Thinkpads Forum

Hello guys,

I have salvaged the motherboard from my old T430s laptop. But, it doesn't have a display unit, power jack board, and outer case/body.

In order to make the above board run and use it as a headless unit, I was wondering if connecting the board with a docking station would work. Since the docking station has it's own power unit, I'm assuming the above setup will work.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried this before or it is a crazy idea and I should just get the individual case/parts . Any feedback is appreciated.

Cheers!
A

Conceptually, as long as you can keep the heatsink/fan assembly in contact with the CPU (and GPU if so designed) AND you can prevent any electrical shorts from occurring due to the exposed underside of the motherboard, then I'd say it should work. I have a vague recollection of mounting the bottom portion of a T23 onto a port replicator in order to check it out. I had everything that was normally part of the base and just plugged in the standard keyboard.

It would certainly be more safer (and structurally sound) to bolt the motherboard into a base.

@rkawakami, Thanks for your response. I will keep those points in mind.