Laptop problems.... IBM Thinkpad T-22 and Toshiba Satellite

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Ok, so I'll admit, despite having a decent desktop that I love (and almost enough parts to build another), I miss my lappy. A lot.

My aging IBM Thinkpad T-22 has been mine since 2001, and yes, I know it is ancient. But it was fine for ~75% of the stuff I do everyday and being portable was a great help. I set it aside just before building my desktop because it started having issues. The battery died (will not hold a charge) for the second time, I suspect the NIC card died (will not connect via 56k modem or ethernet to the internet), and then came the topper.... I fired it up one day, it showed everything on my desktop like normal, but when I clicked on something to open it, nothing would happen. Then it went to a blank white screen.

I suspected that either the hard drive, motherboard, or memory was bad (I know that covers just about everything). So recently I got back to playing with it, fired it up and ran a mobo test and a memory test, both came back with no errors found. I haven't tested the HD yet, but I did look up a price ($55). Not sure what else I should check or even if it's worth trying to patch my old faithful IBM back up (I ran it nearly 24/7 for around 7 years, it's already on it's second HD).

Specs:
IBM Thinkpad T-22 Type 2647
900 mhz P-III
256 mb so dimm memory
40 gig samsung spinpoint M HDD
cd-rw drive and a 3.5" floppy
twin PCI slots
Windows 2000 Pro

So I'm kinda looking for ya'lls thoughts on fixing that one (or if anyone has a T-22 on it's last legs that they'd be willing to part with cheap).


Now, my buddy gave me a Toshiba Satellite A105-s2141 that kept giving him the infamous BSOD. I suspected after a quick look around that it just got loaded up with crap and needed a reformat to get it back up and running. I tried running my copy of Ultimate Boot Disk, but it wouldn't boot - at all. So I stuck my copy of Windows XP Home in and told Windows to zero the drive and reformat. Got it all loaded and started through letting windows update itself and trying to get some of the updated drivers and such. Then after installing one of the windows updates, bam, BSOD again. It's back to giving me a BSOD every time I start it unless I stop it before it all loads and tell it to go into safe mode. In safe mode it'll run forever. I have no idea what to do now, I'm not even sure how to test anything like the memory and hard drive without being able to load Ultimate Boot Disk. My buddy said that if it needs a new HDD or something, he'd rather just get a new one and I can have the old one to play with, but I don't even know where to start on this one.

Specs:
Toshiba Satellite A105-S2141
Intel Celeron M 410
512 mb DDR2 RAM
80 gig Travelstar HDD
cd-rw/dvd-rom drive

 

[cody93]

i still rock a pentium 2 laptop at 300mhz with XP pro, with wifi too. have yet to find a reason to upgrade this laptop as it does what i want. personally id get the ibm working again, but lets go over a few things here
IBM thinkpad
Pros- IBMs are known for good build quality plus you have alot of history with this one.
Cons- 256mb ram, possibly dead harddrive...

Toshiba Satalite
Pros-2x ram, 2x harddrive, DVD capability
Cons- BSOD even after a clean install, offten due to hardware issues after a clean install.
GAY A$$ Celeron CPU, i would personally use a pentium 3 over any celeron variety..


if i was you, take the 80gig harddrive, shove it in the thinkpad, install xp, add a little more ram and keep rocking! FYI, NIC/Modem cards for laptops can be had quite cheap as most people are after there WIFI cousins.. heck, you could probly get one out of the toshiba. usually when a laptop BSOD after a clean install many times, its usually hardware or over heating, technically possible for updated drivers to not be compatible, but unlikely as the manufacturer test them out first for issues.. i would give both them a good dusting with an air-compressor and test them again, could be an over heating issue..

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The HDD in the toshiba is not compatible with the IBM, near as I can tell (the toshiba is a lot newer).

Guess I pop the case open on the toshiba and give it a good cleaning, the IBM got one not all that long ago. Guess I could try a new install on the toshiba...

 

[cody93]

not compatible? if there IDE and the normal 2.5 inch size, it'll work, ive got an 80gb seagate HDD shoved in my pentium 2 lappy


question, does the toshi BSOD before or after you install drivers?

 

[Die.Fledermaus]

Why don't you test the T-22 by running a random linux distribution off of CD for a few days/weeks.

If it passes, (this assumes your HD was failing) then get a SSD (solid state drive).

 

[AllanD]

not compatible? if there IDE and the normal 2.5 inch size, it'll work, ive got an 80gb seagate HDD shoved in my pentium 2 lappy


question, does the toshi BSOD before or after you install drivers?

The IBM "Thinkpad" T-22 Notebook uses an IDE drive.

It's likely that the newer drive he's looking at is a SATA Notebook drive.

As most manufacturers switched to SATA drives ~early 2007

Why don't you test the T-22 by running a random
linux distribution off of CD for a few days/weeks.

If it passes, (this assumes your HD was failing) then get a SSD (solid state drive).

SSD? you are kidding.... Right?

While there have been some IDE connected Solid State Drives made they cost 2-3 times
as much as SATA SSD's.


*******************************************************

BTW, a new Western Digital 120gb (which I can assure you WILL work in your T22)
will cost you $60 from Newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007605 50001306 600003442&IsNodeId=1&name=IDE Ultra ATA100 / ATA-6


Drives larger than 120gb WILL NOT be recognized at greater at 128gb

this is due limitations of the earlier intel chipset on the MoB, to be specific, it's called the "48LBA"
issue, the T22 is a Pentium3 CPU and chipsets that accepted 48Logical Bit Adressing in hard drives
didn't come out until 2/3 of the way through Pentium4 evolution
In point of fact the first Intel Chipset that completely accepts hard drives larger than 120gb is the 865 chipset...
But by that point Desktop MoBo manufacturers were shipping MoBos with SATA jacks


**********************************************************************************************

As for Fixing the Toshiba if you have the slightest suspicion that there is an issue with the hard drive
your first reaction should not be to "Reinstall windows" but to set the computer aside and order a shiny
new hard drive AND an external enclosure.

Then do your re-install on the NEW drive and install the "condition in doubt" HDD in the external enclosure.

While Pentium M computers can go either way... that computer uses a SATA drive,
http://reviews.cnet.com/4507-3121_7-31982426.html?tag=mncol;subnav

it's specs show it as "Serial ATA-150" (SATA 3.0 drives are back compatible)
And the chipset is new enough that you can basically put anything in it...
I noted above that you can get a 120gb IDE notebook drive for $60,
for that same $60 you can typically buy a 500gb SATA notebook drive.

With the current price of SATA drives there's no excuse for reusing a drive you cannot entirely trust
until you PROVE something else caused the issue.

AND if you reinstall windows on your old drive all hope for any data recovery is gone.

I paid $59 SHIPPED for the 7200rpm 500gb Western Digital "Black" HDD I swapped into
my Dell C2D notebook in May

**********************************************************

On a last note I have a T22 sitting on the window sill (on top of my old T20)
I gave the T20 away and it came back... the guy killed the OS installation
and wants it fixed again (charity case) but it's possible the HDD simply died.
Update on the T20, it's the Disc controller on the MoBo
that diedso that T20 is officially an organ donor for the pristine T22 for which
I even have a genuine IBM carrying case, makes for a nice {
"period piece"

 

[Insanejughead]

My family has an IBM T23 laptop that I enjoy using when in the living room. My personal laptop was given to me because it was "broken and unfixable". I hardly thought that "broken and unfixable" was the right thing to say about a perfectly capable HP DV9000 with a cracked lcd screen.

I spent a few minutes on Craigslist and found someone parting a DV9000 out and it cost an entire $30 for their parted out screen. I also got another battery, set of cables, cover, and infrared sensor thrown into the mix, too.



I was hoping that a simple msconfig tweaking would help your predicament, but if it's getting bugged like hell before even reaching a full install, then that doesn't quite help you. I've seen conditions similar to what you describe, but nothing exact.

I hope you get that free one up and running. I haven't had my laptop for long, but it's been pretty damn useful for college lately.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

not compatible? if there IDE and the normal 2.5 inch size, it'll work, ive got an 80gb seagate HDD shoved in my pentium 2 lappy


question, does the toshi BSOD before or after you install drivers?

AD is correct, the T-22 is an IDE and the Toshi is a SATA for the HDD.

I got the Toshi reformatted and windows loaded onto the HDD. It worked fine for about two days while I played around loading a few things then I let it sit and start going through the windows updates. That was when the problem came back.... it started giving me the BSOD and before I knew it, when the computer starts, it gets up to the windows loading screen (sometimes it makes it to the welcome screen) then it BSODs. In safe mode it loads windows just fine (but I would think that you shouldn't have to run it in safe mode all the time, lol).

I dumped all of the stuff that was on the HDD for the Toshi, I didn't think I needed any of it and it was bad enough when I got it that it would BSOD in safe mode when I tried to back some stuff up. My buddy said he didn't need any of it anyway.

 

[AllanD]

AD is correct, the T-22 is an IDE and the Toshi is a SATA for the HDD.

I got the Toshi reformatted and windows loaded onto the HDD. It worked fine for about two days while I played around loading a few things then I let it sit and start going through the windows updates. That was when the problem came back.... it started giving me the BSOD and before I knew it, when the computer starts, it gets up to the windows loading screen (sometimes it makes it to the welcome screen) then it BSODs. In safe mode it loads windows just fine (but I would think that you shouldn't have to run it in safe mode all the time, lol).

I dumped all of the stuff that was on the HDD for the Toshi, I didn't think I needed any of it and it was bad enough when I got it that it would BSOD in safe mode when I tried to back some stuff up. My buddy said he didn't need any of it anyway.

When a reinstalled OS crashes again after the re-install it kinda proves that the HDD is the culprit.

SATA drives are cheap enough to replace.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007605 50001306&IsNodeId=1&name=Western Digital

If you look at this list of WD notebook drives on newegg you'll probably reach the same conclusion I did more than a year ago...

That buying a new HDD smaller than a 320gb is pointless.

a 160gb can be had for $41.99 plus $0.99 shipping, but since a 320gb drive is only $49.99 shipped...

The one thing I would recommend is to avoid any of the drives having "P"
in the model number, they are Advance format technology drives and they don't "play nice" with Windows XP. if you are going to run Vista or Win7 it
doesn't matter.


IF I were ordering a drive TODAY, the one I'd order is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280
which has a promo code (if you are an eblast subscriber)
and that makes the F-A-S-T WD "Black 7200rpm drive the same exact price (shipped) as the 5400rpm "Blue drive"

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I guess that answers my question... both computers need a new HDD.....

I know that with my T-22 my options are seriously limited for a new one because there are so few IDE HDDs still on the market.

But with the Toshi.... the HDD in it is a 1.5 GB/sec SATA, which it seems pretty much all of those drives are 5400 rpm. If I put a 3.0 GB/sec SATA in there that is 7,200 rpm, will it fit and work, or are they not backwards compatible?

Just kind of looking at my options and trying to figure out which one is worth fixing first. My buddy said he'd rather buy a new lappy than replace the HDD (thus the comp becomes mine). I'm not really going to be able to buy anything until the end of the week at the earliest, so I got a lil time to make up my mind.

The Toshi only has one stick of RAM in it, 512 MB. And the battery is kaput.

The T-22 has two sticks of RAM in it, but I don't remember what size they are. Battery is kaput, NIC card is bad, but I have a wireless card for it.

 

[cody93]

i have had a strong hate for celeron CPUs since socket 370, there basicly pentiums with half the cache ram, i remeber having a 850mhz p3 that was running circles around a 2.0ghz celeron, with same os, ram, hdd etc, they were shop computers at the place i worked for. if the toshi had a pentium cpu, id say get a new sata hdd, another 512mb ram and keep rocking. as for 5400rpm vs 7200rpm, it seems like it doesn't matter in desktops so i cant see it not working in a laptop. as long as there the 2.5 inch type and use sata connectors, it should work. i didn't know they had sata drives under 100gb, must been an old one. on a side note, there always used HDD from pc repair shops, most usually have a 30 day waranty.

 

[AllanD]

I guess that answers my question... both computers need a new HDD.....

I know that with my T-22 my options are seriously limited for a new one because there are so few IDE HDDs still on the market.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20%2f%20ATA-6

This Link is to Western Digital IDE Notebook drives.
Anything larger than a 120gb is pointless for the reasons explained above.

But with the Toshi.... the HDD in it is a 1.5 GB/sec SATA, which it seems pretty much all of those drives are 5400 rpm. If I put a 3.0 GB/sec SATA in there that is 7,200 rpm, will it fit and work, or are they not backwards compatible?

Yes, The SATA3.0 drives are back compatible with SATA1.5 computers
and drive capacity isn't an issue

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519 50001306 40000380 600003459&IsNodeId=1&name=SATA 3.0Gb/s

This list is filtered to Western Digital SATA drives

You can still get SATA 1.5 drives but evenbtually the computer will "die" from some other cause (Screen backlight failure?) in which case the SATA3.0 drive
will be more useful

Just kind of looking at my options and trying to figure out which one is worth fixing first. My buddy said he'd rather buy a new lappy than replace the HDD (thus the comp becomes mine). I'm not really going to be able to buy anything until the end of the week at the earliest, so I got a lil time to make up my mind.

The Toshi only has one stick of RAM in it, 512 MB. And the battery is kaput.

The T-22 has two sticks of RAM in it, but I don't remember what size they are. Battery is kaput, NIC card is bad, but I have a wireless card for it.

The RAM in the T22 should be the older PC133 RAM Best case is a pair of 512mb sticks as I think that's all the computer can use

The Toshiba is more likely DDR2 and System max is two 2gb sticks.

AD

 

[Legend]

My take on the Toshi is that while it could certainly be a HD problem, frequently when the install goes ok and then during a Windows update it crashes - then will come up and run indefinitely in Safe mode, but crashes with BSOD as the drivers load is due to a bad driver. While it could be a corrupt one, more likely it is an incompatible driver (usually video, and for me, usually an ATI driver) and the one from the Toshi page works fine, but when Windows supplies one in an update it won't work. If that's all it is, then reverting back to the Toshi driver that works and don't let Windows update that driver will fix the problem. If you set it to log the startup, boot normally, let it crash, then reboot in Safe mode and examine the log to find the last driver loaded when it crashed you can figure out the culprit pretty quickly. I would sure give that a go before buying a new hard drive for a computer with limited value.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

My take on the Toshi is that while it could certainly be a HD problem, frequently when the install goes ok and then during a Windows update it crashes - then will come up and run indefinitely in Safe mode, but crashes with BSOD as the drivers load is due to a bad driver. While it could be a corrupt one, more likely it is an incompatible driver (usually video, and for me, usually an ATI driver) and the one from the Toshi page works fine, but when Windows supplies one in an update it won't work. If that's all it is, then reverting back to the Toshi driver that works and don't let Windows update that driver will fix the problem. If you set it to log the startup, boot normally, let it crash, then reboot in Safe mode and examine the log to find the last driver loaded when it crashed you can figure out the culprit pretty quickly. I would sure give that a go before buying a new hard drive for a computer with limited value.

Too late, lol. But I'll have to keep that in mind. It did have like a 6 year old Travelstar HDD in it though, I've never been impressed with their durability.


I got a new HDD (WD Scorpio Black) and a matched pair of 1 gig sticks of RAM (Kingston Ultra) and got it in the Toshi. Fired it up and wow did it load XP fast! Only problem is that now it will not connect to the internet. It comes up that the Ethernet is not connected. After a reboot and disabling/re-enabling the connection it shows that it's connected but all it does is send out packets, nothing ever comes back. Tried rebooting my router but no change.

I did pop the toshi's case open (boy they don't give you a lot of room to open it before you run out of wire and my hands are a lil too big) and hit it with some compressed air to blow out any dust. I don't think I really disturbed much. Pretty sure everything is connected, not sure where to go from here.

 

[AllanD]

Too late, lol. But I'll have to keep that in mind. It did have like a 6 year old Travelstar HDD in it though, I've never been impressed with their durability.


I got a new HDD (WD Scorpio Black) and a matched pair of 1 gig sticks of RAM (Kingston Ultra) and got it in the Toshi. Fired it up and wow did it load XP fast! Only problem is that now it will not connect to the internet. It comes up that the Ethernet is not connected. After a reboot and disabling/re-enabling the connection it shows that it's connected but all it does is send out packets, nothing ever comes back. Tried rebooting my router but no change.

I did pop the toshi's case open (boy they don't give you a lot of room to open it before you run out of wire and my hands are a lil too big) and hit it with some compressed air to blow out any dust. I don't think I really disturbed much. Pretty sure everything is connected, not sure where to go from here.

When you just load the OS on it fresh from the installation disc there are no "Drivers" installed.

You need to do this MANUALLY.

If you do not have a driver disc:
The only way is to go to the Toshiba site with another computer and download JUST the two network drivers (appropriate to your specific model number and service code) the LAN drive and WiFi driver (they may be called something else)
save them to a thumb drive and install them onto your notebook to get it to go online.

Once you get it online first thing you do is manual trigger "windows updates"
(choose the "custom" option) and look specifically for "hardware updates"
in the "optional updates".

Generally speaking I install EVERY update I can find on windows updates.
before moving on to other things


Even if you are a firefox user I'd recommend installing IE8 as soon as you can
depending on what issue of XP you have it may have even come with IE6...
and Windows updates runs best on IE (this shouldn't be a suprise to anyone)

Frankly I've converted all my friends who are serious FF users that IE
simply works better during installation and setup because it gives you a "run" option when downloading drivers, etc...

AD