New guy question re putting T20 hardrive into T23

[iscoot]

Been surfing for hours; great site. I did look for the answer to my question and am suprized not to have found it. Sorry if it is a repeater.

My screen (yes screen not driver, video card, etc) is shot on my T20, 700 MHz machine, but the hard drive is just the way I like it. Rather than buy a screen for $100 and do what I understand is a tricky install, could I drop my hard drive into any T2*? What problems mght I expect. What should I look for? Would be nice to get some more MHZ and an internal wifi card!

Also, can I migrate my 512 of memory, all or part, over to a new machine?

Thanks a million.

[dsigma6]

T23 uses different memory than T20-22. Last weekend I took the HD from a T21 and put it in the T23 with no problems, however I didn't try much outside of seeing if a couple programs would run- which they did. I imagine you'll run into errors relating to the chipset, or some other mumbo jumbo I cannot quite comprehend.

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Taking your last question first, your T20 memory can be used in the T21 or T22 (PC100), but not the T23 (PC133).

Your hard drive swap to another non-T20 system might cause a "blue screen" to appear on boot, depending upon how different the hardware is between your original system and the new one.

The screen replacement is a little difficult, but not totally impossible. If you have already downloaded a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the T2x series, then there's all of the instructions you need. If you are not comfortable with working with tiny screws or delicate electronics, then perhaps you can enlist the help of a trusted friend. The easiest (and most expensive) swap is the entire lid assembly. Held down to the base of the laptop by six screws, it's pretty easy to move one complete lid around. There is only one ribbon cable to deal with. A bonus of doing the entire lid, is that you can get one with the built-in antennas for wireless networking (if you can find one).

However, before you consider a new system/new screen, what is the nature of the problem with your current one? Reddish tint? No image? No backlight? The problem could be a loose connection, bad inverter card, bad ribbon cable, or bad LCD panel.

(edit: Dan, you beat me by seconds!)

[dsigma6]

(edit: Dan, you beat me by seconds!)

Chalk it up to my youthful typing.

[iscoot]

Thanks for the reply. The screen is blurry, flickers, and has lines around the mouse pointer when it moves. Still usable, but going fast.

When I plug to external monitor, everything looks great, so I conclude that it is not the card, driver, etc.

Perhaps I will find another T20 so I can swap my stuff without worry for just a little bigger price and a lot less headache.

[chan_man]

Moving a HDD from a T20 to a T21, T22 is not a problem, on first bootup, XP will find many new devices but will start. Going to a T23 may or maynot work. I tried going from a T20 to a T23 earlier this year and it blue screened. nothing would work short of reinstalling OS. Going from a T23 to any T2x does work and again, XP will just install the drivers it needs.

[iscoot]

seconds indeed!!! I should've said thanks to both of you for the replies

[iscoot]

Assuming I can put a T20 HDD in a T21 or T22 without issue, is there a particular advantage of T22 over T21 or T21 over T20 or are they essentially fungible?

[rkawakami]

I have a T21, a (partially dead) T22 and many T23s. The best way I know how to answer that question is to read the tawbook:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... awbook.pdf

Quickly scanning the differences between the T20 and T21 (for example) is that the video chipset changed from a Savage IX8 to Savage IX8+ for some systems. All T22s appear to use the IX8+, while the T23s use the IXC16. The main system chipset for the T20-T22 uses the Intel 440BX AGP, while the T23s use the 830MP chipset. Of course the main differences between the T20-T22 is the available (stock) processor speeds.

[rkawakami]

The screen is blurry,

Could be crosstalk between signals on the ribbon cable... (or dirt on the screen!)

flickers,

could be the inverter or backlight...

and has lines around the mouse pointer when it moves.

could be that your mouse properties under Windows has been set to enable "mouse trails", or the previously mentioned problem with the cable.

[tfflivemb2]

Taking your last question first, your T20 memory can be used in the T21 or T22 (PC100), but not the T23 (PC133).

Not necessarily. It depends if the T20 ram is already PC133 low density ram, as it is in my T21. I can put my T21 (PC133 low density) ram into a T23 and it works...much to my suprise a few months back, since I thought that my T21 ram was only PC100.

If your ram is PC100, it will not work in the T23.

[rkawakami]

Not necessarily. It depends if the T20 ram is already PC133 low density ram, as it is in my T21.

Ah yes, totally true. I was assuming that the T20 was populated with PC100 modules (as I sorta made reference to in my first post). What I was trying to point out was that the T20-T22 systems were 100Mhz (PC100) systems and the T23 a 133Mhz (PC133) system. You can, in some cases, run PC133 modules at the slower bus speed. Some of it is due to low vs. high density memories (refreshing issues) but it is also the fact that PC133 CL3 modules can be slightly slower than PC100 CL2.

(edit: Forgot to address your last point...)

If your ram is PC100, it will not work in the T23.

Mostly true. It's just that the module was tested to the PC100 spec and passed. It is possible that the memories are fast enough to actually cycle at the faster bus speed (133Mhz vs. 100Mhz) but not guaranteed. You may have to change the SPD information on the module in order for the system to recognize it as PC133-capable. Not something the average person can do.