got my new T43 CTO after 9 weeks! Some issues ..

[ddutta]

Whew! 9 weeks! I got a 2668AJU with 2G/14"/256MB/7K60/9cell/3yrdepot

Some issues:
* The packing material inside seemed old. The 9 cell battery wasnt sealed and neither was the adapter.
* Plastic covering the battery had small holes. Maybe some rat chewed off the plastic in a stinky warehouse in Hongkong
* Plastic covering the actual T43 was crumpled but the seal was intact (Thank God!)
* Keyboard is an ALPS. I like my NMB T42 keyboard better.
* Keyboard flex. minor gaps ... thus the tank isnt as well built as my old tanks.

Was all this especially the old plastic due to CTO? Maybe the CTO gets built by one person and this person might have used some old battery, plastic and what not!

Good things:
* The machine is faster than my 1.6G T42 after adding a 1GB stick
* The hydis SXGA+ display is very sharp and bright. Better than my friends T42 (dont know which one he has).
* The fan makes noise but its less irritating than what I thought.

[ddutta]

Can someone suggest what I should do? Is this normal? Is this the work of the FDA folks who tried to test my T43 for the bird flu virus.

[hootpie]

I recently got mine too, but it sounds like mine came better off than yours. Everything was brand new inside of the packaging...maybe the customs guys got some stuff dirty when they checked inside of yours?

What do you mean the keyboard is an ALPS?

My keyboard does not flex at all, but my DVD-RW drive droops when it's open. The top part of the case right above it and to the right of the keyboard flexes a lot when I press down on it.

My fan makes noise too, but as long as the room has some ambient noise I don't notice. What's weird is that the fan is a lot louder on battery life (with power management set to "max battery life") than it is on A/C (while set to "max performance").

I'd call up Lenovo and tell them...maybe they'll give you some sort of merchandise credit or something?

[ddutta]

I recently got mine too, but it sounds like mine came better off than yours. Everything was brand new inside of the packaging...maybe the customs guys got some stuff dirty when they checked inside of yours?

What do you mean the keyboard is an ALPS?

My keyboard does not flex at all, but my DVD-RW drive droops when it's open. The top part of the case right above it and to the right of the keyboard flexes a lot when I press down on it.

My fan makes noise too, but as long as the room has some ambient noise I don't notice. What's weird is that the fan is a lot louder on battery life (with power management set to "max battery life") than it is on A/C (while set to "max performance").

I'd call up Lenovo and tell them...maybe they'll give you some sort of merchandise credit or something?

Thanks I will complain. Even if its a customs check, the plastic cant have holes! The quick start sheet was also crumpled ... only the main laptop was in its seal.

I found a way to make my T43 silent: I just posted on this forum and something similar has been posted (search for "pull the plug").

[kenr]

* Keyboard is an ALPS. I like my NMB T42 keyboard better.
* Keyboard flex. minor gaps ... thus the tank isnt as well built as my old tanks.

I just got a T43p, 2668-Q2U and my keyboard doesn't flex. In fact I'm quite pleased with it. How do I tell whether it's an ALPS or not?

[ddutta]

I complained and they will replace the battery with a new one and send some extra stuff too So the response is still like IBM though the quality may not be!

[keku]

I got mine on Nov 3rd.

Battry is never sealed it's opened in a plastic or foam cover, A/C adaptor is not even in plastic. also telphone cord.

well you can check battery when you first insert it it should charge your battery and cycle count 0, and when it is 100% you should see Cycle count to 1.

box now have a tape with red color lock printed on it.... not that IBM Sophisticated security seal, which is virtually impossible to duplicate.

Over all Quality is good. One difference I noticed in this replacement 2668 Q2U that CPU goes down to around 276 MHZ and fan runs on low speed. well in night you can feel it ... But I think I can live with it. reason is not that I'm very happy with it .... it is I don't want to go with another hassle.

but good thing is....... it stays cooler than all T43p models I've tried. northbridge is almost cold. and south bridge also get just warn ... not even hot.... don't know what they did but it's better.

I've not updated any drivers, even not upgraded BIOS it came with 1.22. it's working fine so don't want to mess up things.

[ddutta]

I got mine on Nov 3rd.

Battry is never sealed it's opened in a plastic or foam cover, A/C adaptor is not even in plastic. also telphone cord.

well you can check battery when you first insert it it should charge your battery and cycle count 0, and when it is 100% you should see Cycle count to 1.

box now have a tape with red color lock printed on it.... not that IBM Sophisticated security seal, which is virtually impossible to duplicate.

Over all Quality is good. One difference I noticed in this replacement 2668 Q2U that CPU goes down to around 276 MHZ and fan runs on low speed. well in night you can feel it ... But I think I can live with it. reason is not that I'm very happy with it .... it is I don't want to go with another hassle.

but good thing is....... it stays cooler than all T43p models I've tried. northbridge is almost cold. and south bridge also get just warn ... not even hot.... don't know what they did but it's better.

I've not updated any drivers, even not upgraded BIOS it came with 1.22. it's working fine so don't want to mess up things.

Keku, did your battery come with plastic that was crumpled like hell. In my case, it was clear that the plastic was old, crumpled, holed and torn. Thats what made me suspicious. I dont want to have a thinkpad that has been mishandled. Anyway Lenovo said they will take care of the battery. The battery's 1st use was in Oct (according to the batt maximizer) while I got it yesterday Nov 2nd!

[BillMorrow]

batteries are usually either in clear plastic bag which is not usually sealed OR white foam bag that is folded over..
AC adapter's have not been in bags for years though the cord is wrapped with a twist-tie..

CTO machines are taken out of the warehouse, opened and modified to the customers spec, then resealed and shipped to the customer..

don't worry about the little things..
check the battery cycle count.. if zero then its a new battery regardless of the wrinkled bag..

[ddutta]

I like my machine till now. Its super quiet. The power management works! I can control the speed of the fan ..... in AC I set it to mid as I am cruising at 2Ghz and to very low on battery. It behaves exactly as told

Or maybe my ears aint good.