R40 Series Driver compatability questions

[OrioleMagic]

I have had an R40 Type 2897 B4U for over a year and really love it. Just before Christmas the HD went bad, so I replaced it and downloaded drivers from the IBM site. (I think...) All went well for about a month.

I always had at least 2 good hours of battery time. All of a sudden, when I unplugged the power cord, the laptop completely shut off. I did not think it was the battery as their had been no signs of short battery life. A week or so later the mouse was a bit jumpy, and sure enough the screen goes on the fritz... I tried to reboot but there was no sound whatsoever of anything turning on or booting up. It finally booted up but the screen was very skewed and displaced, which is the best way that I can describe it. I have come to the conclusion that the motherboard is shot.

Am I right?

Now, assuming I am right, my next question is: If I buy another R40 on ebay, and choose to use this one for parts... What types will have drivers that match? Will the drivers for this 2897 B4U work perfectly with a type 2722 RTU or 6XU or a 2723 CTO or a 2897 54U or GWU? I want to pop my almost new hard drive out of this R40 and put it into another and be ready to go with game files and other data that is important to me on my current hard drive. I know my type 2897 has a Pentium M 1.3 GHz processor, will the drivers be compatible with all Pentium M R40s? I want to put my current hard drive into another Thinkpad and have it turn on, boot up, and be ready to go!

Last question: Will R40 drivers be compatible with the T4x Series? If I bought a T42 for example, would I have to down load new drivers to make the T-42 motherboard recognize the hardware on the laptop?

Disclaimer: This poster is a complete NOVICE! If I have used improper language or language out of context, I apologize. Please feel free to correct me! Thanks!!

[ajkula66]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

You can replace your mobo with any R40 mobo that carries PM CPU and ATi 7500 card.

That being said, if you use the same wireless, modem, etc. you should not have to add anything. Even if you do, these will be very minor additions. It will work out of the box, at least 95%.

T42 might or might not recognize your files, my assumption is that it would. Even if it initially bluescreens on you, there are ways to go about it, and get your stuff up an running within an hour. But let's cross that bridge if and when we get to it...

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any additional questions.

[OrioleMagic]

Please forgive my ignorance... but, will a Pentium M 1.3 GHz, 1.5 GHz, and 1.7 GHz all have the ATi 7500 card? I don't see anyone listing this card in the specs of any R40s. I can ask the seller if the motherboard has this card if necessary...

Also, I notice some are Intel and some are Centrino... Does this matter?

[ajkula66]

Pentium M equals Centrino for your purposes...

All of the PM motherboards (not P4M) will have the same graphic card that you need.

[OrioleMagic]

Pentium M equals Centrino for your purposes...

All of the PM motherboards (not P4M) will have the same graphic card that you need.

Outstanding!!! Thank you very much!

[Terrahawk]

All of the PM motherboards (not P4M) will have the same graphic card that you need.

Not so - we have two R40s here. One is a 2723-26M with a 16MB Mobility Radeon M6 and the other (my own one) is a 2722-3GG with a 32MB Mobility Radeon 7500. They are both Pentium-M models.

The good news though, is that both video chips will use the same drivers. I previously had a 2723-26M with a Mobility Radeon M6 and I upgraded to the 2723-3GG by simply pulling out my hard drive from the old machine and inserting it into the new one. The video chip change went by without a hitch, no need to install any drivers, and everything just worked.

[Terrahawk]

I want to put my current hard drive into another Thinkpad and have it turn on, boot up, and be ready to go!

Should work fine. It did for me (changed from 2723-26M to 2722-3GG).

Last question: Will R40 drivers be compatible with the T4x Series? If I bought a T42 for example, would I have to down load new drivers to make the T-42 motherboard recognize the hardware on the laptop?

Not 100% sure, but I do know that I installed the R40's hidden recovery partition on a T40 successfully. The only issues were that the Access IBM application displayed all R40 stuff instead of T40 stuff.

[ajkula66]

Terrahawk wrote:

Not so - we have two R40s here. One is a 2723-26M with a 16MB Mobility Radeon M6 and the other (my own one) is a 2722-3GG with a 32MB Mobility Radeon 7500. They are both Pentium-M models.

I stand corrected...

[OrioleMagic]

Very dumb question, but I need to know... R40 motherboards should be the same regardless of whether they are 14" screens or 15" screens... correct???

I may buy a 14" screen R40 with a Pentium 3 and take the plunge into making a working computer out of two non-working computers... I don't think the LCD size or laptop size has anything to do with the motherboard... Am I right?

BTW, I found a R40 Type 2897 B4U on ebay and bought it. This is the exact model that had the motherboard crash. I think I will be good with a hard drive swap! Thanks for all the answers.

[ajkula66]

It's actually a very good question, but I don't have the answer off the top of my head...

[Terrahawk]

The R40 hardware maintenance manual has that information - as far as I can tell, it shows that all the pentium-M models have the same motherboards (the only differences are whether it has the Radeon M6 or M7 chips, and whether it has Firewire or not).