Thinkpads Forum

Posted: **Mon Jun 04, 2018 7:51 am**

Had to cancell the order ..
turns out he only had the DockII ..
doh
ordered the relevant base unit ...but I will continue to search for a 600 Dock.
cest la vie

Posted: **Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:05 pm**

Fixed the no boot from CD issue ..
The second 24 speed CD unit I ordered arrived today ...and that one does allow disc booting ..whereas my original one does not ?
curiously that one does allow CD booting in the 600X ..
so ..that is where it will reside ...with the latest one in the 600
I now have 2- 24x CD drives ..and 3x Floppy drives.
Sadly non of the laptops Iobtained so far have had CD drives in them ...
all had floppy drives.
luck of the draw I guess.
rgds
VS

Posted: **Mon Jun 04, 2018 9:35 pm**

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:05 pm
I now have 2- 24x CD drives ..and 3x Floppy drives.

If you have Ultrabay 2000 DVD drives lying around, you can mount those into Ultraslimbay by exchanging the drive rail. You can even get CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive in this way and it indeed works in Windows.
Since you have the 600X, might as well turn them into DVD players (the regular 600 doesn't quite have the power to play DVDs even with the 300Mhz CPU).

Posted: **Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:17 am**

Thanks for the advice re the DVD drives..
I can obtain one of these easily
UltraBay 2000 ThinkPad Laptop Internal DVD-ROM Optical Drive 27L4213

Is this suitable for the 600X ?

also ..is there a DVD±R/RW that will physically/Electrically fit ?
rgds

Posted: **Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:18 pm**

I have a slim combo thinkpad drive FRU P/N 39T2675
Sadly the rear removeable bar from the CD drive cant be fitted ..
different plug ...no idea what Thinkpad this is intended for ?

However ...I had an HP Model TS-L632
which is also a combo drive ..
I think possibly both CD and DVD R/W...dual layer ?
This one will accept the rear CD bar ..same connector.
It does appear to be a bit slow in use ...but can be seen and data accessed from within Win98
It also booted the 600X with a copy of my BART PE disc on DVD.
Again ..a bit slow to access ...but it does actually work.
..and physically fits unlike the thinkpad slim combo ..
I'd like to get a more compatible Thinkpad Combo drive ...but they never show pictures of the rear connector on ebay ..so it would be a huge gamble.
thoughts anyone ?
rgds
VS

Posted: **Tue Jun 05, 2018 4:29 pm**

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:17 am
Thanks for the advice re the DVD drives..
I can obtain one of these easily
UltraBay 2000 ThinkPad Laptop Internal DVD-ROM Optical Drive 27L4213

Is this suitable for the 600X ?

Suitable, after the drive rail modification. Make sure you replace the entire frame except the face plate so that your drive has something to latch on in your 600 laptop.
https://imgur.com/a/lMzW1BN

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:18 pm
I have a slim combo thinkpad drive FRU P/N 39T2675
Sadly the rear removeable bar from the CD drive cant be fitted ..
different plug ...no idea what Thinkpad this is intended for ?

I think that is intended for the T4x/R5x series and unfortunately those drives have a proprietary plug thus cannot be modded.

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:18 pm
However ...I had an HP Model TS-L632
which is also a combo drive ..
I think possibly both CD and DVD R/W...dual layer ?
This one will accept the rear CD bar ..same connector.
It does appear to be a bit slow in use ...but can be seen and data accessed from within Win98
It also booted the 600X with a copy of my BART PE disc on DVD.
Again ..a bit slow to access ...but it does actually work.
..and physically fits unlike the thinkpad slim combo ..
I'd like to get a more compatible Thinkpad Combo drive ...but they never show pictures of the rear connector on ebay ..so it would be a huge gamble.
thoughts anyone ?
rgds
VS

If it says Ultrabay Slim or enhanced, it is from the T4x/R5x or T/R6x series and those things come with that proprietary plug so no luck.
If it is Ultrabay enhanced, though it comes with that proprietary plug, I remember there exists converters that let you mount that into Ultrabay 2000, but sadly no Ultraslimbay (Ultrabay Slim is too thin and makes your laptop look ugly)
If it says Ultraslimbay, it is the drives that fit in 600 series laptops natively.
If it says Ultrabay 2000 or Plus, they can be modded by that trick.
What I said here only applies for CD/DVD drives, I have no idea how this would work for things like floppy or HDD adapters.
Also, I do not recommend using drives for other brands as they may cause problems that you would never even think of.
For my testing with my Ultrabay 2000 CD-RW/DVD combo drive, it works properly under Windows, but the BIOS detects it as a regular CD-ROM drive. Just something to keep in mind.

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:07 am**

I'm having a good day ..
The 600E I won recently on ebay arrived ..
it was well packaged ...and came with a genuine charger ...and an external floppy drive.
Nice

Imagine my surprise to also find a 6.4gb hard drive fitted ..and a working Win98 installation.
It does have driver issues however ..and I know how to fix most of them now.
No personal data on it tho ..which is a good thing imo.
That said ..it is not a factory restored installation..so obviously retrofitted.
Physically in very good condition ...even with the 'stickyness' of the rubberised coating ..these lovely old laptops suffer from.
The only thing missing is the hinged floppy connector cover.
Main battery does not take a charge sadly..
It is a PII cpu ..but only has basic ram @ 32mb
but does have a working 24x cd drive.
..and needs a cmos battery which is as expected.
All in all ..a very nice example which cost me 26 UKP delivered.
rgds
VS

..does anyone have advice for restoring the 'coating' on these ?

I have another 600 series lappy arriving in a few days ..
This one is a total mystery ...as the vendor couldn't provide more info about the type..
I do love a lucky dip.
lol

Posted: **Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:39 pm**

Ok ..making some progress on the 600E.
Replaced the Cmos battery..
Added a 32mb and a 64mb stick to the onboard ram ..
and found a battery on ebay with tested 2 hour capacity..
Now on order..
..and pulled the hard drive and tested it with HD Tune..
checks out with no errors ...so imaged it with HDClone..

Posted: **Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:48 pm**

I hope it isn't against the rules to link to another forum..
I this case Vogons.
The reason being ..I just uploaded a topic there with photos to show the best (imo) type of CF adapter to use in the 600 series.
particularly for older DOS based operating systems ..when you dont have a hard drive.
rgds
VS
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=60585

Posted: **Sat Jun 09, 2018 4:11 pm**

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:39 pm
Added a 32mb and a 64mb stick to the onboard ram ..

Why not add more ram? the lower capacity ones like 64mb or 128mb sticks of pc100 don't really cost much at all, and that I also do happen to have those sitting in my drawer as I'm already even having spare 256mb pc100 sticks

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:09 am**

kfzhu1229 wrote: ↑
Sat Jun 09, 2018 4:11 pm

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:39 pm
Added a 32mb and a 64mb stick to the onboard ram ..
Why not add more ram? the lower capacity ones like 64mb or 128mb sticks of pc100 don't really cost much at all, and that I also do happen to have those sitting in my drawer as I'm already even having spare 256mb pc100 sticks

I may well add more ram to up the spec of these luvverly old lappies.
I now have a 600 waiting for repair..
A Basic 600 running win95 ..
A 600E running Win98SE
..and a 600X ...with 3x OS prepared on swappable 30gb hard drives.
Win2K ....WinNT ....and Win ME
I'm hoping to put these 3 working OS on 1x 120GB ATA drive ...with a graphical boot and hide front end.
The Idea is 3 primary partitions ...whichever OS is selected at boot hides the other 2 partitions.
rgds
VS

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2018 2:45 pm**

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:09 am
I may well add more ram to up the spec of these luvverly old lappies.

And I hoped that you can make more use of my lower capacity RAM sticks (like 32mb PC66, 64mb PC66/PC100, 128mb PC100/PC133). I have more than enough to stick in all of your 600 machines. I hope I could send it to u at little to no money since now I have no use with them other than using a few of them to prop stuff like eliminating the GPU sag of my 1050 Ti, but the shipping cost may be a pain to you.

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2018 8:58 pm**

I wont deny I'm tempted ..but shipping could well be the deciding factor..
Shipping is often a problem between the US and the UK ..
for example ..I'm currently trying to buy a dell laptop motherboard from the states ..but the vendor is refusing to sell on account (his claim) ebay refuses to operate global shipping on this item ..
If I lived in United States, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Japan,
Sweden, Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Saint
Kitts-Nevis, Guernsey, Jersey
No problem ..but the UK isn't on that list ..so
I am being refused..
it's not just the cost sometimes..which can be excessive...
The rules just aren't flexible enough ..and without good reason.
So much for a connected world..
lol
anyhoo ..I shall give your offer some thought kfzhu..
Got to get some more funds in the piggy bank first.

Posted: **Mon Jun 11, 2018 11:57 pm**

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 11, 2018 8:58 pm
I wont deny I'm tempted ..but shipping could well be the deciding factor..
Shipping is often a problem between the US and the UK ..

I am not in the USA. I am in Canada, which I think is easier on UK as I have bought many stuff from the UK before and had no problem with that. It's really Trump that's being harsh on trading.

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2018 6:35 pm**

kfzhu1229 wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 04, 2018 9:35 pm
(the regular 600 doesn't quite have the power to play DVDs even with the 300Mhz CPU).

Not true at all - 300MHz should be fine for DVD playback.

I put a DVDROM/CDRW drive in my 600 (2645-45U) back in 2004, and had no problems playing DVDs on it with the 300MHz processor (ref1: https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.p ... 220#p31220, ref2: https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.p ... 826#p83826)

I did eventually acquire/upgrade to a PII-400, but that wasn't until 3 years later (ref: https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.p ... 00#p244000)

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:31 pm**

Rob Mayercik wrote: ↑
Wed Jun 13, 2018 6:35 pm
Not true at all - 300MHz should be fine for DVD playback.

Really? Right now with the 266mhz PII it couldn't even play back 360p properly (only the MPEG-1 coded 360p videos play fine, and even then it could only do it at 16bit colour).
How the heck does a 300mhz PII do DVD playback while it has absolutely no form of acceleration from either the GPU or a MPEG-2 decoder (which the regular 600 doesn't even have the slot for)?

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2018 11:59 am**

Sorry for the delay, haven't been on the board for a bit.

All I can guess at is that the 300MHz CPU was just enough more power to make it work - I remember sitting in a hotel room in Port Canaveral, FL during Hurricane Charlie watching DVDs on the thing while the Olympic opening ceremonies were on the TV.

It was running Windows 98SE at the time, and I think I was using CyberLink PowerDVD (whatever version came in the package with the DVD drive when I'd bought it a week or two earlier.

Maybe the 300MHz CPU module has more cache memory than the 266, and it made the difference?

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:50 pm**

Rob Mayercik wrote: ↑
Thu Jun 28, 2018 11:59 am
It was running Windows 98SE at the time, and I think I was using CyberLink PowerDVD (whatever version came in the package with the DVD drive when I'd bought it a week or two earlier.

Maybe the 300MHz CPU module has more cache memory than the 266, and it made the difference?

Now that I have time, I think I will try the PowerDVD software that worked in my T22 and see if I have better luck with my 266mhz CPU.

Posted: **Sun Jul 08, 2018 2:37 pm**

This thread got me inspired. I just dug out my old 600E that's been gathering dust for 2 or 3 years now - perhaps more. I was a little surprised it booted up into a working OS. I couldn't even remember what OS I had on it last. Turns out it was Manrdriva 2010 with XFCE.

I think I'll put W2K back on it. I looked and found I can get W2K printer drivers for my Brother HL-2270DW laser printer. I have some documents stored on a PC Card that I would like to print out. I believe I still have some old WiFi and Ethernet cardbus cards laying around here somewhere...

Posted: **Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:34 pm**

Apologies for this untimely experiment, but I have now tried WinDVD 4 and 5 under Windows XP XP3 (debloated, and with no Windows Updates) with default drivers on my TP600 to play back a DVD (720x480) disc.
While it does play and the audio and video are in sync, the video is stuttery and blurry, and does not look like 480p video. On top of that, it is unable to do it in 32 bit colour without having a stuttering mess and in SVGA display resolution with a screwed up scaling (the 600 machines don't have very good h/v expansion scaling, A30 was the first ThinkPad to come with that).
So while I am wrong about it not being able to play at all with that 266mhz CPU, the MPEG2 decoder on my 770ED make that computer produce much better image, but sadly that DVD drive has no region support, thus won't play back any discs locked with region.

Posted: **Wed Jul 18, 2018 11:37 am**

there may be a region-unlocked firmware for your drive, or you can try and find a little program called "DVDFree", which used to somehow sit between the drive and the SW so you could "fake out" the region coding and get past it.

Posted: **Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:21 pm**

The 700ED is no longer working, and my TP600 has a Ultrabay 2000 DVD-ROM drive that is new enough to have the correct region, so I am fine now.

Posted: **Sat Aug 04, 2018 6:42 pm**

Vipersan wrote: ↑
Sat May 19, 2018 7:03 am
I'm starting a new thread dedicated to he TP600 I'm restoring..
I already have 2x 600X restored and I wrongly assumed this recent aquisition was the same ..
It was not ..
so many variations to get familiar with.
So
This one only exhibited a power light ..and nothing else.
I was convinced it was either the CPU or the GPU ..
both of which reside on a sub pcb ..
I have no idea what the original was but opted for a 300mghz PII cpu ..and again ..not sure what the GPU is on this board.
but it arrived and physically fits .
The laptop now powers up ..and I installed a 30 gb HD (blank) as it came with no hard drive fitted.
I also replaced the bios battery ..
I can now get to the bios ..and have the bios diaplayed on screen
So vindicating my suspicions of a faulty cpu or gpu.
I ran the diagnostics after setting the clock ...an errors were seen with a cross against the mainboard diagnostics check ...
other than that everything else passed OK.
I then set about googling the errors ...which hinted at the fan being faulty.
I obtained a replacement on ebay ...fitted it...and the 600 now runs diagnostics with no errors.
I think I can safely assume ..this was responsible for the gpu/cpu failure.
This laptop was designed for Win 98 or NT ..
I assume it will accept 98se which would be my OS of choice.
But ...I cannot get it to boot one of my restore CDs ..
I only have restore discs for the 600X or 600E ...
could this be why ?
I assume I now have to find a basic TP600 restore CD
?
Am I right about this ?

Perhaps I cannot use a 30gb Hard drive ...as it doesn't appear to recognise the blank 30GB HD ..giving an I9990305 error ...which I believe is missing hard drive or OS.
It may well be that the bios simply wont accommodate this 30gb fujitsu drive ..and is expecting a much smaller drive ?
Do these early thinkpads not recognise or boot restore discs from later machines ..eg ..the 600E or 600X ?
can anyone shed light on this ...?
can anyone help me obtain a genuine IBM 600 (basic) model restore cd if this is the case.
Also does it matter that went for a 300mghz cpu version (gpu unknown at this stage)
rgds
VS

Good luck in your pursuit. I purchased a 600 here on the forum last year and I am thrilled with it:

http://sdfox7.com/600e.htm

Posted: **Sun Aug 05, 2018 12:06 am**

Also, as for the problem of large (30GB or higher) hard drive not recognised, make sure that the system partition is less than 8GB or something (and probably better luck with FAT32 than NTFS), and then it boots just fine.
I have a 40GB Hitachi 5400rpm hard drive from a T4x computer inside that 600 with Windows XP, and that method worked fine for me - just sometimes I have to replug the hard drive to get it to boot for me.

Posted: **Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:25 am**

kfzhu1229 wrote: ↑
Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:44 pm
- - -
I am not entirely sure about 60GB and 80GB, but I used a Hitachi hard drive that has the FRU from a T4x machine (5400RPM, 40GB), and even with the latest BIOS, if I have the system partition too large, the computer just simply won't boot and gets stuck on the blinking cursor (Windows XP was installed).
I also have a Toshiba 30GB 4200RPM hard drive that is a bit more period correct (no fluid bearing) and that drive (with Windows 2000) boots on that computer no matter how I tamper with the partition.

I also have found a limit of around 32GB for 600 and 128GB for 600X (I have no 600E).

Hard Drive Size Limitations and Barriers:
http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_driv ... rriers.htm

Posted: **Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:37 am**

hopgarden53 wrote: ↑
Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:25 am
I also have found a limit of around 32GB for 600 and 128GB for 600X (I have no 600E).

I don't think that's right for the 600X. I'm pretty sure I had a Hitachi 160GB drive in mine, which was the largest PATA drive available at the time I was last using it. I think I had to make sure that no single partition was larger than 128GB, but I don't think there is a problem structurally accessing data with drives larger than 128GB in the 600X. I assume the same is true of the 600E. But the 600 may very well have other limitations.

Posted: **Sat Nov 17, 2018 1:12 am**

pkiff wrote: ↑
Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:37 am
I don't think that's right for the 600X. I'm pretty sure I had a Hitachi 160GB drive in mine, which was the largest PATA drive available at the time I was last using it. I think I had to make sure that no single partition was larger than 128GB, but I don't think there is a problem structurally accessing data with drives larger than 128GB in the 600X. I assume the same is true of the 600E. But the 600 may very well have other limitations.

Really that large for 600X? I put that very same Hitachi 160GB hard drive into my A30p once and it refuses to recognise the hard drive properly at all (I remember the bios doesn't see it either under boot options).
but yeah what he was talking about are all for the maximum capacity designed to be handled by the chipset. My ThinkPad 600 works just fine with a 30GB hard drive no matter how I tamper with the partitions, but as soon as I start to put in a 40GB hard drive 5400rpm, the machine would start freaking out if partition is larger than 30GB instantly and even when the boot partition size is around 10-12GB the partition would just get corrupted during one of the boots and you lose a partition worth of files (at least under NT5.x NTFS partition with the first rev. of BIOS, boot NTFS partition size larger than 12GB would boot for about 10 times and then BSOD and never starts again, and then the partition turns into RAW)
I have my boot partition as 8GB and with a spare 20 something GB partition just for data and it is working fine outside of sometimes failing to boot due to aging controllers.

Posted: **Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:00 pm**

kfzhu1229 wrote: ↑
Sat Nov 17, 2018 1:12 am

pkiff wrote: ↑
Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:37 am
I don't think that's right for the 600X. I'm pretty sure I had a Hitachi 160GB drive in mine, which was the largest PATA drive available at the time I was last using it. I think I had to make sure that no single partition was larger than 128GB, but I don't think there is a problem structurally accessing data with drives larger than 128GB in the 600X. I assume the same is true of the 600E. But the 600 may very well have other limitations.
Really that large for 600X? - - - My ThinkPad 600 works just fine with a 30GB hard drive no matter how I tamper with the partitions, but as soon as I start to put in a 40GB hard drive 5400rpm, the machine would start freaking out if partition is larger than 30GB instantly - - -

In the case of 600X I was too pessimist. Empirical testing with my 600X: Pentium III @ 500/650 MHz, 576 MB, DVD+-RW. Operating system Win XP sp2 @ 80 GB PATA (1st HD) when testing Ultrabay HD drives.

Working as 2nd HD:
1) 128 GB PATA SSD @ Ultraslimbay HDD Adapter
2) 160 GB PATA (IDE) @ Ultraslimbay HDD Adapter

Not working - XP installation:
3) 128 GB PATA SSD as 1st HD and DVD+-RW at Ultraslimbay (XP install DVD)

Working - XP installation:
4) 160 GB PATA as 1st HD and DVD+-RW at Ultraslimbay (XP install DVD)

Working 2nd HD after installation 4):
5) 500 GB SATA at "SATA HDD docking station" USB !!

Not so bad for this Dec 1999 released ThinkPad!

Posted: **Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:54 pm**

hopgarden53 wrote: ↑
Tue Nov 20, 2018 1:00 pm
Not working - XP installation:
3) 128 GB PATA SSD as 1st HD and DVD+-RW at Ultraslimbay (XP install DVD)

What prevents XP from working when installed on the SSD?

Posted: **Tue Nov 20, 2018 6:01 pm**

Install starts normally from DVD but terminates at the first restart. The cause: "No HD was found ..."?
After this I tested the system with bootable Linux CD. Again any HD was not found.

Thinking why the SSD is not recognized as 1st HD.

Thinkpads Forum

Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection

Re: Thinkpad 600 resurrection