T30 Wireless Antenna in T2x?

[jasew503]

I acquired 5 T-series Thinkpads in varying conditions for $10 a couple of days ago from a guy on Craigslist. (2x T20s, a T21, a T22 and a T30).

I went down to a couple of local Goodwill stores and bought 6 IBM AC Adapters and found 2 Port Replcators for a total of about $6. Today I tore them all down, cleaned them up and swapped parts around to make 2 really nice units, 2 fair units and a T30 that wont post.

Surprisingly, they all work great (except for the T30 that wont post, and one T20 just hangs at the IBM Logo). However only one had a Hard Drive and it was password protected. Luckily I had a couple of 10-40GB ATA 2.5" drives laying around...

The T30 screen comes on but stays blank. No fans, no beeps, nothing. So assuming its completely dead, I decided to carefully remove the wireless antenna from the screen frame so I could attempt to install it in the T22.

-- My Question: Has anyone successfully done this? Do the MiniPCI Wifi Cards even work once installed in the T2x Models?

I also noticed both the T20s have screens that are somewhat yellow-ish. I used to see that quiet often in the older 600 series TPs years ago, but never saw it on a T before. What causes this? Backlight Phospur getting weak?

[rkawakami]

Probably yes (however "successfully" may not be the ultimate result), yes and again, probably yes .

I'm sure that somebody has already performed a wireless upgrade to a T22 (or earlier T2x) system. I've attempted the same with a non-wireless T23 but the problem is the same: the lid does not have the plastic windows that allows the WiFi signal to penetrate. Assuming that there's even room to mount the T30 antennas inside the same place as in the T22 lid, the titanium lid will severely restrict the operational range of the radio. You could try putting one antenna in the area where the UltraPort connector is (moving that connector out of the way) and you may get better range. The alternative is to put an antenna somewhere in the base, away from any metal that might impact the wireless. One such area is at the end of the battery bay.

You should be able to install any MiniPCI card in the T22 and have it work. The BIOS should not have any "whitelist" to worry about. However, you will lose modem and/or ethernet capability.

As far as the yellowish tint, that's probably due to a fading backlight. A lesser chance is that the system was formerly owned by a smoker and that all you may need to do is clean the screen .

[jasew503]

There's a computer recycling store nearby that has a bin various MiniPCI cards for like $3 a piece. Ill have to go down and get one to try it out. Losing built-in eth/modem wouldnt bother me since I still have an old Xircom Combo 56/Eth Cardbus around somewhere. I just dont want to have a wireless card that sticks out of the machine.

I was also thinking of potentially hard-wiring/soldering in a USB Zydas 1211 mini adapter I have because its so small and thin once the plastic is off. Just not sure where I'd put it inside the machine.

As far as the yellow tint to the LCDs, I cleaned them inside and out. So it must be the color temperature the bulb is emitting. They are also kind of dim.

-- Another question: I notice some of these Ts seem to have a much more "rubbery" feeling to them. Almost sticky. I tried cleaning them off with windex and a lot of dirt came off which helped a little, but I fear if I rub too hard with a towel the rubber coating might peel off. Any idea what causes the rubbery/stickiness feeling?

Thanks!

[Majestic]

"Surprisingly, they all work great (except for the T30 that wont post, and one T20 just hangs at the IBM Logo). "

For the T20, try removing all the hardware especially the modem/lan card to see if you can make any progress on the bootup. A defective piece of hardware can cause the system to hang at boot and the modem/lan card is the frequent culprit.

[jasew503]

Ill pull out that card and try to fire it up again. Thanks for the tip!