Just got a 770Z and have a few questions

[ryanhe]

Just received a Thinkpad 770z (9549-81u):D that I bought on eBay ($75 with
$10 shipping). Everything looks great except the top cover which is missing alot of
the rubberized paint, needs a new battery, the bottom pcmcia cover broke off
during shipping(i'm going to fill it with a wireless card anyway). My questions are:

1. When powered up the machine shows "O>I", the seller said to leave it there for 15
minutes and the turn it off and back on, what does this error signify and how is it
repaired permanently?

2. Does anyone know where I could find both the 2nd HDD adapter and the Zip drive
that was made for the Ultrabay II, not even ebay has these?

3. Will removing the windows sticker peel off the rubber coating underneath (it
already started peeling off)?

I have had my share of experience with thinkpads, but have never had one
as high range as the 770Z. Any help or suggestions would be great.

[Unknown_K]

The O>I comes up when you have a bad CMOS battery and the machine makes you reset the time and date on bootup (replace the CMOS battery).

Check ebay for a while for the upgrades, if they were sold they will end up on ebay sooner or later (I just have the DVD, CDROM, and floppy drives).

You should be able to take the sticker off without damaging the coating underneath (as long as you don't use any crazy chemicals).

[ryanhe]

Thanks, I was looking on eBay and found a lot
of 3 thinkpad 770Z for parts, one of which includes
the 2nd HDD adapter. Replaced the CMOS battery too
and fixed all the errors. Ordered a DEVA card and
a floppy drive last night from ebay.

[pkiff]

One of the conveniences of the 770 series that you will already have discovered is that, unlike the 600 series, or any later model Thinkpad, the 770 series uses bare CR2032 (or CR2025?) batteries that you can pick up at any local store instead of needing to have one specially ordered and wrapped in plastic. I have always liked that.

One tip for you regarding 2nd HDD adapters. This adapter requires the use of a (usually separate) 770 series HDD caddy. The last time I was looking for these things, I found that the HDD caddy cost as much or more than the HDD adapter itself. So check for this and incorporate both costs into the total when searching for items on eBay. If you are lucky, the 3 Thinkpads you have coming for parts will include one or more caddies that you can use. The caddies on all 770 series are interchangeable.

When ordering the DEVA, if I recall correctly, there are two versions of it. Only one is compatible with the 770X/Z. The other one is ONLY compatible with the 770E. The 770ED is a 770E with the DEVA. You have to check the actual part numbers/FRU numbers to verify that one. See the list here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... JEK-3QGU6U

I still love the 770Z (as long as you aren't trying to carry it too far!!), and have one of mine in daily use.

Phil.

[ryanhe]

Thanks Pkiff, I had no clue about the DEVA cards, luckily the card I ordered was the correct one.
Yeah, the battery was very easy to replace, picked one up from the pharmacy on my way home.
I haven't bought the lot of 770z's yet, the auction ends on the 8th. Price is $25 with $25 shipping, they are all shown at the 161, 163 error screens so I assume all of them work, it also says that none of them come with hard drives or caddys, maybe theres still one in the adapter since the seller listed it as a CD drive. Now I have to get a new battery, but will wait and see if I win the auction since one of them could have a goodish one. Also, I have no trouble watching youtube videos in opera running windows 2000 at 240p on the original PII 366. It also has no trouble playing videos stored on my desktop over wireless and legacy games like FS 98 and Combat Flight Simulator run perfectly. Pretty impressive for an 11 year old laptop.
Specs:
PII 366
W2K PRO
256mb PC-66

[Unknown_K]

Finding working main batteries on ebay is mostly luck. I purchased 3 very good ones this year in a lot for my systems (they all get more then an hour). If a 770 doesn't come with a HD you will end up paying $15-20 to get the dam caddy on ebay, a bit pricey (I spent less for the 770 computers!).

[VIBM]

3. Will removing the windows sticker peel off the rubber coating underneath (it
already started peeling off)?

Yes, it's possible, so be extremely careful. The good news is, that where the rubber is pulled off, it appears slightly glossier and smoother than the undisturbed flat black.

[ryanhe]

Found a set of 3 caddies on ebay for $15. The batteries are expensive, maybe I'll try to rebuild the one I have. The sticker came off no problem, been removing the glue residue little by little.

[ryanhe]

Does anyone have any opinions as to the best operating system to run on the machine? I'm currently running windows 95 (very difficult to get running correctly) and 2000 dual boot. Just wondering if anyone has any other opinions.
Again the specs are:
Original PII 366- future upgrade?
256mb ram

[hjanzen]

I am running WindowsXP SP3 just fine on both my 770X and 770Z.

[ryanhe]

Hmmm. It originally came with the original 98 install (which I made an image of), and XP SP3. It ran very slowly. Did you upgrade yours in any way?

[Unknown_K]

Win2k or 98se is what I run on mine.

[pkiff]

When mine had the original PII 366, I ran Win98SE and Win2000. Now I'm dual booting Win98SE and XPSP2. But I've upgraded mine to PIII 500 and PIII 800, and those upgrades make a signficant difference. Win2000 used to run pretty well, as I recall.

Phil.

[Unknown_K]

Any issues with overheating or battery usage with a p3-800 CPU?

[pkiff]

No, I haven't had any issues. However...

1. My 800 is actually running at 650MHz max, because it is a SpeedStep CPU that is stuck in a non-SpeedStep-enabled machine. That also means it is always running at the special lower-power draw level. If I recall correctly, the PIII 800 SpeedStep CPU at its stepped down speed actually falls fully within the same specs as the original PII 366 due to architecture improvements, even though it jumps up the speed considerably.

2. I don't very often run my PIII at full speed for any reason -- so I don't have experience with it being put through its paces running at 100% CPU load for more than 10-15 minutes at a time.

3. My 770Z is usually docked in a SelectaDock III, using an external video card. That means that whatever heat might normally be produced by the video card is not usually there.

Phil.

[ryanhe]

Thanks, maybe I'll look for a PIII 850 on ebay (I think thats the fastest that they went up to). If I do up grade the CPU, I'll have to download the cache enabler and powerstrip programs right? Any issues after upgrading other than those mentioned on the upgrade guide(cache enabling)?

Also, Pkiff, what video card do you use? I installed one program that won't run because the onboard graphics don't support 3d acceleration.

[pkiff]

[...]I'll have to download the cache enabler and powerstrip programs right? Any issues after upgrading other than those mentioned on the upgrade guide(cache enabling)?

Right. And generally there should be no other issues, except possibly with the on-board memory. The 770Z comes with a stick of 64MB 66MHz memory on board. I have replaced mine with a 128MB stick of 100MHz memory (it is not soldered in place, but is just a regular memory slot). Lots of folks simply disable that memory...actually, I think it disables itself when you try to boot up since the PC66 memory won't run at PC100. If you decide to replace it, you have to disassemble practically the entire laptop, and pull the main motherboard out, to get to that memory slot since it is underneath the main motherboard.

Also, Pkiff, what video card do you use? I installed one program that won't run because the onboard graphics don't support 3d acceleration.

To find a card, you can check out my SelectaDock III - Unofficial Graphics Card Compatibility List. Right now, I'm actually testing out a Matrox Millenium G450 dual-head card that doesn't yet appear on that list.

Phil.

[ryanhe]

The DEVA card and caddies came in the mail today. Is there a driver for the DEVA card in Windows 2000? There is no driver for it on the lenovo website, and the system won't recognize it.

[pkiff]

Here is a list of drivers for the 770Z:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... SHY-3PGT93

I think you need to install the MPEG drivers to get the DEVA to be recognized fully. Try this:
MPEG driver IV for Windows 98/2000 - ThinkPad 770

Phil.

[ryanhe]

Thanks Pkiff. I'll try that tomorrow.

[ryanhe]

It works great now. Thanks Pkiff. Bought an X31 yesterday waiting for it to arrive now. It should be here tomorrow.