CF-29 Accumulative Operating Hours = 0

Hello All

I recently purchased a CF-29 for a nephew of mine on eBay (Toughbooks four younger kids are a great fit)

Having purchased a few now I have seen some excellent samples and a few rough ones (am sure we all have). This was listed as being perfect and lightly used (arent they all) but the sellers history was good and the pictures of the actual item was included.

This system appears (physically and cosmetically) new, there is only very slight paint wear on the rear hinge edges. All the normal areas that would show use (they keyboard, trackpad, wrist area, stickers on the wrist area, bottom COA tag and serial number tag) look new.

What I found truly interesting is that the Accumulative Hours shows 0 !! It was my understanding this could not be reset. Am curious to know if that is true and if it is please dont share how as I dont want to encourage the practice

So, is this truly as new ??

 

NO IT'S NOT...Now this is just a guess but this seller most likely got this and could not get into the bios or it had high hours so he did his magic and password is gone and zero hours. Yes it can be done and I do not know how to do it.
Some sellers on fleabay will tell you that the "clock was reset due to bios lock"...If you know how to do this you can set it to what ever hours you want...0...30...60...1000... so watch what you buy and don't bid high because it has low hours, you could be getting a 10,000 hour one .

 

Federal only ...no WLAN. Easy fix if the antennas are there and a new Touchscreen takes -1 hour.
For the WLAN I have seen the antenna leads taped down neatly waiting for a wireless card.
Nice Uncle.

 

I have many cf-29's mk 4-5's that have upwards of 20K hours that work like a champ and externally are in remarkable shape. They may need the thermal pads replaced and maybe even some internal mods for the heat sink "fork" that may assist in better thermal dissipation to the bottom of cabinet but work like new. I'm beginning to think the hours really don't hurt these laptops as long as screen is in good shape. low or high hours, bid accordingly and get your best deal. still these are good laptops, just not dual core but almost indestructible..Driller

 

I have purchased several with wear in some areas with no hours on them. Most of these were carried around as back-up laptops and were not used.. Or lightly used.

I was always under the assumption that you could not reset the hours... But I guess where there is a will there is a way. I would let the feedback rating of the seller govern your thoughts here.

 

The hours can be reset. I don't know how, but another forum member figured it out. He will not post how for apparent reasons. I believe it is the member who figured how to change the model number.