ThinkPad button on a T20

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brodev · #1 Post by **brodev** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 8:10 am

I'm sorry for such a silly question, but i have recently bought a T20 at a car boot sale. It comes with no documentation. I have managed to work out most things and i am very pleased with my purchase but, when I press the ThinkPad button nothing happens. What is it for please?

JHEM · #2 Post by **JHEM** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 9:24 am

T20 User's Guide: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... 9lamst.pdf

Regards,

James

brodev · #3 Post by **brodev** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 12:08 pm

Thanks James. That's a very handy reference. According to that the ThinPad button should activate the ThinkPad reference. Mine doesn't. I cannot access it via start etc. neither. The OS on this is XP and I am wondering if that is the reason. Any input gratefully received.

JHEM · #4 Post by **JHEM** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 12:38 pm

Download and install this: http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46134 then run it while you're connected to the internet.

It will search for and download all of the upgrades, utilities and other software you need for your T20.

You also need this: http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-40062 if it isn't already loaded.

Wouldn't hurt to have a look at: http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4JSQHB and http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-41987 also.

Let us know if you need any additional help.

Regards,

James

brodev · #5 Post by **brodev** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 1:42 pm

thanks. willdo

sharpc8690 · #6 Post by **sharpc8690** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:43 am

I think you need one small software to activate ThinkPad key to relate it with certain program such as exe files on your disk.

Leon · #7 Post by **Leon** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:21 am

on my T42 I'm pretty sure it's called TPHKMGR.exe.

brodev · #8 Post by **brodev** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:45 pm

JHEM wrote:Download and install this: http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46134 then run it while you're connected to the internet.

It will search for and download all of the upgrades, utilities and other software you need for your T20.

Let us know if you need any additional help.

Regards,

James

Hi, I have ownloaded and tried to instal this. I could not find "PMEMNT.SYS "that is talked about in the instal instructions. But, as they said "IF you find it " I carried on and installed the program. When I try to run same the program starts and then stops and does nothing. i have a window that says IBM update connector 6.1 on my desktop that I can't get rid of
help

egibbs · #9 Post by **egibbs** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:23 pm

Win XP is not "officially" supported on the t20 as no T20 ever shipped with WinXP installed from IBM.

Of course WinXP runs quite well on a T20 - at least it does on mine. What that really means is that some of the nice to have extras that came pre-installed on a T20 may or may not work under XP, and if they don't IBM won't do anything to fix them.

I never bothered trying to install the ThinkPad key software after I upgraded to WinXP - I think I used it exactly once under Win98, said "Oh that's what it does," and never used it again. All it does is launch a help and support application that isn't especially useful.

I also don't use the update connector - the one for Win98 never worked properly, and the WinXP version does not list the T20 as a compatible machine. It might work, it might not, it's easier to just go to the Device Driver Matrices every few months and see what is new.

Enjoy the T20 - it's a good machine and WinXP makes it a great machine.

Ed Gibbs

Rahula · #10 Post by **Rahula** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 2:24 am

[quote]Of course WinXP runs quite well on a T20 - at least it does on mine. What that really means is that some of the nice to have extras that came pre-installed on a T20 may or may not work under XP, and if they don't IBM won't do anything to fix them.

Enjoy the T20 - it's a good machine and WinXP makes it a great machine.

Ed Gibbs[/quote][/quote]

Hello Ed:

I recently bought a 4 year old T20 which came installed with Windows 2000 including the recovery CD. So far, it runs very well. Whenever I tried to upgrade it with language features from Microsoft website, it would ask to insert the W2k CD, and when I inserted the recovery CD, it just refused to upgrade. Did you enounter such update problems with your recovery CD. Also, can you tell me some major benefits of XP over W2K on the T20. Many thanks.

egibbs · #11 Post by **egibbs** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:15 am

Hi Rahula,

Win2K IS an officially supported OS on the T20 - the choices were Win98 or Win2K. Mine came with Win98, and I never used Win2K so I can't personally comment on differences between Win2K and XP - other than to say they will be less than between Win98 and WinXP.

The differences between Win98 and WinXP are huge - NTFS, real security, user accounts, and policies, improved stability, hibernation that actually works (Win98 was horrible with hibernation), etc. However you already have many of those things with Win2K, so you will get less bang for your buck.

The main difference you may see is improved support for media playing. Win2K was considered a corporate OS, so there wasn't a lot of support for DVD, MP3, etc. WinXP added media player support to the NT core OS.

As far as the recovery CD - it is not a real Win2K CD. It is an image of the factory pre-install, and Windows won't recognize it as a Windows CD even though a Windows installation is buried in it somewhere.

When Windows looks for the CD it is usually looking for a driver. Try pointing it at wherever your .cab files are stored - I think it's C:\windows\options\cabs or maybe C:\options\cabs (or maybe C:\winnt\... instead of C:\windows\... on an NT based system).

Of course if you upgraded to XP then you would have a retail XP CD to use whenever it asks for the CD.

Good luck with the T20,

Ed Gibbs

Rahula · #12 Post by **Rahula** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:28 pm

Thanks for the prompt response, Ed.

For the moment, I'll hold off installing XP and stick with the Win2K for 2 reasons:

1. The Win2K installed with the Recovery CD contains some IBM "proprietary" utility software that I might find useful in future, such as the stuff from the Thinkpad Button that Brodev was enquiring about.

2. Although XP is good for media things, like DVD movies and other video activities, my 4 year old T20 has lost its brightness, and is only about 4 points out of 7 in brightness compared to a new laptop LCD. So, watching DVD movies on it is not so much a visual feast as on a newer LCD. Although the T20 has a Pentium III 700 mhz CPU, DVD playback frequently stutters, and sometimes even stopped. So, this old T20 is just an old workhorse and not for entertainment. When I gather sufficient courage, I might one day replace the LCD inverter to restore its brightness, like someone on the forum did.

Out of curiosity, has anyone put a four old Thinkpad side by side with a brand new Thinkpad to compare their brightness. I find that I have to reduce the brighness on the new LCD down to point 4 out of 7 to match the old LCD which has lost its brightness. Perhaps some readers on this forum would like to comment on this.

ThinkPad button on a T20

ThinkPad button on a T20

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