New (to me) T23 - fixes and upgrades

[madkat]

Hello again. Thinkpad addiction is a serious disease
Needed a smaller laptop with native serial port - for car ECU diagnose purposes - the perfect excuse to get another TP - this time a T23.

Arrived a couple of days - kind of ok, nice specs but with some issues... It is type 2647-4MG - with some chenges from the original specs - P3 @ 1.13, 512 (2x256) ram, 20gb hdd, dvdrom etc...
It works fine with XP sp2 installed but with several issues:
- occasionally fan error at startup (since i've had a T30 i know houw to cure it - and will be a good occasion to apply AS5)
- sometimes slight reddish tint at startup (probably CCFL)
- loose kewboard (screw missing? i dont know yet)
- missing trackpoint (the nipple only - the button is there and working)
- it came with a USB WIFI adapter - it sometimes works, sometimes doesn't... on PCMCIA USB 2.0 that is... maybe a powe issue - not enough supplied by the pcmcia usb)

What i'm planning to do -
- dual OS - win 2k and XP - because of the software it will use
- wifi adapter moved on the top of the screen using the Ultra Port
- The most daring plan - changing the backlight to LED... to lower power usage.

So - questions: i've fount the ultraport pinout on thinkwiki - so if i connect on the +5V, D+, D-, GND a usb devise (e.g> wifi adapter) would it be "seen" as a normal usb hub/device?
Is it possible to remove the ccfl - bypass inverter, an direcly power a led backlight? without errors that is...?

[Harryc]

I'd say that you will be successful using the Ultraport as a USB port, but unsuccessful putting an LED backlit LCD on a T23. All of the kits I have seen for retrofitting LED backlights use an LED DC to DC Converter board. I don't believe that is something that you can make in your basement.
http://www.lcdparts.net/LED3D.aspx

[madkat]

Good news with the ultraport

But with the led backlight - i can build the led ribbon - but form your link i'm not sure what that board does - is it a inverter "emulator" or just a DC converter for the led's? If the latter is the case - it's not such a big deal to make one - to convert the +12V (or whatever current goest "into" the inverter - into the current needed for the led's
Or am i missing something here?

kind of like in this link - hope you can see it. They are used only with some resistors in order to convert the voltage needed by the led's
http://www.gmclub.ro/forum/index.php?sh ... 3514&st=60

[Harryc]

Don't know exactly what the DC converter board does. Good luck in your search.

[madkat]

Thanks - first i'll solve the functionality issues - listed above, the ultraport mod, and last try this thing with the backlight
and hopefully by then get a hold of a spare lcd with ccfl to work with.

edit: an idea for what that board does - keep the functionality of the "dimmer" - which i don't mind losing.

edit no.2: found this topic - it sais somewhere there that energy consumption has not been reduced significantly... which, if its true, undermines the main reason for doing this mod...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthr ... 107&page=2

[madkat]

Spoke with some guys - smarter than me in usin led's - and a solution might be a stripe of SMD Led's - grouped an with the appropiate resistors - supplied eithr from one of the USB ports, or from teh supply line of the inverter.

I'll look into it when i'll take apart the lid in order to install the wifi stick - connected to the ultraport.

Other then that - a weird thing is happening with the battery - tried to discharge it fully - and the TP ran almost 25 minutes after the gauge was showing 0% and 0min remaining... And after that power manager - showed batery status in red (from yellow to start with). It charged ok, and holds current, though... Maybe the chip in the battery pack is faulty? Is there any way to reset it?
If thats the case - i'm sure i have somewhere a T30 battery chip - maybe i'll swap it.

And another weird thing - when i plug the ALDL interface into the serial port, the "now it is safe to remove" message appears - for the DVD drive. But with the led still lit.

[Harryc]

It appears to me like you did reset it on your own because it was out of calibration. It is common for an uncalibrated battery to run longer than the gauge says it can.

when i plug the ALDL interface into the serial port, the "now it is safe to remove" message appears - for the DVD drive. But with the led still lit.

This sounds like an IRQ or some type of resource contention issue. What happens if you remove the DVD drive before plugging in the car computer?

[madkat]

So - now it will show the "real" lifetime when running on battery. This is good. The bad thing is that the battery is in red...

The IRQ thing is kind of an unknown to me - but i did last night the test with the ultrabay drive removed - and, of course, the interface works ok (as it does with the drive inserted) - and no safely remove message.
If its only a conflict - i don't mind - i will never use both the serial port and the drive simultaneously. My fear was of some loose electrical connection somewhere (like in the T4x series where teh ultrabay switch is on the same ribbon as the VGA port)

[Harryc]

Electrically the (2) ports don't have much to do with each other (I think), therefore I also think it's just a resource conflict. So no worries...just use it.

[madkat]

Tested again the battery - now "lasts" for more than an hour an a half until it reaches 3%. But still in red.
For my purposes is enough - for better battery life i have either the R61 or the R51 (with the 9cell)
I'll have now to use my imagination in order to make a "nipple". The original one is missing - and i couldnt find one (or a set) in my area...

[Harryc]

Many sellers ship worldwide -
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid ... Categories

[RealBlackStuff]

If you need a new battery for the T23, look at the T30 batteries.
They have a slightly higher capacity and fit perfectly in a T23 (but not the other way around).

[madkat]

I know - i used to have a T30 and noticed that there are the same (form factor) - annd the T30 is a 4.4Amps model while the T2x is a 4.0Amps

The trouble with ebay - the shipping would cost much more than the item in itself. Now i'm searching for a used keyboard with the niplle attched - i've found one for under 10$. Practically the same as i've found teh "new" nipple sold separately...
Not in a hurry, just waiting for the right offer - in the meantime i'll use a mouse or i'll borrow the nipple form the T61 (it sort of fits)