Thinkpads Forum

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie to "Thinkpad' and a newbie to thinkpads, for what it's worth I am in Perth in Downunderland.

The real reason for this plea is that I have just acquired (legally) something called an IBM 770X Thinkpad.

I have managed to work out the basics but am still a little confused so thought this might be the place???

Perhaps my problems can be solved if there is a little red book somewhere on the net that will tell me what I have??
If so can you direct me please as it did'nt include a manual.

They are silly questions that a 770 owner would laugh at and could answer in a minute, like what are the two paddles on the front of the unit that seem to be activated by small slide switches?

Between the CD reader and the Phone line In, there is an empty orifice that is somehow associated with 2 blue push buttons, whatever is supposed to be in this orifice isnt??

Are these units like some Toshibas that require a special disk to reformat or can I just go ahead and upgrade from the existing Win98 to XP ??

Like I stated 'stupid basic queries' perhaps this isn't the place for an answer, however I am usually sitting at this FRED every morning at about 7am - which is 2300 UTC (or GMT if you prefer) and can usually be found on 7601120 in ICQ hiding under the nick of "stix"

In advance... thanks

G'day and welcome to thinkpads.com!

The "FAQ" can lead you to the answers to your questions:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1689

What you basically need to do is download a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the 770 series systems from this link:

HMM for 770, 770E, 770ED, 770X, 770Z

This Adobe Acrobat file has a pretty good description of the features of your "new" system. It also has the information on how to take apart the laptop if you wish to service it yourself.

I think the two paddles you refer to are the release latches for the Ultrabay devices located on the left and right sides. The empty slots with the two buttons are the PCMCIA (aka PC Card) slots.

As far as upgrading the OS, I believe that you can use retail XP install disk but you would have to go the IBM/Lenovo web sites to download appropriate drivers for your system. Said software and drivers are at:

Software and Device Drivers for 770

Welcome to Thinkpads.com!

Perhaps my problems can be solved if there is a little red book somewhere on the net that will tell me what I have??
If so can you direct me please as it did'nt include a manual.

Here is a list of manuals from IBM's website. Choose the one you are looking for.

They are silly questions that a 770 owner would laugh at and could answer in a minute, like what are the two paddles on the front of the unit that seem to be activated by small slide switches?

Those are the eject switches for the battery and the CD drive. There are a number of devices that can go into that bay. The 770 used Ultrabay II, so you can buy a whatever device you want to use.

Between the CD reader and the Phone line In, there is an empty orifice that is somehow associated with 2 blue push buttons, whatever is supposed to be in this orifice isnt??

That would be the PCMCIA cardslot. Here you can put in a PCMCIA Wireless card and other things to give this computer more functionality.

Are these units like some Toshibas that require a special disk to reformat or can I just go ahead and upgrade from the existing Win98 to XP ??

No. You may need to set up the BIOS to boot off the CD-ROM drive. I believe you need to press down F1 while turning on the computer to access the EazySetup (BIOS).

Hopefully some of this helps. Please post again with any other problems/concerns/questions.

Stargate is right about everything. Hold F1 to get into the Bios set your boot order to CD-Rom as first, Floopy second, and Hrad Drive third. The two switches on the front eject the battery (left side) and the right switch ejects the Ultrabay II. The Ultrabay II has six different factory choices. (Some people have put other drives in but that requires making a few simple changes.)

-CD-Rom
-DVD-Rom
-Floppy
-LS120
-zip100
-second battery (requires adapter/spacer)

If you plan to watch DVDs on your lappy it will be good to have the DVD Enhanced Video Adapter (DEVA) installed. It maybe already if you look below the battery on the left side their will either be a blank spot, an empty spot, or three little circles. If there is three circles then you have a DEVA card, if it is empty or a blank plate then either someone took it out or it was never installed. The DEVA card can be bought from ebay or other online auction sites for $10 and under.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask evryone here is ready to help. (I was in your shoes 6 months ago)

thanks Guys, in a flash you have directed me in the right direction - which is appreciated -

At present I have downloaded the manual and am now into LS120's zip100 and Deva's.

And I thought school stopped at 14 ???