Good deal T43p on ebay!

[Medessec]

Someone needs to get the last one QUICK.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160974359953?ss ... 1439.l2649

It is vague, I asked him and he said he wasn't able to power them on. But they're the 2668-Q1U, meaning they're the 2.26 GHz maxed T43ps with the UXGA screen.

[RealBlackStuff]

What is stopping you?

[Medessec]

Nothing. I bought two of his four.

I left the last one to you guys... I figured someone else around here would want to take this up. Just to be fair

[Unknown_K]

I snagged it just for the screen (I assume the rest is toast but you never know).

[Neil]

Well...they're all gone now, and no, it wasn't I that took the last one. Tempted, but I really...really, don't need another ThinkPad!

[Medessec]

lol. Guess it was kinda fate for you not to get this Thinkpad. Ah well-I suppose I can post later when I get them, how good of a deal they were.

[DaKKS]

The good deals never ship overseas...

[ajkula66]

The number on the pictured machine is 2687 not 2668...just saying...

[Medessec]

I'll have to send the seller a quick message to see which ones I got. Unknown_K-you'd better as well.

That's really weird though... because pulling up 2687 gives you the 14" standard T43 with the 1.86 GHz P4M... But this label's on a 15" T43p bottom bezel. What.

I guess I'll have to wait and see what these two T43ps will be like.

[ajkula66]

I'll have to send the seller a quick message to see which ones I got. Unknown_K-you'd better as well.

That's really weird though... because pulling up 2687 gives you the 14" standard T43 with the 1.86 GHz P4M... But this label's on a 15" T43p bottom bezel. What.

I guess I'll have to wait and see what these two T43ps will be like.

You can't go by that.

Model number has nothing to do with a screen size. 2687-D5U would be a full-blown 15" unit but with a 2.0 CPU, and not 2.26...

[Unknown_K]

Well if they show up much different then advertised you can always get a refund. Most likely the seller didn't check each machine and assumed they were all the same, or they just use stock photos.

[RealBlackStuff]

This is what they are as per label:
T43p (2687-D5U)
P M 760(2GHz), 1GB RAM, 80GB 5400rpm HD, 15in 1600x1200 LCD, 128MB ATI FireGL V3200 CDRW/DVDRW, IBM 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, 9c Li-Ion, WinXP Pro

You can recognize a 15" T4x from the 2 identical wide hinges.
A 14.1" model has 1 wide (as in 15") and 1 smaller hinge.

Oh, and I got the first one...

[Cola]

Also, the 2668's are 14'' models.

I've got a 2668-PEG which is with the P M 770 2,13GHz, 2GB ram (upgraded), 40GB HDD, 14'' 1400x1050 LCD, 128MB ATI FireGL V3200 CDRW/DVDRW, IBM 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, 9c Li-Ion, WinXP Pro.

I am not sure though, on how important the last three letters are. Feel free to correct me if wrong!


@RealBlackStuff

Correct, 14'' has one wide (10mm), and one which is alot smaller (3mm). (y)

[Medessec]

Oh, and I got the first one...

lol. Only us on here would snatch all of them up.

And alright. Yes, I suppose if they don't turn out to be at all as expected, we can ask for a refund. He did advertise them as the 2.26 with 1GB in the post. Not that I want to be the stingy buyer.

But I'm still pretty certain I got a good bargain out of these things. I've always liked the T43/T60s to work on.

[Unknown_K]

Are 2GB DDR2 SODIMM recognized as 1GB on a T43?

[ajkula66]

Also, the 2668's are 14'' models.

No.

The model number carries the warranty entitlement.

The last three characters are THE key to the puzzle.

44U would be your basic 14" T43 but a Q2U is a top-of the-line 15" T43p, and they can be a 2668 or a 2669 with the same specs apart from warranty entitlement when originally purchased.

You can put in a 2GB DIMM but the chipset limitation is 2GB, so you're better off with 2x1GB in a dual-channel mode...

[Medessec]

All right, heads up for the other guys. I got mine in, both of them are 2687-D5Us. I was able to get one to power on and PST, but the fan made it sound like I was giving life to an old car.

It had the 2GHz P4, but it also read out 2GB RAM. Everything except the lid is in pretty good condition after dusting it off. The other unit won't power on... but I have a working unit to interchange parts with.

All in all, it'll take some more time to see how much of a bargain I got, but we'll see soon enough.

[ajkula66]

All right, heads up for the other guys. I got mine in, both of them are 2687-D5Us. I was able to get one to power on and PST, but the fan made it sound like I was giving life to an old car.

It had the 2GHz P4, but it also read out 2GB RAM. Everything except the lid is in pretty good condition after dusting it off. The other unit won't power on... but I have a working unit to interchange parts with.

All in all, it'll take some more time to see how much of a bargain I got, but we'll see soon enough.

It's not a P4 but a PM - big difference right there.

D5Us are not bad machines, had one as my daily driver for the longest time...

[RealBlackStuff]

Mine came in today as well.
2687-D5U with 2.0 CPU, 2x1GB RAM, CDRW/DVDRW (Multi).
The fan reminds me of a screaming jet taking off, and the screen is a bit dark-ish in the middle and a bit yellow-ish on the right side.
Overall condition is quite usable though.
I have already complained to the seller that it is not as described.
See what he does.

[Medessec]

I might do that as well depending on how the screens look. The one on the working unit seems to be working spectacularly. But they ARE both 2687-D5Us, and not the 2668-Q1Us as made out in the description.

The conditions of both(after wiping them off) is very good compared to other T43s I've seen... so these are keepers either way for the money.

[Unknown_K]

Got mine in, 2ghz model (forgot to write down the exact model before I messed with it in the lab). Anyway mine just booted to beep codes, removed the 2x1GB of RAM and put in a 2GB SODIMM I had laying around and it works fine (running memtest on it now). The screen looks unblemished and bright, what resolution are these T43P's?

[Medessec]

The 15" T43ps are supposed to be UXGA(1600x1200) IPS-screens. My other one still isn't powering on, I've removed everything and it still doesn't power on. So I'm pretty certain the mainboard is gone. On both it looks like the BIOS batteries were dead.

Both of my screens turned out pretty good... I can't wait to get Windows on the good one, and test out the resolution. I've only seen 1600x1200 on desktop LCDs, never a laptop. I've only ever worked on 14" T43s, and the T60s I get in are always SXGA+, never UXGA.

Do you guys have any idea what might have happened to the mainboard on the gimpy T43p? Also-both the dies of the graphics chips read "Mobility Radeon X600", and not the V3200 FireGL. Are these actually X600s, or are they just the X600 dies? I know the V3200 shared the same chip as the X600.

[ajkula66]

Do you guys have any idea what might have happened to the mainboard on the gimpy T43p?

If it doesn't give *any* signs of life, swap the CPU with a known good one. Should that yield no results, kiss that planar goodbye.

Also-both the dies of the graphics chips read "Mobility Radeon X600", and not the V3200 FireGL. Are these actually X600s, or are they just the X600 dies? I know the V3200 shared the same chip as the X600.

Good question. My guess would be that it's a V3200. I have yet to see a T43p with a X600 - the only ThinkPad which used that GPU was Z60m...

[Medessec]

Alright. Indeed-I tested both CPUs(Pentium M 2 GHz) in the good T43p. Both work perfectly fine, meaning the other T43p's mobo is no good. No beeps, no lights, no nuthin.

I've sent a message to the seller inquiring about the mess up in the type designation... since he advertised the maxed out T43ps, and we all got the D5U.

But overall I'm still satisfied. The good one turned out to be REALLY good, as you can see in this picture:
http://www.medessec.info/m/NewT43p.JPG

I ran another HD with Win7 already on it, and the machine does indeed have the V3200 FireGL. I guess it just says X600 on the die, because they use the same GPU. The screen is also indeed a 1600x1200 panel, and because it's making my Toshiba's screen look washy, I assume it does have the IPS panel.

The other T43p obviously isn't in the same position... http://www.medessec.info/m/deadT43p.JPG The CPU, RAM, Wi-Fi card, keyboard, and panels and disk drive are all good, so it's a real shame the planar had to be no good. I've decided I'm just going to part the poor thing out... partly because I'm too lazy to get it working, but also because I'm certain someone will want this:
http://www.medessec.info/m/T43pscreen2.JPG
The 1600x1200 panel. With a nearly perfect condition lid:
http://www.medessec.info/m/T43pScreen1.JPG

[RealBlackStuff]

Actually mine is the one depicted on eBay.
Seller replied:

We can either send you partial refund or you can send it back for full refund
We are sorry for inconveniences we caused

(In spite of their stated eBay policy of no refunds/no returns)

[Medessec]

They replied with close to the same thing to me. That's kinda funny... although the number one way to wind up with negative feedback is to have that policy, and then make sales like this.

However after getting one unit working beautifully, and getting amazing parts out of the other, it's really hard for me to justify blowing off these sellers for a partial refund...

All I lost in the bad description was that I ended up with just A T43p, and not THE T43p, as I'd hoped. Ah well. But it's still a legitimately working T43p, with the IPS and all that.

However: It's still putting me off that one of the T43ps I got had a toast planar. Any three of us could have wound up with it... It just had to be me. lol.

[Unknown_K]

So besides the 2.2ghz CPU what did we miss out on?

[ajkula66]

Nothing really.

But the price difference between the two is quite significant...

[Unknown_K]

Well for $41.95 shipped it wasn't a bad deal. Just need the HD cover (a few bucks on ebay) to show up and all is well (except my 60gb travelstor is not one the T43p likes).

[ajkula66]

Well for $41.95 shipped it wasn't a bad deal. Just need the HD cover (a few bucks on ebay) to show up and all is well (except my 60gb travelstor is not one the T43p likes).

I'm not saying it was a bad deal by any stretch of imagination...however, whether I paid $5 or $500 for something that was not as advertised I would be complaining.

There's a modded BIOS that will take care of the "2010 error" if you can't force the IBM firmware update (I never managed - other folks have) on that Travelstar...

Or better yet...have a SATA-mod done and watch that baby fly...seriously.