How to power on a T60 while its lid is closed?

[enos76]

Hello,
please does anyone know of a way to power on a T60 while its lid is closed?

I ask because my T60 is parked on the desk under a 22" monitor.
I resorted to leaving it on 24/7, letting it crunch data for distributed computing projects and sharing (legal) torrents, still I would like to be in control.

I already thought about:
- WOL (no pc from which to send WOL packet)
- power loss restart (not present in BIOS)
- timed power on (no present in BIOS)
- timed wake up (present in BIOS but would not work)

Thanks,
Bye

--
Enos

[EOMtp]

You need one of these (they have an on/off button on the top left):
http://shop.ebay.it/i.html?_nkw=T60*+%2 ... m270.l1313

[enos76]

You need one of these (they have an on/off button on the top left):
http://shop.ebay.it/i.html?_nkw=T60*+%2 ... m270.l1313

I hoped for a simpler and inexpensive solution, but your (very neat) query presented me with a docking station for just 10€, only 20Km away from me, so I just *had* to bid.

Thanks
--
Enos

[eyestrain]

I ask because my T60 is parked on the desk under a 22" monitor.

Hope you don't mean that the monitor is directly on top of the T60.

If so, the weight of the monitor can press the keyboard or plastic casing into the Thinkpad's LCD, causing permanent damage to the screen.

Some models are more vulnerable than others, depending on the shape/design. I've seen these "pressure marks" on T23's and X40's, but have read complaints here about other models, including I think, T60.

If you get them, it isn't the end of the world, just a tiny bit harder to see things on the screen, similar to glare or a smudge. But I would much rather avoid them, and not have weight on top of the computer, either on a desk, in a bag, or while shipping.

[enos76]

Hope you don't mean that the monitor is directly on top of the T60.

If so, the weight of the monitor can press the keyboard or plastic casing into the Thinkpad's LCD, causing permanent damage to the screen.

Thanks for the information. I care a lot about my displays and I could not stand scratches or bad pixels.
Actually the monitor was indeed on top of the T60.

I will resort to putting a soft, thin layer between the display and the keyboard, and possibly a rigid panel between the lid and the external monitor, in hope that it will suffice. Also because I am planning of switching to a 24" display, to get the same resolution with less DPI (darn I am getting old).

Thanks a lot for your advice!

Bye

[eyestrain]

Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can reply, but I don't think foam inside the computer will help much, and might make things worse(?) because there's less room, a tighter squeeze.

The rigid board, if not supported by the desk, and only supported by the computer, would not solve the problem. It would probably help a little by spreading the weight around, but if you really want to protect the display, I think you might need a stand that takes the weight off the computer.

I don't really know if a light monitor is going to cause pressure marks, but I'm pretty sure a heavy one can, at least on a used T23 I bought. You could see where a monitor lived on it, probably a heavy CRT, and it has pressure marks on the screen viewing surface. I just don't put anything over a few pounds on top of the computer, better too safe than not enough.

If you wanted to buy instead of make one, there are cheap simple stands a department store might have, or you could buy on ebay if you can find one with reasonable shipping to you. Here's an example--to see, not for price to Italy:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0363921720

IBM even has one, fancier with a slide out tray (for a table or deep desk, not a shallow desk). It has perfect measurements for old docking stations for T43, R52, etc.
Ebay item 360218166241. I bought one new shipped for only $20, in U.S. from an auction.

Better yet, IBM has a "Convertible Monitor Stand" which you can place a monitor on top of, or you can mount an LCD monitor on to. Not sure if you can mount a 24". The T60 dock fits perfectly and won't slide off, it almost mounts onto the bottom of the stand. Price varies a lot, but auctions are usually cheaper than Buy It Now, and at auction, it's gone for under $25 shipped in U.S. many times. Here's one: ebay item 350343041698

Hope I'm not teasing you with those prices, I know things can be cheaper here, but maybe it gives you an idea of what price might be for you.

[enos76]

Better yet, IBM has a "Convertible Monitor Stand"

Oddly enough, that one's cheaper here in Europe (buy it now for 18 €):

http://cgi.ebay.it/Thinkpad-Convertible ... 563d086ad4

[eyestrain]

That one has little bumps on the bottom part, to fit the advanced mini dock or whichever T60 or T6x dock or port replicater you bought. It's heavy and strong.

I never tried it in converted mode, with a monitor mounted to it.

If anyone reading doesn't use a dock, I don't think it would work well because of the little bumps to mount to the dock. It also doesn't leave much room for using the T60's keyboard for anyone who wanted to to that. But for this thread, might be a good choice.

[enos76]

That one has little bumps on the bottom part, to fit the advanced mini dock or whichever T60 or T6x dock or port replicater you have/like. If you don't use a dock, I don't think would work well. But since you want to use a 24" screen, thought you might want a dock for DVI and best screen quality.

I didn't notice that there were both docking stations with and without DVI.

Thanks for all the information, you're been very helpful.

Bye

[eyestrain]

You caught my reply before I remembered that you already have a dock or replicator and edited those words out.

I think all the versions have DVI.

The advanced dock can accept a video card, the advanced mini dock cannot, and the port replicator I think does not have a usb hub. There's other differences too.

Happy to help.

[dr_st]

Actually, this was the case with the T4x docks.

The T6x docks are slightly different - all have the USB hub, but the port replicator does not have DVI, which the mini-dock/dock do.

[eyestrain]

Thanks for the correction on DVI. In the manual for two of the three docks,
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-61394
it is clear that the port replicater does not have a DVI port.

I also looked into the USB hub a bit, since I've had problems with USB ports when docked to an Advanced Mini Dock. Seems that there is no hub! The quote below is from http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkPad_ ... _Mini_Dock
usually a good source of info.

The ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock (Model # 250410U) contains basic pass-through connections for notebook ports, including power pass-through. It comes without integrated power supply but provides the same power jack as found in a ThinkPad, an AC-Adapter is included. Besides all the pass-through ports the ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock comes with an On/Off switch, Key lock and a slot for a cable lock.

USB is listed as pasthru below the quote.

If anyone cares to look at Lenovo's source of info to confirm, the manual says

For detailed information about the features and use of this product see
the ′′ThinkPad Essential Port Replicator and ThinkPad Advanced Mini
Dock′′ section of your on-board help system. To find this section, press
the ThinkVantageTM button on your ThinkPad keyboard to open the
ThinkVantage Productivity Center. From the menu, open Access Help
and select the topic in the Index, or enter ′′port replicator′′ in the Search
keyword field and start the search.

I believe the wiki, since there are probably 4 usb ports on the motherboard (can confirm with Pc Dr or maybe Linux "System Profiler" or similar software), and from my experiences having difficulty using usb ports when docked; I thought I had 8 available, but seems there are 4, maybe I'm lucky I never fried anything plugging into the same one twice.

[dr_st]

There is a hub in the mini-dock.

If you look at the device manager, there will be an extra "Generic USB Hub" under "USB devices" when the T6x is docked, compared to when it is undocked (or more than one if you have additional hubs attached to the dock). In my case it's the dock, a 2007WFP monitor with a hub and a Lenovo USB keyboard with another hub, so I get a total of 3 such items in the device manager.

There are 8 USB ports on the motherboard (Microsoft's USBView utility will tell you that). If you have Bluetooth / Fingerprint sensor, these take one USB port each. But it does not matter, since only 3 ports are externally accessible anyways.

FWIW, I've never had any problems plugging anything into the USB ports and getting it to work, whether the laptop was docked or not.