And I Shall Dub Thee THE BEAST

[flashstar]

Two weeks ago, I purchased a fairly mangled T23 on Ebay without knowing its true condition. The screen had been stepped on in a corn processing plant in Indiana, the guy I bought it from had stripped out the most useful components (hard drive and memory) and had replaced them with old, nearly worthless parts (4gb Hitachi drive, 64 mb ram), the back usb ports only worked 20% of the time, the keyboard had been worn and the CDC network card did not work. I knew about only 20% of these issues at the time of purchase.

Then I found this forum. After reading about 100 posts, I began to take action.

I returned to ebay and proceeded to buy all of the components necessary to get the machine to work. Immediately, I replaced the screen (which had problems not described in the original sale of the machine), then I installed a 120gb Seagate 5400.3 drive, 512 mb Samsung stick of ram. I got a speed boost of around 9x from said upgrades.

I thought the pain was over, but when I was playing Starcraft, I realized that my mouse wasn't recognized and that no matter what I did, I couldn't get the ethernet connection to work. I then bought a new back i/o board (I got a T22 model) and spent around 4 hours installing it. After putting the machine back together again, it didn't even turn on. I guess that the T22 i/o board isn't compatible.

So, I got a T23 i/o board and installed that (I am still waiting for a new CDC ethernet card). I put a new keyboard on and got a new AC adaptor too. So... now it finally works. It hasn't even taken longer than 27 seconds to boot up in Windows XP and Office opens in 3 seconds. I'm fairly happy.

Here is what I bought:

XGA Screen (whole assembly)
120gb Seagate 5400.3 drive
new i/o board
AC adaptor
keyboard
CDC ethernet card
another battery

The total came to $404. Here are some comparison pictures:

old:

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7375/pict5682dc3.jpg

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5500/pict5680ee3.jpg

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2879/pict5676mm5.jpg

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2396/pict5678rv4.jpg

new:

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/7632/pict5696wi8.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/3056/pict5695mw0.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8831/pict5694ln5.jpg

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/1171/pict5693rq3.jpg


I'm still looking for a full battery, so if anyone has any lying around give me a PM.

Overall I spent around 20 hours on the machine, but the learning experience has been excellent.

[goofyGAguy]

$404 for a T23? I've seen some really nice T41's go for that on eBay.BTW, could you disclose the name of the seller so we can be sure to avoid them?

[flashstar]

The seller of the laptop's name is jschoellkopff
Unfortunately, I gave him a good review before I found out all of the problems with the machine.

I haven't had any issues with any of the other sellers that I've bought from. I got my cdc card, used battery, keyboard, io boards, AC adaptor, and display from lady_fixalot for $100 including shipping and she is an excellent seller.

[TonyJZX]

yeah that's a lot of money to sink into a laptop even of the caliber of the T23

i'm on a new dell latitude 2gb t7200 on vista right now and it wasn't too much more than that

i'm about to repair my t23 as i have abundant spares for these including adapters, optical drives and such so completely scrapping the T20/T40s isn't cost effective for me

[flashstar]

I got the CDC network card in the mail today from lady_fixalot and now I finally have an ethernet connection! It was funny because this tiny 1.5" x1" card came in about 5 lbs of bubble wrap in a special air mailer.

[Oraklini]

Great stuff. You really got stuck in there and achieved your goal.
I've just got a T21 off ebay for £50, all it needs is a keyboard and a hard drive.

Just one question though, what the hell do you use those big mole grips for

[flashstar]

I use those vice grips to whip my unruly desktop PC into shape.

Btw, I filed a complaint with Ebay. I will see where this goes. The seller has basically said that he doesn't care and that a $14 rebate was worth $100 in parts and 18 hours of my time. I'll see where this goes.

[nikki605]

I bought my T21 mobo from lady_fixalot and also had good luck. My original mobo developed the BoD and I went looking for a replacement. That was in April of this year. The mobo installed with no problems and the T21 is still working (I'm typing on it). Good eBay seller for Thinkpad parts!

Right now, she has an SL53S 1GHz CPU for anyone looking to upgrade their T2X system.

[AlphaKilo470]

I bought my T23 back in June with 1gb RAM but without hard drive or optical drive for $130 (I think... Just know it was a something over $100 but under $150). Added a DVD/CD-RW combo drive that I originally used with a T21 and a 120gb hard drive I paid $100 for so I'm estimating that my T23's cost me just under $300. I received it in near mint condition and I've given it enough use that the keyboard is getting shiny and the wrist pad has a wear spot on it.

Not totally sure how that info ties into your post. The T2x laptops are like old luxury cars in that you can get them pretty cheap but the cost of fixing and maintaining them can run a nicely sized bill but if you keep the system in good condition, it'll run pretty nicely.