Another 28 post........

Hey all, I joined the addiction a few months ago by purchasing my first 28S, since then (thanks to all the expert postings from my fellow toughbook junkies), I have added the 3com card, wireless card which I hacked the gps antenna to receive wireless signals to a great effect, working on the CD/DVD, HDD, and about to upgrade my current 512MB to a 768MB........ya know, all the usual things. I have to say that so far good Ol' Butch is running great, heh actually runs better than my girlfriends new 1GB Lenovo running Vista However I have had a tiny thorn in my side that perhaps someone can help me with. Upon startup once XP loads up I get a notice that states "Unable to connect to wireless NetCard. Is it inserted?" The thing is I connect to my wireless and all so this just seems like a rootless warning. Perhaps it was something I disabled in my msconfig and now it just throws the notice? Like I said, it's really nothing but a nuisance so if there is nothing to do about it that's ok but it would be nice to remove. Any suggestions?

 

A wireless "NetCard" Did you install some software along the way and not include the hardware?

 

I did not. Both the 3com card and Broadcom wireless had software downloads.

 

sorry, jumped the gun. That was the only software I downloaded.

 

Sounds like a wireless broadband connection manager still installed from before you got it. Scope out your "Add/Remove Programs" list for the culprit.

It ALSO could be a VPN client; these may be found along with your Network Adapters in Device Manager.

mnem
Bleep.

 

Yep, went to the Add/Remove and there it was: IEEE WLAN Network Adaptor. Should have caught that earlier as it was just a few entries below the Broadcom that I installed. Either way no more annoying little alarms. Thank you very much!

 

Also, mnementh, I notice you are running 768MB, did you have to update your BIOS or did you just install a 512mb card? I'll be getting a kingston 512 card here shortly if that is the case. I have already registered on to tcc.toughbook.com too so if there is a BIOS DL there I could go that route. Thanks again for your help guys, after reading so many posts on here for a while I am honored to finally talk to some veterans of the toughbook world.

 

Kingston 512 has worked reliably for everyone, including many myself. Go fer it!

 

Jinx -

The CF-28 Mk3 were available in two flavors; the most common came with 256MB soldered on the MB, while a rare few came with 512MB. Either will accept up to 512 MB PC133 LOW-DENSITY RAM in a single expansion slot under the battery; 768MB or 1GB MAX RAM respectively. If you have 512MB and NO RAM INSTALLED, you won the lottery and got one of those precious few.

Yes, we do recommend the Kingston PC133 RAM as outlined in the CF-28 FAQ; I've used several other brands as well in my Mk3 with good luck - particularly HP and IBM branded pulls from approx the same vintage. If you have some lying around, try it. The Mk2 & Mk3 are not NEARLY as picky as the Mk1.

mnem
Page file usage: 111% Expand now?

 

I'm not familiar with the MK3 or how to check, but I already have a kingston 256K card installed under the battery and my BIOS only reads 512MB so I'm assuming I'm not in that 1GB potential lucky crowd. Still, any bit helps. Springfield: I've already got my eye on a few kingstons for a good price on the bay! =]

 

Jinx -

28S IS a Mk3/1GHZ model like the one in my sig. The math says you're right; 256MB onboard. You won't believe the difference bumping up to 768MB will make; between that and using MSCONFIG to disable unnecessary services, you can have what feels like a brand-new machine in an hour's time.

mnem
Bang!

 

mnementh, you're absolutely, right, MSCONFIG was one of the first things I did when I got my current 28, I am currently waiting for my RAM addition now.
There is also the option to reserve some of the HDD to be used as RAM as well. Any ideas on doing that? I haven't done it just because it seems like the HDD would be subject to unnecessary stress but perhaps you are aware of any pros/cons.

 

Jinx -

You CAN reserve more space on the HDD for the swapfile than Windows recommends, but it won't use it. There are a number of "System Mechanic" type programs that will reserve space around the outside edge of the platter for the swapfile; this is supposed to improve data transfer speeds due the increased rotational velocity in those areas. My experience shows otherwise however since much of the work a swapfile does is random access of very small bits of data rather than large files. This means that the heads are constantly traveling from the center of the platter to the outside edge, effectively wasting that improvement in many cases.

My recommendation is to upgrade your HDD to the fastest one you can afford, or look into the IDE to SATA Hack in the CF-29 FAQ. Then just let Windoze manage your swapfile; it gets pretty cranky if it's not just the way it likes it and it will up the limit if need be on its own anyhow.

mnem
Higher rotational mass my inertial MASS...

 

great, thanks again for the knowledge.