Thinkpads Forum

I bought a 390X (2626-L0U) for $10. It wouldn't fire up without RAM, but once that was added, it powers up and the screen is fine. It booted a LiveCD OK.

I'd like to fix it up to give to a family friend, but I'm not sure what I need, as I never had any 3xx for very long.

It has the floppy/cd drive. The floppy doesn't seem to work, but I think it's at the latest BIOS revision, so I shouldn't need it. Besides RAM and a hard disk, what else is needed?

It seems there is a unique hard disk caddy, a disk interface adapter, and the hard disk cover door missing. Are all those needed?

Where would you folks suggest I get a battery? Kahlon.com sells what seems to be a nice one for $54, or a bit less capacity for $48. I'm happy with the memory I've bought from them, but I don't remember a battery purchase. Any experiences to share?

What else should I look for?

Thanks

I have exactly the same questions bur only mine also has a smashed screen and is missing keyboard.
Is there a model which has a compatible screen ?
Did anyone adapted a keyboard from another model ?

jeez I just had a whole long paragraph typed out and hit the back button
a 760 FDD stripped should be able to be fitted into the 390X if you want to fix the FDD (I have plenty if you want one, free jut pay shipping)
I can't remember what the HDD caddy looked like but if you have a hi res pic of the inside I can probably give you the proper connector to get a HDD to fit too. I'd buy a door just because.
A 14.1 inch screen from a 14inch Dell CPx series may work (it's been a while since I worked on those things so I could be wrong, but by then a lot of screens were becoming standardized) you'll need any 390 keyboard or IBM also made and i series based off a 390 but they are very uncommon.
If you pull the screen and do an eBay search on the manufactures PN (not the FRU) you may find a compatible screen cheap... but in the 15 years I've been repairing laptops generally when the screen is cracked it's a parts unit unless I already have a screen in stock.
JMHO
cya
Jim

@TTA
Thanks for the info/offer, the FDD works, but great hint on the screen.
What I like most on the 390x, is the guts, it has a beautiful bronze/copper structure inside, the case is pretty busted, maybe I'll take it out and use it like that.

The caddy should be the same as many of the Acers from the same generation. It's kind of a sheet metal little pan with a slot on one end that takes an adapter that plugs into the drive on one end and the MB on the other. It's kind of hard to find and pricey when you do find it. Those machines, like the i Series and R3x up to the R4x were contracted from Acer. The 390 and some of the i Series use the same caddy.

I went same route a few years ago and came to the conclusion that it wasn't economically viable to restore one of these machines that are incomplete. It ends up costing more than a nice A2x or A3x that's good to go and easy to find parts for. In the end, I ended up selling it off for parts, used the proceeds to get into some cheap A3x pieces and built up some nice machines for family members. Just an example: I'm in the process of buying both an X30 and A31 from a forum member for $125 ea. So when you add up buying a caddy, drives, any memory, then your around $100 bucks pretty quickly.

hallo
maybe that the 2626 390E or 390X could be an expensive issue to upgrade...but they are very nice machine ! the real IBM machines undestroyable!! mine is falen on flour many times..always worked after it!
in any case i found some mouth ago this site from which i bought new caddy for 390...it is the chipest i found!
http://cgi.ebay.it/Hard-drive-caddy-for ... 500wt_1182
it has many caddy for older '90 years very chip too!
i hope it could be useful
regards

i forgot before...evething for 390X is avaible on the web..and on ebay ..maybe not always chipest ...but you can find whatever you need!!!
the only thing that i needed to wait years to find is the CE utility diskette...alias the Hardware Maintenance Disk!
but HERE, in the pubblic forums, you cannot ask for it !! nobody can ask for it in pubblic threads; this is against rules just because the CEutility diskette is a propertary IBM software!

Caddies can be found on ebay cheap enough, and some people sell batteries for the 390x for under $50 on ebay also.

Are you going to fix that unit up?

I recently got a 390e that works fine except for a small crack in the screen that I am looking to fix up. Most likely I will look for a 390 parts machine to get a screen unless I can find a screen cheap.

I kind of like the old pre p3 models, fun to work on.