Thinkpads.com X41 Project - (Pic Warning)

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proaudioguy · #91 Post by **proaudioguy** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:21 am

Good job,...good pics. I can definitely see this mod saving someone that has one of these machines. Having to go through all that, I can honestly say I would never buy one.

Now I'd like to see a mod to use SATA drives in the older non-SATA Thinkpads.

#92 Post by **Harryc** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:53 am

proaudigyguy, thanks for the comments. The X41 definitely has a large following because it is a very light machine, runs a Dothan CPU, and is relatively inexpensive at this point in time. As far as not buying one due to the difficulty of the hard drive upgrade, it really is not a difficult upgrade if someone possesses basic soldering skills, and the cost is not prohibitive. The drive and adapter cost me @ $140 shipped, and I have seen the drives as low as $100 on EBay. With that said, it is not an alternative for everyone, and obviously a current X41 owner would be more motivated to do this upgrade than a non-owner.

#93 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:36 am

Missed out on all the fun, because I never checked the X2/3/4 forum until today.
Nice job Harry!

Suggestions for next projects:
- as already mentioned: fit a SATA disk in a PATA Thinkpad (but not using the CD/DVD cage, and not using a 3-spindle machine such as the A3x)

- show us how to repair the T30 RAM slots (poshgeordie has done them, maybe he is willing to document this?)

- pool sources to overcome the "2010 error" for un-listed HDs in T43/R52 (zender comes to mind. I've done a lot of assembler programming myself. I started looking into this late last year, but haven't had the time for it yet)

#94 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:11 pm

RBS, thanks for the comment, I appreciate it. This idea of fitting a SATA disk in a PATA Thinkpad sounds interesting.

x412008 · #95 Post by **x412008** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:09 pm

Really Good documentation Harryc, great pictures,, but I have problem loading the pictures now (01.03.09 - 21.00 GMT)..

I Hope to be able to support your next projetc too.

x412008

#96 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:19 pm

Thanks for the comment. The pictures are hosted on a PC at a members house (not me). He does a very good job of keeping it online, but it does go down for maintenance from time to time. We could really use some more hosting ...

#97 Post by **Harryc** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:38 am

The X41 that was built during this project is complete. I received the battery today, and the bottom feet last week. The battery is new and has one (1) cycle because I charged it to test it. This machine will be going up FS on the Marketplace forum today. I am looking for input on pricing. We have invested $373.52 in this machine. Condition is very good with minor exterior scratches, there are a couple of scratches on the memory door, normal wear on the keyboard, all letters are clear/visible, the LCD is bright, and has one small pressure mark at the extreme right edge of the LCD only visible on a white background. There are a few pencil point sized dust spots on the very bottom extreme edge of the LCD, no dead pixels that I can see. Other than that, it is fast and has a large 5400rpm 120gb hard drive with 512MB RAM. It comes with a brand new dock, no optical drive in the dock. I flashed to the latest BIOS and Windows XP is freshly loaded, recovery partition intact.

Your thoughts on pricing?

Note - I will be subtracting $15 from the final price after the sale to recoupe money for an AC adapter which I had to donate. I also donated a $25 WiFi adapter gratis to the project, but that is my donation and I do not want anything for it.

#98 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:35 pm

with a dock, 40GB HD, 512MB RAM, and DVD/CDRW they go for ca. $750.- on eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-THINKPAD-X41-LA ... 0015006315
That price is rather high I think.
Perhaps $575.-?

sparta.rising · #99 Post by **sparta.rising** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:26 pm

Looks like the average eBay price with 60GB and no dock is $300-400, which sounds reasonable. The docks aren't too expensive. But the 120GB 5400RPM is a rarity... I'm not sure what to value it at exactly. Probably sell for less than a X60 with 120GB (even though the X41 is slimmer)... but there aren't too many with 120GB completed on eBay. One sold at $550, but a single sale isn't a good indicator of price. This one might not be most profitable project, but very valuable as a forum resource.

#100 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:00 am

I think we're going to offer it at $450 and see what happens. I'll put it up on Marketplace today.

talz13 · #101 Post by **talz13** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:01 am

Would anybody be interested in taking orders for pre-modded ZIF adapters? I'd like to buy one that is already modified for use in the x41, but don't currently possess the necessary tools for the modifications...

dwilsonfl · #102 Post by **dwilsonfl** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:18 pm

I would. I sorely need a faster drive in my X40.

#103 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:16 pm

Guys, these ZIF/IDE adapters cost $4.68 shipped.
Adapter on EBay. Get two or three of them and follow the instructions in this thread. If you trash one, it is no big deal. Two of them cost less than a night out at McDonalds.

dwilsonfl · #104 Post by **dwilsonfl** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:48 pm

Ok Harry, I just bought three. What exactly should I look for as far as the HD is concerned? I don't need 120 gb. But the 5400 RPM, oh yeah.

#105 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:36 am

That's the thing, that is the only 5400rpm ZIF drive that I am aware of. The rest are 4200rpm.

sparta.rising · #106 Post by **sparta.rising** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:12 pm

Well if you are looking for speed over capacity, you could go with a 1.8" ZIF SSD

dwilsonfl · #107 Post by **dwilsonfl** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:15 pm

Looking at it,but money is always a prime factor. The 32 gig is too small and too expensive, and a 64 gig would be plenty big enough, but way over as far as price is concerned.

dwilsonfl · #108 Post by **dwilsonfl** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:33 pm

So is the Samsung the only 1.8" IDE zif drive @ 5400? Have not seen one of those anywhere lately.

#109 Post by **Harryc** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:52 am

Apparently the Dell Latitude D430 also uses these drives. The same drive also comes in an 80GB version.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/s ... /specs.htm

EBay is going to be your best bet for them, but you will have to be patient. If you want an X41 with one of these 5400rpm drives already in it and running, I can help you...arrival at your door in (2) days.

dwilsonfl · #110 Post by **dwilsonfl** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:53 am

Just surfed over to Dell and their description.

Manufacturer Part# : MP602
Dell Part# : 341-5732
$239.99

Isn't it too big physically?

Scratch that, must be another drive. But still, says it fits the 430.

I'll keep looking.Thanks

hYdrociTy · #111 Post by **hYdrociTy** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:07 pm

Hi Thanks for this great project. I was going to purchase one and then an ultrabase and see if i could stuff a hard drive in the bay but to have a large hard drive in there permanently without the need for the base is amazing. Thanks for the work

One dumb question... I have x41 tablet and would like to upgrade the hard drive too. I wasn't sure if this project applies to the tablet too (in concept). I can solder surface mount and can make my machine a guinea pig to try. I already weakened my right usb port to the brink of failure from plugging and unplugging an external hd where i keep all my music (flac so it doesnt play well with small drives)

#112 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:10 pm

I have never worked with an X41 tablet, but I'd assume that the hard drive bay is similar to a regular X41. Good luck with the project if you try it. If you want to ship me your machine, I can try it for you (I live near Poughkeepsie, NY)

h310ise · #113 Post by **h310ise** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:18 am

such good timing, just looking to do this on my x41t with the 32 gb SSD Mobi 1.8" drive. Will post here if I get things to fit n run. Anyone else use this drive in this kind of job I'd love to hear.

ty 4 the great info

uux · #114 Post by **uux** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:32 am

h310ise wrote:such good timing, just looking to do this on my x41t with the 32 gb SSD Mobi 1.8" drive. Will post here if I get things to fit n run. Anyone else use this drive in this kind of job I'd love to hear.

ty 4 the great info

I'm using that drive in my X40. I modded mine a little differently, though. I have one of the newer ZIF-IDE adapters from Lenovo. The Mobi SSD doesn't fit perfectly into the enclosure (the ribbon no longer sits flush). I left part of the enclosure off and the drive is still enclosed. It fits fine. In fact, I believe someone used the same mod as in this thread with the Mobi SSD in the sticky at the top of this forum. It's very fast and has been performing nicely for me. I like it much better than the CF-IDE solution and it ended up being much cheaper at the time as well. I just don't care for the smaller capacity. I know they don't perform as well as the Mobi, and use lower quality flash cells, but I'm waiting for these to become available.

edit:
found the post in the sticky here

sjthinkpader · #115 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:18 am

Run a speed test on your SSD now. Rerun it again in about 6 months and let us know if it perform any differently.

uux · #116 Post by **uux** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 5:44 pm

sjthinkpader wrote:Run a speed test on your SSD now. Rerun it again in about 6 months and let us know if it perform any differently.

Posted in your thread.

p78 · #117 Post by **p78** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:06 am

Harryc wrote: ZIF Hard Drive Purchase - $130.00

I just noticed these hs122jc drives for $120 (not shipped) on ebay now.
Too bad I ordered the toshiba mk1214gah a couple of weeks ago for my hp nc2400 ...

sjthinkpader · #118 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:40 pm

Harry,

Do you mind running the CrystalDiskMark on the HS122JC?

#119 Post by **Harryc** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:46 pm

I am out of town this week, and the X41 is heading to Afghanistan on Saturday. If I have time I will do it.

sjthinkpader · #120 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:15 pm

It'll be nice to add it to the HDD benchmark table, thanks.

Thinkpads.com X41 Project - (Pic Warning)

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