Thinkpads Forum

Recently I got a 770X off Ebay and I am really very happy with this laptop.
It is in a very good shape, has a 300MHz processor, 320 MB Ram, 30 GB HDD and Windows XP pro SP2 runs just fine and relatively fast.
Two questions though:
-On the keyboard, that functions well I notice a somewhat (~1.5 mm) higher spot around the F6-F7 keys.
It looks as if something under it would prevent the board to fully engage in the lower part of the laptop.
I got the HMM but from the pictures I cannot imagine if during assembly something might have gone wrong on that particular spot.
Furthermore, if not absolutely neccessary, I am reluctant to open it up.
Any suggestions what can be wrong, if anything?

-I have been reading a lot on this forum about upgrading the processor.
It seems to me that anything above 400 MHz MMC-2 can be a reason for some trouble, at least during boot-up
So I was wondering if I should upgrade at all, as the change from 300 to 400 MHz would probably not give it a tremendous boost, would it, and I am rather satisfied with its present performance.

Hi,
There are four ribbon cables & connectors in that area connecting the keyboard. It might be worth lifting the keyboard to check if one of them is causing the bump.

One word of caution, if you decide to check, is tape one edge of the four round screw covers on the top back of the keyboard before you lift them off. Those covers make excellent tiddly winks. I have tiddlied many into my shag rug where they remain to this day.

Re upgrading the cpu, I dunno... Maybe a PIII ?... Cheers

al7kz wrote:Those covers make excellent tiddly winks. I have tiddlied many into my shag rug where they remain to this day.

LOL..this made me laugh. I've launched a few of these 'tiddly winks' in my time also.

hjanzen wrote:-On the keyboard, that functions well I notice a somewhat (~1.5 mm) higher spot around the F6-F7 keys.
It looks as if something under it would prevent the board to fully engage in the lower part of the laptop.

It is possible that the bump is caused by having the wrong length screw in the hole just above the LCD power/battery display. If I recall correctly, the four screws along the top of the keyboard are not all the same length, and the one in that area (above the F6/F7 keys) should be slightly shorter than the other three. If you mix up which one should go where, you might end up with a bulge there.

Also, sometimes on reassembly I have had troubles with the thick LCD cable winding its way correctly through and behind the hinge on the right. As al7kz suggests, you might have something like that causing a lump just beneath the keyboard.

Phil.

Thank you all for your valuable advice.
@al7kz
At first I did not follow your remark about the tiddly winks till my dictionairy told me that tiddlywinks is the name of a game, that I know of course..
@pkiff
I was thinking in the same direction.
I found your excellent tutorial in your discussion with Dave early this year, where you indicated the difference in length of the screws.
I have checked the one above F6-F7 and it happened to be 6 mm instead of 4. So I shortened it and I try to convince myself that the keyboard looks better now..

I saw a 400MHz cpu cheap on ebay and if I overcome my hesitation and decide to get it I must anyhow open the laptop and have a look at the position of the rbbons under the keyboard.
Regards, Hans