Thinkpad 760L

[clarkey]

Hi, have been posting in the X31 forum and have really appreciated the help trying to get the original boot disks.

I have recently acquired a 760L that I am intending to restore, will share some pictures when I get a chance.

I have several other newer Thinkpads including a p50 and a W530. Have always loved them and am enjoying finally getting to work on a few older ones. I am used to working on Amiga's for my vintage fix so these still feel modern to me

Current status of the 760L and a few questions hoping people can help.

Standby battery, it was leaking so I have removed it, was shocked to see how it had attacked the board, coming from the Amiga world the dam things are always a pain, any major issues just leaving it out, the machine seems happy and passes all hardware tests without it?

Sticky finish, I have managed to scrub all the rubber finish off the palm rest with water and a soft brush and it is back to plain plastic, however I am wondering what other methods people have to deal with this.

BIOS update, I want to update to the latest BIOS that I have got from the old IBM archives, however it requires a charged battery and mine is dead. I have looked at the link here and tried hex edit version however I can't find the refferenced elements to change, has anyone successfully updated a 760 series bios without a battery?

viewtopic.php?t=78263

Last question for now ( I hope) I want to restore the laptop to it's factory default state, it is running the original install and applications how do I create the restore media or go about resetting it, do I just use the windows 95 tool it looks like it takes 30 discs! Has anyone got a better suggestion?

Thanks

[clarkey]

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ta

[fultontech]

Are you saying you have the floppy disk creation utility on your system still?
As I recall it is just the OS, drivers, and some utilities, but not a full factory restore. You would need a recovery CD (if there was one for that model) to put it back to factory.

If you want to make the floppies, I recommend the blank IBM media if you can get it on ebay. The other older high end media might work fine, but the newer floppies from office max are hit and miss in the older machines.

[clarkey]

Thanks, yes just the inbuilt utility. I went for a wipe and rebuild in the end.

Cheers

[rimmer]

The sticky rubbery black coating on the older thinkpads can be dried out with talc powder.

[clarkey]

The sticky rubbery black coating on the older thinkpads can be dried out with talc powder.

Thanks for the tip will give it a go.

[thinkpadcollection]

I use good 3M floppy disks.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

[clarkey]

Thanks all, just wondering if anyone has managed to update the bios on a 760 without the battery at all?

BIOS update, I want to update to the latest BIOS that I have got from the old IBM archives, however it requires a charged battery and mine is dead. I have looked at the link here and tried hex edit version however I can't find the refferenced elements to change, has anyone successfully updated a 760 series bios without a battery?

viewtopic.php?t=78263

[madicetea]

A bit off-topic, but I'm wondering some things

- I have a 760EL - what's the difference with the 'E' designation?
- Why should I update my BIOS? For a computer of that age to work, I'm happy enough to touch it minimally and not worry about it too much.

Thanks.

[clarkey]

A bit off-topic, but I'm wondering some things

- I have a 760EL - what's the difference with the 'E' designation?
- Why should I update my BIOS? For a computer of that age to work, I'm happy enough to touch it minimally and not worry about it too much.

Thanks.

I think it is just the faster cpu, it has the same graphics chip and sound card.

Regarding why to update the BIOS, chronic fiddling, no real reason other than it appeals to me having it running at the best it can.

[madicetea]

Thank you for your explanation, it really helps me understand more about these epic machines.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Thank you for your explanation, it really helps me understand more about these epic machines.

Just to clarify:

The 'E' is the first processor stepping, usually a faster clocked of the original.
The 'X' is the next stepping, usually the next model processor at similar clock to the 'E'
The 'Z' is the third stepping, usually the next model processor at significant clock boost over the 'X'.
These are guidelines, each line was different. The 240 series doesn't follow these rules, as it skipped right over 'E' to 'X' and the elusive 'Z'

755*/365* - 486/75
755E/365E - 486/100
755X/365X - P75

770*- P200 MMX
770E- P266 MMX
770X- PII 300
770Z- PII 366

[MustardOrMayo]

Standby battery, it was leaking so I have removed it, was shocked to see how it had attacked the board,

Yeah, and from what I know, when the corrosion gets too far, the system constantly thinks the second lid is open, and goes to sleep mode while starting an OS. Trust me, it has happened with my Asian 760ED, and I managed to save my North American 760ED to the point where it successfully starts an OS, but the internal inputs don't work, and from what I've seen, the keyboard ribbon cable on the latter appears to be ripped, while the traces on that on the former had been eaten away due to the corrosion.

My North American 760ED has sticky plastics, while both my North American 760EL and Asian 760ED don't yet have sticky plastics, but the median has brittle plastics, and the latter has what I describe to be a popcorn textured lid (the former and median both have the regular rubberised lids), which I've seen a North American 760ED for sale on eBay a while back, that also had that same kind of lid. I can post a photo if anyone doesn't know what I mean by the popcorn textured lid.

Edit: Once I do have a fully working 760ED (I prefer to resurrect the Asian one), I'll go and see about contacting that person who offered to rebuild batteries on older TPs.