IBM ThinkPad R40 Optical Drive Replacement (& CPU)

[SeanCasey96]

Hi there,

Thank you in advance for all responses. I have an IBM ThinkPad R40 and the optical drive is recognized but does not spin up. I am looking for a replacement. The replacement FRU and ASM are as follows: 08K9868 and 08K9867. Which part numbers are compatible with the R40? Ideally I would like to find the cheapest replacement option on eBay. Thank you!

Also, for a CPU upgrade, I currently have a Banias CPU installed, and have access to a 2GHz Dothan Pentium-M, is this replacement possible? I have heard they use different chipsets and therefore it is not. If it isn't, what is the fastest Banias Pentium-M I can get for my laptop?

Thank you!

Sean

[axur-delmeria]

According to https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:R40, upgrading to Dothan is not possible.

The fastest Pentium M Banias is 1.8GHz, but the 1.7GHz is probably more common.


IIRC, the R40 has Ultrabay 2000 CD drive, which is nothing more than a regular IDE CD/DVD drive (12.7mm thick) with a detachable adapter. This means you can remove that adapter from the optical drive in your R40, and slap it in a normal laptop IDE DVD drive. You might have to cut a bit of the bezel if it's not the right shape.

[SeanCasey96]

Thank you so much for that information.

Regarding the CD/DVD drive, I actually tried what you recommended with another IDE drive, but the factory Windows XP installation refuses to even recognize any other drive other than the original faulty one. Any reason for this? I cannot even install drivers or anything as nothing appeared in device manager so I assumed IBM locked down compatibility to only recognize OEM drives. Am I incorrect and missing something here?

[axur-delmeria]

I've never had an R40, so I wouldn't know about the DVD drive compatibility issue. Do those other drives work on other laptops?
Another alternative would be to use external USB CD/DVD drives.

[SeanCasey96]

Yes, they do work on other laptops. I have quite a few that were pulled from working machines.

I actually purchased a slimline SATA to USB to use a laptop drive as an external one. Was hoping to have a direct replacement. There is a new drive replacement available on eBay, exact same FRU for $40 CAD, so I may just go with that to avoid any compatibility headache.

[kfzhu1229]

Regarding the CD/DVD drive, I actually tried what you recommended with another IDE drive, but the factory Windows XP installation refuses to even recognize any other drive other than the original faulty one. Any reason for this? I cannot even install drivers or anything as nothing appeared in device manager so I assumed IBM locked down compatibility to only recognize OEM drives. Am I incorrect and missing something here?

Did you actually swap all the plastic side rails and that all important connector interposer across? There is no reason why this shouldn't work as I have swapped Ultrabay 2000 DVD drives to Ultraslimbay on ThinkPad 600 in this manner before and it works beautifully.
Also, which CPU do you have? If you have the dreadful 1.4Ghz chip maybe I can meet up locally and offer you a Banias 1.6Ghz chip for a cup of Tim Hortons and also help you sort out the Ultrabay 2000 drives as I have known good ones, but I am running out of generic laptop IDE optical drives.
I will have to see if I have the Banias 1.7Ghz chips but I don't think so from my recall.

[SeanCasey96]

Regarding the CD/DVD drive, I actually tried what you recommended with another IDE drive, but the factory Windows XP installation refuses to even recognize any other drive other than the original faulty one. Any reason for this? I cannot even install drivers or anything as nothing appeared in device manager so I assumed IBM locked down compatibility to only recognize OEM drives. Am I incorrect and missing something here?

Did you actually swap all the plastic side rails and that all important connector interposer across? There is no reason why this shouldn't work as I have swapped Ultrabay 2000 DVD drives to Ultraslimbay on ThinkPad 600 in this manner before and it works beautifully.
Also, which CPU do you have? If you have the dreadful 1.4Ghz chip maybe I can meet up locally and offer you a Banias 1.6Ghz chip for a cup of Tim Hortons and also help you sort out the Ultrabay 2000 drives as I have known good ones, but I am running out of generic laptop IDE optical drives.
I will have to see if I have the Banias 1.7Ghz chips but I don't think so from my recall.

I must not have plugged everything in correctly, I attempted the same again with another IDE drive I believe from a Toshiba and it was recognized. Strange it didn't work the first time as I had attached the rails and interposer as normal.

You are so kind and generous for offering that, now that the DVD drive issue is solved, we can talk about the CPU. It is in fact the 1.4GHz Pentium-M Banias CPU. What is so bad about them? If you're interested in letting go the 1.6GHz version or the 1.7GHz if you have it, I'd be happy to pay you for it and you can stick it in letter mail.

I never had much experience with tech as old as this, is the only difference between the Banias CPU's their clock speed? If so, how much realistic performance will I be getting with the 1.6GHz version? The R40 is paired with an ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, and I will be using it to play older Windows XP games.

[kfzhu1229]

I must not have plugged everything in correctly, I attempted the same again with another IDE drive I believe from a Toshiba and it was recognized. Strange it didn't work the first time as I had attached the rails and interposer as normal.

You are so kind and generous for offering that, now that the DVD drive issue is solved, we can talk about the CPU. It is in fact the 1.4GHz Pentium-M Banias CPU. What is so bad about them? If you're interested in letting go the 1.6GHz version or the 1.7GHz if you have it, I'd be happy to pay you for it and you can stick it in letter mail.

I never had much experience with tech as old as this, is the only difference between the Banias CPU's their clock speed? If so, how much realistic performance will I be getting with the 1.6GHz version? The R40 is paired with an ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, and I will be using it to play older Windows XP games.

Just checked my spares and my 1.7Ghz chip is of the Dothan generation so that won't do you any good here, but I do have both 1.6Ghz Banias and Dothan chips and you definitely want the Banias one.
I guess there really isn't anything specifically bad about having the 1.4Ghz variant but I do believe that's the slowest ever standard voltage Pentium M ever produced (any slower than that would be under the Celeron name). In terms of performance though you will definitely feel every bit of that 15% clock speed improvement going to that 1.6Ghz chip as the 1.4Ghz clock is just too low and it really bottlenecks all the other components on your laptop.
In fact, a Pentium M 755 at 2Ghz would still be significantly faster than that 1.6Ghz chip but that's clock improvement plus massive improvements in architecture from Banias to Dothan, where it both runs cooler and is faster, but at that point you also probably want a Mobility Radeon 9000 in place of that 7500.
Maybe DM me for details of whether you want to meet up or want me to lettermail that CPU and might take forever to show up...