CF-28 Memory

I did several hours of reading and searching for a solution to this issue but to no avail. I have a CF-28PCJGEPB with V2.00L13A M39 BIOS version. When I type in that model number in on Panasonic's website, it gives me a config that is not what I have..maybe the previous owner modded the hell out of it...anyways...

I am trying to add a 256mb stick to it and it does not recognize it. The stick is a Crucial, 256MB, SYNCH, 100MHz, CL2. Crucial's test (as well as everywhere else I have read) says that the computer will handle 512MB. I began to run MEMtest86 on in and it only saw 247MB. The system info in XP Pro says the same thing. I looked around at different Panasonic sites for BIOS update, but they were either for the MK3 or I already had the most recent version on the list. When I get home, I will finish the MEMtest, but it is not even recognizing the stick I added.

Like I said...I searched/read for a few hours and when ever I found this mentioned, I did not hear a clear cut answer and if there was, it was for a different model or involved updating to the BIOS verision I already have. I would appreciate any help. Thanks!

- ford -

 

The only important part to your toughbook's model number as far as finding drivers go, is the CF-28PC. Everything else was a configure to order option.

I'm sure you've already seen these, but can't hurt to link;
http://panasonic.ca/PDP/Software/cf28_mk2_v200l13_r-2002-0150.zip
http://panasonic.ca/PDP/Software/cf28_mk2_nt_video_expansion_bios_r-2003-0090.zip

Other than that, it might just not be reading that stick. Do you have anything else to try out in it to test?

 

Try kingston brand, during the days that have my 1ghz cf-28 it recognized only 512 max but when i try kingston 512mb. I've got 758 and even on 800ghz it recognized

 

He had the wrong RAM. (He PMed me.) He had the type that has the 8 ICs on the top instead of 4.

I just ordered a bunch of Kingston RAM from Newegg. I was ordering from RamExchange on ebay until I got 3 bad sticks... And now he is giving me the run-around... (I bought these from him on the side.) I'll eventually get my money back. (I always do.) But it just ticks me off when people don't play right!

 

yea...wrong kind...

i found some laying around with 4 ICs on each side but its not labeled. I know its lower than 256 and probably slower than the permanent chip...ill go grab some tomorrow mornin and try it out.

 

i just borrowed some pc133 256mb and it worked just fine. im going to buy some tomorrow and go to town. i happened across a processor but its the wrong socket...1.5ghz Pentium M 479...wont fit the 370 socket...sad day...nothing like a free CPU

 

There's no socket to put it in. It's soldered to the board.

 

hmm...interesting...well the PIII 800MHz has a socket type of 370 and the one CPU I acquired has a socket type of 479 so even if there isn't an actual socket, I wouldn't think it would work. Wouldn't match up with the mobo. (unless I am waaaay off as I am just starting to get into laptop hardware...desktop and server hardware is waaay more familiar to me...)

At any rate, thanks for the help. Thanks to Toughbook for your quick PM and to Modly and/or DJACID (since I cant remember who wrote which posts) for the great info in the posts. I will be hanging around here quite a bit. My CF-28 has a ton of potential and this is just the place to exploit that.

An update, though not related to memory, is that while I was scrounging for parts, I cam across two internal mini pci wifi cards. One is an IntelPRO and the other Broadcom. I pulled the dial-up modem out (as if I would ever use it) and put the Intel card in for now. I need to look up the specs on both and see which one I like better. Two problems arose though. The card is too long so when I tried to push it down in to the clips, it hit on the slot for the 10/100 card and would not go down far enough for the clips to hold it down. I switched it with the 10/100 card but the cable for the 10/100 card does not reach that far so I moved them back. At the moment it doesn't matter since the HDD sits right on top and holds it down anyways. I also don't have the antenna wires connected at this point since I do not have a place in mind to mount them yet. I would like to run them up to the spot in the LCD frame that was meant to hold a retractable antenna (and maybe just get one of those antenna kits if they are any good). I saw Toughbook's antenna and don't like the idea of having one stick out of the side. The whole reason I want an internal card is to get my current Netgear card out of the card slot so I dont hit it on stuff and/or break it off. Anyways, I think I am going to change the name of this thread to a build thread just so I can keep a record and keep those who are interested up to date. Since I am still at work, there are no pictures, but I will take some later today once I get home and will take the camera with me to work henceforth since I do most of my tinkering there.

That is all for now...

- ford -

 

Depending on the broadcom card, I'd use that over any Intel card any day.

If you're willing to spend a couple of bucks, you can pick one up on eBay for a fair price (Under $20 shipped) that works really well. Most of us here, and actually most people who know wireless, prefer a card with an Atheros chipset. Just search eBay for "Atheros", and you'll find a good selection.

If you're willing to spend a few more bucks, you can get an even better card than that (Still atheros based). I'm currently using an Engenius branded card that operates at 400mW, but will eventually pick up a Ubiquiti card.

 

Ford... Look for an IBM LAN/Modem card on ebay. They go for $2.75. Of course there are others selling for more... A LOT more. I bought 30 of them. It's nice to keep the modem because... You never know. The IBM cards are a direct replacement and hooks up to the LAN & Modem directly and perfectly. Then you can keep both.

I second the Atheros cards... They are the best without a doubt!

 

Hi Modly, I've been lurking, reading up old threads and wanting to ask you and others, who have been using >300mW wifi cards, whether these are power hungry.

I'm using an external USB Senao SUB-362ext 200mW but intend to go the same route; ie. internal mini-pci with extended RP-SMA connection either at the side, panel bezel or replace the RIM antennae altogether.

Could you provide more details on the 400mW card? I'd like to get one too and like Toughbook said, some sellers don't play right. Thanks.

 

Hi Ford,
My CF-28S3QGBDM registers 515,056KB RAM, including a 256MB module (CF-WMBA91256 : PC133). If it makes any difference, Bios is V3.00L12C & Embedded controller is V3.20L14.

Like Ford, I found that Pana's site isn't very specific with regards to my model as well.

 

Toughnut

I was able to get a test PC133 256MB stick to register last night so I know it works...just gotta buy one now.

Modly

Yea, I am quite familiar with Atheros based wifi cards. It is what I prefer as they pwn. With my previous laptop and the CF-28 (when I ran Linux on it: Gento, Knopix, DSL, Suse, RedHat, and finally Ubuntu) I used Atheros based cards and they were fantastic...especially on linux with promiscuous mode. Only reason the Intel card is in right now is that I found it first and put it in, reassembled the computer and put it away and then found the Broadcom card. And of course, now I can't find the Broadcom card...

Toughbook

Does that card only use 1 slot for 10/100 and dial-up? If so I will for sure check them out and snag a few.

In the next few weeks I am going to be getting a few goodies. First is the RAM. I am going to try and see if it will take a 512MB stick and if not I'll stick with the extra 256MB stick. Second is a new HDD...Toughbook, you seem to like the Hitachi...they are decently priced so I think I will grab one of those. Did yours fit right in to the caddy with no probs? After that, I am going to be messing with the wireless and getting the antenna where I like it and of a suitable material. After than, its all aesthetics since mine came with a CDRW/DVD drive. Considering taking the case apart and painting the magnesium...either a camo design or I have this bedliner that is real rugged and tough and may coat it in that and black it out.

One idea I am throwing around is running dual wifi cards. I ran dual NICs in a sever I have...a 10/100/1000 for internet access and a wifi card set up in promiscuous mode to capture every packet flying around. It worked out pretty well. The wifi card never actually connected to a network, it just captured everything from my wifi network and all of my neighbors. That way, I can look up anything, chat on IRC/IM or whatever and still see what hosts are on different wifi networks around me (hypothetically speaking of course )

 

I haven't noticed that the 400mw card takes any more power over the long run than the 100mw card. I suppose it depends on the strength of your battery for one. Just my observation... I didn't run any tests.

Yes... The IBM card is dual LAN and Modem and slides into the LAN position. You have to mount it there as the LAN connector is not long enough to mount in the other spot. PM me your address and I'll take care of you. Provided you don't live in China...

I've tried both the Seagate and the Hitachi. The Hitachi is $10 cheaper and is a better drive I feel. It doesn't have the 5 year warranty like the Seagate (where that $10 goes) but it is quieter and uses less power. (IMHO) They also have a better disc utility. You can load the utility and program the hard drive for battery or performance. You can either do that up front and program it forever... Or you can load a hard drive utility program that sits on the desktop and you can change it at will. Good stuff!

 

done! thanks dude!

 

The card is on the way!

 

I was looking at Ubiquiti's wifi cards and do not know which one to consider. I do not know the benefits of 2.4+ GHz to the 900MHz models. Any insight would be cool. Im going to do some reading about it too right now...thanks!

 

Make sure you get the correct size! Not all of Ubiquiti's cards fit in out slots!

 

If you're using regular home wireless, the SR2 and XR2 are your best bets.

 

well I will be using on occasion at home, but mostly on commercial and industrial grade systems. Mainly on the wireless network provided on campus at the university and at a few places around town that use higher end stuff than normal home NAT boxes.

All of these systems only host computers that are normal, every day consumer computers...nothing crazy...but I am looking to find one of the best/most powerful cards I can get.

 

Most networks are 2.4GHz. Only some private networks are 900MHz.

The XR2 is a severely badass card if you can get one for a good deal. Problem is, they are over $100, and I think there are cheaper cards to be had. You might win in the driver department though.

 

Hmm. I see. Well there is a distributor just out side of town with a XR2 for $110. I am pretty sure that it will work with Linux, but I have to make sure. That is one of the main things I am looking for since I will use both Linux and XP. At the moment I am just using Knoppix off a CD, but once I get my new Hitachi 60Gb 7200. For any serious networking I use lnux but for normal dicking around online I go with XP. I will look into it. I am pretty sure that the Atheros chipset will be supported off the bat in Linux. Thanks for the info! I am going to go out to this place and check it out. They have a ton of cool stuff.

 

If it's atheros based (which the Ubiquiti cards are), it's supported under linux with madwifi.

If it'll support the transfer power though, not sure.

 

What do you mean by "the transfer power"?

 

100mW, 400mW, 600mW, etc. I'm not sure if it'll do anything with higher powered cards or not. I should do some testing I suppose, but the only time I'm dropped into Linux is when I'm at home, and usually about 3 feet from the 7dB antenna (Which is directly above it, mounted to the ceiling) that is attached to my router...

When I get it all back together (It's missing several pieces from hacking it apart to do the GPS mod still, because I'm waiting for the new keyboard), I'll do a distance test to compare it to windows.

 

ahhh I see. Good deal...let me know how that turns out.

 

Hey Rick, got the card yesterday...well I didnt actually get it till this morning when I got home from work...but I put it in a few minutes ago and it works great. Thanks man!

 

well lets go off on a tangent here. there's a card under $50 on the keenan systems website, it is 600 mw and has an atheros chipset. Is there something about the ubiquiti card that makes it more badass than that? the one thing i saw with the ubiquiti card i didn't like is it seems only to have one antenna port.. I'm eventually planning on having an internal antenna of one sort or another and a connector on the back for something more powerful, so i think i would want the two antenna connectors.

 

The Ubiquiti cards have two antenna ports, but one is MMCX. They also produce a driver (which is based on the standard atheros drivers), but I think it's a newer version than the Engenius driver. The engenius driver is based on an old atheros driver, which I don't like.

Other than that though, I'm not sure what the difference is. I'd like to try one some day though, and test it out.

 

Gravitar... I posted that link but they were on backorder. Do they have them in now?

Yeah... I don't see the big deal with the Ubiquiti cards either. I use the 600mw Engenius cards and they fly! My customers that use them are blown away. One called me last night to say he can get his home wireless from 4 blocks away! I'm not sure you could ask for any better performance.

Fendereff... Glad it made it and it works fine. Now... Get that wifi card in there!

 

I emailed the guy on monday and he said they would have stock in a few days.

 

Gravitar, you have PM.

 

post link again please?

 

What... Your Google doesn't work???

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/...th=18&osCsid=f58e0737a7ec697ec78ac2e942dcd01c

 

I just checked and their site says they have 15 in stock..

 

Go Get 'Em!

 

As soon as I get my money out of the GPS modules I'll turn around and send it to the wifi guy! (hint, hint you guys!)

Which brings me to my next question.. This particular seller doesn't seem to ship
outside the US, either. Any of you non-US people interested in these?

 

Gravitar, let me know what I owe on the gps and how to get it to you and I'll take care of my part.

 

*waving in the air* I'm game for 2 x 600mW and 4 x U.fl- RP-SMA cables. For some reason, Google check-out doesn't accept my postal code or I'd be good to go whenever you are. An alternate transfer mode perhaps?

Thanks for asking. I appreciate that very much.

 

one for me. Grav.. Just to tell you regarding the antena that Mod.. posted from Mobile GPS . I have it now and its some kind of a bulky and its dif. from the picture but as i check it same product code.

 

Put me down for one of the 600mw cards also please.

 

Somebody else posted that one. I linked the one from Jim Gray that me and Toughbook (And a few others) use.

 

Ok so I got some new stuff for the compy. Got a 100GB Hitachi 7200RPM HDD [since Toughbook seems to love his so much]. I also got a Ubiquiti XR2 to replace my current Intel card. I dont remember if I mentioned this before [and Im too lazy to look] but I got my RAM in and am running at 512MB now and its much nicer. Should get a little quicker when I put the new HDD in. I havent put it in yet as I have not had time. I am still trying to decide on the OS(s) as well. I am pretty sure XP with go on, but I am still figuring out which Linux distro(s) will be installed.

I am going to be getting a CACE Tech. NIC soon as well. I only have one problem...its USB. I dont want to have this little nub sticking out of the back where the USB port is. I am thinking I could just use a PCMCIA USB card and connect there, but then I will have a really long extension out of the side. So here are my thoughts/questions since I go not know much about this...

Assuming that I found a suitable mount place for the USB deal, I want to run a USB extension cable through the case and directly connect it to the USB port, but want to some how push the port inside the case so that you cant tell there is something plugged in to it...if that makes any sense. Alos, if I am modifying the hardware like that, could I upgrade it to a USB 2.0 port and then directly connect that cable some how? Thoughts, other alternatives [to having extra crap hanging off the computer], suggestions, etc are welcome. Please no hi-jacking the thread...I know it happens and little comments are alright but please do me a favor and keep it semi-relevant. Thanks!

 

I saw this originally on hackaday-
http://kyndal.dk.googlepages.com/cutpcmciausb2card
Imagine this in the internal PCMCIA slot, with the plugs on the side piece in place of the net/phone ports...

I would think this would be the only way to get USB2.0, unless you could replace the associated chips? Correct me please if I am wrong.

 

Somebody linked to USB 2.0 MiniPCI card a while back but it too would need some modding to make it work on the CF-28.

 

http://www.neutronexpress.com/prod.cfm/374905/


Jim

 

I was thinking about trying that MINI PCI USB card but wasn’t sure about those plugs being too high, probably would have to solder them on. Also I think that card is too big for the smaller mini PCI slot.

I have my eye on this PCMCIA card
http://www.made-in-china.com/showro...Super-Slim-PCMCIA-to-USB-Card-ZT-PCU02A-.html

You could put in the PCMCIA slot and shut the door or maybe put it in the hidden spot and see if you can run some internal USB or something.

-nate

 

Fendereff... First of all... Where do I get that T-Shirt???? I LOVE IT!

Good score on the hard drive. Did you get the HTS version? I've been touting those hard drives and now they stay out of stock! When I want to place on order they are gone. When I order the HTE's... As soon as I get them they get the HTS' back in stock! If you have the HTS... Make sure you get the Hitachi Feature tool!

I would imagine you could get USB 2.0 to work. I know we could put the outlets out the side opposite the LAN/Modem but I'm not sure we could waterproof it.

Since we are on the topic of memory... STAY AWAY from RamExchange on ebay! They sold me 2 sticks of 256 and 1 stick of 512. NONE of them worked. They won't answer emails and Paypal won't refund me since I received it and then shipped it back to them. (I'm not sure I understand that.) I had a prior good experience with them so I'm not sure why this happened... But I'll never buy from them again!

 

I am going to mess around to see if I can get some sort of internal USB working. I will also see about waterproofing.

RamExchange has screwed me over as well.
I just got bad sticks from "Ram-Upgrades" as well, but so far they seem like they are taking care of it.

We should make a list of ebay sellers to stay away from if we can do that.

 

Toughbook, I got the shirts off Thinkgeek.com. they have tons awesome tech shirts. you should check them out. i wear them to work alot.

i pulled apart the whole computer last night. pulled everything out. I wanted to get a good look at the mobo and the USB port. i think i will be able connect the USB cable directly to the mobo and will be able to run it up the monitor and mount the USB CACE NIC where i want it. i am going to mount the end of the calve in the top of the monitor so i can just plug in the USB NIC to the top of the mirro when ever i need to use it. i do not use USB much on this computer but can just get a usb card to use when i do need it. i am also going to mount my antenna for the ubiquiti card in the monitor case in one of the bottom rubber corners. it should work out pretty well when im dont i think.