T41 has a few issues

[cj908]

New member, new Thinkpad.

I just bought a nice T41 2378 from a local student. My old job provided a T23 which hooked me on Thinkpads. I've been reading a lot on the forums - great info, but my brain is full! I've never opened a laptop. Not interested in doing technical repairs, much more comfortable adding drives or ram to a regular PC box.

First thing I did was have the power jack fixed. It was loose & prevented the machine from getting any power. The battery was basically drained, but had enough left for me to see that it would boot & launch programs. I know I need a new battery because it only runs for maybe 45 min now that it can charge. Any suggestions on batteries & power management? I do a lot of Excel spreadsheets & internet misc, incl surfing, some very basic website work, & sending files around for advertising/newsletters.

The plastic cover/keyboard appears to be a little loose on the upper left corner area. It's almost like there should be a screw there, but I don't see any holes. Can't tell for sure whether there's something pressing up from below, or if it's just because it's a corner & the rest of the cover is tightly attached. Can this be fixed? What can happen if it stays loose? Is it possible that the person who repaired the jack damaged this? (I don't think so.)

I don't have any XP recovery discs. Posts on this forum seem to say the T41 can be restored without them. This makes me nervous. I pulled the specs, & there is a list of pre-loaded software besides XP Pro. Will these preloads come back too? If I look online for recovery discs, how can I know I've tot the right ones?

Last, I'd really like a dock, but how can I be sure it will work with my little T41? Will all the T4* docks fit all the T4x series Thinkpads? How much should a dock or port replicator cost? The prices are all over the map.


I'm sure I'll have other questions, but for now I just want to get started.

Thanks a lot!

CJ in MN

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, should be a long screw there thru the bottom.

[cj908]

Thanks !

That might not be good news. There is indeed a screw, but it won't tighten. I wonder if it's stripped?

Also, I never even noticed that the footpad is gone from that corner. usb's are fine, no other signs of damage, everything else looks & feels normal.

I'm not planning to beat this Thinkpad up, but it won't stay in its dock all the time. (When I figure out what dock to buy.) If the screw is bad, is there any way to get the whole top surface tight & solid? I don't want crap to find its way in around the various connections on the side.

Thx again!

CJ in MN

[sktn77a]

The keyboard surround and back top cover are in 2 pieces on the 14" T4x and 1 piece on the 15". There are clips on the back edge that must be located properly or you will have one point sticking up (like yours). You'll have to remove the cover to align it properly. See the hatdware manual for instructions. It sounds like a previous owner took the top off, didn't put it back on properly and tried to screw it up tight, stripping the screw in the process!

Any of the T4x docks/mini-docks/port replicators will work on your T41. Pay as little as possible ($10.00) for one that works.

Any T41 or T42 recovery disks will work on your computer (and most T40 recovery disks but they may not have some of the later, eg wireless card, hardware drivers, so you m ay have to pick up some drivers from the IBM/Lenovo site). Failing this, you can use an OEM XP OS disk and get the drivers from the IBM/Lenovo site.

Good Luck!

[whizkid]

Welcome to the forum CJ!

I see we're starting to get a crew of 'padders in the Twin Cities. (About time, too.)

If you feel comfortable adding RAM and drives to a desktop, you will have no problem at all doing the same to ThinkPads. Please get the hardware maintenance manual for your machine. There are detailed instructions with excellent drawings for replacing every component in there, along with part numbers for screw kits and everything else.

See this site's FAQ for where to find that.

[cj908]

Thinkpad is way smaller, more fragile, more expensive than desktop. Totally different, lots more potential damage with one little slip! Yeah, I'll get the manuals, but I won't like it...

I've ordered the cheap Chinese battery w/1-yr warranty. Seems like a reasonable gamble.
No $10 docks out there, range is more like $20-$200. If all labeled "T4x" will definitely fit my T41, then I'll pick up something simple, thanks for the info!
Still on the fence about XP recovery discs. I'm leaning towards ordering a set, but trying to restore the factory settings from the hidden partition anyway. If it fails, at least I'll learn something, & all I've really lost is the time finding drivers & waiting for the discs to come.

I'll let you know when I take it apart.

CJ in MN

[sjthinkpader]

Thanks !

That might not be good news. There is indeed a screw, but it won't tighten. I wonder if it's stripped?
...

Each screw hole has a threaded brass stud pressed into a plastic boss. Sounds like the brass stud had came loose. Then you have to remove the upper KB bezel and remove the brass stud with pliers. You can superglue the brass stud back in the plastic boss or get a new upper bezel.

The full dock 2877 will give you an extra Ultrabay 2000 and a PCI card slot. It is noisy due to the internal fan but the Ultrabay 2K supports a wide variety of drives. The usefulness of a PCI slot is limited today but I have a 4 port USB card in there.

The mini-dock 2878 has 4 USB ports and comes with an 120W AC adapter.

The Port Replicator II uses your regular AC adapter.

All of them are very reasonable today and you'll need one of these to support a DVI monitor.

[cj908]

Easter got in the way. Here's what I did to fix the screw:

It was hard to remove, but when I got it out, the screw seemed to be too short. I compared it to the screw from the other side of the battery & it was definitely the wrong size.

So... I took the correct screw to the hardware store. Couldn't get the exact length in 2mm diam, so I bought a longer one & matching nut. Cut it to size with a wirecutter, unscrewed the nut to smooth the threads on the end, works perfectly, T41 case is solid again!

Fedex tracking says Chinese battery will arrive tomorrow, woo hoo!

CJ in MN