Just got an X20

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Luda · #1 Post by **Luda** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:46 am

I picked up an x20 from one of my teachers. i got the X2 media slice, the dvd-rom drive, and a 30GB HDD, i need the battery and ac adapter, does anyone know a good place to get these, aside from ebay?

Also, are there any known problems with installin XP on the X20?

KillBill · #2 Post by **KillBill** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:18 am

why dont you like eBay? I just got slim 72W adaptor for x-series for $20 shipped. When you buy a battery ask when it was manufactured. It is very important. If its several years old you'll only get <1h out of it... Most batteries on ebay are old.. Let me know if you find good battery for x-series as i am looking for one for my newly aquired X22..

Luda wrote:I picked up an x20 from one of my teachers. i got the X2 media slice, the dvd-rom drive, and a 30GB HDD, i need the battery and ac adapter, does anyone know a good place to get these, aside from ebay?

Also, are there any known problems with installin XP on the X20?

Website · #3 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 2:29 pm

I agree that eBay is the cheapest place to get the battery, however, in the alternative, you could turn to IBM's website. I know that they still have TP600E batteries for something like $59.

As for loading XP on an X20, no problems here. Just make sure that you have enough memory. I have even run XP on a TP600 with a 300MHz processor and 288MB ram, and it worked just fine....not the fastest, but fine none the less.

pianowizard · #4 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 3:26 pm

How much memory do you have? If your machine is one of the 600MHz Pentium III models, then 128MB of RAM is barely okay, but if it's only 500MHz Celeron, then you definitely should add more RAM. I know because I have owned both models.

Luda · #5 Post by **Luda** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:29 pm

Its not that i dont like ebay, on the contrary i love it. i was just wondering if you knew of anywhere else. I have the 600MHZ PIII model, when i got it it had no ram, i stole a stick out of an NEC i found, im not sure how big the stick is though, im looking for a working 256MB. How much ram will the Bios Reconise? i want to get a 512MB stick, but i saw somewhere that the X2* series only supports 320MB, how you get that with only 1 Slot i dont know.

And are there Extended life batteries for the X2* series? and any manufactuers i should look out for?

also, how do you turn off the 'think light' i had it plugged in to a 16V 1A AC adapter, it wouldnt power on, im guessing either not enough power or it has to have the battery installed to actually function, the Orange battery light was one and the Green moon, and the think light. But i didnt see a swtich for the thinklight, so how do you turn it off?

pianowizard · #6 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:37 pm

There is 64MB of onboard memory. No, 512MB modules won't work for the X20 or the X21.

Website · #7 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:41 pm

320 is the max (256mb plus 64mb onboard). Also, for the 256mb stick, it has to be PC100 Low Density Ram (16 chips, 8 on each side).

To turn off the Thinklight, press the "FN" button and the "PgUp" button. But I'm not sure if this is the light that you are referring to. The Thinklight shines down from the top of the LCD.

As for the AC adapter, I would recommend getting a 72W adapter. If you keep using one as small as the one that you are talking about, you will most likely cause power problems with your system board.

For more useful information, browse through your Hardware Maintenance Manual.

Luda · #8 Post by **Luda** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 7:47 am

yea the thinklight is what i was talking about.

i'm going to look on ebay for the adapter & battery.

are there any known problems with the X20 & usb bluetooth adapters?

i want to get a USB BT adapter so i can sync my PDA [Dell Axim X5 Advanced]
which im on right now, with my laptop.

thanks for all the help!

Luda · #9 Post by **Luda** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:43 pm

I jsut read something on a post on here about the X20's having a mini PCI slot, someone was talking about getting a Mini PCI wifi card, so it could have onboard WiFi... this is just BS or is this actually possible?

Website · #10 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:16 pm

Yes, it is possible. You'd have to buy the antennas too and run them underneath the keyboard. Also, you'd lose the ethernet/modem, because you'd have to remove that Mini-PCI card to be able to use the wifi one.

If you'd like a good deal on the cards and antennas, wireless4laptop is a forum member here and also sells on eBay. I am sure that they have some more, as I was just looking at some on eBay for my X20.

I figure that I can use one of my 3Com modem/ethernet PCMCIA cards for the modem of wired ethernet if I need to.

Luda · #11 Post by **Luda** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 9:18 pm

hurm.... how much are they, and how hard is it to do, ive completly disassembled a X20 with a bad mobo, so ive seen the innards.

KillBill · #12 Post by **KillBill** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:28 am

cards are cheap ~$25-30. antennas are around $10-15. the only "difficulty" is opening your lcd case and running antennas on the side. some people install antennas under the keyboard but dont have very good reception. YMMV here.

Here is a discussion about installing wi-fi into x22. the procedure should be similar: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee ... 3009266731

And here is some chinese tutorial with pictures that i translated through google

you can get the general idea...... : http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... f%26sa%3DG

Enjoy! and don't forget to report back your results! Also, if you have a digital camera we could create some sort of guide with pics... if you have time for that.

Luda wrote:hurm.... how much are they, and how hard is it to do, ive completly disassembled a X20 with a bad mobo, so ive seen the innards.

Luda · #13 Post by **Luda** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:18 am

I have a spare lcd screen, so i think i'll crack that open & run them there.

you lose use of the onboard 10/100 port right?

and i ordered all my stuff, batt, ac adapter, and some bluetooth stuff

aceo07 · #14 Post by **aceo07** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:34 pm

You can still use your ethernet ports. The 10/100 network is on a different card. The wireless card is Mini-PCI card slot and the ethernet is on CDC card slot.

I could be wrong, but that's my impression from my X22.

pcnoob · #15 Post by **pcnoob** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:34 pm

that only applies to x22. x20 and 21 don't have the daughter card.

Luda · #16 Post by **Luda** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 6:33 am

what about onboard bluetooth, can you do this on the X20, or is it only for the higher models?

KillBill · #17 Post by **KillBill** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 2:34 pm

The internal bluetooth card is installed in the CDC slot. I think you can install onboard bluetooth on X22 in the CDC slot, but you would loose the ethernet card, unless there are 2 CDC slots. Someone correct me if i'm wrong..

Luda wrote:what about onboard bluetooth, can you do this on the X20, or is it only for the higher models?

Luda · #18 Post by **Luda** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 6:19 am

I have an X20, does the X20 have a CDC slot?

KillBill · #19 Post by **KillBill** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:29 pm

i think it doesn't have it. but im not 100% sure..

Luda wrote:I have an X20, does the X20 have a CDC slot?

Luda · #20 Post by **Luda** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:37 am

i got xp installed, sp2, etc. i have 2 problems:
the trackpoint doesnt work, if i get the trackpoint drivers this should fix it right?

second problem is the power meter. i had it plugged in for about 14 hours, it says unknown for all the meters, and when i unplug it it says 43 minutes remaining

any one have any ideas?

KillBill · #21 Post by **KillBill** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:33 pm

go to ibm website from your IBM laptop and it will automatically update the drivers that you are missing. takes 10 min and you are all set! no need to manually install them one by one

its like driver recovery CD only online.

pianowizard · #22 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:40 pm

Luda wrote:i got xp installed, sp2, etc. i have 2 problems:
the trackpoint doesnt work, if i get the trackpoint drivers this should fix it right?

Strange. I installed XP on two X20's and didn't have to install any additional drivers for the trackpoint.

Luda · #23 Post by **Luda** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:00 am

i have a bigger problem now. my X20 won't boot. it ran find, i got my wifi working, BT working, not the trackpoint though. i shut it down, when i got home it wouldn't boot. i tried to take the cmos & regular battery out, tried it on ac & dc power. tried w/ & w/o ram. it still does the same thing. when i turn it on all leds light up, the cpu fan runs for like 15 seconds then stops. the only light on is the z on the right of the led panel. when it is docked none of the dock lights come on.

thx for the help!

Luda · #24 Post by **Luda** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:53 pm

Does any one have any ideas on why it stopped booting?

pcnoob · #25 Post by **pcnoob** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:30 pm

dead/faulty hard drive or motherboard?

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