Making Sense of Label Dates - Month/Year to Year/Month Transition in A31p

[Hierax_ca]

I'm having trouble making sense of a couple of date labels in cataloging my Thinkpad collection:

Month/Year is used consistently from all of my 600(e,x) series and then Year/Month for T43(p) and up but the A31(p) series seems to be the transition point: A31 is still clearly Month/Year (e.g., 10/02)

I've got an A31p with a 07/03 date (2653-RCU) and so this must mean 2003-07 rather than 2007-03! But I also have 2 A31p's with a 03/06 (2653-R4U) which would have to be 2003-06 not 2006-03, same model different sub-model, clearly a different date format. Those ones I can figure out logically, but (since A31-series is from 2002-2004) for the dates with an 02 or 03 or 04 digit how does one tell which is the month and which is the year?

More generally, when was the transition from Month/Year to Year/Month on the bottom labels of Thinkpads?

[ajkula66]

More generally, when was the transition from Month/Year to Year Month on the bottom labels of Thinkpads?

While I don't have an answer that you're looking for, I'm going to throw two pieces of food for thought in there...

a) The first generation (mostly model numbers ending in H**, N**) should be compared to the second (mostly R**) and you *might* be able to make some sense.

b) Compare the production plants: early A3x series were Mexico-built, the late ones came from China. That might be the answer to your question but I only have one system in my house that I can look at...so it's a pure guess on my end.

Good luck.

[Hierax_ca]

Thanks!

I'm also wondering if the Serial Numbers give any clue? The earlier ones (an A31-non-p and a 1.7GHz one) have a 78-... while my later ones 03/06 (R4U) ones have 99-DY... and the 07/03 (RCU) and a 03/04 (NU4) have KP-...

[ajkula66]

My guess would go along the lines of:

78 = Mexico

99 = China

Run it with what you have on hand and please let me know if I'm wrong, for the sake of my own sanity...whatever's left of it...

FWIW, my only A31p has a serial starting in 78, was built in Mexico and sports an "old" time stamp - 12/02 for December of 2002.

[Neil]

This probably doesn't help at all, but my A31p also has a "78" serial and was manufactured in Mexico. Manufacture date is 09/02, September 2002.

[Hierax_ca]

For matching Serial Numbers to Countries on the A31-series: both 78-... are indeed from Mexico but so is a KP-..., both 99-... are indeed from China, another KP-... is from Japan, the KP-... ones don't match up exactly by country but both of those are ex-NASA ones but I'm not sure if that is a coincidence or just what I happen to have.

04/02 2653-HTU 78-MW... Mexico
1.7GHz = early so must be 2002-04

10/02 2652-JEU 78-LF... Mexico
A31 non-p, must be 2002-10

03/04 2653-NU4 KP-GH... Japan
probably 2003-04 because US models withdrawn 2004-01 according to one of the IBM Spec sheet compilations

03/06 2653-R4U 99-DY... China
must be 2003-06

03/06 2563-R4Y 99-DY... China
must be 2003-06

07/03 2653-RCU KP-PZ... Mexico
logically must be 2003-07

We'd need a larger sample size to be sure or some sort of documentation from IBM of what the various codes mean...

[rkawakami]

I have had a number of A31p systems come into my possession; I still have most of them at home. I should be able to pull them out in the next few days and provide the data.

Here's what I have on A31p:

2653-H4U  78-LTxxx 06/02 Mexico
2653-N3U  78-BNxxx 07/02 Mexico
2653-H6U  78-DLxxx 08/02 Mexico
2653-N6U  78-YDxxx 08/02 Mexico
2653-N5U  78-BMxxx 09/02 Mexico
2653-N6U  78-YFxxx 10/02 Mexico
2653-N6U  78-YFxxx 11/02 Mexico
2653-R3U  78-RHxxx 01/03 Mexico
2653-NU4  KP-GHxxx 03/04 Mexico (NASA)
2653-H8U  99-CYxxx 03/04 China

I've arranged them in what I'm assuming is chronological order (MM/YY). Only the last two may be in a YY/MM format. From what I've been told a few years ago, the first two characters of the serial number indicates that factory that made them (e.g. 23=RTP, NC). Why KP shows up in more than one country, I don't know. However, US/Mexico date format is typically MM/YY whereas China/Japan is traditionally YY/MM. There should also be a few more around that I can't find at the moment. My records say that I also have a couple of A31 systems that are buried deeper under my desk so if you need those I can get them.

Also, to further confuse the issue, I have a T23 system that has a serial number starting with KP. It was confirmed to me several years ago that the 02/04 date code was indeed Feb. 2004. At the moment I don't know what country of origin is on the label. If I can find it in my stash, I'll update this post.