R32 motherboard interchangability?

[lparsons]

I am looking at replacing my R32 motherboard as a possible solution to the problem I encountered while trying to replace my LCD bezel. (see http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=62462)
I think what I really need is a new "I/O port bracket", according to the HMM, but I cannot find anyone selling that part alone on ebay. The HMM lists a part number 46p2590, but I haven't found it available anywhere.
However, I have found a few auctions for essentially the bottom half of the system - the lower bezels, with motherboard and CPU, minus RAM, HD, and optical. However, I usually see these with the 1.8ghz P4, while my system has the 1.6ghz P4.
Therefore my question is, can I just frankenstein these together and run with it, or will I encounter problems? I would like to just put my RAM, HD, and optical drive into the lower half from ebay, then rebuild my LCD into the new bezel I bought last week, and go. Has anyone done something like this? Is there a reason why it wouldn't work?

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[Harryc]

As long as it's a complete R32 base you should not have any problem using your old parts with a new base. CPU speed is not important.

[lparsons]

That was what I expected, I just wasn't sure if there was perhaps more than one motherboard used for the R32?

I know that of course with a desktop, if you change your motherboard, even between different models form the same manufacturer, windows XP will go berzerk.

Obviously IBM did several different CPU speeds for the R32, but I don't know how many motherboard versions there were. Based on the HMM, it looks like there were at least three different renditions of the R32 - but the HMM says essentially nothing about how they differed.

thanks!

[Harryc]

With Thinkpads, even if there are three or more part numbers of system boards for a particular model, they will all fit in it's standard base. So, even though there may be different features on those boards, it does not matter with regard to the base. In some cases even the bases are compatible between models, the T40, 41, and 42 are examples. So you can swap system boards between those models.