New A21m, Questions

[RWDPLZ]

I just received the A21m I bought on eBay for $1 (plus $14 shipping). It was advertised as having a 1075 error (turns out it's a 0175 error, aka bad motherboard). Actually it was also advertised as an A20m I turned it on, screen works great, gets the 0175 error, and refuses to go any further.

I used the HMM and took it down to the bare board. No signs of obvious bad components or solder joints. As it turns out, this particular model, a 2628-ERU, has the processor soldered directly to the motherboard :wtf:

SO I have a few questions:

1) Can I put an A20m motherboard in the machine, an have it work with the rest of it (the monitor, sub card, etc.)? They seem to be cheaper and easier to find, and I don't see any performance differences, aside from they originally had faster processors?

2) Can I swap in another A21 motherboard that doesn't have the integrated CPU?

3) I see a TV card listed in the HMM, and my machine has two plugs where it would go. Can this TV card be added to any A2x computer, or was it part of certain models, like an A2xp model?

[RWDPLZ]

Alright, since I don't have any answers to the above questions, I will attempt to answer them myself, and post the results here.

I ordered an A20m motherboard, with 8MB video memory (twice what the current board has), and a socket for the processor so I can swap CPU's in and out. Total cost - $10 shipped.

-Ordered the A20 sub card. This seems to be the only part in the HMM that isn't compatible across the A2x lines, since it lists different ones for each version. $8 shipped.

-Ordered a 700Mhz CPU, and a 900 Mhz CPU. The top-of-the-line 1Ghz costs $55 on thinkpad-parts.com, BUT the others are all $5! and the fan/heatsink assemblies are all $3! So I ordered a few of the fans, to see which fit and cool better. $29 shipped (FYI, they require a $10 minimum order, and their cheapest shipping option is $10)

Once all the parts arrive, I'll begin the experiment.

[ajkula66]

You'll be fine with the new board given that it's only going to be driving a 14" XGA (planars are tied to screen resolutions on A2x series) but you might need a modded BIOS in order to run a stronger CPU on your "new" board.

Have fun...

[RealBlackStuff]

If you are really into the A2x series, you should have a look at this A22M, there is probably none better in the whole world!
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=82353

[jronald]

I have 2 A22m's that can be had at a really good price.

Ron

[RWDPLZ]

I received the all the parts, and installed the A20m motherboard into the A21m with the A20m sub card, the 700Mhz processor, and the A22p fan. It booted up and went into the BIOS no problem. Updated the BIOS using a variation of the batteryless BIOS update posted in this forum, and that went almost flawlessly; it now has the newest BIOS, but the BIOS date is still from 1999. Oh well.

Started installing Windows, but apparently the hard drive is bad. Haven't tried the 900Mhz processor in it yet.