X220 Tablet + Minidock Series 3 Plus

So I got a Minidock Series 3 Plus, despite them being labeled as incompatible with the x220 tablet (compatible with the nontablet though) on the website.

Got it in the mail today, the only thing that prevents it from fitting is the rubber battery catch on the right hand side and the sliding corner catch on the left. After an hour and a bunch of struggling with plastic, I finally removed the corner catch and the rubber thingy (nothing was broken or cracked, this was all finding the right screws to remove and etc).

It DOCKS! YAY! Although the eSata port doesn't seem to function.. might be a driver issue as the x220t was never meant to go in this dock and doesn't have an esata port of its own..

If anyone is interested I could post pictures and etc.

 

Is it possible to get that plastic thing off without permanently damaging any part of the dock? I wanted to try this with my own Minidock 3, but I wasn't adventurous enough to take it apart without a manual (especially given how expensive the damn thing is).

 

Yes it is! Here are some brief instructions.. I'll consider taking it back apart and taking pictures if people would like that..

1. Remove the 2 screws on the back of the unit (these are small machine screws that seem to screw into a metal backplate).
2. Remove the 5 screws on the bottom.
3.
This panel has 3 plastic tabs that need to be released. They are roughly in the locations circled. The left and right tabs hook outwards, so you would simply need to insert a flathead to disengage them. After that use some plastic to pry it upwards (lightly). It will stop at some point and then you need to look inside around the middle area. There's another tab that hooks to the left I believe and that needs to be released as well. As soon as the 3 tabs are released, lift the plate up from the front and pull it towards you. You should be able to slide the bottom out at this point.
4. After taking that plate off, note the positions of the 2 springs inside. Remove the 4 or so screws (don't remember how many there were). Separate these as they're different sizes from the ones removed from the bottom.
5. Starting on the left side of the dock (the side with the release button) disengage the plastic tabs on the back of the dock (you can see the holes they hook into). This should give you enough play to pry open that corner and access the 2 screws that hold the plastic piece in place.
NOTE: I'm not actually sure what else holds the remaining plastic down, so I've mainly used the flexibility to work.. so be careful.
6. Remove the 2 screws that secure the slider/air vent. After that comes off, the L plastic bracket can be removed and the air vent thingy reinstalled. I recommend reinstalling this as it helps align your laptop (seeing now we're removing the alignment bracket).

7. At this point, you can remove the rubber support on the righthand side of the dock as well, just gently rock it around until it comes loose.

REASSEMBLY:
8. Reinstall the air vent piece with the 2 screws.
9. Click the rear tabs back into place carefully.
10. Put the screws back in for the middle plate section (the first time I reassembled it I forgot this step.. doh!)
11. Put the 2 springs back, put middle plate in bottom first (it slots in) and then push the 2 side tabs so that it clicks in. This will be tight at first because of the mechanism inside that allows the docking. Look for the oval pin with the rectangular pin right below it in the middle. Depress the rectangular portion and that should allow the entire plate to be pushed downwards. This should allow everything to settle back in.
12. Put screws in bottom and back.
13. Profit!!!

Ah screw it.. I'll post this.. but I'm just going to make a video now. Will upload in a bit. hang tight.

//Edit: Just made the video. Possibly blurrycam-esque because it was shot off of my Galaxy Nexus. You also see alot of my desk seeing how quite a bit of this disassembly required 2 hands and I have no stand. My apologies
//Edit2: Wow.. stupid me recorded that video at 1080p.. so its a 1gb file.. oops.. upload might take a bit ^^;

Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feev_4DzfVI&feature=youtu.be

 

FYI, this is even MUCH easier than chaosphoenix describes. I've done this four times now, and I can do it in less than 5 minutes and it's completely reversible (I had to un-do my modification so I could send a dock back so I know it's true).

1) Remove the three screws nearest the power button. One is on the power button "pedestal," the others are under the dock.
2) Gently push in the little tab between the VGA connector and the lock hole. This holds the top of the dock to the bottom. The top and bottom of the dock should start to separate with a little prodding.
3) Just pull the top and bottom apart about a 1/2 inch (just enough to see the underside of the plastic piece with the "vents" that holds the slider we don't want in place). There should be JUST enough room to stick a small phillips screwdriver in there and reach the phillips screws on either side of the "vented" piece.
4) You can remove both and take out the piece competely (I did this the firs time), but you only need to take out the one near the rear of the dock.
5) With this crew removed, you should be able to work the slider off the rail and then put the screw back in place (it really helps to have a magnetized screwdriver for this part).
6) For the small rubber piece, just grab it and pull it out, it pops out easily. 7) Snap the dock back together and replace the three screws and bingo - you're in business.

FYI, the esata dock is working with my X220T and Series 3 Plus dock too, so it appears that full functionality is there. Lenovo is so stupid on this one. There's NO reason not to make the Series 3 dock easily compatable with the X220T.

 

Hi,
Thanks for making this video and tutorial - super helpful!
I'm curious, does the modded dock allow the tablet to fit with either the 3-cell or 6-cell battery, or just the 3? I couldn't tell in the video which one you had on. I'm assuming the 9-cell is out of the question, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks!

 

9 cell is out of the question because there is no 9 cell battery for the X220T.

 

Sorry, I was mistaken. For some reason I had in my head that the large battery that mounts underneath was 9-cell. Perhaps a better question: Does every OEM battery that mounts via the regular battery port (rather than via the docking port on the bottom) fit with this modded minidock?

 

Did the hack, worked for the most part but I can not get both DVI ports to work to use 2 monitors. Huge bummer.

 

I bought X230T and attempted this hack. Unfortunately, I screwed up big time. Following Chaospheonix's guide, I could take off those piece, but for some unknown reason, I cannot get the button (i.e., the release button) to work. It is a relatively simple mechanism, but whatever I do, it doesn't work. Does anyone have any insight on what I might have done incorrectly? I would appreciate any advice! Thank you in advance.

 

Hi,

Thanks! Great, just tried it and worked Nice!
But it's not quite stable. I got this dock at work and I am happy that I can use it now with my personal laptop. I wouldn't buy it for myself though. Also the "docking" mechanism seems to be "passive", i.e. the laptop doesnt know its docked? At least the software does not recognize a docking station and there is no software eject button as for UltraBase. Overall, UltraBase seems much more elegant & cool.

However, I also have the issue with 2 monitors connected via DVI Only one of them is recognized.

Can I connect the second display to VGA, Displayport or HDMI? Does *any* combination work? (in this case, I'd buy the appropriate adapter/converter).

@ mrgiroro: Don't know, I used valkyrienbr instructions and it took less than 5 minutes. I also had the issue when I re-assembled it that the "release button" did not work - it was "loose" meaning that nothing happened when I pushed the button. I was unable to to dock the laptop. I then re-opened it again and found that there is a metal hook or something like that that I needed to re-align. Then it works as expected.

 

One more update from me:

1.) Both displays work (3 at the same time, i.e., notebook display do NOT work) but one display must be connected via VGA. So I have one monitor connected via VGA and the other via DVI

2.) I got very bad luck: My docking station was replaced and after some time I found a big issue: As mentioned, the USB ports do not work, I can confirm this with meanwhile 3 different versions. However, previously at least the USB3 port for my "Mini Dock 3 Series with USB3.0" worked - and I could connect a USB hub from there.

Apart from that, just as a confirmation: sound, network, power works.

So I'd highly recommend getting the USB3.0 version which I don't have any more unfortunately

 

i did this couple of years ago, but i used a Dremel tool.

 

Got the same problem with X230T and both Mini Dock and Mini Dock Plus.

I'm lucky enough to have Utrabase too, so after complete disassembly of Mini Dock Plus (thanks to chaosphoenix for the guide) and Ultrabase (upper half has 15 screws!), PCB track tracing and a short lookup to SMSC datasheets, I've found that USB hub ICs on Mini Dock and Ultrabase are simply connected to DIFFERENT pins on docking connector (see pic.).

As non-tablet X220 and X230 have no problems with USB on both Mini Dock and Ultrabase, they seemingly have two (or more?) USB 2.0 ports active on docking connector, while X220T and X230T have only one, wired for Ultrabase.

I own only some X230Ts, and not a single non-tablet X220/X230 or other Mini Dock compatible laptop, so I've decided to make it simple - bridge the pins used for USB on Ultrabase to ones used for USB on Mini Dock with short jumper wires, though it probably will cause problems should I ever try to dock other, officially Mini Dock-compatible laptop to my modded dock (as it may short data buses of two USB ports).

Here's the trick:
View attachment 115934

After soldering these jumper wires all the USB ports on Mini Dock Plus I've modified have started to function properly.

 

I can't get your attachment to download. Can you send it to me (valkyrie @ rocketmail.com) ? This would be a big help, as I've upgraded to the X230T and am frustrated that my Series 3 docks now don't work right. Also, do both your digital displays (DVI and/or DP) your Series 3 docks with USB 3.0 work at the same time? On the USB 2.0 version, only one seems to work. I'd be willing to upgrade my docks if I can get both video and your USB hack to work. Thanks!

 

Hi

Please, can someone reupload the photo? I want to modify my series 3 dock too for X220 tablet.

 

I'd the the photo as well. Was anybody able to get the attachment? s k e w t y [a t] g m a i l

Thanks, in advance