just acquired Thinkpad 2662 34u and have some questions

[266234u]

Hello all,
Newbie here. I was just gifted a Thinkpad 2662 34U (01 11 2001), by a friend. I have the CD unit, a dock, pmcia connector for the dock and 2 power supplies. The unit is clean, and the screen bright. Basically a time capsule!


I know these are cheap online, but I had always wanted one and had never gotten too far beyond Dell, Gateway, Apple, etc.

The keyboard is loose and curved up a tad on the left hand side, and when I slide a finger along the area beneath the screen above the start button, screen brightness changes. I assume this to be a loose connection.

The machine boots to the 'boot mode' screen, (safe mode, etc), and freezes there. With a quick touch on the arrow keys, I can get the cursor to select each of the options, but pressing enter does nothing to start the machine. If I am slow with the arrow keys, the cursor stays frozen where it last stopped. Moving quickly avoids this.

I am ebaying a keyboard for starts. A USB keyboard will not work either.

If anyone is familiar with these units, I am not certain why the boot process stops there and then stalls. I assume bad keyboard, but am not totally certain that is the root cause.

Can anyone enlighten me? I am also seeking a reliable parts source beyond ebay, if anyone on the forum hoards these old but graceful machines.
Any assistance would be appreciated.

I have always loved p3 Thinkpads for their design and character.
Thanks,
2666234u.. .

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

You're a proud owner of a X20 system, and the original specs were as follows:

Code: Select all

PIII 600MHz (256KB) 128MB RAM 20.0 GB 12.1 XGA TFT 1024x768, Intel Combo LAN Modem, Win98

While I'm not certain that I'm able to pinpoint the cause if the issues that you're experiencing, testing the hard drive would be the first step that I'd take. My next suggestion would be to download the HMM from the link at the top of the page and familiarize yourself with steps required to replace the keyboard, clean the fan etc.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[rkawakami]

When you do get around to pulling the keyboard off, I would pull out the MiniPCI card and see if that helps with the system hang. Those cards, if bad, can affect a system anywhere from not allowing it to power up, to refusing Windows to install properly.

[266234u]

Thanks George and Ray,
I am recuperating at the moment and will check the instructions and pci card status as soon as I can think straight again.
Many thanks,
266234u
[or just call me bob]w