Help needed to rebuild a T60 and T61 (widescreen)

[Tasurinchi]

Hi guys...

My two stripped T6 machines arrived yesterday (see pictures here), among the missing parts are the keyboards, which I will have to wait to arrive from China. I'd like to check that the machines are working but without keyboards I won't be able to even power on any of them.

But I have two X4 keyboards lying around, will the plug connect to one of the mainboards? I'd just need the power button, the ESC and the ENTER keys working.

Plan B would be to find an (easy) way to bypass the power-on button. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance!

[Harryc]

I would not use a different keyboard (I don't think it would work anyway) or fool around with power on the laptop. I keep a dock around for situations like you've described and others.

[Tasurinchi]

Thanks Harry for the hint. Unfortunately I don't have a dock either (I have an old one from my ex T30 but not for a T6). I guess I will have to put one in my "to buy" list.

[Raceboy]

I've used T2x keyboard on T4x machines and it works just fine. Connector is the same, so is pinout. It is only a bit pain to get it connected because the ribbon cable length is less on T2x keyboard. Actually you have to pull the connector off from the double-sided adhesive tape but it works fine.

Of course you can't use it as a permanent replacement (KB won't fit physically to base) but I've used it as troubleshooting stuff many times.

[Tasurinchi]

Thanks Raceboy, maybe I'll try it tonight. The only potential problem I see is that the kb connector on the T6s is placed somehow deep, the cables for the X4s are also not very long.

Of course you can't use it as a permanent replacement (KB won't fit physically to base)

Sure it won't! The tiny X4 keyboard will have plenty of space in the T6 base As said in the OP it's just to be able to power on the system and do a quick check...

[Harryc]

I would advise against this unless you are 100% positive the pin-outs are identical.

[Tasurinchi]

Which component has more risk? The motherboard or the keyboad? I guess the first, but just to be sure...

[Harryc]

The systemboard.

[Tasurinchi]

One more question. If I had a dock but still no keyboard, would any to the T6s boot? Would it also boot with an external keyboard attached to a dock? (I'm not familiar with the available dock models for the T6 series...)

Thanks in advance...

[Harryc]

Yes they would all boot without a keyboard and just an external USB keyboard. In fact you don't need the palm/rest Ultranav to boot in a dock either.

[Tasurinchi]

Short status: I've got the screw sets for both T6s, (and for my X60 as well), one of the keyboards and the SATA adapter for the Ultrabay. I could start my T60 and saw that everything is working so far (tested using a persistent Linux Mint installation on an USB stick). Now I have to buy some RAM and a hard drive. I still have to find a palmrest and battery...

What surprises me is the fact that I could insert my T43p optical drive in the T60. I did not test it but I've read here and in other forums that it should work. It maybe another silly question, but how comes that it works? Is the optical drive for the T6s also using an IDE bus? Will it have big performance disadvantages?

[ajkula66]

T4x and T6x media drives are interchangeable, the bezel is different but that's about it. I'm using a multiburner from a T61 in my "main" T43p...

[Tasurinchi]

I'm using a multiburner from a T61 in my "main" T43p...

I'm using it the other way around . I forgot actually to edit my old post since I got a T4x cheap drive and it's working fine since several days, it's not the "flat" bezel and it looks kind of funny in the T6s but it doesn't matter to me. T6s drives are here available at far expensive prices than the T4 ones, I bought mine just in case, I cannot recall needing to burn optical media with any of my laptops since a looong time.