Thinkpads Forum

Hi folks!
My question is rather difficult - I have an old R400 with me and it has cracked bottom cover which I would like to replace.
An idea came to my mind - could I replace its bottom cover with the one of T400 thus making R400 as thin as T400 is? Will that work? I know ultrabay drive from R400 wont fit anymore if I do this as well as palmrest might have to be replaced on R400, it would require T400 palmrest as well?
Anything else?

edit: moved here from R400/R500 forum because user failed to enter correct location AND the IP shows up on stopforumspam many times.. i have emailed this guy..
billm

Welcome to the forum!

Good thoughts. Hopefully another forum member can confirm, but it should work. I've done this with an R61 to a T61, and visa versa. You need four things to go from an R to a T, 1) base (which is identical), 2) the subframe, which is thinner for the T-series, 3) the optical drive, which is also thinner for T-series, and 4) some shorter screws - check the HMM (Hardware Maintenance Manual), but I'm pretty sure that some of the R-series screws are longer, like the palmrest, keyboard & keyboard bezel.

Optionally, to make it perfect, you will need the T-series decal/clearplate for the LCD bezel and the T-series decal for the top cover.

You will need the subframe. I am quite sure that if you post a looking for ad in the forum marketplace, you should get offers. The best method for a successful swap is to locate a complete T-series base with a dead motherboard, then you'll have all the right parts.

The entire display assembly, all internal parts, palmrest, keyboard and upper keyboard bezel are all swappable.

Reversing the process, from T to R-series, you can keep the T-series optical drive, since it's thinner than the R-series drive and still fits and works.

Good luck and post back with the results.

Note/hint: I usually take a picture of the open machine since the cable routing is easy to forget during a mobo swap.

The magnesium frame, fan and palmrest won't fit. Also the top half of the fan hold-down may not work depending on whether you have an early (small hold-down - fits) or late (large hold-down doesn't fit) R400. There may be more, but that is what I can think of quickly. As far as the pc card cage, all the cages are options on both R400 and T400 models.

richk wrote:The magnesium frame, fan and palmrest won't fit. Also the top half of the fan hold-down may not work depending on whether you have an early (small hold-down - fits) or late (large hold-down doesn't fit) R400. There may be more, but that is what I can think of quickly. As far as the pc card cage, all the cages are options on both R400 and T400 models.

Do you know if an R500 palm rest will work with a T500?

R500 and T500 palmrests are different.