Thinkpads Forum

My brother-in-law just gave me a TP 600e that he acquired at a flea market. He thought since I work with computers all day that maybe I could find some use for it. I thought, wow, this is probably another old computer I will end up throwing away, my main job is Database development (MSSQL 2000/2005) and doing ETL work -- I'm not much into hardware support; the PC I built was back in 2002 and that was a generic Windows desktop for my son. Anyway, I plugged the AC adapter in and let it sit overnight and the next day I did a POR and immediately got a 161/163 error. Then I joined this forum. What I wouild like to do is get the H/W manual (09n1033.pdf) but I keep getting a connection error to the ftp site. I think this connection error is a result of the security we have running on this end.

So, here is my first favor to ask of you guys/gals -- cna someone email me the pdf? It appears to be only 1MB in size so it will pass our 10MB attachment limit.

My email address is stephen.wolfe@macdill.af.mil.

TIA,

Steve

There you go. Hope you have fun with the machine. The 600 is old, but it was one the legendary ThinkPads in terms of build quality.

Good build quality, that's good to hear. It is a little rough around the edges, but the LCD screen works good, the numeric keys work OK -- keyboard seems to be in good shape, no sticky keys.

Oh, and thanks to Stanley Chen for sending me the manual. I know I need to get a CMOS battery because I'm getting 161/163 codes, BIOS appears not to be locked because I can get in and set the date/time and then I get the O > | graphic to do a POR or at least that is what I'm thinking it is trying to tell me. Once I read the manual I'll probably be better informed.

You all can probably expect questions from me in the near future, but now it is study-up time.

Welcome to the forums. The CMOS battery can be found on E-bay for under $5. Just do a search for "thinkpad 600 cmos"

Good luck.

stephen.wolfe wrote: You all can probably expect questions from me in the near future, but now it is study-up time.

No problem that is why we are here to help each other.

Wingnut wrote:Welcome to the forums. The CMOS battery can be found on E-bay for under $5. Just do a search for "thinkpad 600 cmos"

Good luck.

Thank you for the encouragement, getting a CMOS battery is the first order of business. But, can the battery be bought at CompUSA or Best Buy, etc; in the event, I didn't want to wait?

Doubtful that they would have a battery which already has the proper connector that plugs into the motherboard. Some people have simply bought a standard CR2025 lithum coin battery, removed the metal strips that are welded on the factory battery and taped them to the CR2025. Note, I said taped. Don't try to solder them on as the battery will have the tendancy to explode.

You can get more hits on eBay if you use these search strings:

ibm 600* (cmos,backup,rtc) batter*

or

02k6502

You can also post a "wanted" in the Marketplace forum.

stephen.wolfe wrote:Thank you for the encouragement, getting a CMOS battery is the first order of business. But, can the battery be bought at CompUSA or Best Buy, etc; in the event, I didn't want to wait?

I got mine in 3 days and I am in Canada. The guy I bought mine from is in Florida. But like you, I didn't want to wait, so I made one myself. Cut the yellow plastic off the old battery. Pull the leads off the old battery with a pair of pliers. Bend the tabs over so that when you tape them to the new battery, there is a spring effect and you don't loose contact. Then wrap the new battery with electrical tape. I used a piece of heat shrink tubing to make my CMOS battery instead of electrical tape. If you can find some, it works like a charm. Just be carefull no to short out the leads as the edge of the battery (+) can come into contact with the wire for the negative side if its not insulated. I will be making another one soon when my 600e's come in. I'll take pictures.

rkawakami wrote:Doubtful that they would have a battery which already has the proper connector that plugs into the motherboard. Some people have simply bought a standard CR2025 lithum coin battery, removed the metal strips that are welded on the factory battery and taped them to the CR2025. Note, I said taped. Don't try to solder them on as the battery will have the tendancy to explode.

You can get more hits on eBay if you use these search strings:

ibm 600* (cmos,backup,rtc) batter*

or

02k6502

You can also post a "wanted" in the Marketplace forum.

Thanks for the tip on 'taping'. Last night I got the computer to boot to Windows (Win98SE). Somewhere on this forum I read if you supply the correct date and time in the Bios and do a quick POR, it will boot. This is a true.

The 600e has 96MB of memory, 5.99GB HDD and a DVD that will not eject, but it works. there is an applcation CD in it now for a preschool learning game. I just can't get to eject, either from the driver (right-clicking on device in explore and selecting 'eject') or mechanically by pushing the eject button. When I use the driver I hear it make about 3-4 clicking sounds and then it stops trying to do anything but keeps spinning and is data accessible.

More to do, more to learn ... but it is fun.

Thanks for the help.

There is <strike>always</strike> usually an emergency eject hole on the front of the bezel. Straighten out a paper clip to push it into the hole and the tray should open. Slot loaders don't have one as far as I know. Can't find one on my Macs and I've never bothered looking in the manual for them either .

rkawakami wrote:There is <strike>always</strike> usually an emergency eject hole on the front of the bezel. Straighten out a paper clip to push it into the hole and the tray should open. Slot loaders don't have one as far as I know. Can't find one on my Macs and I've never bothered looking in the manual for them either .

I tried the paper clip trick (there is a small hole , like you said, just to the right of the eject button) but nothing happened. Any other suggestions? I could just replace it -- are the remove and replace instructions for that device in the hardware manual?

I guess while I'm here how does one go about acquiring the upgraded bios?

TIA!

Hi, welcome,

To do it yourself, you need to be able to boot from a floppy disk... proceed no further if you don't have the ability to boot from a floppy.

The protocol is to boot from a special floppy which unlocks the bios flash memory AFTER making sure that you are both plugged into a wall socket AND have a fully charged battery. Failing to complete a flash programming task will leave the motherboard useless.

bios upgrades are available right from the IBM/lenovo website.

that's www dot lenovo dot com, and do a search on your product number (2645-51U or whatever) and it will take you to the support page.

the latest for the TP600 is IBET53WW (from 2001 or thereabouts).

[EDIT: I just saw that the first post said that your machine is a 600E, which is DIFFERENT than the plain old TP600,... the latest bios is either IHET36WW or INET36WW, depending on the specific model number of your Thinkpad 600e. MAKE SURE that the BIOS file you download is from the web page corresponding to your SPECIFIC model! )

Download the file, and execute it. This does NOT program the bios, just builds the tool.

The instructions will tell you to insert a blank floppy into the A drive, and then create a special BIOS programming disk.

Then, boot from the floppy that you just created, and follow the instructions.

The whole task is about 30 minutes of preparation and 30 seconds to actually execute.

When the programming is complete (and don't be in a hurry), read the prompts on the screen, remove the floppy and reboot the system. You're done!

Note: for reasons specific to Windows installations, the "BIOS date" viewable in the thinkpad configuration menu (what you see when you power on with F1 held down) will always say 1999, no matter what date the BIOS was actually released. So track the BIOS version number, not the "build" date.

Cheers!

--dabard051

It sounds like the cd popped off or is about to pop off of the spindle and not letting the door open. I would remove the drive from bay and take off the rails. Then, lift off the cover. Hopefully then you can see if it is stuck because of a mechanical problems.

rkawakami wrote:There is <strike>always</strike> usually an emergency eject hole on the front of the bezel. Straighten out a paper clip to push it into the hole and the tray should open. Slot loaders don't have one as far as I know. Can't find one on my Macs and I've never bothered looking in the manual for them either .

For slot-loading macs the "hole" is a membrane button that is positioned at the rightmost side of the CD slot. You have to insert the paper clip into the slot itself, but into the rightmost side only. You will feel the button depress when the clip goes in far enough. I can't tell you how many times I had to do this on my family's old iMac 350.

stephen.wolfe wrote:What I wouild like to do is get the H/W manual (09n1033.pdf) but I keep getting a connection error to the ftp site.

I too, keep getting connection errors to the ftp site. In my case I'm looking for all the *book.pdf files. So far I've only managed to get a twbook.pdf dated 10/98 and a tawbook.pdf dated 11/06. Is there a kind soul out there willing to email me the rest of 'em?


Monique

I've put a brand new 2035 battery in and taped the connectors but if I dont use the laptop for a day or too I still get the 161/163 errors - weird...

kennysarmy wrote:I've put a brand new 2035 battery in and taped the connectors but if I dont use the laptop for a day or too I still get the 161/163 errors - weird...

Yeah, I have the same problem, and I've drained two new batteries so far. The one that came with it ( a 2645-4AU, bought secondhand only a few years old) lasted some 6 years by my calculations. Now I can't get a brand-new taped battery to last a month.

It could be that the taping job you did isn't making good enough contact - try retaping it, or track down an OEM one that has leads already attached.

Rob