Finally finished my Frankenpad T601

[smw6230]

About a 10yr journey in all which started with A31 in 2010. By 2012 I had moved onto a Intel T60. At that time the cost of doing a full Franky in 2012 was prohibitive so I just kept the T60. I really didn't even plan to upgrade but then 3 months ago...I entered a rabbit hole

1. I saw a legit NOS Hydis LED (HV150UX2-100) on ebay from a US seller, for a cheaper price than another seller was selling a used Hydis non LED panel (HV150UX1-100). Since the right side of my UX1 was going yellow a replacement was required, and the cost made sense.

**Shout-out to that ebay seller. I don't even know who they are but he is a member of this site so hopefully he see's this message of thanks.**

2. Well, if you get a LED panel you need the cable. Enter RealBlackStuff., He's known worldwide for the quality of his work and given my experience with him I cannot recommend his services highly enough. Still amazed that mail from Ireland ended up on my door in So Cal in 5 days. I know why, but I've seen longer NY to LA postal times.

3. My happiness over my new lid was tempered by one thought. Are you really going to put that lid on a Intel board?!?! That struck me as kind of a waste, so I set out to acquire a NOS T61 board.

Enter RealBlack , Don Dakota & The Board Room.

I mentioned my need for a NOS board to Real and he pointed me to Don. Don, like RBS went beyond the call and even modified a frame that I sent him. First off, I was an idiot. Don sent me a perfectly good NOS board and I spent 8 hours taking boards apart and putting them back together to no avail. I simply couldn't get the board to boot. I knew it was something at my end but I couldn't figure it out. I finally sent it back to Don after getting careless and bending a NOS fan.

Turns out I had the CPU upside down (facepalm). I like to think I eventually would have figured it out

Anyway Don't helped my helpless butt out, figured out my mistake and did a frame mod for me.

The board upgrade was/is completely worth it. Graphics are much better and the board is much faster the the Intel board I originally had. Temps idels around 48c on Linux / higher on 57 on Win7 (dual boot).

Overall I couldn't be happier with the result. This mod is long in the tooth but honestly, for my purposes the cost it was completely worth it. The speed and responsiveness of this on Linux is impressive considering the build concept is 2006-ish. It also feels like a laptop of some substance / sturdiness.

Again, thanks to Real & Don. Without them this wouldn't have been possible.

Finished T601

https://ibb.co/9NQ07bW
https://ibb.co/1fnzM2s

[TuuS]

Glad to be able to help.

[RealBlackStuff]

Is there an echo in this room?
Glad to be able to help.

[Natakranta]

Congratulations! I'm happy to see another FrankenPad. I should stop lingering and get down to work on my own Frank. I was lucky to acquire like new looking and working T60 this year for peanuts. For last few months I've been gathering parts and I already have all needed for the swap. Screen in mine is working nice so I'll save myself cost of LED mod for the future. I'll see how the Frank performs, how much I actually use it and if it is worth throwing even more cash into this bottomless well

I don't get how could you put CPU upside down in the socket? I thought it is physically impossible due to pins layout - the cut corner that goes upper right.

[smw6230]

Congratulations! I'm happy to see another FrankenPad. I should stop lingering and get down to work on my own Frank. I was lucky to acquire like new looking and working T60 this year for peanuts. For last few months I've been gathering parts and I already have all needed for the swap. Screen in mine is working nice so I'll save myself cost of LED mod for the future. I'll see how the Frank performs, how much I actually use it and if it is worth throwing even more cash into this bottomless well

I don't get how could you put CPU upside down in the socket? I thought it is physically impossible due to pins layout - the cut corner that goes upper right.

Neither did I. In fact I originally had the CPU seated correctly, but I suspect my frame mod wasn't up to snuff, so it wouldn't boot. So, trying everything thought I migt have seated the CPU incorrectly, so I flipped the CPU and locked it down. Fiddled with it a bit, it still wouldn't boot, I then bent the NOS fan. By that point I was thoroughly frustrated and sent it off to Don.

As I mentioned to Don, when I first tried to boot the inverter lights turned on. Later I realized, that after I flipped the CPU I no longer had those lights turning on.

** It should be noted that I was up at 4 am trying to do finish the board, and by that time my brain was thoroughly fried (see bent fan).