Thinkpads Forum

Hello new to the forum. I have a few questions.

I have an elderly man who used to work for ge making jet engines and also had a tv repair, now he does computers,tv,etc.. for fun and donates to people who need. He saved the 701c for me from a lady he knew. This computer came from Revlon corp. where she worked. It is in good shape some of the rubbery coating is worn, but it works like new and even goes on-line via modem. Only issue with it is my h key is dead only one on the keyboard that is, how can I fix it? Other question is it seems she did something to some of the original thinkpad pre-installed programs and drivers anyone know where i can get those? Also it seems to have remnants of Novell Netware on it, but isn't fully functional, but a small box pops up when booting with their logo. Should i try to re-install it or just delete Novell? Sorry for this being long Last thing; I have the 1969 cd-rom but no cables just the battery what cable do i need to hook it up? Thanks.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your nice find. One of my most fascinating Thinkpads is the 701C, this is such a fun little machine.

A brief input on how to connect the CD-ROM to the 701C: You connect this through a PCMCIA card like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Portable-4X ... 0766021501

I am a bit uncertain about the cable, as I don't have this CD-ROM. But I think I once found out that the cable is something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IBM-00K1124-T ... 0708375037

For future reference, in case the eBay links go dead, these items are:
IBM Portable 4X CD-ROM Drive PCMCIA Interface Card 75H7523 46H5904
IBM 00K1124 ThinkPad PCMCIA Cable- P/N: 00K1088

Good luck with your 701! Let us know how it turns out.

You can probably repair the keyboard with a lot of care and patience. I've personally repaired a failed key on my 701c keyboard, and while I won't call it easy, it's doable.

First remove the keyboard (this involves removing 4 Torx T1 screws, and finding T1 screwdrivers is one of the biggest hurdles for 701c lovers). By moving the butterfly mechanism, the flat screws that hold the keyboard halves to the mechanism can be exposed through holes, so unscrew them to remove the keyboard halves. Be very careful about the ribbon cables and spring-loaded butterfly mechanism!

Now you have the keyboard half you're fixing, simply pull off all the keys (remember where they were), then carefully break off the plastic frame that holds all the keyboard membranes in place. The frame is "riveted" to the metal base, so the only way to remove it is to break off the rivets. Leave as much of the rivets on the frame as possible.

There are 3 layers of keyboard membrane: the top and bottom are the actual matrix, and the center is a divider. Locate the broken key, and check the traces leading to it on the top and bottom layers for continuity. Once you located the breaking point, repair it any way you want: Presumably, a conducting pen would be the best way to fix it. I simply scratched off some insulation and taped a thin wire across them.

Then, simply assemble in the reverse order. The only difficulty here is how to fix the plastic frame back in place. I used some AB putty to glue the plastic frame's rivet stubs, still long enough to reach through the other side of the metal base, to the base itself.