Thinkpads Forum

Hi group, I've been a lurker for years and finally decided to join to post this question. The 14.1" widescreen T61 and T61p were the only T61 notebooks with an available webcam.

I've looked at both the maintenance manuals for the T61/p 14.1 widescreen and the T61/p 14.1 4:3 standard screen. I'm aware that the 14.1 widescreen has a different motherboard than the 14.1" standard 4:3 notebooks and that the display ribbon cables are different. Appears the webcam on the 14.1" widescreen is powered through the display ribbon cable (the ribbon cable Y's off similar to keyboard lights) and then Y's off again to connects in a separate location onto the motherboard.

My question is whether the T61/p 14.1" motherboard has that same connector on the motherboard. Does anybody have a high resolution photo of the motherboard on either a widescreen or standard screen T61/p? The drawing in the maintenance manual is impossible to see. I'm sure it won't fit perfectly above the display, but I'd rather have some mod. looking webcam than these huge laptop webcam options.

Any help would be appreciated. Primarily I basically need images of the motherboards for these laptops to see if they both have the connectors.

Has anybody tried to do something similar. I can't be the only one who has strongly considered putting an internal webcam into a cam-less notebook...can I?

This will confuse the matter, but I basically will be putting this T61p 14.1 4:3 non-widescreen motherboard (which is webcamless) into a T60p 15.0 4:3 non-widescreen computer (which is also doesn't have a webcam). I'll be installing a QXGA (2048x1536) 15.0" panel onto the T61p mobo in the T60p frame.

The point of putting a T61p mobo into a T60p is so that I can have up to 8GB of RAM (Santa Rosa platform).

Please let me know of any high resolution motherboard photos for any T6x series computer...that would be helpful.

hi desmond, even if your post is some time ago, i have to tell you something, since i was also looking for an cam-upgrade to my t60 4:3 for a very long time. somehow i wanted to build a unique perfect thinkpad, what i almost got.

but the webcam thing turned out to fail. i did lots of experiments, sit tight:

1) i bought a 15"(16:19) z61m LCD cable with webcam module, which fit quite well to my mainboard and screen dimensions but unfortunately neither the webcam nor the display worked or broke

2) later on i bought the w500 set, to try the same thing, but nothing

3) i also bought a non-thinkpad yet lenovo n3000 module and applied a usb cable, for which windows detected a new device but non of the proper drivers would interact with the module. nevertheless, there were gnd,+5v,d+,d- at the usb port and some fancy 5th at the module. if this would had worked, i'd frickled a cable through the housing and add a micro-hub somewhere in the machine. (what would be very difficult, since it's really packed)

4) nevertheless i believed in my proect and did some other preparations, since my t60 still got a thin symmetric panel frame with no space for a webcam module at all, for wich i got a used t61 complete display with rollcage, five built in antennas, asymmetric frame and thinklight with some space on top for future webcam module.

i must have had way too much money and time to frickle all this [censored] and really ran out of ideas. now i got another notebook with all that stuff included.

cheers

ps.: i also placed a 14" uxga panel to my beloved TP you'll find my vid on youtube

http://s13.postimage.org/legybnn53/Bild008.jpg
http://s15.postimage.org/ctgs5nv6z/my_webcam_module.jpg
http://s14.postimage.org/y7tghy8z5/P1010054.jpg

Now thinking about the webcam mod too. I have a tiny netbook webcam module, with small USB cable with 4 wires.
Is the hub really required? Since T60 has three external USB-ports, but four in the device manager and 4 is the minimum supported by chipset. Suppose there's some unused USB on board we can solder.

s_a_s_c_h_a wrote:
ps.: i also placed a 14" uxga panel to my beloved TP you'll find my vid on youtube

Can you clarify if you actually were able to put a uxga panel in a 14.1" T61? If so, what type of panel did you use and did you have to reflash the firmware to get it to work? I know the uxga has only been offered in 15.0" screens and not since the T60/T60p.

If this can be done, then I'd be interested in doing it to my T61p 14.1".

Thanks

Edit: RBS has alerted me to an old post where this has been done, but there are no 14.1" screens that compare to a 15" uxga, so I don't think I'll be doing this mod.

ujav wrote:Now thinking about the webcam mod too. I have a tiny netbook webcam module, with small USB cable with 4 wires.
Is the hub really required? Since T60 has three external USB-ports, but four in the device manager and 4 is the minimum supported by chipset. Suppose there's some unused USB on board we can solder.

There are 8 ports in the chipset. 3 are wired to the external ports. One is Bluetooth, one is Fingerprint Reader, one is wired to the ExpressCard slot and one to the built-in hub in the docking station. By my count that leaves one free (or is it connected to the second miniPCIe slot? I understand that miniPCIe has some USB pins).

Almost a year passed, but I'm still to lazy for this mod..

dr_st wrote:By my count that leaves one free (or is it connected to the second miniPCIe slot? I understand that miniPCIe has some USB pins).

Yes, AFAIK the free "WWAN-upgradeable" miniPCIe slot has it's own USB D+ and D-. But no +5V there, only +3.3V, so some upconverting is requred.
Anyway, the slot size itself are beyong my soldering skills, so I think the existing USB can be easier choice. But removing one rare USB is no option. I see two solutions:
1. Some pass-thru wires with on/off switch, is ground only will be enough? Not quite sure what happens if two devices will be plugged in one port at once..
2. Mini-hub inside - drawbacks are more free space requred, and maybe insufficient power supply.