leoblob wrote:
The documentation says the hard drive is unupgradeable and unremovable. I'm sure it still can be done (anything is possible), but I suspect it's difficult.
They say that, but it is not true. I upgraded my son's i1472 hard drive twice.
He is happy enough with it, and still using it daily for email and working on his master's degree online while flying cargo planes for the Air Force all over the world. Not long ago it flew across the cargo compartement and smashed into the forward bulkhead while he had left it unattended for a moment during some turbulence. Still works fine and was totally undamaged.
It has had since the day after we got it, and still has Windows 2000 on it and runs fine with that.
Right now it has this hard drive in it:
Travelstar 60 GB
Hitachi Model: HTS541060G9AT00
P/N: 13G1583
Here is how to do it:
First step to remove the hard drive is to remove the logo plate that says "i Series" on the left side at the back of the keyboard, and has four colored bars on it... from left to right red, green, blue, and yellow.
To get this off, take a medium straight screwdriver, or two such screwdrivers, and find the indentations built into the logo plate for such screwdrivers. They are located at the rear of the logo plate (the LCD Screen side) on the left side you will see nine holes in the logo plate.
The left most screwdriver slot is behind the sixth and seventh hole of the nine holes, counting from left to right. The right screwdriver slot is at the extreme right end of the logo plate.
The logo plate is attached to the computer by six plastic hooks. The two closest to the computer user are located directly below the letter "i" in the "i Series" legend, and the other one directly below the gap between the right side of the green block and the left side of the blue block on the logo plate. In order to disengage these two hooks without breaking them, you must first disengage the four hooks at the top of the logo plate and then rotate the logo plate toward the front of the keyboard (opposite the direction shown in the Maintenance Manual).
To disengage the four rear hooks, insert a medium screwdriver in the slots previously described above at the top of the logo plate, and twist the screwdriver so as to push the top of the logo plate inward and release the hooks. The top hooks themselves are located just above the first and second hole on the left side of the logo plate, and the next one is between the ninth hole and the letter "i" in the "i Series" legend. The third top hook is located above the left end of the blue bar, and the final top hook is located at the extreme right hand side of the logo plate.
Then remove the two silver phillips head screws at the opposite ends of the resulting opening, which secure the keyboard. Next, before the keyboard can be removed, there is a small plastic locking tab located between the INSERT and HOME keys that must be disengaged. Using your finger, or gently with an object press back on this tab until it "pops" up and in slightly, leaving space where previously it held the keyboard. The keyboard can now be removed by raising the back of it slightly and sliding it back to release the front of the keyboard which has a lip that goes under the case housing in the front of the keyboard and the pointing device, which is part of the keyboard. Be careful not to damage the thin ribbon cables connecting the keyboard to the rest of the system. The connectors for these ribbon cable can be removed most easily by using Revlon "Manicure Sticks" and on each of the three sockets the ribbon cables must be unlocked by taking the Manicure Sticks and pushing up (not out) but UP away from the bottom of the socket on each side. The outer part of the socket will move upward a small but discernable amount, releasing the lock and the cable will then be free and will come out either on it's own by popping out, or with negligible pressure to remove it from the socket.
After removing the ribbon cables and the keyboard, using a "P0" size Phillips screwdriver, remove the six phillips screws that hold the heatsink in place. Three of these screws are on the left side of the computer at an orientation of about one o'clock, eleven o'clock, and seven o'clock positions, and are all recessed to some degree, with the eleven o'clock oriented one less recessed than the other two. Two of the other three are black colored, and in line with each other over the left side of the hard disk drive, with the one closest to the LCD Screen having a ground wire connected to it. The final screw is down inside a hole on the right side of the hard disk drive, securing an aluminum foot of the heat sink bracket to the underlying hard disk drive bracket and to the motherboard.
NOTE: The maintenance manual has two sections and at first glance the maintenance manual might appear to be wrong for this model 2611 472... in the first part of the manual it shows only three screws and a shorter bracket which does not incorporate the CPU heat sink as well as the Hard Drive heat sink. You have to look in PART II of the Maintenance Manual, starting on Page 133 and specifically to remove the keyboard and heat sink on this model, starting on Page 153. If you look there the directions will be correct, showing removal of six screws and not three, and the plate (heat sink) that goes all the way across.
After removing these screws... make sure to tape them to a paper drawing where the go or other method to avoid mixing up their location when replacing them, as they are all different.... then slightly raise the left side of the metal plate (CPU and Hard Drive Heat Sink) and slide it to the left to disengage the lip on the right side of the metal plate from the notebook case, and then remove it and set it aside.
Next raise the front edge ONLY of the Hard Disk Drive gently to disengage the card type connector on the front of the socket into which it is plugged and then after rotating the front of the Hard Drive up a short distance then bring it forward to remove it from the computer. As the Hardware Maintenance Manual states, it cannot be removed when pulled straight up.
Clean the card connector on both sides of the gold contacts with a soft pencil eraser until is it shiny.
While you have the hard drive out, replace the CMOS battery with a new Maxell 1220. According to Longs Drugs, Duracell has no equivalent battery. I replaced the one that was in there with a fresh Maxell CR1220 that I got at Longs Windward City and which had a date code of being supplied to Longs on 5/2005, according to the sales clerk.
The ThinkPad manual refers to it as the "RTC Backup Battery".
To change the CMOS battery, you first remove the keyboard and the heat sink and the battery, and then take a long straight thin screwdriver and put it on top of the housing where the heat sink securing screw goes (right next to the CMOS battery location) and stick the screwdriver blade underneath the CMOS battery in the part toward the right front corner of the machine.... if you look at the socket for the CMOS battery from the top you will see a small spring clip at the ten o'clock position... what you want to do is to pry the battery upward on the opposite side from that spring clip... prying like at the seven o'clock position and the battery will come up and out with the four o'clock position coming out first and the ten o'clock position where the spring clip is coming out last.
Remove the four screws securing the card connector bracket to the sides of the hard drive, and then with a small jewelers screwdriver, pry gently and alternately on one side and then the other between the hard drive case and the bracket ends near where the two screws secure the card connector to the bracket until the bracket can be removed manually from the hard drive.
Next replace the bracket on the new hard drive. Insert the hard drive in the notebook by lowering the rear portion and making sure it goes under the cast screw mount for the right screw that will later secure the keyboard, making sure that the grounding wire is not caught underneath the left rear hard disk drive mounting bracket, and that the hole in the right rear side of the hard disk drive mounting bracket aligns with the raised pin at the rear of the notebook near the LCD, and then lower the front side of the hard disk drive so that the card connector can be aligned with the socket, and once it is aligned, push the card connector into the socket.
Once the hard drive is installed, if the Thermal Pad is undamaged... as it was this time, what I did was to run a small ribbon of Arctic 5 Silver Brand "Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound" in the center of the old Thermal Pad which was still attached to the heat sink after wiping off the Thermal Pad and the mating surface on the CPU with a cotton cloth to remove the traces of the old thermal grease. I think last time I used the Radio Shack thermal grease and spread a thin layer all over the thermal pad. This time, upon the recommendations of several technicians and having read it before in directions for thermal grease, saying to just put a little in the center, I ran a ribbon all the way down the center lengthwise which hopefully will spread out evenly like it supposedly will do. Last time I think I actually spread it around evenly myself, which I now wish I had done again since the directions on the back of the Arctic Silver I now see say "Application: A Thin Layer applied to surface (or slug) or CPU/GPU". If there is a "Next Time" I think it would be better to spread it evenly yourself. (Added note years later) even better maybe to remove the thermal pad completely using a Xylene based carburator cleaner or brake pad cleaning product which contains Xylene and use only thermal grease, but this Thinkpad is still running fine with what I did... leaving it on there and putting some thermal grease because I didn't know any better at the time.
Once the thermal compound is in place, insert the lip on the left side of the Heat Sink/Metal Plate under the silver metal housing of the notebook on the left side, and align the holes for the three hard drive securing screws. This will ensure that the three screws to secure the heat sink in position on the CPU are aligned properly, since you can visually align those three holes as they are hidden. Next reinsert the six screws in their holes, making sure to attach the ground wire to the upper black screw on the LCD side of the hard drive. Start the three screws in the CPU side first to ensure they are aligned properly, and then after starting all the screws, tighten them in rotation to ensure equal tightening of the plate securing screws. Tighten them tight but not to the point of stripping them with the Phillips P0 screwdriver.
Reattach the keyboard ribbon cables, holding them in position seated in the bottom of their respective sockets while using the Manicure Sticks to evenly push down the locks for each cable. Next secure the keyboard with the two mounting screws near the left side and the center of the LCD, and then turn the unit around so the the back of the LCD is visible, and you will see the back of the locking tab located between the INSERT and HOME keys, which you released earlier, sticking out the back of the computer below the LCD lid. Push the locking tab back in and you will hear it click into place. Now this time, when we put the rust colored cable in place, which is the hardest one to get it... right side rear one... there is still some white coloring visible out of the top (back) of the socket. The best we could feel it (Larry and I) it seemed to be bottomed out, and we removed it and looked like the metal contacts which are on the bottom only went part way up the length of the white area of the cable, so I think it is normal for that white to be showing, but if it stops working, that would be the first place to check... the seating of that cable.
Then make sure the computer works OK, and when you are sure it does, replace the Logo Plate that was removed in the first step at the left side of the keyboard.
=================End of my directions notes========
My Older Notes from the first time I changed the Hard Drive from the 6 GB to the 40 GB.
If you are going to remove the hard drive heat sink (which you have to do to change the hard drive or to change the CMOS battery, it is recommended that you have on had a "Screw Kit" P/N 05K4841 according to the Hardware Maintenance Manual Page 108 for the 2611 472, so that you can replace the Nylok coated screws with new ones when you replace them.
It appears that even ThinkPad EZServ Maintenance doesn't use Nylok screws when they work on the ThinkPads, based on the statements they made when I tried to call them about it, and when I called the IBM 900 number about it as well. I also went to CompUSA Service Department and asked them about it. Their suggestion was to use LokTite, which probably isn't a bad idea, except for all the strengths of LokTite that I was able to find in local autoparts and other stores were much too strong and you would never get the screw out again. There is a light strength of LokTite that would probably be appropriate for this application (based on the different types shown on the back of the card of the types they carried in the auto part stores), but nobody I found carried that lightweight strength of LokTite.
As far as the torque value of the screws, there are torque screwdrivers, but they cost about $ 250 plus the ones available here locally were calibrated in ft/lbs or inch/pounds, and the chart in the Hardware Maintenance Manual had the torque values expressed in in/cm or some such weird value that it was not possible to find a torque screwdriver calibrated in this value.
The screws are small Phillips head screws that a Phillips size P0 is perfect for.
Good Luck... just take it slow and careful and you can do it.
