Add Firewire to T60p - -Third Verse

[Charles Mann]

The saga of adding SIIG FireWire 800 ExpressCard to my T60p. First problem, upon inserting the SIIG card into the express card slot was, “NMI parity error” blue screen. After consulting with a local IBM/Lenovo warranty repair center, I placed my T60p in their hands for repair. About a week later, they called to tell me they had replaced the mother board, and the problem was fixed. When I plugged the computer into the minidoc, the battery charge light was solid orange, oh well they must have run the battery down while testing…WRONG. After the battery was charged all night, the light was still solid orange, and the battery information was totally blank. Since the battery cycle count was quite low (around 15), when the computer was sent in for repair, I called the repair center, and they thought the battery charging circuit was bad in the mother board. So back to the repair center. About another week later they called to tell me another mother board had been installed, and all was well again. When the computer was placed in service, I ran Belarc and found that the model number and serial number had not been updated. So back to the repair center, (I was about to wear the door hinges out at the repair center). About a week later, a new problem showed up, when scrolling anything on the display, random small horizontal lines would appear on the page…back to the repair center, the tech immediately said “video memory bad”…another mother board…again when Belarc showed the model number and serial number needed to be updated again, another trip to the center. The short of this story is three mother boards and two extra trips to the repair center for bios updates, I hope the SIIG FireWire card will get a lot of use. The SIIG card works as advertised, will run at 400MB with the 1394a drivers, and be switched to 800MB using 1394b drivers. All is well in the old house hold, the SIIG works, the battery is charged and the info shows 15 cycles, the video is clean. And yes Belarc showed three different serial numbers on the mother boards, I just felt sorry for the tech’s having to go through all of the hassle of bad boards to fix one problem.

Charles

[furrycute]

So did you ever find out what caused the problem with your T60p?

Was there a problem with your T60p before you tried that firewire card? Or did adding that firewire card cause all these problems?

I too have a T60p and I am thinking about adding a firewire card. If it will cause this much trouble, then I think I'd better learn to live without firewire.

[Charles Mann]

furrycute...the SIIG ExpressCard problem was in the original mother board...the express card feature on the mother board was faulty...the other mother boards had their own problems left over from the refurbish process, used by manufacturers.

I will explain the features of the SIIG FireWire 800 ExpressCard, it has two ports, FireWire 800 port (9-pin), and FireWire 400 port (6-pin), the supplied software utility switches between the two ports to select the speed of the card. The card will only support one input at a time, just the speed is selectable. SIIG cards are sold by Lenovo, so should operate OK on the ThinkPad line of computers.

Charles

[furrycute]

Thanks Charles for the update!

I think I will order one from Lenovo as well.

[gator]

hmm ... if you are looking for a firewire 400 card, have a look at this thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=49706

[furrycute]

Thanks Gator for the suggestion. I'll look into that one as well

Gator, looks like that card requires a firewire cable with a special connector at one end. I see that a firewire cable with a special connector and a 6 pin connector is supplied, what if you have a device that has a 4 pin connector?

[furrycute]

Hi Charles, I can't find that siig card on Lenovo's website. Where did you purchase it from?

[Charles Mann]

furrycute..I purchased my SIIG card from Buy.com…The one I purchased was FireWire 800 ExpressCard..They do not ship a cable with it..As I explained earlier, the SIIG card has two different plugs and speeds associated with it, “Provides 1 FireWire 800 (9-pin) and 1 FireWire 400 (6-pin)”..So you have to decide what it will service, and what speed to use..this will determine the cable you need to order.

Charles