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Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

X20/X21, X30/X31, X40/X41 Series
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silca80
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2017 2:30 pm
Location: The Woodlands, Texas

Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

#1 Post by silca80 » Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:06 pm

Hi to all in the forum.!!!
I'm getting in here to ask help about a recent purchase since I'm confused and (daze..)
I just bought an X40 on eBay about 30 dollars in very good conditions, the purpose of the machine
is to run w2k and play old games, also to run some old programs that I enjoy and want to use again.
At the beginning, the unit was advertised as no hard disk, but booting (wich is doing perfectly). My
the intention is to put a spear msata 80 gb lite-on I had laying around to make this baby boot fast.
I pull the trigger over a Chinese msata to PATA adapter which was cheap but very interesting.
To make it short. The machine never realize that had something inside.... doing some research
I found that those adapters are not sooo reliables as should (what you expect for U$ 7... right?)
but I'm ok if I need to get a better one (the machine is in very good shape so she worth it..)
but also I read that a very common situation is SouthBridge frying whit the time... (sounds weird to
me ... we are talking about IBM - not Lenovo - ThinkPad's... Chuck Norris couldn't break one...), and
now I don't know what is the case.
I wonder how can I be sure if the fault is because the adapter (Chinese box with 3.3-5
volt switch) with the MSATA SSD or the South Bridge "going to the south..." and not working?

Things that I check
1- SSD is working, I just manage to install it in another machine without the adapter.
2- Original HD is faulty (clicks and barks at booting) but the Autistic BIOS of X40s see
something in hd0 like #@#@! (assuming this is a broken hdd reported)
3- With the SSD the laptop takes ages to get in boot menu (like 5 minutes easy)
4- NO SSD is identified.
5- USB ports work perfectly because I can boot DOS/FreeDOS (but without hd or ssd)
6- Bios update is 2007 ver 2.xx I did by myself without any issues.
7. Specs of machine 1.2 GHz CPU - 1.5 GB ram and ....

Possibles solutions
1- buying another adapter (still Chinese ones because are the only one available)
2- buying a new motherboard is about the same price with CPU integrated
3- buying a KINGxxx (xxx is I can't remember the exact brand) PATA 1.8 SSD also Chinese
wich I'm not keen because is going to take the money of a PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy z
I'm planning to buy.. just to make Diablo II nice ...

Questions..
Is there a way to be sure about southbridge? How ? I'm not electronic expert or something
Is there a way to check if the adapter is faulty? I have access only to this computer with PATA connector.
Seems some crossroad about adapter o mother ... or both.. the fact is I don't want to gather part that I'm not going to use even if they are cheap...

Any toughs ??

Thanks for the time to read...

4uk4a
Freshman Member
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2017 5:02 pm
Location: Riga, Latvia

Re: Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

#2 Post by 4uk4a » Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:59 pm

Hi,

Have you seen this topic?
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=109646

silca80
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2017 2:30 pm
Location: The Woodlands, Texas

Re: Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

#3 Post by silca80 » Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:27 pm

HI, thanks for your link... yes I read that mean was doing some research, actually i got interested in the last part where gdemonta mentions the slow performance of the ssd.

I will try again inserting the msata ssd deeper in the adapter.. may be this is the issue..
Thanks!!!
regards

4uk4a
Freshman Member
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2017 5:02 pm
Location: Riga, Latvia

Re: Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

#4 Post by 4uk4a » Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:18 pm

Gdemonta bought 3 adapters, maybe you have the same problem.
Perhaps it was necessary to buy an adapter on the advice of automobus(N-1801), since
ac12 wrote:I used an Aleratec mSATA to IDE/PATA adapter in my T23 and it works just fine.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 80#p756713

good luck

FryPpy
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 550
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:29 pm
Location: Moscow, Russia

Re: Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

#5 Post by FryPpy » Sat Apr 01, 2017 12:04 pm

I don't know may be one have written this before, but...

I have one "issue" with such chineese adapter (disk is not visible to BIOS) but have found 4 pins for jumpers near normal 44pin IDE connector. On normal HDDs it is for master/slave selection. Thinkpad needs master. Have tried different jumper positions and it worked. May be such jumper / microswitch soldered somewhere on adapter's PCB.

silca80
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2017 2:30 pm
Location: The Woodlands, Texas

Re: Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

#6 Post by silca80 » Sat Apr 01, 2017 11:58 pm

Hi!!! Thanks for the info.. i will try, and get you back about results....!!!

silca80
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2017 2:30 pm
Location: The Woodlands, Texas

Re: Story about a x40 msata ssd, pata chinese adapter and southbridge...

#7 Post by silca80 » Sat Jun 24, 2017 7:04 pm

Ok.. a feedback after a while.
After a couple of adapters that didn't work. I manage to get one that makes the trick. Actually, I purchase that one in Newegg instead EBAY.
So the machine has a SSD (128gb) and now it's time to install windows 2k on it.
For the community, I have 2 adapters in my power. If someone believes can use I will be happy to send to anyone who pays the shipment (envelope)
Please contact me by PM if you want

Regards

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