Thinkpads Forum

After being inspired by that page on the T62p mod, I decided that since I had a lot of spare time... I'd see what I can do with some of my junk parts. Here's what I ended up with after a few hours:

http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1029.JPG

Yes, you are not seeing things... that is a T43 chassis. With a W500 roll cage, heatsink and motherboard inside it, running.

Please don't get excited, that picture is about as together as you'll ever see that mod. There are so many problems and roadblocks between making that a working machine and where it is now, I took all the loose bits off and packed it away in a box exactly as it was.

As for what I learned in the time it took for me to take a W500 laptop and T43 bottom plate and do this...

Discoveries I made:
-The W500 roll cage fits. If you shear off the right side of it.
-The PCMCIA/Cardbus slots line up exactly.
-4:3 screens will start up just fine and even boot Windows with no problem on a W500 motherboard with no outside modification.
-You still need to use the W500 LCD cable, and inverter.
-The W500's docking port will barely poke through where the T43's bottom RAM hatch is(may need to shave away at one side)
-Thinklight *can* work, needs to be angle over a little. Was unable to test because I got lazy.

Problems that prevent mod from being possible:
-HINGES. W500 Roll cage+T43 screen frame is a big no. I haven't attempted to use T43 roll cage at all though.
-UltraNav/Touchpad. The T43's Touchpad plug DOES fit in the W500 motherboard's plug interface, as seen here: http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1044.JPG but the OS doesn't pick it up, so the pinout must be different.
-Screw mount points/securing rollcage to plastic body. The roll cage wasn't secured other than being pinched in there-and the way the W500 and T43 hold themselves together is dramatically different.
-LCD cable. It's too short, the inverter and bluetooth module cannot be seen in the pictures, because they are tucked behind the screen just above the bottom. If you made an extender of some sort, or used a longer cable(was thinking W700 cable might work) then you'd just need to worry about where the cable comes out of the screen on the bottom.
-SD card slot and audio ports would be obscured by T43 frame.
-Power plug is a little misaligned with hole in T43 frame.
-Would have to use T60/T61/T500-era keyboard in T43 palmrest, it does fit well. But some shaving would be needed in certain corners.
-Hard Drive would have to be put in Ultrabay with extender cable, and laptop would have to go without optical drive.

For those who are worried about good resources going to waste(because I don't intend to carry this experiment on much more) The T43 base that I had to mutilate to fit the board was already in horrible condition, the 1400x1050 screen you see is an IPS that had a dying bulb, and I attempted to replace the bulb(for the first time) with a bulb from a different 15" XGA screen, and it worked... but there's dust and scum in the screen now(because I'm not careful), so picture is ruined, hence the notice. The W500 motherboard is one with the busted ATI chip, so the video you see is Intel only. This experiment used only parts that would otherwise already be garbage.

All images:
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1029.JPG Booted up first time
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1030.JPG Pic of board in chassis
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1033.JPG BIOS screen indicating W500 motherboard with T9400
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1034.JPG That infrared panel was made to come off for a firewire port.
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1035.JPG Hard Drive situation.
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1036.JPG Windows is starting up.
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1037.JPG Better pic of the whole thing
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1038.JPG RAM. PC3-10600 DDR3
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1039.JPG Heatsink and *left hinge*
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1040.JPG Left side, view 1
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1041.JPG Left side, view 2
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1042.JPG Good angle at screen, height of rollcage
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1044.JPG T43 Touchpad plugged in
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1045.JPG devmgmt.msc highlights
http://www.medessec.info/m/Frankie/IMG_1046.JPG screen res

If you guys need a part from what you see in here, because there are a LOT of good parts(T9400, half-working W500 mobo, W500 LCD cable with Bluetooth module, W500 heatsink) you can PM me. I'd rather not anything good in this go to waste.

I'd say that this takes the cake for aptly being called a Frankenstein's Monster Or is that pronounced, Fronkensteen?

Nice experimenting!
I was thinking of doing something like that with the A31 I have that has a bad mobo and reddish screen.
I mean the A31 is definetly thicker than a T61, I think it is a bit thicker than the 15" 4:3 R60.
I would just grab tape and wrap it around the frame. It should have enough room.
I was goning to try to do that with an x61s onto a 745XD I had, but I'd need a custom LCD. (Oh boy I wouldn't know what to do if I had gotten an X1xx)
I wanted to do a frankie on R60, but sadly the T61 fan couldn't fit (R61 fan is "narrow") and the R60 has a passive GPU cooler, can't have that on a Nvidia T61. So you'd have to cut/file either the fan fins or R60 frame, too much time.

I think the audio ports would be an eazy job on that experiment you're doing, just need a drill.

I was thinking of doing something like that with the A31 I have that has a bad mobo and reddish screen.

Like... putting a W500 or similar motherboard into a A31? The A31's plastics are a little less hardy, but you'd have plenty of room if you removed everything. It would be very funny looking though, especially since the A31 has two Ultrabays.

I was going* to try to do that with an x61s onto a 745XD I had, but I'd need a custom LCD.

The reason I chose a W500 mobo and T43p frame is that at the slim chance it did work, it'd be easy to modify the palmrest to fit the T6x/T5xx keyboard. I've always wanted to outfit a vintage Thinkpad with modern hardware, but the only thing I have to say is: Good luck getting the keyboard to work. And for just a cheap mod, there will be no chance of I/O ports lining up, all the rest. The Power-on would have to be worked out too. But the screens on vintage Thinkpads were almost always a very special type in dimensions, so it'd be hard to find a screen that would not only fit, but be easy to mate with a motherboard that fit. You also have the problem of how you'd get the cable between the two.

I think the audio ports would be an eazy job on that experiment you're doing, just need a drill.

Heh. I think I'd need to cut out that whole area since the rollcage is further inwards somewhat, but yeah. I think in this experiment, making the audio ports accessible would be the least of my problems.

This is pretty awesome. One problem I've noticed trying to do something related is that the W500's display cable seems a little short. Can you close the lid without putting tension on it?

I can't really... *close* the lid per se on this build. There's no hinges. But the cable is definitely too short anyways, because the inverter and bluetooth modules have to sit behind the screen, if you read what I wrote.

You'd have to craft a harness or just plain splice the cable to lengthen it... which I'm not really looking to do to a perfectly fine W500 cable at the moment.

I had hoped a W700 cable would be an option, but the connectors for everything but LVDS are different.

Yeah... it doesn't surprise me. I was hoping it could get somewhere, but the W700's equipment is totally different... plus I'd imagine the dual-thinklights extend from the cable an further complicate the experiment.

It's cool to see how far this can go-but it's just not feasible for me at the moment to continue. If someone else has the time and skills to operate further, I'd be willing to pass this off to someone else(ship the parts). But realistically, the good parts are just not worth splicing up either... and it wouldn't be very cost effective compared to a T60/61 Frankie even if it worked. Those frankies already cost $500 easy($150-200 T60 15" chassis with UXGA+$150-$200 for donor T61, $100 for T9300/T9500/X9000) and this one would cost even more($200-$300 for a good donor T500 switchable or W500, $150-200 for UXGA T60 15", or similar T43 chassis, as well as all the rest in labor and other parts)

I'd love to see this happen, but it's still going to be a hack, like the T62p mod that inspired this experiment. No part of it is clean. The Hard Drive has to go in the Ultrabay for crying out loud.

The big problem lately with the T61/T60 is RAM. Newegg wants $170 for their cheapest pair of 4gb DDR2 SODIMMs. There was a time when it would have been $40. A 4:3 build using DDR3 would cut the memory cost in half, but it doesn't look like there's going to be a cheap/easy solution.

Yeah, 8GB RAM is costly, I've pretty much given up maxing my 2008 ThinkPads because of this.
Someone sold an X61T w/ 8GB of ram for about 60 bucks on ebay. I shoulda bid $100 for it but it wasn't needed at the time.

A W500 frankie would be a RAM match made in heaven, because of the DDR3. But a T50 would be the ultimate shortcut. Realistically, these experiments are a good way of seeing exactly what you can put the hardware through, as well as seeing what *could* be possible. But with original Thinkpad hardware, there's only so far you can go before it's less of a Thinkpad Frankie and more of just a humbo-jumbo of parts slapped together.

This is my W500 base and lid (the hinges are broken) with the UXGA Flexview from my T61/T60p:

http://i.imgur.com/EWy4fdR.jpg

It's fully functional - boots Linux and runs fine. The inverter is behind rather than below the screen, and even so, the cable is a bit short. I think the only sane way to use these together is a custom chassis.

The inverter is behind rather than below the screen, and even so, the cable is a bit short.

This is a problem I listed in my experiment... some people have gotten around it by making "extenders", spliced cable with specialized plastic cable harnesses on each end to match up the plugs from the end of the cable to the screen. Seems fair enough, but a lot of work.

I've never thought to just use the W500 lid... but that would be a funny looking frankie. And I imagine the screen's too tall...

It's about the same height as the screen. You'd have to make a cutout for the inverter and cover that with something.

We should do it, and somehow put sliders for brightness and contrast on either side, or speakers, like the vintage Thinkpads!

Joking aside though, that would be amazing.

Or just mount the W500 mobo in a T60p case?

It is nearly the same layoyt as the T61p, so only some minor cutting to the base (for the ports) and rollcage.

But as i see it, DDR3 Ram and avaibility is the only reason to pick the W500 above the T61p. The graphics cards are equal (FX570m overclocks to higher speeds, V5700 have more RAM). The processors are a little faster on the W500, but again nothing major. Except if we get QC

Or just mount the W500 mobo in a T60p case?

Doing that precisely replicates the effort seen in the "T62p" 51nb article that inspired me doing this experiment.

Except if we get QC

Okay, that's it. A few people have been prodding me to do it... so I'm going to pull out that W500 board, put my W700ds's Q9000 in it, and report back. It'd be useful information to see what happens when that sort of a thermal profile is thrown under a W500 heatsink, it won't be the most fair test ever done... because the W500 board I used in this experiment, as mentioned above, has a bum V5700 chip. But... it'll be something. I've also got an X9100 I can try out, that'd be an interesting thing to try, even though it's not Quad-core.

But as i see it, DDR3 Ram and avaibility is the only reason to pick the W500 above the T61p.

I would actually strongly prefer a stable T61p Frankie to a "T62p" W500-board mod, because: Ultrabay, fitting parts, stable design, and NVIDIA. NVIDIA has always just been better to me in my experience.

The DDR3 advantage for some is good, but T61 boards take 800MHz DDR2 anyways, which is already wicked fast. DDR3 is always going to be better, however.

Here's the link to the article, for those who haven't seen it:
http://tech.sina.com.cn/n/2009-01-19/10532762463.shtml