Upgrade T60 or buy new?

I have a 4 year old T60-2077KU that I purchased just as the core2duo was released. The specs:

T7400 2.16 Ghz Core2Duo
15" IPS w/Flexview 1400x1050 SXGA+
ATI X1400 128MB
Intel Pro Wireless 3945 ABG
XP PRO

In a fit of rage I punched my keyboard (ok, a couple of times) and now it takes 30 years to boot and runs like its on its deathbed. In addition, my 9 cell finally died. Before I pay to see how much damge I did and repair the unit, buy a new battery, etc. I'd like some opinons.

From my understanding there are a number of reasons some people are keeping their T60/61s and upgrading them instead of buying new T410/510: the keyboards, the SCREEN (IPS), etc.

Considering that I have to pay for both a diagnoses and repair/upgrade, am I better off just buying new? I don't have anything so intense that would require the i3/5 but I'd probably need new/more RAM.

What would it run me to make your (your experts out there) recommended upgrades to this T60? Be sure to add in the diagnoses cost, new battery and throw in some maximum amount you'd pay to repair the damage (although if I am replacing that part anyway, I guess it wouldn't be a factor).

Thank you.

 

1) No one can really give you a diagnose cost since it fluctuate between different repairers.

2) you punched your keyboard and it is starting slowly. Well you can try the following diagnostics:
-go into bios and run the hdd test.
-reseat the ram.
-reseat the keyboard and palmrest.
-take out the hdd and put it back again
-take out the ultrabay optical drive and start the laptop without it.

 

Thank you for the ideas. I took out the optical drive, took out and replaced the hard drive and took out and replaced the RAM. Still same problems.

The weird thing is that the diagnostic utility (hard drive test) just says "test in progress with no progess but the result returned error code 0000 Read Verification Failed and then a bit later Error Code 0100 Speed Test Failed. So, being the technology genius that I am, I am going to assume my hard drive has gone bad (due to fist strikes).

At this point, would you move ahead with professional diagnostics or just buy new?

THANK YOU

 

Probably the best thing you can do for your notebook would be to take an anger management class.

A new hard drive and battery would seem to cost a lot less than a new notebook. I'd start with the hard drive cause you can run the laptop without the battery. The T60 is still a very good notebook for every day usage, though is no longer a top performer. You're right that almost all other notebook screens will not be as good as you IPS screen.

 

So, at this point I am looking at a new 9 cell and a new hard drive (assuming thats all that is wrong). Is the IPS w/flexview worth saving? Would love any and all opinions out there.

If I replaced the unit I'd likely buy a 410/510 at an ~$1000 US budget:
i5, 4GB ram free upgrade, no SSD, SXGA+.

I'm fairly certain that I have copies of most of my critical files but I'd like to transfer the data from the broken drive if possible. Is it possible and what is the simplest, most affordable solution?

Thanks in advance.

 

Why did you punch your poor laptop?

 

What the... you punched the laptop with IPS Flexview screen? Dude...

I'd try first and see whether it works better with another hard drive. If you want to upgrade it, I'd suggest 2GB RAM more and maybe a small SSD.

 

I was tired of wifi and/or Directv NFLtoGo Supercast app freezing up. It kept happening over and over and I was trying to watch some games...other than that I'm a fairly even-tempered guy.

The screen still looks great. Just went through an hour long boot. Finger-print auth seems jacked up as well. Hopefully this is all hard drive related. Computer hanging constantly now, can't authenticate but I managed to get to desktop (where I'm constantly asked to authenticate).

Does this all still sound like hard drive issues or did I damgage the fingerprint reader/board???? Nothing rattles and nothing appears damaged physically.

I really don't want to go to geek squad so if anyone knows a reputable place in Dallas, TX for a diagnoses, please let me know. The hard disk drive test never really got going but it did spit out the 2 error messages listed previously before it just hung and hung and hung.

Need SSD HD drive recs for the T60 as well as RAM stick recs. I think I'm limited in options based on the layout of the 2077KU, correct? And I read in another board that I won't get the full use of the SSD based on theses limitations, correct? Sorry for the constant posts, just trying to take care of this ASAP. RAM and SSD will be plug and play (no expertise necc), correct?

 

Yes, the SSD is a straight swap with the hard drive. When you do so make sure you switch to AHCI mode in the BIOS to take advantage of its functionality (such as TRIM - if using Win 7), though if you're using XP its best to stick with compatibility mode on. The limitation is based on the chipset, it doesn't support SATA II speeds so its locked to SATA I (1.5GB/s) speeds even if your device supports the higher speeds. But it still will be noticeably faster than a conventional hard drive.

RAM sticks are very simple to add too - remove the palmrest, just add the RAM stick in and reverse the steps. If you need diagrams on this, check out the Hardware Maintenance Manual for your system.

 

THANKS!

I removed the drive and ram today as part of a diagnoses so I am comfortable with doing these two upgrades. Do you have specific spec SSD and RAM recs with specs (and is is better to have all 3gb in one stic)?

I'm not clear about getting the OS back on the machine since it was loaded at lenovo. I might just buy windows 7 anyway. Windows 7 32,64, pro, ultimate? THANK YOU AGAIN

 

It's most likely much less expensive to replace the motherboard than to repair (if that's the problem). They're very cheap on ebay.

 

You realize this is a wild goose chase, right? I recommend you give me the machine so I can swap the IPS screen to my T60p and give it a good home.

 

You can't get a 3GB DDR2 stick, you need a combination of one 2GB DDR2 stick and one 1GB DDR2 stick to take up the maximum memory capacity of 3GB. For that reason your best bet is the 32 bit version of Windows 7, 64 bit Windows tends to be advantageous if you have 4GB RAM or more.

Which particular version of Windows 7 is another matter, it depends on your needs. If you browse the net, watch movies and do occasional office work then Windows 7 Home Premium would be sufficient (and cheaper too). Professional is useful if you connect to corporate networks, domains and require secure features such as encryption (EFS) though if you're a home user then most of the features will be redundant. Ultimate is well, a souped up version of both Professional and Home Premium in one. Again a lot of these features will be overwhelming for the home user, not to mention its the most costliest. So unless you really need these extra features, stick with Win 7 Home Premium I say.

As for SSD's I use Intel's X25-M and it has been reliable and speedy. Prices have gone down slightly for these models too in anticipation for a newer generation of these models. If you do go for this route make sure it's a "G2" (Generation 2) model as it has native TRIM support. Alternatively OCZ's Vertex II are another good one, they're slightly faster than the Intel range and in some areas are price competitive too.

 

Thank you.

Does the fact that I'm able to use the machine now (with random lag after an insane boot up period/auth problems) tell you whether I have motherboard, HDD, etc. issues?

 

That sound more like the hard drive, as it waits for data to be read from the drive, but your guess is as good as mine.

 

I'm thinking the same line with Zaz here, either the hard drive is having a slow death or the operating system had aged and became bloated with too many processes going on causing lag.

Use some hard drive tools to check the health of the drive, either HDTune or CrystalDiskInfo can shed some info on the mileage your hard drive have been through. Also a snapshot of the Windows Task Manager can give us an idea on this too.

 

EDIT:
I did the EXACT same thing with my T400 and the 320GB Scorpio Black gave out after a week. I managed to salvage ~95% of my data before it gave completely.

Your hard drive is very likely toast. Replace.

 

Just downloaded HD Tune (went quickly) and am running the tests. The Benchamrk said I was running 34.2-34.5 MB/sec. The error scan has made it through several blocks while displaying that many are damaged. Scanning speed is .8-1.2MB/sec. Temp at 37 celsius...still scanning. Any specific instructions inre: scans to run, etc?

 

If you smacked your machine while it was running, you damaged the drive. Get a new drve and move on.

Note: Don't smack your machine when it is running and the actuator heads are moving across the platter.

 

There were several intel x25-M G2's at the same capacity. I'm assuming I want the X25-M g2 and not the x-25M mainstream G2.

 

One other thing:

Given the status of the hard drive, what is the best course of action in terms of getting XP PRO back on the system? Typically, people are taking images of the HDD and migrating the data and OS but something tells me that process won't be so smooth coming from a terminally ill HDD. Due to this issue, I am considering just upgrading to Windows 7 but in order to upgrade don't I first need XP PRO on the new HDD? I believe the 7 upgrade is cheaper than just buying it new. I have the XPPro product key on the bottom of my machine so I assume I'm going to have to locate/create a boot disc (not from my damaged HDD) elsewhere?

THANKS AGAIN.

 

I don't think you need XP on there as there's no upgrade path from XP to 7.

 

FWIW, I replaced the factory 160GB drive in my T500 with a 500GB drive. With the 500GB drive I bought an external USB drive enclosure and used some sort of Linux based drive image copy S/W on a bootable CD to copy from one to the other. IIRC it was Clonezilla. It copied everything over including the hidden partitions and stuff required to boot. My T500 was already set up for dual boot Vista/Ubuntu Linux and all of that made the transition too.

If I were you, I would do that NOW before your HD deteriorates further, if that is the problem. At the worst, you have an external drive you can use for backups and such so it will not in any way be a waste of money. It could be a life saver (or at least a data saver .)

Good luck!

 

Can the enclosure format the SSD first or do I need to do that in the machine and then swap out the SSD to the enclosure and then copy files from the faulty drive to the new drive?

 

Bought the x-25M G2, the extra ram and a USB hard drive enclosure. If I can't get XP to transfer from the faulty HDD to the new SSD then I will buy Windows 7 but don't really want to spend another $200 on a new OS + new MS office.

So, now:

Format new drive in T60, transfer OS from faulty drive to new drive and off I go?

Thanks to everyone for all the help.

 

AFAIK you can do anything with the SSD in the external enclosure that you could do with a regular drive. (NB: I don't have much experience with SSDs so I don't know for sure if any special procedures are required.)

My concern would be the size of the SSD vs. the size of the existing drive. If the SSD is smaller, I don't know how that will work when you go to clone it. If the SSD is similar or larger, then I think you will be OK.

 

I'm not sure about other T60 users -- I used to encounter
issues (mostly app crashes but OS crashes occasionally
as well) with 2+1 configuration. Memtest86 was passing
with flying colors; each stick separately worked fine too.
Problems went away upon move to 2+2 configuration.

IPS T60 is definitely worthy sticking to (I'm still getting
used to poor(ish) vertical viewing angles of T510's FHD
display).

My two cents...

 

i run most of my Thinkpads in 3 gigs configuration and they don't crash. What brand and spec of the ram sticks were you using?

 

Don't really remember*. Perhaps it was a one-off (so to speak) issue?
Today... it doesn't really matter (thanks though)

*) 1G came with the laptop, 2G was a Kingston

 

Ok. All of the parts are arriving in the next few hours. I'm still unclear whether or not I want to try and clone the (faulty) hard drive to the new SSD. I'd prefer not to spend the extra cash on Windows 7 if I don't have to.

I have the product key from the original OEM install of XP PRO. Can I not create a boot disk for xp pro on another CPU from one of the websites that offer those files and just install xp pro that way using my original product key? Or, try and clone the faulty hard drive with the USB enclosure. My SSD is 80GB and my faulty hard drive is 120 GB (but probably only half full, if that matters).

Thanks.

If someone has a link to the instructuions for properly cloning, formatting the SSD etc, please share. Otherwise I'll search and piece the instructions together.

 

Just installed the RAM and hard drive. Did a clean install with xp pro. Been updating windows and am about to go get the rest of my T60 drivers. I would imagine Lenovo has a Windows Update-like driver download page where I can get all at once based on my model???

Anyway, the Intel SSD is crazy fast. Very happy with purchase.

 

in the age of search engines... lenovo thinkpad t60 windows drivers ... Lenovo Support - Drivers and software - ThinkPad T60, T60p

 

Just use System Update.

 

I did use system update. Had to go back and add some drivers as well as some optional windows update programs just to get the lenovo system update to install.

In any case all appears well...except for the fact that I didn't find all the articles about how to properly partion an SSD drive for max performance and life. However, I also read that the newer, better made SSDd like intel's x-25m G2 don't need it or do not benefit as much.