How to find out manufacture date of T61, without sticker*PIC

[frankiepankie]

Hello,

I am selling my T61 (7665-Y4F, based on CTO according to Lenovo site).

But a buyer is asking me when the T61 is manufactured, because of the problems with the Nvidia Quadro NVS 140m chips.

But the problem is, i can't find out, because the laptop doesn't have the stickers on the bottom (the only sticker on the bottom is the Windows Vista license). It looks like it never even had these sticker (i don't see glue residue, or spots with color deterioration where a sticker could have been).

Can anyone tell me how to find out the manufacture date? I have the machine type, and the machine serial number. According to the warranty lookup it has warranty until 2011-09-06, so if do that date minus three years, i get 2008, but it could have been lying on the shelf at Lenovo for a few months.

[RealBlackStuff]

Find the motherboard stickers.
Under the P/N sticker, there's normally another sticker with a long Serial number, starting with 11S......... then a space and another group of 3 digits, e.g. 406. From my experience this is the mobo mfg date in format YMM, in this case 2004 06, or June 2004.

[goraman]

A little WD40 removes stickers with out a trace they ever existed.
I don't know how you got your T61 but the fact that it was removed would lead me to think it was stolen at some point in it's life.
As a buyer it would be a deal breaker.
I would have the serial numbers run by your friendly neighbor hood police officer once you find it.
This will keep you out of trouble if you sell it and it and the buyer takes it in for repairs and it comes up as hot.

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

The world seems to be quite small sometimes.

Hi Frank!

[RealBlackStuff]

A little WD40 removes stickers with out a trace they ever existed.
I don't know how you got your T61 but the fact that it was removed would lead me to think it was stolen at some point in it's life.
As a buyer it would be a deal breaker.
I would have the serial numbers run by your friendly neighbor hood police officer once you find it.
This will keep you out of trouble if you sell it and it and the buyer takes it in for repairs and it comes up as hot.

Don't be too hasty with crying "foul"!
The base could have been replaced with a new one, which would also NOT have the TYPE-MTM sticker!

[Radioguy]

I'm inclined to believe that if the base is as immaculate as the OP states. While I think I could remove a sticker without a trace, most don't do a perfect job, and may not have the patience to try. I think the odds of the TP being a sample or having a new base are higher than the sticker having been removed.

Of course, the OP didn't say how he came by this TP, and knowing that would narrow down the possibilities.

[goraman]

[quote="RealBlackStuff"][quote="goraman"]A little WD40 removes stickers with out a trace they ever existed.
I don't know how you got your T61 but the fact that it was removed would lead me to think it was stolen at some point in it's life.
As a buyer it would be a deal breaker.
I would have the serial numbers run by your friendly neighbor hood police officer once you find it.
This will keep you out of trouble if you sell it and it and the buyer takes it in for repairs and it comes up as hot.
Don't be too hasty with crying "foul"!
The base could have been replaced with a new one, which would also NOT have the TYPE-MTM sticker!

Fair enough,
Would it concern you as a buyer?
Personally it would be enough to kill the deal for me unless it could be verified in some way.
I don't know how he got it but I have run from a crags list deal on a X200 Think pad for $100.00!
It started out he worked for a computer repair store got a lot of trade in computers from business offices ect...
Fixed them up and sold them cheap,he gave me an address to his house, his house turned out to be a rent by the day motel.
He came out to my car covered with tattoos and sores,his breath was a horrible putrid combination of booze,cigarets,rotten teeth and halitosis.
The little think pad was missing the hard drive and its caddy it looked like the sata plug was broken off from the mother board, he had a DVD he claimed had win 7 ultimate on it and the charger cord had been cut and the wires twisted together.I then noticed a buddy of his watching us talk. I thanked him for his time and left.

I got the T61 I have now from an electronics recycle company,they where very easy to verify as they have a massive warehouse,business office and several techs employed.The company sells on ebay and is called Nurtech.

[Colonel O'Neill]

You can get the serial number using WMIC in Windows, not sure if you can get a manufacturing date.

[goraman]

It should also come up in the think pad tool box or come up when you go to lenovo's site and click on support and run auto detect.

[Thinkpad Lover]

I have a question about this whole S/N sticker question. I see in a certain listing for a used T61 these words:

"Serial number portion of sticker on the bottom has been cut out, this is done to void any possible existing warranty or service plan."

The pictures show the sticker has the type/model number, but the S/N part has been removed. You can also see sticker/glue residue left. I have bought some items from this seller before. They are a huge corporate surplus/ off lease reseller/recycler. Their feedback is excellent and they've been selling on Ebay since 1999. I've seen this disclaimer in a few of their listings before. I've bought some other stuff from them, but never a laptop that had the S/N sticker removed on purpose. They seem very reputable and seem to be getting their stock from lease return items, nothing hot or anything like that. Obviously you can get the S/N from BIOS so I don't think they're selling hot merchandise or afraid of anyone checking the S/N against a list. Obviously if they were doing anything dishonest, I would not buy from them as I happen to have scruples and morals.

My question is: Why would anyone want to void (any possible existing) warranty on purpose? I don't understand that whole concept.

Thanks,
Daniel.

[rumbero]

You can get the serial number using WMIC in Windows, not sure if you can get a manufacturing date.

In Linux, this information can be read by applying some command line magic with the dmidecode utility:

Code: Select all

# dmidecode | grep -Em 3 'Serial|Product|Version: ThinkPad'
        Product Name: 8898ABC
        Version: ThinkPad T61
        Serial Number: L3D9786

Eventually, if the dmidecode utility is not already included out of the box, it has to be installed first via the package manager of your particular Linux distribution.

In Debian and Ubuntu:

Code: Select all

# apt-get install dmidecode

In Redhat/Fedora or Centos and Scientific Linux:

Code: Select all

# yum install dmidecode

No manufacturing date, though.

[Thinkpad Lover]

I have a question about this whole S/N sticker question. I see in a certain listing for a used T61 these words:

"Serial number portion of sticker on the bottom has been cut out, this is done to void any possible existing warranty or service plan."

The pictures show the sticker has the type/model number, but the S/N part has been removed. You can also see sticker/glue residue left. I have bought some items from this seller before. They are a huge corporate surplus/ off lease reseller/recycler. Their feedback is excellent and they've been selling on Ebay since 1999. I've seen this disclaimer in a few of their listings before. I've bought some other stuff from them, but never a laptop that had the S/N sticker removed on purpose. They seem very reputable and seem to be getting their stock from lease return items, nothing hot or anything like that. Obviously you can get the S/N from BIOS so I don't think they're selling hot merchandise or afraid of anyone checking the S/N against a list. Obviously if they were doing anything dishonest, I would not buy from them as I happen to have scruples and morals.

My question is: Why would anyone want to void (any possible existing) warranty on purpose? I don't understand that whole concept.

Thanks,
Daniel.

Has anyone had any experience with this kind of thing or any knowledge of why anyone would want to void (any possible existing) warranty on purpose? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Daniel.

[ajkula66]

I know the seller that you're referring to and their stuff is clean and legit.

Sometimes, when the machine in question has a specific origin that could entitle it to plans that a "regular" customer wouldn't be able to purchase on their own, this is done to "kill the deal" so to speak.

Lenovo testbeds and government-ordered units are two examples of what I have seen undergo this type of "treatment".

[ThinkRob]

I don't know how you got your T61 but the fact that it was removed would lead me to think it was stolen at some point in it's life.
As a buyer it would be a deal breaker.
I would have the serial numbers run by your friendly neighbor hood police officer once you find it.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions like that.

I've removed the stickers from a number of my ThinkPads. Unless I'm schizophrenic, they're definitely not stolen. Heck, my refurbished T60 never started its (second) life with one -- the chassis parts that I used to refurbish it never had any stickers on them to begin with.

[Thinkpad Lover]

I know the seller that you're referring to and their stuff is clean and legit.

Sometimes, when the machine in question has a specific origin that could entitle it to plans that a "regular" customer wouldn't be able to purchase on their own, this is done to "kill the deal" so to speak.

Lenovo testbeds and government-ordered units are two examples of what I have seen undergo this type of "treatment".

Thanks George

Have a great night,
Daniel.

[Radioguy]

I know the seller that you're referring to and their stuff is clean and legit.

Sometimes, when the machine in question has a specific origin that could entitle it to plans that a "regular" customer wouldn't be able to purchase on their own, this is done to "kill the deal" so to speak.

Lenovo testbeds and government-ordered units are two examples of what I have seen undergo this type of "treatment".

Does that guarantee that the new buyer won't have that coverage, even if they discern the actual serial number? If it's just the sticker, then I imagine someone might try to replicate a new one. In the situations you mention, I'd expect the serial to be wiped via the HMD along with the sticker being removed to avoid this very situation.

[ajkula66]

In the cases that I was referring to, most likely. It could get complicated, but let's leave it at that.

Honestly, this is more of an academic question nowadays.

Most of the old testbeds are long since gone, and the newer ones are not making it to feebay.

Government doesn't use ThinkPads anymore...

[topan]

Find the motherboard stickers.
Under the P/N sticker, there's normally another sticker with a long Serial number, starting with 11S......... then a space and another group of 3 digits, e.g. 406. From my experience this is the mobo mfg date in format YMM, in this case 2004 06, or June 2004.

Hi RealBlackStuff, I'm hunting for T61 14" standard motherboard, (with 08/08 or later date code of course) to build a frankenpad. I found a motherboard with last 3 digits of the long serial number stated 203. If that is the motherboard's manufacture date, 203 means March 2002. That's weird I think, since T61s are manufactured in 2008-2010. The motherboard itself has FRU number : 44C3924 which is valid as T61 14" standard motherboard according to T61.wikispaces.com.

Can you explain me about it? Does 203 have another mean? Or it's not always valid to conclude the manufacture date from the last 3 digits of the long serial number? Are there any other ways to find out the manufacture date of the motherboard?

the motherboard's stickers :

[Evildenny]

Hi RealBlackStuff, I'm hunting for T61 14" standard motherboard, (with 08/08 or later date code of course) to build a frankenpad. I found a motherboard with last 3 digits of the long serial number stated 203. If that is the motherboard's manufacture date, 203 means March 2002. That's weird I think, since T61s are manufactured in 2008-2010. The motherboard itself has FRU number : 44C3924 which is valid as T61 14" standard motherboard according to T61.wikispaces.com.

Can you explain me about it? Does 203 have another mean? Or it's not always valid to conclude the manufacture date from the last 3 digits of the long serial number? Are there any other ways to find out the manufacture date of the motherboard?

My board with the same FRU has very similar numbers it does end with that "203" as well. I wonder what that means...Is this board listed as "new" the one I bought was listed as new...i'm starting to wonder now.

[automobus]

Hello topan and Evildenny,
I believe that is part/unit revision.

[topan]

Hello topan and Evildenny,
I believe that is part/unit revision.

So that's not the manufacture date of the unit, is it? Then how to find the manufacture date without sticker in the bottom of the case?

[91011]

The standard 4x3 T61 (models 88xx) were all withdrawn from sale by May 2008 (08/05), I would guess finding an 08/08 board is unlikely.

But, if you can boot the board to the BIOS page and get the original serial number of the machine, you can do a warranty lookup and get a close estimation of when the T61 was first sold.

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product ... fault.page

On the first BIOS page find the entry: System-unit serial number.
You’ll need the first four numbers (88xx) and the final seven letters/numbers, which is the serial number.
Enter them in the boxes on the page above and you should see when the warranty coverage started.
Not definitive but probably pretty close to the mfg date.

[RealBlackStuff]

I don't think that this date code YMM is still valid.
Believe it or not, I have a brand new, same 44C3924 board from 2010 sitting here, which also has the same 203 after its 1S serial number!
More important however is the date on the GPU and that you obtained the board from a reliable supplier!
You can find the GPU-date on the chip in the second line, under nVidia, example:
N V I D I A
XXXXXX 1045A2
The 1045 means: Year 2010, week 45, the A2 is irrelevant AFAIK.
You can check this also in one of the many nVidia posts by forum-member TuuS.

However, there are many fakes on the market, with re-etched GPU info, so be careful!

The other day I got a T60 in for a Frankenpad, production date on the MTM sticker: 06/11.
The 3 numbers on the motherboard-sticker, after the 1Sxxx serial were [drum-roll]: 611

[topan]

91011 & RealBlackStuff, thanks for your hints and suggestions. They are very helpful to me. I'll try to get the GPU's date and the serial number during my hunting.