Refurb T30

[richp]

Just got a refurb T30 from J&R music world in NYC last tues. It's a 2366-86U, 2gig processor, 256 meg ram, XPPro. Runs well with a netgear pcmia wireless card and only has one issue so far, the left buttons on the touchpad do not work. Just noticed it while installing software, I've been using a usb minimouse so did not pick up on it right away, it's going back tomorrow [has a 90 full warranty].
I plan on adding memory, this is MY first laptop, all others have been 'issue' for whoever I worked for so there was no adding hardware on leased machines. I do alot of cisco work and the serial port will come in handy.
So, the battery seems to last about an hour and 15min, normal ?
The 256meg card is in the front memory slot, the one closest to the front so I assume I don't have the bad memory socket. Want to up it to 512, maybe 1gig
The optical in the ultrabay is a DVDrom/cd burner but it won't recognize DVD +R's, does recognize normal dvd movie discs, I am assuming it's because it's older. Found a place in NJ that has them, dvd burners, already in ultrabay carriers for $79, any issues with this, sellers name is johnsxc with 99.6% feedback. I don't normally buy off Ebay since getting hosed buying some scsi drives a few years ago.
It also has an empty slot near the modem card, what options are there for that, is there an a/b/g card for it ? Is it a drop in or is there more that needs to be done, noted some postings on the antenna having to go up and around the LCD.
I'd also like to pickup a another hard drive to run suse or fedoracore or even solaris10. It did not come with any recovery discs, can they be purchased from IBM ? The XP license is stuck on the bottom. Noticed I missed out on someone who had some spares.
I bought my daughter a T43 about 5 months ago for college and so far she's loving it. Killer battery life with the extended battery too.
Thats about all I can think of for my first post. did spend about 3 hours on sat just reading but got some conflicting opinions. Been building high end audio and video workstations and servers for a while but this is MY first laptop. Did print out the manual off of lenovo's site but it's quite old so I take it's parts list with a grain of salt.

[tfflivemb2]

OK, lets see if I can answer as much as possible:

1. Left buttons - I have the same problem with my R40. I can get the trackpoint left button to work by disabling the touchpad in the BIOS. The connector for the touchpad doesn't seem to be making a good connection with the keyboard. You might be able to remove your keyboard by using the Hardware Maintenance Manual as a guide.

2. Battery - the longevity of the battery depends on the age of the battery and the usage that it already has, as it was likely a used battery.

3. Ram - If you do not have the bad slot problem, then you can put in two 1gb sticks and have up to 2gb of ram. If you are having the ram slot problem, then you can add the 1gb stick and still have 1gb ram (not too shabby)

4. Optical drive - You can use the Nero Info Tool to determine what formats your existing drive can handle/read. You can certainly add a DVD-RW drive to it, if you so choose.

5. Empty Slot - It is a Mini-PCI slot, which can hold a wireless card. Search the forum for a compatible wireless card, or read through the Hardware Maintenance Manual that I referenced earlier for replacement wireless cards for the T30.

6. Antennas for wireless - Your model 2366-86U is wireless upgradeable, which means that you should already have the antennas installed. Just look in the empty slot (see #5) and there should be some antenna cables wrapped up in a loop.

7. Recovery Disks - PM me if interested in a copy of them for a minimal cost. IBM might still have them, and they are $45.

If I missed anything, let me know...

[richp]

Returned the T30 to J&R under the 14 day return policy and got another out of stock. First boot underway, lets hope it all works on this one. Looks like it all works, now for the memory and the dvd burner. And the next 3 hours of 'updates' over this T1, sure miss my 10mb cable modem at the house.