Thinkpad 701c / 701cs Help Thread

Well, to sum up my experience, after reading about this charming laptop I figured I'll go pick one up on Ebay for cheap and play around on it, maybe even make it useful.

Well, I found one for about 30 dollars with shipping, but the seller failed to mention that the keyboard doesn't work, among other things. So, this leads me into my questions for you Thinkpad 701'ers out there:

1.) Are there any webstores (avoiding auctions; however, if you have any leads on current auction on Ebay, etc. that sells what I would need, PM me or post here) that sell parts for the Thinkpad 701c/701cs line? It doesn't have to be 701 specific, but has to work with it at least.

Mainly, I need to get:

- CD-ROM drive that would work with this line of Thinkpads (PCMCIA) or plugs into the Portable Drive Bay accessory that came with the Thinkpad 701c (I was able to get that accessory with that certain auction).

- USB PCMCIA card that would work with Windows 98 SE at least

- Hard drives that would work with the original 75 Mhz Mobo

- Ethernet 10/100 Base PCMCIA Adapter that would work with Windows 98 SE at least (Maybe wireless, but I need a card with a RJ45 port at least)

- New Keyboard to replace old one that doesn't work (The Enter and Spacebar keys don't work, for goodness sakes)

If it helps, I'm planning on fitting Windows 98SE on this computer, so I definitely need the CDROM drive, and hopefully getting 32 Mb ram on this computer to max out the current RAM limit. Let me know if there's any websites out there with complete specs for this computer, so I have a better idea on what's the max limits for HDD, ram, etc.

I also don't know what version of PCMCIA slots are on this computer, so I couldn't tell you guys what would be compatible or not; any help with this would be appreciated.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.) Before I can tinker around on my Thinkpad, I also need to pick up a service guide somewhere online that outlines what screws connect to what, so I don't go unscrewing the entire thing to pieces, then forgetting what goes where .

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, that's it for my own questions, but if there's anything else I should know about this laptop while I'm fixing it, I would greatly appreciate the input. I hope this thread would go to help any other tinkers of older Thinkpads, especially 701c/cs out there, and I hope to hear replies soon.

- Bovine Mage

 

The crowd here tends to be newer to ThinkPads. If someone here can help you great, but I think you're much more likely to find what you need over at ThinkPads.com. They have a forum dedicated to legacy hardware like the 701. In addition to being more knowledgeable about older ThinkPads, someone there's much more likely to have the parts you need laying around.

 

Ah, Thanks for the tip. However, if I find any new information anywhere else, I'll make sure to post here, to consolidate some information.

Edit (04/17/2009): For those who are interested in this discussion, I've continued on the Thinkpads.com forum here

- Bovine Mage