WTB: R50p-compatible motherboard

[bloovis]

My beloved R50p died yesterday after a brief road trip. I'm pretty sure it's the motherboard (boots inconsistently or not at all, sometimes one long beep followed by two short beeps, will boot if I remove keyboard and bezel and lift up hard on front left edge of case, tried replacing DIMM and CPU with no effect, etc.).

So I'd like to find a replacement motherboard. I believe that motherboards from the T41p and T42p will work, too. I really love the UXGA FlexView display in this machine and want to keep it going somehow.

Thanks in advance!

[RealBlackStuff]

Sounds like a loose Southbridge chip, which can be reballed.
We currently don't have such a board in stock, but check out the links in my signature.

[bloovis]

Thanks for the reply; I checked out your web page. I'm pretty sure the FRU is 91P7372, judging from the Hardware Maintenance Manual, but I'll disassemble the thing, find out the FRU number for sure, and send you a private email.

[ajkula66]

Do bear in mind that R50p will also take a T41p or T42p board, no questions asked.

You'd be well advised to use the appropriate M10 fan, though, instead of the one that IBM foolishly assigned to otherwise very-well designed R50p.

Good luck.

[bloovis]

You'd be well advised to use the appropriate M10 fan, though, instead of the one that IBM foolishly assigned to otherwise very-well designed R50p.

I'm not sure I understand. The CPU has a fan, but the graphics chip (I'm assuming that's what you meant by M10) does not.

[ajkula66]

M10 is the type of fan used on T41p and T42p. FRU 13R2657. Covers both the CPU and the GPU.

Much better solution if you end up with a board from one of these machines which are otherwise identical to the R50p board.

Been there and done that, more than once.

[bloovis]

M10 is the type of fan used on T41p and T42p. FRU 13R2657. Covers both the CPU and the GPU.

Much better solution if you end up with a board from one of these machines which are otherwise identical to the R50p board.

Been there and done that, more than once.

Interesting. I finally got the motherboard out of my R50p, and surprisingly, the FRU is 93P3313, which was the board used in the T41p, according to http://www.theboardroom.info/ibm_list.htm. The graphics chip had a nice big heat sink on it, but no fan. I guess this machine (which I bought used on eBay) is some kind of FrankenPad.

[ajkula66]

No, that's the way it's supposed to be. Short fan + a passive cooler on GPU.

The advantage of M10 is that it covers both and cools better...

Good luck.

[scr71822]

I us a R52 long fan for the x300 video on my R50P, works great. It is a bolt in direct replacement. I also have an R52 Fingerprint reader on my R50P. I want to add a SDD to make it more modern. I really am beginning to appreciate the 1600x1200 video. Less scrolliing reading websites.