T400 PCI Express Mini Card for wireless WAN

[Natakranta]

Hi Guys,
I've been lucky to purchase nicely speced T400 on local adverts for equivalent of 5 pints in village pub
Unfortunately it has Supervisor password, which I'll be trying to take care myself later on
Meanwhile I wander what are the expansion options with it. Lifting up keyboard ( picture) I noticed there is empty slot on the left side, which HMM identify as PCI Express Mini Card for wireless WAN. Does it accept SSDs in form of mini PCI-E cards?

Next thing, just above RAM sticks, there is another mini PCI-E card, if I read HMM correctly it is Intel Turbo Memory Minicard or Wireless USB PCI Express Half-Mini Card. What is this? What does it do?

And third, RAM sticks. It came with 2x2GB PC3-8500S. I was overly optimistic trying my old dell XPS 2x4GB PC3-10600S sticks. Laptop did not power up with them. No chance using other ram than 8500S?
RAM sticks picture

Edit:
Links corrected

[RealBlackStuff]

Posting links to a (locked) Google-drive is not recommended.
- Google will follow/spy on everyone who clicks on them
- when your drive is locked, those links are useless.
Rather, get a free account on e.g. https://imgur.com/
Then post either the Direct Link (=link) or the BBCode (=image) here.
(as shown on the right of your picture on Imgur).
You can even select different size pictures from there.

For card slots etc. see here: viewtopic.php?t=123701
PC3-10600 RAM will also work, as does some (but not all) PC3-12800.
Avoid Corsair and other so-called "Value-RAM".
Turbo-memory is generally useless: it doesn't do much and often conks out very quickly, causing the machine to not start.

[Natakranta]

Thanks a mill @RealBlackStuff !
I was rushing yesterday when posting and must have missed something when generating links.
I fixed them, they can be opened now without logging into Google services.

I read the thread you linked. That cooled me down
I'll try to unlock the password on motherboard, get cheapest possible 120GB 2.5" SSD for it and call it a day
After all the plan for it is to be a web browsing machine for my father in his car garage, nothing more.

[Natakranta]

I'm trying to remove supervisor password from this T400. I managed to disassemble it enough to get access to bottom side of motherboard, yet still having screen and keyboard connected. I'm shorting SCL and SDA pins (marked red line between them) on P24S08 chip following this instructions. With few attempts I managed to get into BIOS, but I can't actually change anything in security settings. What am I doing wrong?
I power on with keyboard power button.
As soon as I see Lenovo logo I short these two pins.
Then press F1 to enter BIOS.
Get error about date and time (because earlier on disconnected and reconnected CMOS battery)
Some other message I can't remember
And it boots BIOS, but I can't modify settings as on picture linked above.

If I don't short these two pins with screwdriver, I can't boot to bios at all, it shows padlock and asks for password.

Before I disconnected CMOS battery two days ago, it was booting fine W7 from HDD I bought it with or Linux Mint from usb stick through F12 and boot menu. Now it asks supervisor password in any if this cases, HDD, F1 bios or F12 boot menu.

[RealBlackStuff]

If it were that easy to remove a password, everybody would be doing it.
But I'd be happy to do it for you, you know where to find me.

[Natakranta]

Epic win - pass removed.

PC3-10600S RAM sticks work fine as RBS advised.
Upgraded form 2x2GB to 2x4GB

[Natakranta]

My T400 is not working any more, fan spinning screen is dead black

After I removed supervisor password , it seemed working fine. I installed Mint on SSD and no problems.
Yesterday I received bottom case for it to replaced the cracked one it has and so I did. Easy job.
First mistake on my side, I didn't power it up prior to disassemble to see if it still boots, but I had no reason to check.
After putting motherboard with frame into new case, I connected screen and thought I could test that dodgy X9000 CPU I got from China that was not working in my T61 and was suspected to be counterfeit on base of cheap 1000Mhz bus CPU.
My second mistake, I didn't power it up prior to swapping CPU to check if it still works on original T9400, but I had no reason not to believe there's something wrong with it.
So I removed heat sink (already did it 2 weeks ago to repasts T9400) and installed that wannabe X9000 to check if it is detected as 1000Mhz bus CPU. I put back heat sink, plugged keyboard and powers it up. No reaction on screen. LEDs blinking but that's it. Fan was not spinning if I recall correctly.
Heatsink back off, T9400 back in, heatsink on, keyboard, power, no reaction. Now I got worried.
Power off, replugged screen cable. Power on, still no reaction on screen, dead black. LEDs under screen blinking and flashing

I left it in for some time and I noticed fan started slowly spinning, like it booted system and was gently cooling.
I plugged external monitor with VGA cable, bit it got no signal from laptop.
What can be broken?
Screen? Screen cable? Fried fuse? Graphics card? Intel? ATI?
Could you give me some clues what I can test?

[RealBlackStuff]

Guess you'll have to start from scratch.
Take the mobo with fan out again, remove wifi/WAN and RAM.
Then connect only keyboard and screen (or external monitor).
Press and hold down power-button for ~20 seconds.
Try to boot.
It still 'alive' it should beep 1-3-3-1.
Disconnect power, add RAM, then power, then try to boot again to go in BIOS.
If still 'alive' reassemble piece by piece and test in between.

[Natakranta]

Thanks RBS!
I did a quick test again tonight and it was unsuccessful.
I removed DVD, SSD, disconnected palmrest, left keyboard connected,
Removed top side of frame, disconnected display ribbon, disconnected WiFi card and the other card next to it, removed RAM sticks, connected monitor through VGA and power. Hold power button for 20 seconds and then pressed once to power it up. Monitor reports no signal from computer. In laptop only fan shows signs of life spinning for few seconds, stopping and later spinning again. No bips coming from laptop.

This cheap project turns into a nightmare.

[RealBlackStuff]

It looks like that X9000 was a real killer-deal, literally!
Did you remove power before holding down the power-button for 20 seconds?
Are the speakers connected to the motherboard?

Saw this mobo on eBay: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/264781927559

[Natakranta]

What wonders me is that I was testing this dodgy X9000 CPU in my T61 and R601F previously and it did no harm to them.
So I didn't even think it could break the T400.

No, the power cable was plugged in when I was holding power button for 20 seconds
I'll check again with detached power.

Yes, speakers were connected, I forgot to disconnect them. I'll check again with disconnected.

The motherboard you linked comes as almost 40 EUR delivered and is without ATI GPU. I'll have to think twice if I want to invest further in this T400 or just write it down (30 EUR laptop and 16 EUR bottom case I bought for it). Especially that the lid needs either cleaning with oil paint stripper or a new replacement, that would be another expense for laptop that was supposed to be cheap beater for my father garage.

I was looking at this one, to take gamble for cheap with untested. At least it has ATI Radeon chip on it.
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/IBM-lenovo-thin ... 3598719840

Working T400 on adverts nearby in Tallaght can be bought for 70-85 EUR, though I suspect they are without ATI GPU.
But why bother with it if I can buy T430 for 150 EUR witch is way superior machine...

[RealBlackStuff]

Maybe you shorted something during reassembly?
To hear 1-3-3-1 beeps without RAM, you (obviously) need to have the speakers attached.
The 20-sec. power-button-pressing (without battery/AC) does a hard-reset of the laptop.