My T30 lives and is hinting at a "makeover"

[cparker]

For several years I've owned a quirky T30 (type 2366-92u, 1.8ghz cpu). I always had problems with it. Picked it up used and at first it seemed to work just fine. But there were problems with the computer freezing randomly, not associated with much of anything. The ram was fine, the cpu wasn't overheating. Weird. I lived with it. And began using it less and less, thinking I just had a "lemon". But I still loved the ergonomics and beauty of the unit. Then, yesterday I came up with an idea. I had always connected it to the Internet via a cable, could it be that it had something to do with the built in network adapter. I unplugged the cable, turned it on and let it run. No problem. No freezes. Then I plugged in a 10/100 pcmia adapter and used that instead. Everything worked fine, no freezes. Not for the rest of the day. My T30 lives! It has 512mb ram, a 30gb Fujitsu hard drive. xp-pro sp3. I was thinking of any or all of of these upgrades: increase ram, add 2gb, two 1gb units, one for each slot. Get a new hard drive, I was thinking of a 32gb transcend SSD IDE model that goes for 95 dollars at Newegg. A new battery (around 40 off of ebay). Total cost would be 225 dollars or so. Does this make sense? or should I economize and get 1gb ram, a larger capacity 5400rpm drive for 55 dollars or so, and the battery (total here would be $140). I'm happy with xp-pro, wonder if windows 7 is likely to be able to run on a t30 upgraded as described. Just wanted to do this "classic" some justice. Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

cparker
t30,560,570

[RealBlackStuff]

Stick with more RAM (2x 1GB 200-pin Sodimm, PC2100 or PC2700) and if required, a larger hard disk.
It may be worth trying to take the modem card and/or the wifi card out from the slot on the bottom, to see if that improves running it. Get a new(er) battery if you are going to use it again on a regular basis.
An SSD may not bring much of an advantage at the current prices.
Stick with XP until it's "dying day" somewhere in 2014 or 2015.

[cparker]

Great, then. I'll pick up 2 gigs. I don't really need a larger hard drive right now, so I'll let that pass. And thanks for the comment on xp. I have xp running on three machines now, the two others have 1 gb ram and I have to say the difference between 512 and 1gb is major. So 2gb should be even better.

Thank you!

cparker
t30, 560, 570

[archer6]

The only problem that you need to be aware of, is a known problem with the Ram Memory Slots. I know I own one, and it will no longer recognize the ram. Its been over a year since the problem surfaced and unfortunately I cannot remember the details. I'm currently on my BlackBerry so I cannot provide you with a link, but if you try Google I'm sure you will find it. Good Luck.
.
Cheers...
posted via BlackBerry Bold

[RealBlackStuff]

If that RAM problem happens, it's normally the bottom slot that won't recognize the module.
Plenty posts about it here. It can be repaired easily and quickly with a soldering iron and some flux.
Mind you, only the people who had the problem have posted about it, the majority who did not have this problem, never gave a peep!

[cparker]

I was concerned about the slot problem before, but apparently both slots seem to work fine after removing, exchanging, and replacing the existing ram modules. Anyway, I'll give it a try.

Thanks. This should be fun.

[archer6]

I was concerned about the slot problem before, but apparently both slots seem to work fine

That sounds great. I know that a few friends of mine have not had the slot problem but just wanted to mention it. Have fun with your project.

Cheers...

[cparker]

Thanks. I'll do the ram first. Then I'm sure I'll be back asking about my plans to use the Acronis I have on it to make an image for a new hard drive. But one thing at a time. I just spent a few hours with it actually doing useful work. It definitely needs the ram.

Thanks for all the help. I'll get back to report when I'm done.

[Paul Pennington]

I would not put $225 into a T30. For that much, or perhaps a little more, you can pick up a T42. I recently bought two of them:
1. A 2373-4WU off eBay for $183.49 shipped. It was missing the power supply, but included 2GB of Crucial memory.
2. A 2373-JTU from here on ThinkPads.com for $205.00 shipped. I asked the seller to remove the hard drive and battery to get this price, as I had some spares here. It came with 1 GB of memory.
The prices on T42's have really dropped recently -- check around. I would think there would be tons of them coming off-lease in New York City -- you might want to search locally as well.

--Paul

[cparker]

That's another revelation. Prices are going down to nothing. I can pick up some ram for the t30 -- 1gb for around 33 shipped after rebate at newegg. I definitely won't be spending the $225 as I originally thought on the t30.

Thanks!!!

[g1tigi]

fyi I have windows 7 installed on my T30 2366-pu1 and it works as snappily as XP (in contrast to vista, which ate the T30 for breakfast). Win7 in general seems to be quite kind to old/underpowered hardware.