my first post concerning the IBM T60

[devanshoom]

hello everyone

First time on here and man i thought i might not make it...I couldnt read the confirmation code and it took 4 goes to get it right...the eyes must be getting on a bit

Anyway....nice to be here. i am a thinkpad lover and they are the only computers I have ever had, going from a 600e yonks ago to an A20, then a T40, and now to a T60...but all is not well. I am a bit disappointed to be honest. i got this t60 machine secondhand on ebay for 300 pounds and it really is mint condition, and also has 5 months warranty left on it....but even so
I am less than ecstatic. First of all I think the keyboard on my t40 felt heaps nicer to type on...man I just love my t40 keyboard....but that appears to be the least of my worries....in the 2 months since i got this t60 I have had a few issues..mainly a CPU that reads different every time I check it using "cpu speed professional" program....sometimes it registers as little as 200Mhz as the actual speed...and sometimes it registers 4Ghz as the published speed.....it certainly feels like it swings between strong and weak. The 9 cell battery in this machine lasts an hour less than the 6 cell in my old t40, (I can still get 3 hours out of my t40 on battery power, this t60 barely reaches 1.5 hours)......although i do realise that could be because the guy that had it before me used the battery a lot.....playing flash computer games while on battery power is really bad and even simple games stutter and blink as though the CPU is too weak (its okay on mains though)....get the odd bluescreen from time to time and sometimes it wont turn back on, and i end up shaking the laptop (primitive i know but seems to do the trick)..this usually happens after using it on battery and in fact anything that involves battery usage just leads to problems, or so it seems....the issues are all random and dont happen all the time or follow a particular order...I am still getting used to all these quirks and figuring out what leads to which problems...just feel disappointed really and I am already considering buying toshiba next time round.

Anyway I do have a question for all you guys out there. This laptop is still in warranty and i have found it on the lenovo website...says it was bought in Uk and the warranty runs out in october this year...what i was wanting to ask is this.....I got it second hand from ebay UK and then it was posted out to me in vietnam by a friend....no warranty documents came with it...just a laptop and a mains cable.

Can i still get it looked at under the warranty, or does my lack of hard documentation render me wide open to lenovo telling me to bugger off? I fear the latter....

Sorry guys....bit negative for a first post I know, but that's just how it is. i have done a lot of reading up about the t60 lately and i see a lot of people moaning about them. Seems all the initial reviews were good, but as the t60 got older lots of complaints began building up. I have even thought of reverting back to my old t40 and giving this t60 to my girlfriend....the increase in power and speed is the only reason i am sticking with it.

alright folks...rant over and please forgive any ignorance on my part as i am not a bonafide computer whiz.....any help on the warranty thing would be appreciated.

[richk]

No documentation is necessary. If you have the machine, you have the warranty.

[sktn77a]

Don't know how warranties work in the UK but in the US you would be covered (you probably are in the UK also). If you haven't done a clean install from the recovery partition or recovery CDs, I suggest you do that. I wouldn't put too much faith in the software program telling you your CPU speed and remember, this is controlled by power settings and speedstep. Finally, DO NOT SHAKE YOUR COMPUTER! Unfortunately, intermittent problems can be hard to diagnose and repair but try the clean install and if you are still having problems, send it in for warranty check and repair.

[devanshoom]

yes okay thanks for the replies

I did a re-install of windows about 2 weeks ago, from service pack 3 down to 2 and none of that excess bloatware. Didnt help much though. the fact that shaking it sometimes helps makes me think its a hardware thing. Yeah i will stop throttling it from now on...

gonna get in touch with lenovo today and test their sincerity...will post any developmenst here..for what its worth

[devanshoom]

okay fellow thinkpad fans

dunno if anyone is interested but I thought Id post let you know what happened

Apparently lenovo dont have a bonafide service center in vietnam and so I was instructed to take my t60 to a local repairer of laptops who supposedly has a contrct with IBM...seems to me that there isnt enough business in this country to justify having a proper service center and so they contrct warranty repairs out to local firms...or something like that anyway.

So the deal was, yes my t60 is still under warranty and it works out that lenovo will foot the bill for any hardware issues and i have to pay a 30 dollar service charge. The problem turned out to be a ram issue and that was replaced with another 1gb stick worth about 60 dollars....so basically I paid 30 bucks for a 60 quid repair. (the whole thing cost 90 dollars aincluding the repair labour charge, and i paid 30 of it.

Not really happy or unhappy really....as far as I am concerned a warranty should mean something gets sorted out with no charge aimed at the laptop owner, but having said that it could have been worse and so Im not too disgruntled at paying 30 bucks to get things sorted. cant really rate lenovo as such cos it feels like i havent really dealt with them. the local firm was friendly enough, although took ages to repair the laptop and they never bothered replying to my many attempts at contacting them, it was almost like I was harrassing them, but that is the norm out here and you get used to it.

Cos it took so long to sort out I ended up buying a mint conditioned T42 to use in the meantime (making my thinkpad count up to 3, T40, T42 and a T60). I just couldnt resist it and the idea was to use the T42 until I got my T60 back, then wrap it in plastic and store it for a few years till i need it. I dare say it will be a collectors item by then. Only problem is that the CPU on the new T42 only runs at 599 Mhz, even though its a 1.7 pentium M. I ppointed this out to the shop guy and he said that the speed shown varies depending how many applications you have going, and to prove his point he opened about 20 internet explorer windows and then clicked on the "system" icon...which did indeed show it was running at 1.7 like it should. When i got home i tried this myself by opening loads of stuff including numerous firefox windows and photoshop and a few other things, expecting it to show the CPU working at maximum, however even with all those applications open it still only showed 599mhz. I would take it back and ask questions but the place is miles away and i dont want to appear unreasonable and not knowing what the hell I am doing.

Anyway...thats about it really. Got my T60 fixed and aquired a pristine T42 in the process...cant be bad. My girlfriend is none too happy though...saying why the hell buy 3 laptops that all look the same. She obviously doesnt understand what drives us dedicated thinkpad nerds.

[Harryc]

You don't understand the concept of Intel speedstep. THe CPU throttles up/down depending on the load demands placed on it. This applies to the T60 and the T42. Here's some explanation -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedStep

If it bothers you, it can be disabled in BIOS or via the Thinkvantage power manager. (Select performance mode).

[dr_st]

So the deal was, yes my t60 is still under warranty and it works out that lenovo will foot the bill for any hardware issues and i have to pay a 30 dollar service charge. The problem turned out to be a ram issue and that was replaced with another 1gb stick worth about 60 dollars....so basically I paid 30 bucks for a 60 quid repair. (the whole thing cost 90 dollars aincluding the repair labour charge, and i paid 30 of it..

I have to admit this is a bit strange. Normally when Lenovo pays subcontractors to do the repairs (as they do all the time, everywhere), they do it in a way that covers the labor costs as well, and the client does not have to pay a dime for service. I wonder why this is not the case here. I guess it is a difference of contract terms between them and the local repairer...

When i got home i tried this myself by opening loads of stuff including numerous firefox windows and photoshop and a few other things, expecting it to show the CPU working at maximum, however even with all those applications open it still only showed 599mhz. I would take it back and ask questions but the place is miles away and i dont want to appear unreasonable and not knowing what the hell I am doing.

Just opening lots of app windows will not necessarily bring the CPU up to speed. It has to be actually doing something CPU-taxing. Simplest thing is to run a benchmark of some kind (e.g. SuperPI). This normally bring the CPU to 100% utilization and maximum frequency in a flash.

Also, don't trust Windows reporting the speed correctly. Use real-time monitoring applications like CPUZ or Notebook Hardware Control.

[devanshoom]

Okay thanks for that

I think i figured it out...just change the setting to home desktop instead of portable laptop and the cpu runs at max all the time...so thanks for that. Although i am wondering which setting is best.

have to say this T42 keyboard is more like the one on the T60, which is to say it isnt as good as the T40. the keys seem to be a bit more clicky, and require a bit more travel....the T40 keyboard is smooth as anything and the keys merely require a flick rather than a push...this makes typing on the T42 a bit more methodical...whatever the hell that means. Something else i notice is that the enter button is smaller...the one on the T40 is real big. I wonder if i can swap keyboards at some stage?

anyways thanks for all your helps...cheers

[dr_st]

T40 and T42 keyboard can be swapped. T60 keyboard is incompatible with them.

[devanshoom]

yeah thanks dude, im gonna try it...im no laptop engineer but it cant be that difficult as its on the outside of the machine. still a bit daunting though.

[devanshoom]

seems pretty easy...there is a tutorial on how to replace ram under the keyboard, and has pictures showing how to take the keyboard off....link here

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replace-u ... 2-laptops/

[dr_st]

I realize that I have not been accurate enough.

T40/T42 keyboard can be swapped only if both are 14" machines. If the T42 is a 15", it is not compatible due to different screwpost locations.

[devanshoom]

I realize that I have not been accurate enough.

T40/T42 keyboard can be swapped only if both are 14" machines. If the T42 is a 15", it is not compatible due to different screwpost locations.

Fear not dude for all is well....I managed to change the keyboards and simple it was too..I know have the preferred keyboard snugly ingrained into the preferred machine....its a perfect match, of that there can be no doubt, but it doesnt sit 100% how it should, and the bottom left hand corner seems to be slightly raised, as though its a bit warped, and so when using the keys in that area the keyboard makes a bit of a clucking sound as taps against whatever part is underneath...not really a problem although i am going to try sort it out.

The numbers on the keyboard i like, which used to be on my t40 but is now on my t42, are as follow:

FRU NO 08k 4988
ID NO 3c8 aog
Parts NO 08k4959

i didnt bother jotting the number of the original t42 keyboard...

I read somewhere that the keyboards made in thailand are the best of the 3 types of keyboard used on the T4x series....I thought the one i like would have been the thai one but in fact it says made in china on it...wonders never cease in the life of a thinkpad nerd