Thinkpads.com A31P Project - (Pic Warning)

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#1 Post by **Harryc** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:28 pm

Following closely on the heels of the successful R51 project, we are starting a new forum build project for an A31P. This machine was donated by a forum member and this is what we know about it so far;

Condition;

- keyboard works, tested on another A31p
- battery in red, holds 30 mins charge
- missing optical drive
- missing RAM
- missing floppy drive
- missing hard drive
- missing AC adapter

General description;
Won't power on and boot. All the covers are in place. LCD looks very sound, unknown if it works.

Our budget is @ $225, and I will post an exact amount after I close the books on the accounting for the previous project. For now, we're looking for any parts identified as missing above. Free or very inexpensive parts source suggestions are encouraged and welcome. Donations are also welcome. I will update this thread once the machine is received. As with the previous project, once complete this one will feed the next project, and so on.

sparta.rising · #2 Post by **sparta.rising** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:45 pm

What's the model number?

Good source of RAM would be the Fry's or Buy.com sale. 1GB that's around $18 after rebate.

#3 Post by **Harryc** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:02 pm

Thanks for the tip on the RAM. No specifics are known on the model yet.

sarbin · #4 Post by **sarbin** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:20 pm

do you know if the machine has a hdd caddy and cover? i may have an old (but serviceable) 12.7mm hdd that should fit, but i'm traveling right now and the drive isn't with me.

how soon do you expect to get the machine?

basketb · #5 Post by **basketb** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:22 pm

If need be, I could donate a 1.6 or 1.7 GHz CPU and fan.
Also I might still have one or two 256MB DIMMs somewhere (though I would need to search for these).
Let me know if you need any of those items.

#6 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:22 am

sarbin and basketb, thanks for the parts offers, that is just fantastic. Let's wait until I get the machine here before we start shipping parts though. I want to make sure we're not wasting postage. I hope that the machine gets here this week.

schiesz · #7 Post by **schiesz** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:58 am

What drive bay do these have? Ultrabay 2000?

I'd suggest keeping the budget rock bottom. While I don't know what a A31p currently goes for, I can't imagine its more valuable than the last project machine.

If its Ultrabay 2000 I should have an optical drive I can donate. Also, if it takes the same AC adapter as older thinkpads, I probably can help with one of those as well.

#8 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:54 am

schiesz, the A31P's take Ultrabay Plus or Ultrabay 2000 drives.
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/UltraBay
Good news about the drive/adapter parts donation. Thank-you! I'll get back to you once it arrives.

#9 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:11 pm

Update, the A31P will arrive on Friday. Also, after shipping out the R51 today and accounting for the shipping cost, our budget is officially $225. for this project.

sparta.rising · #10 Post by **sparta.rising** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:57 pm

If I remember currently from the A31p that I had shortly, it had 2 ultrabay ports. Does it have an additional floppy drive or are you counting the floppy drive as one of those two ultrabay ports?

#11 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:01 pm

- missing floppy drive.

Both ports are empty.

sparta.rising · #12 Post by **sparta.rising** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:34 pm

I guess what I was asking is whether there was a 3rd drive specifically for floppy. But I checked out the tawbook and it says 2 bays, no third for floppy.

So if you want you could 2 CD drives in this, or 1 CD 1 floppy, or 2 floppy.

I have an ultrabay 2000 floppy drive i could donate, a cpu, and the palmrest and base plastics if they are needed.

#13 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:07 pm

yeah, it's what's referred to as a 3 spindle machine. You can even have 3 hard drives, two of them in UB2000 2nd HDD adapters. Thanks for the parts offer.

#14 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:37 pm

To get it up and running, you could always use that 10GB HD, until something better comes up (if required).

#15 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:44 pm

RBS, that is true. It's sitting here waiting to use ...

ajkula66 · #16 Post by **ajkula66** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:10 pm

Just a couple of things here:

a) A31p takes 16V-4.5A AC adapter.

b) A machine in good condition, reasonably configured (512MB-40GB-combo) will bring $300 or more.

c) Mint works great, typing on my A31p in Mint right now...

d) What I am wondering about is whether anyone has an actual board diagram-or something close to it-for this project. Believe it or not, I don't.

Until later, my fellow ThinkPad buffs...

#17 Post by **Harryc** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:53 am

George, thanks for the information. I agree that a system board locations diagram would really be helpful, since it is likely we'll be digging into a problem with the board on this machine. Also, for everyone's information, a 40GB 5400 RPM hard drive has been donated to the project from a member here.

I have been talking to another member over a second possible donor A31P that he has. It also has a system board problem, but it is a known GPU issue. It may turn out that the GPU issue will be a lot easier to deal with as far as a repair vs. what we may (or may not) find on the other system board. I think most Thinkpad repair guru's here would agree that there are times where it is impossible (by conventional means/tools) to diagnose and repair system board issues.

ajkula66 · #18 Post by **ajkula66** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:12 pm

Well, one could play and send a board for a re-balling, or try to locate a healthy system board...on the second machine, that is.

Unless someone is willing to try and re-flow the GPU solder...

On the "original" project machine, my assumption is that it's going to be Harry pulling a rabbit out of the hat and noticing the problem that everyone before him missed, or we'll be looking for a system board donor...

The second machine, if it's the one that I'm thinking of, is way too pretty to be parted out...so we may be looking at two A31p projects...

Oh well...worse things could happen...

#19 Post by **Harryc** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:22 pm

, it is indeed the one you are thinking about.

#20 Post by **underclocker** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 5:48 am

For a future project, once the budget grows -->

http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-T60-Laptop_W0Q ... 0293126249

A T60 with a mobo issue at a reasonable price...just a thought...

#21 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:42 am

underclocker, great idea. We may be in the budget range for a deal like that very soon.

#22 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:29 am

Update: The project's A31P just arrived. A cursory glance says it's in very nice condition. Considering the source that is not a surprise.

. I will try to post pictures today.

TTA · #23 Post by **TTA** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 11:09 am

underclocker wrote:For a future project, once the budget grows -->

http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-T60-Laptop_W0Q ... 0293126249

A T60 with a mobo issue at a reasonable price...just a thought...

I'll let you guys know what's wrong with it

I have an 15inch 1.6Ghz a31 here with a good board CD and FDD I was thinking about eBaying for about $100.00. It would pretty much complete your project.
Pm me maybe we can work out a deal.

ajkula66 · #24 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:50 pm

It is quite unlikely that a board from 1.6 A31 would be a good fit for an A31p...

16MB VRAM vs. 64MB on A31p

No S-video

No Firewire

Most likely no BT or wireless capability...

TTA · #25 Post by **TTA** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:11 pm

ajkula66 wrote:It is quite unlikely that a board from 1.6 A31 would be a good fit for an A31p...

16MB VRAM vs. 64MB on A31p

No S-video

No Firewire

Most likely no BT or wireless capability...

Hi
I didn't even think of that, I only assumed it would 'fit' more or less in the same way a r51 motherboard will 'fit' in a T4x chassis.
Regardles the MT of the machine I have is: 2652-AU8 and the FRU on the motherboard is: 26p8429 if you can use it let me know.
either way I can donate an ultrabay 2000 FDD and CD-Drive to the cause.

ajkula66 · #26 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:52 pm

@TTA:

Please don't get me wrong, I wasn't knocking down your proposal, just pointing out that if one is building a machine to be sold, cutting down on its most important specs would be quite a bad idea.

A31p still has a strong following, but people expect original GPU along with all the other "goodies" that "p" stands for...

#27 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:06 pm

OK, taking a quick inventory we need;

PC-2100 RAM, at least 1 x 512MB. It takes 1GB total.
Floppy Drive, Ultrabay 2000
CDROM Drive, Ultrabay 2000
AC Adapter
Hard drive caddy
Hard drive cover screw (we have a HD cover)

In this thread, we have offers from;

Sarbin - Caddy
Basketb - 1 or 2 DIMMS (PC-2100?)
schiesz - AC adapter (16V-4.5A AC adapter ?) and Ultrabay 2000 Optical drive
sparta.rising - Ultrabay 2000 Floppy Drive

If these parts and the offer are still on the table, please send me a PM and I'll give you my address. Thank-you!

sparta.rising · #28 Post by **sparta.rising** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:13 pm

Random shot, but if the hard drive screw is the same as the one for the T4x/R5x I have a couple spare.

edit: I just checked with the base I have, its the same diameter/thread size... but I don't know about the height

#29 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:43 pm

Someone who has an A31 can comment, but the HD screw is short. I'd say 4mm or less.

ajkula66 · #30 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:44 pm

A31p will actually take 2GB of RAM...and it can be either PC2100 or 2700...mix and match is fine, beggars can't be choosers...

I'm sure I have a screw, and will also send in restore disks if Harry doesn't already have them...

But let's see what the board diagnostics come with as a result...

Thinkpads.com A31P Project - (Pic Warning)

Thinkpads.com A31P Project - (Pic Warning)

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