Thinkpads Forum

Hey everyone, finally got around to getting the S31 kickstarted.
Installed Bodhi Linux on a T22 then swapped the HDD.
So far the machine works OK, but it crashes when typing a second sentence when I tried to post on the forum.
Very happy it is working, went through about 5 different distros, forgot about AntiX until now.

Anywho, whats the max RAM one can get on that machine?
Checking ThinkWiki, 256MB is the max supported, I currently have at this time.
Reading that the wiki, it shows the Transnote can use 320MB max, which I am presuming I can jam a 256MB RAM module and do that.

Another shot in the dark would be finding a display, the current one has a horizontal line that sort of bugs me after a few minutes.
It has a 10.4" display, I wonder if it shares it with the 240?

Lucky that this laptop is working, though it was missing the bottom plate screws, I got a few to hold it right now.
Battery is dead, but better than no battery. Only issue is that it makes a somewhat high pitched noise, I think it might be the HDD.
Might go the Windows XP/2000 route, but because I think it requires a special CD/Floppy drive, I might get bluescreens by HDD swapping again.
Wouldn't hurt to clone I guess.

Saucey wrote:.
Battery is dead, but better than no battery.

I'd beg to differ. A dead battery will eventually blow the charging circuit on the motherboard. You should remove it and run the machine on AC only.

Might go the Windows XP/2000 route, but because I think it requires a special CD/Floppy drive, I might get bluescreens by HDD swapping again.
Wouldn't hurt to clone I guess.

W2K is likely to work very well on that configuration, although I've never personally owned a S31 so this is just a presumption on my part.

Good luck with healing that rare bird.

Reseat the display cable connectors to see if the screen issue goes away.

As for the OS, something like Slitaz linux would be very fast and still usable. XP with all the updates will be too slow with only 320MB RAM.

You can try Windows XP on that machine WITHOUT ANY UPDATES, with updates even a T43 becomes slow and I tried that on my T43 before switching to Windows 7, 8.1 and 10!! I used 240 before it was sent away for use for the seniors. Yes I actually got 384mb of RAM working fine on that machine with a 512mb stick in the single slot before the RAM stick itself went wrong. Officially it says 192mb is the max but you can try 256mb DDR100/LOW-DENSITY DDR133 stick which even works on 600/770!! For the LCD, I am pretty sure it is a nightmare since most models of 240 comes with SVGA resolution (800x600) and only a few models of 240X come with XGA.
If you do HDD-swapping, W2K/WXP is likely to give you bluescreen of inaccessible boot device. However, you can boot/install DOS via the floppy drive or HDD-swapping and then copy W2K/WXP's i386 folder to that hard drive and start the setup via WINNT.EXE (even though Windows 2K only works with i486 and later and XP only works with 80586 equivalent processor which is Pentium).

kfzhu1229 wrote: I used 240 before it was sent away for use for the seniors. Yes I actually got 384mb of RAM working fine on that machine with a 512mb stick in the single slot before the RAM stick itself went wrong. Officially it says 192mb is the max but you can try 256mb DDR100/LOW-DENSITY DDR133 stick which even works on 600/770!!

Hmmm...I believe that you're a bit confused here, or that your memory fails you...

In order for a standard 240 to recognize and boot with a 256MB stick, one needs to disable the onboard RAM. Even with the onboard RAM disabled, the system will *never* boot with a 512MB DIMM in it. You cannot push PC133 RAM - since there were no 512MB PC100 laptop DIMMS - into a system designed to use PC66 and expect it to work. Period.

For the LCD, I am pretty sure it is a Overused word since most models of 240 comes with SVGA resolution (800x600) and only a few models of 240X come with XGA.

This is incorrect. The only 240-series model with XGA resolution is 240Z, and its i1124 cousin. 240X is still 800x600, no ifs ands or buts.

Saucey wrote:Hey everyone, finally got around to getting the S31 kickstarted.
Installed Bodhi Linux on a T22 then swapped the HDD.
So far the machine works OK, but it crashes when typing a second sentence when I tried to post on the forum.
Very happy it is working, went through about 5 different distros, forgot about AntiX until now.

I have an S31 / typing on it doesn't produce any BSODs. I think mine may still have the stock OS? Do you want me to try anything with mine?

ajkula66 wrote: Good luck with healing that rare bird.

They're not that rare, I got a piano black one for $30. You can buy any variety of S31 from Japan, as they seem to have a lot of them there.

ajkula66 wrote:In order for a standard 240 to recognize and boot with a 256MB stick, one needs to disable the onboard RAM. Even with the onboard RAM disabled, the system will *never* boot with a 512MB DIMM in it. You cannot push PC133 RAM - since there were no 512MB PC100 laptop DIMMS - into a system designed to use PC66 and expect it to work. Period.

I did NOT disable the onboard RAM on my 240 and it recognized all 320MB of RAM, booted and worked just fine with a DDR133 HIGH-DENSITY 256mb SDRAM under 2k, 98 and XP and passes memtest86. I know I'm not supposed to use High-density DDR133 but it worked anyway. The same stick does not work on 600 and T2x except for T23.
Is that just my machine's thing or the all the 240 models are like that?
To be more specific, Low-density PC133 256mb RAM sticks do work just like the PC100 256mb sticks in PC66/PC100 machines like 600, 390X, and T22 and also work as a regular PC133 256mb stick under T23/A30 (Those are the machines I have tested the same stick on). My stick came from an Acer Travelmate 360 and it came from a Chinese company called Kingmax (Kingmax MSGB63S-68KX3). High-density PC133 sticks are a different story to most PC66/PC100 models. I also tried 128mb PC133 stick but that is 100% compatible with PC66/PC100 machines.

ajkula66 wrote:

kfzhu1229 wrote:For the LCD, I am pretty sure it is a Overused word since most models of 240 comes with SVGA resolution (800x600) and only a few models of 240X come with XGA.

This is incorrect. The only 240-series model with XGA resolution is 240Z, and its i1124 cousin. 240X is still 800x600, no ifs ands or buts.

Sorry, my mistake, mistyped it, but these models are more rare and screens are not easy to find anyways. And 240Z and S3x's display may even share the same part number as well.

kfzhu1229 wrote: I did NOT disable the onboard RAM on my 240 and it recognized all 320MB of RAM, booted and worked just fine with a DDR133 HIGH-DENSITY 256mb SDRAM under 2k, 98 and XP and passes memtest86. I know I'm not supposed to use High-density DDR133 but it worked anyway. The same stick does not work on 600 and T2x except for T23.

OK, in your previous post you're talking about a system recognizing 384MB with a 512MB DIMM inserted, now we're down to 320MB with a 256MB DIMM inserted...

To be more specific, Low-density PC133 256mb RAM sticks do work just like the PC100 256mb sticks in PC66/PC100 machines like 600, 390X, and T22 and also work as a regular PC133 256mb stick under T23/A30 (Those are the machines I have tested the same stick on).

Correct. But there were never any low-density 512MB PC133 DIMMs, and that's the size that you've referred to in your previous post.

Colour me confused. And somewhat skeptical.

micrex22 wrote:Do you want me to try anything with mine?

No, thats okay. I might go the Windows 2000 route, will have to dig around to get XP without updates.

ajkula66 wrote:I'd beg to differ. A dead battery will eventually blow the charging circuit on the motherboard. You should remove it and run the machine on AC only.

Will definitely remove it after hearing about that, don't want to risk that.

brchan wrote:Reseat the display cable connectors to see if the screen issue goes away.

Definitely will do, haven't cracked it open yet, kinda afraid to, heh.

ajkula66 wrote:Colour me confused. And somewhat skeptical.

Okay, I am sorry if this gets annoying, but I just wanted to point out that when I first got the 240, it had a 512mb stick plugged in and it detects 384mb. Everything works until one day the RAM stick stopped working (I tried the same stick on T23 afterwards and it constantly receives bluescreen). Isn't it weird? I know nothing about S31 but there is a chance that it may also behave like that though

Saucey wrote:Might go the Windows XP/2000 route, but because I think it requires a special CD/Floppy drive, I might get bluescreens by HDD swapping again.

Not required. I have used USB CD/DVD + Y-miniUSB cable (with 2 USB A jacks) from HDD. I don't know why but S31 can disconnect power from USB when XP (2k) on early phase of installation (after device drivers loading). To avoid it i have used X61 on battery (not on AC) to power CD/DVD drive from power jack of Y-cable and installed XP without any problems. I belive that XP haven't BLUEScreens after transfering HDD from T20/600E/600X because they are very similar.

Mine have 256Mb. All 256Mb memory sticks i have - haven't worked:(

Well first, if you can tell if the 256mb sticks are PC100 or PC133 by looking at the label, go ahead. I believe S31 utilize PC100 sticks due to the Pentium III Coppermine. If you cannot tell, see how many chips are on the stick. If you have only 8 chips total on the stick (4 on each side), it is likely not going to work and you can check by using a T23 or A30. If T23 or A30 power on, then it is not likely to work in S31 due to a different RAM speed. If they don't, it is likely that the sticks may have dirty pins, or the sticks are dead. If the sticks are PC66, it won't work either but the BIOS will tell you that PC66 memory detected.