CF-54 FAQ

Thanks, I'm going to use the M2 as an additional drive rather than for booting.

 

Are going to boot mechanical HDD? Why buy super fast SSD?

 

No way! Already have a Samsung 870 Evo SSD in the main caddy and a WD Blue SSD in the DVD drive just need more partitions because of the MBR limit and I can't use GPT

 

You mean you don't use M.2 SSD?

 

Not for booting, I have a standard SSD in the main caddy an additional SSD in the DVD drive and now hopefully an extra M2 in the onboard slot.

Has anyone successful taken a wireless data card from one CF-54 and put it in another?

 

Why you have so many drives? Can't you just get one 4/8TB SSD?
WLAN CARD should compatible to other but others might not compatible with CF-54 without mod?

 

So many drives because this CF-54 is my automotive testing computer and it has 4 x win 10, 3 x win 7 and 2 x win XP on it. Because of win 7 I need to use MBR and cannot use GPT so there is a partition limit.

One of my CF-54 has the wireless card but I'd like to transfer it to another CF-54 but I think there is some bios configuration required (or so Panasonic tell me).

 

All Windows are in VM? I also have all Win and Linux in CF-54 in VM ware.
My AX210 is Wifi 6E, there is no config in BIOS only enable/disable.

 

Panasonic have whitelist WLAN card in BIOS, looks like won't accept above intel AC8000 series without this MOD.
If WLAN from CF-54 to CF-54 I don't see why not and it's easy to replace.
WLAN card NGFF M.2 AC8260 is cheap in Ebay/Amazon.

 

They are all individual partitions with no VMs, VMs are too slow and they don't interact with the hardware well.

I have a Sierra wireless card in my other CF-54 but would like to transfer it to my main CF-54. What mod needs to be done?

 

Sierra wireless card is WWAN not Wifi card, correct?

 

You can stay with MBR and put everything in one M.2 SSD. CF-54 only have USB ports unless you have options RS-232C port. Newer VM can handle USB. I have VMware workstation v16 and Consult 3+ software. If it run on mechanical SATA II HDD, yes it's damn slow. But not on SSD SATA III. I can choose to run on win xp sp3 for consult 3+ if I wanted coz my main OS is win 10.

 

I didn't want to run VMs as I have had hardware difficulty in the past. So I opted for actual installations on the drive.

Also FYI for those wanting an M2 drive the Samsung 860 EVO did not work in my MK1 CF-54 I have ordered a Samsung 850 EVO M2 so hopefully that works!

 

Okay so I was able to get a Samsung 850 EVO however it didn't work until I unplugged the DVD drive caddy SSD I had installed...

So I think the 860 EVO should have worked. The 860 was only a 250 and the 850 I have is a 500 so I'll keep the 850. If anyone wants me to test the 860 I could.

 

I don't know why 860 EVO M.2 not work in your system. Did BIOS picked up? As soon as M.2 installed it should have extra option below existing bootup in BIOS for you to choose which one to boot.

 

The issue was not the drive being incompatible but because I had a DVD drive caddy with a 250GB SSD installed the M2 slot didn't work.

So basically you can have an M2 SSD or you can have a hard drive in the DVD caddy but not both

So I've hit the limit of 8 partitions with MBR across 2 physical drives, so the XP installations I have will be removed and I will use those two partitions instead.

 

Are all 8 partitions XP?

 

I'm trying to imagine how's your system looks like.

 

Anybody knows the part number for the bridge battery.

 

Is that the battery pack that replaces the DVD drive? If so I ordered one and CF-VZSU0KW came

 

Nope it is the one that sits under the docking connector.

 

SELECT ACCESSORIES
n AC Adapter 100W (3-prong) CF-AA5713AM
n Long Life Battery Pack CF-VZSU0PW
n Lightweight Battery Pack CF-VZSU0LW
n Media Bay 2nd Battery Pack5 CF-VZSU0KW
n Battery Charger CF-VCBTB3W
n LIND Car Charger 120W CF-LNDDC120
n LIND Solar Charge System PASC1580-4464
n ToughMate Always-on 54 Case TBC54AOCS-P
n ToughMate ComUniversal Carrying Case TBCCOMUNV-P
n ToughMate Backpack TBCBPK-P

 

It is called hot-swap battery. Very small. For exchanging your main battery for another.

 

I've heard of that battery, assuming it's an internal one then?

 

Look at the following picture.
It resides in the space above the docking connector.
If I am correct.

 

Last week i bought a CF-54. The old CF-30 want to retire...
It is a MK1 model with i7 processor and an extra AMD Firepro 5100 GPU

Almost everything is running fine except for the Wifi/bluetooth having some problems.
Wifi find my 5G network before installing the driverpack.
After installing the drivers it only find the 2.4G network.

Bluetooth worked for a short time, now there is no Bluetooth on my system anymore.
Try to reinstall the drivers, uninstall, nothing. (after uninstall my 5G network is back)
There is a AC7260 card installed.
Drivers from Intel site did not helped either.
Is it possible to install a more recent model Wifi card is this Thoughbook?
An AC9560 perhaps?

 

Ok I had a lot of problems with my Bluetooth until I did not install the latest version. Right now I am running Intel version 20.100.6.3 and it is working perfectly. Mine is an I5 but that should not be problem.
The only problem is that my laptop tell me the whole time to update the BT drivers.

 

Thank you VEJ, i’ll give it a try.