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Strip down and fix up a decent 770

Older ThinkPads from the 300, 500, 600, 700 Series, iSeries, Transnote etc.
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solidpro
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Strip down and fix up a decent 770

#1 Post by solidpro » Mon May 22, 2023 1:34 pm

Hi All

I managed to get an IBM Thinkpad 770 from ebay for about £60, which appealed to me because I would say 75% of the 770 machines out there have a terrible condition in their palm rest where whatever IBM were using to coat and paint it, was an early bad design that reacts easily to either wear of the human wrists or the grease and oils in the skin. So they generally look like they're been melted with acid on one side - and this one was pretty perfect!

It is in early stages of stickiness for the base, but it's not bad enough to actually come off in your hands, so I've left it for the time being.

However, what I did do was replace all the electrolytic capacitors and I did have to remove a SVP password on it. So I thought I would take a few pics. Especially as I've seen a few people say that the 770 is a bit of a nightmare to strip down - which isn't the case.

I didn't take pics of the whole process, but there is essentially screws on the bottom to remove, 4 along the top of the keyboard and then the keyboard and kb bezel pops off with 4 ribbon connectors underneath.

Then you have to carefully remove the 4 hinge screws and the LCD/lid pops off with just two sturdy wires to disconnect. Note in the next pic there is a horrible, time-bomb, varta hibernation battery nestling in the middle/left hand side. Get that out ASAP! I've not actually found any corrosion in a 770 variant yet, but they're all just sitting there, ready to spread!

Image

Then you have to pull out the front speakers and unscrew one screw in the middle holding the two locking plastic tabs in place which release the battery and optical drive. You just slide it up and off. Finally you have to remove about 8 or so screws to remove the aluminium shielding, which reveals the 3 x boards; 1 mainboard, 1 DC/DC/connector board and 1 for graphics.

Image

As far as capacitors were concerned, there were only 5 electrolyic in the whole thing - 2 x through hole 100uf / 16v ones and 3 x surface mount ones (100uf x 2 and 47uf) which can be replaced with tantalums.

DC Board:

Image

Motherboard:

Image

To get to the 24c01a, you do have to strip the machine back to it's boards, but you can lay it out on a table, connect up the keyboard and an external VGA display and do what you need to do fairly easily

Image

And then just do it all in reverse! Hopefully you're left with zero screws and a working machine! Good job all round. Amazingly the main lithium battery still charges and the whole machine is preserved for another 30 years - maybe with the exception of a de-rubberising at some point in the future! Booted into the stock 4Gb HDD's Windows 98.

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astral
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Re: Strip down and fix up a decent 770

#2 Post by astral » Thu May 25, 2023 9:45 pm

those purple caps marked os-con are polymer capacitors, not electrolytic. no issue with replacing them but just so you know in the future - those don’t need to be swapped. no electrolyte liquid inside of them.
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Owns: T480, Yoga S1, modded T430, T61p, R60e, T43 14" SXGA+, G40, T30 SXGA+, T23, A22p, T21, i1260, 385XD, 560, PS/Note 425

solidpro
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Re: Strip down and fix up a decent 770

#3 Post by solidpro » Fri Jun 16, 2023 10:29 am

Oh really? I didn't know such a thing existed. Why didn't they use solid caps for other machines?!
http://Ret.Rocks - Rare Used & Restored Vintage Computing for Sale!
Wanted: 220, 315D, 320, 350x, 355x, 500, 510, 530CS, 730TE, 750P, 755CD, Any 8xx Series, A20p, A21p, A22p, A31p, T40p
Currently For Sale (Restored): 560Z, 380Z, T20, T21, T22, R61, R51

astral
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Re: Strip down and fix up a decent 770

#4 Post by astral » Fri Jun 16, 2023 10:32 pm

more expensive. that tech was pretty early days in the 90s too.
Your average ThinkPad collector.
Owns: T480, Yoga S1, modded T430, T61p, R60e, T43 14" SXGA+, G40, T30 SXGA+, T23, A22p, T21, i1260, 385XD, 560, PS/Note 425

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