TP X40, Battery, Trackpoint Tip, Hard Drive and CD Questions

[Brian10161]

Hi everyone,

I just ordered a used X40 online, looks to be off lease and in pretty decent shape. This will be my first ThinkPad that I have owned, not worked with. My school had many in the computer labs (albeit, older models, but they were excellent computers) and they seemed to be quite well built. Standing up to middle school kids and high school kids means something in my books. I ordered one mainly because I will be going to college in March and April for trade school, so I figured it might be nice to have a computer that can stand up to a school environment. Be nice to just stash it away and grab it if I needed it.

The specifications of the one I have just ordered seem to be pretty common. 512MB RAM, 20GB HDD, 1.2Ghz Pentium M, Wireless B and gigabit ethernet (which will be nice when on the home LAN). Anyway, I have 4 main questions that I haven't really been able to determine through searching yet.

My first question and major concern, is the ability to use an external USB CD/DVD drive. I have read some posts here that folks are able to use them to install Windows and Linux, and that some others aren't able to use external drives. Is this a BIOS issue or is it that some drives won't work for this purpose? I have also read about an ultra bay dock, just wondering what this is. Is it a full docking station or just a specific type of external drive for the ThinkPad line?

Second question is about the trackpoint tips. I have had these before, but never been able to find replacement tips in store. Is there an online retailer that sells these?

Third question is regarding the hard drive. I didn't realize until after the fact that it is not a standard 2.5" notebook drive, but in fact a 1.8" drive. I'm just wondering if an iPod hard drive will work. I'm pretty sure they are the same interface and size. If so, I have a spare 40gb for it.

Fourth and final question, is about the battery. I'm sure the one I have ordered will have reduced battery life, if any at all, so I'd be interested in finding a replacement for it. OEM preferably, have had bad luck with aftermarket batteries. If you can recommend a good quality, aftermarket battery, I'd consider it though.

Well, that's really all the questions I have at the moment. I still don't have the computer, so I can't really get anymore information about the computer other than it appears to be all original components. Even the hard drive.

I'm really looking forward to getting the computer, the X40 series looks quite nice. I love the feel of the ThinkPad keyboards!

Regards,
Brian

[sjthinkpader]

1. Most USB CD/DVD drives will work. Some may need external AC adapters.

2. Yes, look for them on eBay or post a message in the Marketplace forum.

3. The are many choices up to about 120GB. There are several threads on HDD and SSD in this forum. 40GB iPod drive will work but you will need a ZIF to ATA adapter.

4. Again, post a message in the Marketplace forum.

[Tasurinchi]

Hi Brian

I would add that for 1), you also should check for an X4 Ultrabase with DVD/CDRW drive. Post a LF/WTB in this forum or look at Ebay.

For 3) there are plenty of choices, don't be scared by the typical misconception of lacking options for X4 series. Check here for SSDs or here for HDDs

Cheers...

[Brian10161]

Awesome, thanks for the replies guys. Answered my questions exactly.

I will have a look at the links you posted and see what I can come up with. Can't wait for the notebook to arrive!

[Brian10161]

Well she came in today. Despite a couple blemishes and a small white mark in the display, it's in really good shape. Everything works on it.

I had to do a fair amount of cleanup on it. Little dirty, I suppose it was used in a work environment. I have ordered a few of the trackpoint tips from Ebay. The battery even seems pretty good.

Overall, I am quite happy with it. Just need a set of the recovery disks, it has an IBM installation on it, but the recovery partition is gone.

Cheers

[Tasurinchi]

Great! Have fun bringing the lady up to work. I would start adding some extra RAM!

[Brian10161]

I was thinking about that. Looks like I can get a thing of 512MB or 1GB for around $40. I found some extra trackpoint tips in my room, so I have a few that work. They aren't the right ones however, but they do work.

The only problem I have found so far, is the keyboard light on the display. It doesn't seem to work. I assume to turn that on, it's Fn + PgUp?

I tried my external CD/DVD-RW drive. That worked perfectly. I booted off my XP disk no problem. I haven't reloaded this little computer yet, as far as I can tell, it's an original install. Whether from the X40 disks or from another model, I'm not sure.

Seems to be a pretty speedy little machine. I read a lot of reviews about people complaining about the slow hard drive.

[Tasurinchi]

Looks like I can get a thing of 512MB or 1GB for around $40

Nice to hear that your machine is working ok! I would at least put a 1GB stick, I don't have XP in my X4s machines so I have no experience with the amount of RAM, but generally speaking XP should work ok with 1GB.

I read a lot of reviews about people complaining about the slow hard drive.

Depends of course on the usage. For normal office, browsing and emailing the "slow" Hitachi drives will do the work. It can be a bottleneck for applications that use intensively the hard drive. Regarding the trackpoints, I bought two bags with each one having 3 different trackpoints in Ebay for around 6 USD. It's really cheap and you can choose the type of trackpoint you like.

The only problem I have found so far, is the keyboard light on the display. It doesn't seem to work. I assume to turn that on, it's Fn + PgUp?

I hope the keyboard light is not kaputt. I don't have any TP in front of me but I recall the combination you mentioned to be the right one. I never used it that much to be honest...

Cheers

[sjthinkpader]

...But the intel chipset can address maximum 2GB on the X40....

May be so, but there is no practical way to get to 2GB in X40.

[Tasurinchi]

May be so, but there is no practical way to get to 2GB in X40.

True. My mistake! You can put 2GB sticks in X41 models only... I've edited the original post.

[Brian10161]

Thanks for the replies thus far guys!

I have 512MB of ram in this at the moment and it seems quite speedy. I think I will get the 1GB stick I found at Newegg and pop that in. I got 10 bags of three of those tips for about 2 USD, so I am pretty much set there!

By the sounds of it then, my little keyboard light is burnt out. It won't come on at all.

Regards,
Brian

[Frobe70]

Solid state LEDs doesn't burn out like a bulbs does.
My X40 ThinkLight was also defective, i traced the fault to loose soldering next to the LED.
You will have to remove the LCD to access this LED, and carefully resolder the LED terminals on the flexible foil LCD cable.

[Brian10161]

Yeah I kind of figured as much. I already had the bezel off and found the light. I pushed on it and it came on. If I ever replace the LCD (Which I might, there's a white mark in the display in the top left corner.) I'll fix the LED.