T42 / T43 compatibility

[dcouzin]

It's lonely this week with my T42 in the repair shop. The 600X is working, but being of vintage 1999 its limits are showing. IE8 menu bars can't be displayed on the 600X, apparently because the graphics chip is obsolete. There's no USB2.0 and no ethernet connection on the 600X, and the USB2.0 cardbus gets in the way of the ethernet cardbus. So while I love the 600X's keyboard feel and screen colors -- both superior to the T42's -- it's time to retire the 600X and buy a spare T42.

Since T42's sometimes have board level USB2.0 troubles -- mine sure did -- I'm looking at T43 as the spare. Can one pull the hard drive out of a T42 and slide it into a T43, and vice versa, with full functionality with minimal system retuning? How much driver changing, etc., is required?

I'm in Germany. T43's are very cheap here now. Is this offer too good to be true?

[sjthinkpader]

T42 and T43 uses different HAL so the OS load is different. T42 image may work in a T43 if you remove the TPM driver first.

[richk]

T43 should really use a different HAL (hardware abstraction layer). A T42 disk will boot, but it won't work right. You should reinstall the OS. That price actually looks high. I have a very similar item for sale right now at a much lower price. The price on that one is similar to a 15" UXGA flexview T43p I'm selling. This isn't the marketplace section, but if you want more info, send me a PM. (I ship worldwide)

[dcouzin]

Thanks sjthinkpader and richk. So T42 / T43 do not provide the easy back-and-forth I hoped for.
The only design problem I've encountered in 4½ years with my T42 is its USB 2.0 problem, which I understand to be due to a vulnerability to electric pulses. My T42 required two motherboard replacements for this. I dread buying more of that problem in an out-of-warranty T42. What is your appraisal of this risk?

[ajkula66]

It's a lot safer to buy a T43 and re-install the OS from scratch...with a T42, I'd only buy a machine from a personally known source, which hasn't traveled much and has been used as a desktop replacement...

My $0.02 only...

[dcouzin]

ajkula66, could you please explain why a T43 is a safer purchase than a T42.
I want two fully compatible machines and already have a T42. I guess I could buy two T43's and sell my T42, but that's three times as many transactions, as well as several days futzing with software installation.
In a nutshell, what are the main differences between the T42 and T43?
Thanks.

[Brad]

The main difference is that the FSB runs at 400mhz on the T40/1/2 and 533 on the T43. The T40/1/2 use DDR memory and the T43 use DDR2 memory. One reason George mentioned the T43 is that the T40/1/2 have a known GPU issue. T43's are not known for this issue.

Brad

[ajkula66]

Due to improved soldering process, T43/p units have a far lower failure rate than a T42/p, and by a large margin.

I don't know what type of specs you're looking for in a machine, but if you can live with a XGA screen, T43s with Intel graphics (model numbers beginning in 187x) are the only 100% safe purchase within the T4x range.

In case you're looking at a higher-end unit, ATi-based T43/p machines, with all their little idiosyncrasies (which I would call character, but that's me, YMMV) have by far the lowest failure rate amongst any ATi-based T4x series.

There are many other differences between the two, but none of them affects the reliability of the machine one way or another.

Hope this helps.

[dcouzin]

Thanks Brad,
My T42 is fast enough, but the GPU solder joint issue is reason enough not to buy a T42. (I thought the USB2.0 issue was.)

Thanks George,
You make a strong case for T43 over T42 on grounds of reliability.
My T42 has a 14.1" SXGA+ (1400x1050) with 64MB ATI Radeon 9600 GPU, and I wouldn't accept less. Actually I find its colors poor but its sharpness superb. This old 600X has a 13.3" XGA (1024x768) with NeoMagic MagicGraph256ZX driver. It's colors are excellent but its sharpness is insufficient. How to combine the sharpness of the one with the colors of the other in a 14" screen?

In a previous strand -- nicer screen colors -- I tried to formulate my color complaint, but must try harder.

[sjthinkpader]

Thanks Brad,
My T42 is fast enough, but the GPU solder joint issue is reason enough not to buy a T42. (I thought the USB2.0 issue was.)

Thanks George,
You make a strong case for T43 over T42 on grounds of reliability.
My T42 has a 14.1" SXGA+ (1400x1050) with 64MB ATI Radeon 9600 GPU, and I wouldn't accept less. Actually I find its colors poor but its sharpness superb. This old 600X has a 13.3" XGA (1024x768) with NeoMagic MagicGraph256ZX driver. It's colors are excellent but its sharpness is insufficient. How to combine the sharpness of the one with the colors of the other in a 14" screen?

In a previous strand -- nicer screen colors -- I tried to formulate my color complaint, but must try harder.

These LCD are pixel accurate so sharpness is never an issue. May be you mean brightness or contrast ratio. The 15 inch Flexview screens are much better than non-Flexview 14 inch screens in these areas. But the 15 inch platforms are less portable.

NeoMagic is a single chip GPU with on chip DRAM. So they never had the package assembly issues ATI had. But they couldn't expand memory size easily so lost ground to ATI. It is a very stable and reliable chip.

[sjthinkpader]

duplicate removed

[dcouzin]

These LCD are pixel accurate so sharpness is never an issue.

sjthinkpader, I don't mean "sharpness" in the optical sense of small spread function. Many small fonts look fuzzy on my 600x screen because there aren't enough pixels to display them well and the NeoMagic driver does a less than brilliant job of introducing grey pixels.

[ajkula66]

@dcouzin:

Now that I know what size unit you're looking for, I'd most definitely advise you to get a T43, since 14" T4x machines are a lot more prone to GPU problems than their 15" siblings.

[dcouzin]

ajkula66, Since you advise against buying another T42, dare I ask about later Lenovo 14" SXGA+ Thinkpads? Are any as good as the T43?

[ajkula66]

T60 is an even better machine than a T42/43...and the same goes for T61 as long as it:

a) Has Intel graphics or

b) Has nVidia graphics and plenty of warranty remaining

Hope this helps.

[Maccess]

Due to improved soldering process, T43/p units have a far lower failure rate than a T42/p, and by a large margin.
...
There are many other differences between the two, but none of them affects the reliability of the machine one way or another.

Hope this helps.

The T43 bottom casing is slightly thicker than the T42. Presumably this is to address the planar (motherboard) flex issue that causes the GPU Problem. I have both, and placed them side by side: The T43 is thicker.

Whne buying a T43, get a unit with ATI Graphics not Intel Graphics. Better yet get a T43p with FireGL if you can find one.

T43s use much cheaper DDR2 RAM. This can make upgrading RAM to the 2GB maximum worth the added cost of a T43.

The recovery CDs of a T43 cannot be used in a T42. It won't boot. However, you can use Recovery CDs from machines as early as a T30 on a T42 (just run Windows Update).

One gotcha with the T43 is that you can't use any hard drive with it, and the largest hard drive for the internal bay that works with it (after flashing) is 100MB, unless you can live with the 2010 error at every boot.

I'd get two T43s.

[dcouzin]

Based on all your advice I'll take the half step up, with all its inconvenience, from T42 to T43. I ordered a T43 today. I hope I can find some way to boot it, with Ubuntu if all else fails.

Concerning Maccess's gotcha, I actually prefer a smallish hard drive on a laptop. 40 GB is good self-discipline. I use a 500 GB external hard drive with lots of 40 GB partitions for backups and silliness.