Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

Ive just been given a 600 - works fine - has no CD rom with it tho just a floppy

So Ive formatted the drive and put dos on - all boots up ok so at least its working.

My question is :

What kinda of parts can I replace in this ? i.e. processor memory etc... I was thinking of letting my girlfriend use it for typing up her asignments.... but would it be useful for anything else with its low spec at present ?

Ive got a good spec desktop - was just wondering if this could go wifi route and be good for some round the house surfing at least ?

Any thoughts appreciated.

From my experience, a memory upgrade is fairly easy. A processor upgrade is doable, but it does require some care while upgrading. Also on both upgrades, you need to be absolutely certain that you are using compatible parts. Do your research and ask questions.

You can add a CD writer easily. You can upgrade the hard drive easily. You can upgrade the Operating System to Windows 2000 or even XP. This usually requires a BIOS update, which is applied by booting up from a floppy disk.

You can add many options through the PC card slot such as: Wireless connectivity 802.11 a, b. & g; ethernet; cellular wireless; USB 2.0; Firewire; GPS; Serial Port; and other things. You can use USB memory keys and USB external drives.

the 600 series has been considered one of the best platforms IBM came up with... thin, light, all around good laptop..

You didnt mention which model you have, (look at the label on the bottom) It is probably a 2645-51U, which is a plain 266Mhz, 32MB, CDROM equipped 600. It may be a -4xU(which is just a little lower entry level configuration, 200/233/266MHz, with zero RAM). To get the specifics of what you have, click on this link:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... lang=en_US

where it says Quick Path on the right side, type in your model number(2645-xxx) and it'll tell you how your model was -originally- equipped. Plus, it'll give you a bunch of links to drivers, documents and the like.

ok, first... the two best upgrades you can do fairly cheap are, max out the RAM,(288MB max = two 128's plus the 32 on board) or at least up it to at least 128MB.. that would be a PC66 speed 32MB and a 64MB RAM , plus the 32MB installed on the motherboard. If you already have more than that, all the better.. Here's a PC66 SODIMM link.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... C66+SODIMM

Pay no attention to those that say PC100 or -133 memory will work... trust me, it wont. Just avoid PC100 and PC133 speed memory.

Second, upgrade the CPU. If its a 266, you can swap the cpu with a 300, 333, 366 or 400MHz processor. 400's are kinda hard to find and a little pricey, while 366's are cheap. The swaps are very easy. The 600's will ONLY take an MMC1 form, (or MMC-1). Even if it says Dell, Gateway, etc, it's ok, but it must be an MMC1.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... Card+-card

24 speed CDROM's go pretty cheap on eBay(usually $10-$15). You can even find DVD drives for $40-$50, tho the playback is a litle choppy. Not really distracting, but noticable.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... +600+CDROM

As for WiFi, just about any 802.11b or .g PCMCIA card will work. I use D-Link and Linksys, tho I also have a couple no-name .b cards that work ok too.

Batteries, sorry to say, aren't really cheap, but they are coming down..

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... 00+battery

Good luck with it. Your girlfriend will love using it.

TJ

Looks like my 2x kingston 128mb pc100 sodimm are going back on ebay. They kind of works fine, only with the first bank cut in half. Instead of 288mb usable, the machine can only use 224mb.

pcnoob wrote:Looks like my 2x kingston 128mb pc100 sodimm are going back on ebay. They kind of works fine, only with the first bank cut in half. Instead of 288mb usable, the machine can only use 224mb.

Care to list them here in the forum, and save eBay fees?

Would anyone like to buy them from me for $45? Otherwise I might try ebay.

wow - great replies.

Sorry for not listing the model - it is in fact the 600 : type 2645
The cd rom drive was broken apparently.

Ill check ebay I think for some parts to see if I can make it a little better.

Thanks again for the info - really appreciate it.


EDIT **

Can this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEC-chip-4-Ports- ... dZViewItem

be used to make USB faster ?[/url]

My recolection of the 2645-51U MB is that it has a different mounting for the CPU than the mount for any of the other CPU's mentioned. I don't think you can put a 366 or 400 into the 51U. Somebody should verify.

RRHODY wrote:My recolection of the 2645-51U MB is that it has a different mounting for the CPU than the mount for any of the other CPU's mentioned. I don't think you can put a 366 or 400 into the 51U. Somebody should verify.

You can use the 366mhz and the 400mhz, as long as they are MMC-1, and not MMC-2, like the 366mhz and 400mhz processors used in the 600E series.

@conuk:
That PCMCIA card should work to increase the speed over the 1.1 USB version that comes with the TP600, I'm just not sure if it will go to the full 2.0 speeds, as I have not tried using one.

Also, what are the three numbers/letters following the 2645 on your TP600? Is it 51U?

there isnt any numbers after it.

It just states type : 2645

the label doesnt appear to be damaged either...

Try looking near the black and white label that looks like a bar code, and has the serial number on it.

ah gotcha

Cant make it out - it was from an bank my friend used to workj for a long time ago in the UK I believe - theyve put there own sticker on it - I can make out the serial number but not the first part of it .... (dont worry I never stole it from the bank lol) - i think he got it cheap back then .... and he no longer uses it now

You can also get your model number from your BIOS "EZ-CONFIG" startup screen. To see this, press and hold F1 when you cold boot your computer, after you see the memory finish counting. I think the Model and Serial number show up on the first page.

Phil.

Ok from the EZ config screen

2645 910 55324M

it states that there is 98304 KB available - so I guess the memory was increased from new ?

Theres also a Xircom credit card Ethernet 10/100 ready card in the slot...
bonus ?

and it has the PII 266 processor.

98304K is 96MB RAM. So you've got 32MB built-in and one 64MB stick. Memory is a very easy upgrade, and you can put in two 128MB sticks for a total of 228MB.

You can use any size or speed hard disk up to 138GB.

But since you can get a 600X with a hard disk for about $200, you should think hard about what upgrades you think are worthwhile... or whether you should sell the parts and buy a newer machine.

I have a pentium CPU , not sure what it is, says:

Intel
Pentium
W/MMX tech
fv80503233
SL27S/2.8v
A4
C829025-0812

Any body that can Identiyfy it, and is it compatible in TP 60 2645-85U

Thanx

sorry TP 600 2645-85U

RRHODY wrote:My recolection of the 2645-51U MB is that it has a different mounting for the CPU than the mount for any of the other CPU's mentioned. I don't think you can put a 366 or 400 into the 51U. Somebody should verify.

As I(and a few others) have been inside many 600's, the 600 WILL take a 366 and 400 cpu as long as they are MMC1s! You gonna hafta open your other eye when reading..

TJ

even CELERONS?

I never tried the Celerys, so I cant say. I've only used the real Intels.

TJ

Ok, here is what your 600 originally came as(according to the info off your label)

<b>300MHz(w/512k cache) cpu, 64MB RAM, 5GB HD and WinNT.</b>

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... y=2645-85U

On the page are links to drivers, user docs and parts information. Lotta good stuff here.

As for upgrading the cpu, you wont see much(if any) increase with a 333 or 366(a little maybe) and a somewhat noticable increase with the 400MHz cpu. The best increases you'll see is with a faster hard drive(at LEAST 5400rpm) and max RAM(288mb).

Of the Windows flavored OS's, 98/SE ran the fastest on the 600's, followed closely by Win2000, and XP running dead last. XP, while nice and pretty an all, is a resource hog and 288mb is a little short for it. If you want the XP-type platform to run on, go with Win2000. You should be able to find 600 Recovery CD's on eBay, but they were 98/SE or NT

I havent played with Linux, so I cant help you there.

TJ

Thanks for the above info.

I got a IBM CD rom off ebay which came a few days ago.

I gathered WinXP would be too much for this so was thinking maybe 2000... is there a guide to install this ?

As I can see Im gonna have problem with the swapping Floppy / CD rom over at bootup.....

or can the CD rom be made bootable ?

I can see in the Bios there is 1)the floppy drive 2) the hard drive.... what do you press to make the CD rom bootable ?

Tis ok now - I got windows 2k installing

celeron didnt work in my 2645-35u 600 who ever it was who wanted to know the drive type in the 380xd it was a toshiba mk3017gap with fat32 file system. i lost you ? in mail so feel free to mail any ?