that might be it. However I do not have a disk drive in my ultra bay. is there another way to change the serial number.

And by the way, why would someone change the serial number anyway?

Thanks in advance for your help

[smugiri]

There are lots of legitimate reasons which might lead to needing to change a serial number. One possible scenario: imagine a new machine under warranty on which the main board goes. The warranty belongs to a machine with a main board with serial number AAAAA which was thrown out. I think it is perfectly rational to update the serial number on the new board from BBBBB to match the old one AAAAA.

[LtTPfan]

When I was refurbing 770s a few years ago I used to change the s/n. I kept the correct model number but installed my own s/n.

[cpustlauk]

I talk about the model number (2366-R7G) not the serial number, which ought to be unique. Any idea why someone would change the model number in the BIOS?

[LtTPfan]

One possibility might be that the machine had a supervisor password in it when they got it and to fix it they bought a replacement EEPROM like those sold on eBay, and whoever sold that to them sent them the wrong one or only have one image they program into all their chips.

That scenario is very plausible.

[cpustlauk]

Thanks for the help so far. Is there a way to change the model number to the one, which appears on sticker below the notebook ?

The number which appears in the BIOS is 2723-2FG and should correspond to an R40, but my Thinkpad is a T30 with the number 2366-R7G printed on the housing.

Thanks guys

[LtTPfan]

Click the link in my first post above and download the Hardware Maintenance Manual v1.69 found near the bottom of the page.

[LtTPfan]

I forgot to mention you will have to have a floppy drive to use it. If you don't you will have to use a PC that does to create the disk, then burn a bootable CD with the floppy image on it. When you run the HMD, 1st read your serial numbers and notice the opersation number to the left of the s/n you wish to change (there are more than just the system serial number you can change), for your system s/n it should be 20. You then have to delete that s/n using that 20 before you can add the new s/n, again using 20. You will have to precede your s/n with 1S (you'll notice when you 1st read the s/n it will be preceded by 1S but that isn't placed automatically). BTW, the 20 for the operation number is actually the offset in EEPROM for that s/n.