Rare find - a 'good' 760LD

[solidpro]

Hi All

I've severely curtailed my Thinkpad acquisitions but this popped up in the USA a few weeks ago. Cost me about £100 but I just got a feeling from the pictures that it was a special example. Almost all the 760 machines I come across are scratched up and in a right mess. I got the feeling also this machine was unadulterated, unfettered, not mucked-about-with. I'm relieved it is indeed the case. I mean look at this case!





I don't have the time to do much with it right now but obviously I simply had to remove the 3-cell parasite under the palmrest immediately. Amazingly it shows no signs of leaking green poop everywhere.

I'll follow up once I get it booting. It came with a load of lovely IBM extras and all it's original paperwork too! Even an IBM mouse I'd never seen before! Spare CD-ROM as well.

[nfraser01]

Nice looking example. I have one working 7xx and two where the battery has leaked

[solidpro]

20 years my friend. 20 years....

[nfraser01]

Love the sound of a hard disk being defragmented!

[RealBlackStuff]

Beautifully kept 76 OLD.

[solidpro]

I'm having a tough time with the RAM. I didn't realise how different that not only different 760 models were, but that there was more than one type of 'this type' of RAM.

It''s got 16Mb showing on startup with 8Mb onboard, so I have one stick of 8Mb. There is a whole lot of misinformation about this machine and it's RAM - infact I could not find a single web page which was correct. Most, for example, report it will take 64Mb when that wouldn't really be feasible if it would take either 2 x 16Mb or 2 x 32Mb sticks. HMM reports it will only take 2 x 16Mb sticks.

However, I cannot find a reference to these specific these 44-pin DIMMS anywhere, and the HMM doesn't really tell me much at all. Does anyone know that they're actually called and does anyone know if they're EDO?

This pic shows the correct 8Mb module sitting in it's DIMM adapter:



This one shows the same stick next to what I would normally use (and was recommended by various websites. Note the global memory stick is much smaller:



This is the excerpt from the HMM:



**edit**

I found this post from about 6 months ago with someone on the same trail as me:

https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12692

Seems this 88-pin EDO RAM is hard to get hold off. Impact computers has some, but I've found them to be unreliable for real stock and the shipping is $80 which is crazy. So another search saved on ebay....

[astral]

I've gone the opposite way - using that 84 or 88 pin RAM in a laptop that wants 72 pin. It worked surprisingly but I had to modify the ram socket to make it fit. funny thing was when I needed RAM for that laptop, I could only find the 84 pin stuff. I'm not sure if it's the same type as what you have though - is it 84 or 88 pin?

[panips]

I like 760LD. I think this is the best for retro (dos) gaming for its 640x480 TFT and ESS audio chip.
I have 2 760LD, one for gaming and one part donor. Both have vinegar syndrome although everything else is in good shape. So yesterday I took one out of my bookshelf and tried to fix its polarizing films, both front and rear one.

And...the good thing is the old HDD still works, but the bad thing is it needs 45/135 degree ones.
Will try to fix it and share more pic.

[solidpro]

That is good solid colour reproduction on a replacement polariser!! Well done! What was it like getting the old stuff off? Mine always ends up like picking off 1000 bits of gluey porridge, trying all the time not to go anywhere near the edges....

[solidpro]

I've gone the opposite way - using that 84 or 88 pin RAM in a laptop that wants 72 pin. It worked surprisingly but I had to modify the ram socket to make it fit. funny thing was when I needed RAM for that laptop, I could only find the 84 pin stuff. I'm not sure if it's the same type as what you have though - is it 84 or 88 pin?

Mine is 88-pin. Do you have any left!?

[astral]

Don’t have any spare I’m afraid. Just what went in that one laptop. It was also actually 84-pin, not 88.

[panips]

Finally had both 760LD lcd restored, but still looking for parts for one of the mobos seems defected.

So this is how it looks like


first step is to remove the front polarizing film carefully


and the rear one. Usually the rear one looks much worse. Be careful, this film smells so bad


so, the next step is to clean all the glue. I found out the best tool is the razor blade, but in case you should still use some 99% Isopropyl Alcohol


the most painful step is to apply the new film. I forgot the take the pictures but I messed up about 3 films


and of course re-assemble it. New film looks glossy


turn it on, and this is how it looks like


not bad? hmmm, not good really, it looks not so comfortable since it's too glossy so I find another more colorful wallpaper to test, sorry about the anime figure...


this one comes with sharper edges, much more colorful and, how to say that, more stronger contrast? this one looks better


But I must say, the new film is still way too glossy, making it look like a mirror. Definitely it's better than the broken one but looks much worse than the original one. I just cannot find some film that is much more, well, matte?
And, since both sides need new films, you need to be super careful about your polarizing angle. If it is 0 or 90 degrees, use different ones for front and rear. But if it is 45 or 135 degrees, use the *SAME* ones for both side. Because both films are towards each other, meaning that it was in fact twisted/flipped. While 0 or 90 degrees are not affected, 45 or 135 degrees ones are actually flipped to its supplementary angles.

And, yes, I made such stupid mistake

[solidpro]

Oh dear. I hope this doesn't put you off. I've done a lot of polarizing films and I'm still bad at it. I've often replaced some without removing the sticky film so it's usable but someone in the future can do a better job than I.

Weirdly I've never ever came across glossy sheets - all of the ones I have are matte - like the original...

Having seen people wrap cars, I know perfection is possible and can be made to look easy, but I'm far from it.