Finally getting my hands on a CF-19

Been loving my CF-18 MK1 for the last 5 years, it's in my bag all the time and running it half the day for work without problems. TBH i'm barely able to justify the upgrade as there is very little it can't do. The screen is getting a bit dim though and HD video doesn't run, tethering my phone for internet doesn't work as well as on my wife's faster machine and that was how i sold it to myself

So i have a MK3 CF-19 with GPS and all the goodies and only a few hundred hours on the clock on it's way

I need a bigger HDD and looking at the praise of SSDs and win 7 so decided now is the time to move to 64 bit Windows 7 and make this a close to ultimate machine. If you can please let me know if these are the right decisions i can get ordering -

Samsung 250GB 840 Series - Am i right in reading there is no point getting the Pro version with "Sequential Write: 520MB/s" as the laptop is limited to write speeds under 250MB/s anyway?

2x 4GB RAM? - Is more than 4GB total a bit unnecessary. I might edit the occasional video but not so often that i'd be in a major hurry for it. Is 8 better than 4 for general use?

It's coming with 2GB so if 4GB is enough can i get any 2GB stick (PC2 - 6400 800MHz 20pin?) and put it in the spare slot or do i need a pair? Does the pair need to be just by size or something else? If there is an exact spec of RAM that works best please let me know.

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit - I might need the XP mode. I notice people on the bay selling lots of Dell reinstallation discs and Dell OEM discs promising activation and updates will be no problem. is it as dodgy as it sounds?

Hopefully the install will go smooth and i've seen the links for the drivers posted here thanks for that. I'll swap over my emmisive keyboard (i knew that was a good investment) and then try to figure out what to do with a perfectly good CF-18 MK1 that won't be worth selling. Might mount it on the wall like a trophy.

Regards

 

If I am right the MK3 is 4GB max so I would stick with 32bit W7 because 64bit loves lots of memory.

You are going to need your own COA for activation... and we can not talk about getting around it on the forum, sorry but forum rules

Now that is a good idea :thumbsup:

That is what I have in my 52

 

Nice score, I really love my 19. they are not crappy netbooks, but real computers with good processors and components and if you get the chicklet backlit keyboard you (or at least I) can type at full speeds. At a 2.5kg weight it is still pretty portable.

Don't start using those Dell discs, they are pretty much useless as they don't have the right drivers.
Perhaps try to get the right disks from Panasonic in Cardiff. That's the easiest way. XP is still a favorite for many people, but perhaps they are also able to provide a Win7 disk?! Most recovery disk from manufacturers come with a $h!t-load of bloatware. And I really hate that.

SSD's are a wise investment, I do know the 840 and it's a solid performer in a couple of laptop's I maintain for friend/parents. I don't think the mk3 is able to make use of the faster pro version.

4Gb is nice enough for most. I do a lot of OCR in Adobe Acrobat and therefor I really need the larger memory, otherwise 4 is really more than enough.

One other thing is to really, really follow the right order in which the drivers and software has to be installed. Panasonic has a specific list for each model that has to be observed.

 

I have had all 5 mk's of the 18 and three Mk's of the 19 so far. Doing a lot of research on 19 right now. The Mk3 has the upgraded LED lights. The screen is a lot clearer than my Mk1 or Mk2 units, nice and bright in full sunlight. The screen also has a bulge at the hinge area to strengthen that area. I haven't personally tried 8gb so far in my Mk3 but that chipset is rated as 8gb, I have seen other members put 8gb in there CF-52 with the same chipset. I have seen one or two on ebay saying they were upgraded to 8gb, but never seen a bios picture to prove it. Right now mine does have 4gb and even with a few games I have played on it to see if it would play them it has been working fine with Windows 7 SP1 x86.



Sounds like the 18 has a new life coming for it, car movie player, shop pc or like Rob have one to play music on the balcony.

 

Thanks for the helpful replies.

The 19 arrived today from Germany minus it's German keyboard and too small HDD which the seller kept as part of the deal. I'm feeling a bit guilty to be stripping my loyal old 18 of it's chicklet keyboard to give it to the younger model. Looking at them together makes me realise just how durable the fit and finish is on these. Hardly any sign of the daily use i've put it through and the hinge is just as smooth and tight as the day i got it. The only thing that needed replacing was the power lead which broke just by the jack, but i notice the new power lead of the 19 is beefed up there.

A couple of dimples on the bottom have been pushed in to the point i'm a bit worried might need some waterproofing. Seems like a bit of a weak spot. Otherwise the top and screen are mint looking.

SSD arriving tomorrow and i've sorted the Win7 issue. I gave the 32/64 bit decision a bit more research and decided i might as well go 64 if i'm getting up to date. I guess if it needs a bit more ram it can have the 0.8gb i wouldn't have use of if i went 32bit.

One issue i can see already is that there is no model number sticker on the bottom. Is there any other place i can find it or do i have to work it out from the options it has come with. I hope this won't be too much of an issue when it comes to downloading the drivers from Panasonic.

ADOR i still can't figure what to do with the 18. I used it for everything so expect to just use the 19 for everything instead. It's been too good to me over the years though otherwise i could give it to my 5 year old to test it to destruction. He already tipped a cup of coffee (black no suger thankfully) onto the chicklet keyboard once when it was running. Just poured it off and left it to dry. He'll have to try harder than that

 

You can see this info in BIOS.

MK3 works well with 8GB RAM. And 8GB is not that much too. Browsers, Skype etc do really like memory.

P.S. If you need it - I have a matched pair of 4GB sticks.

 

Since you have a 5 year old I think you already have the perfect solution for that 18. A new keyboard should be easy to find, and since it's fully rugged it shouldn't be a problem.

I started my 4 kids out with CF-28 Mk2/Mk3. Later on they needed more power in the gaming dept and they had learned how to handle a pc they got CF-73 (one) with ATI 9000 and CF-50 with ATI 9600 cards (three) in them. The oldest boy went to a CF-51 with X1300 because he was doing programing in java and needed for power for minecraft. I just upgraded them a few months back to CF-74 Mk3 for my youngest 3. The oldest boy has a CF-52 Mk1 with HD2300 but we are working on him a Mk2 with HD3650, just got finish sorting out the battery problem and get another caddy and SSD for it. I didn't want to strip that other unit. The batteries get way more than the 30 minutes the other pc's got and batteries are easier to find. With that they some times play there games outside now getting close to 3 hrs out of the battery.

 

That is about a $20.00 fix, its just a sticker on the bottom. Check out the picture, I have some of these coming in with my next order.

 

Blair is our go to guy for all parts! He'll treat you VERY well and has EXCELLENT service!!!

 

I'll check if that sticker is holed when i take the bottom off to change the ram. Is Blair easy to find on here if i need him?

I got the KB changed over, back to the original KB on the 18 and it's pretty horrible compared to the emissive, and installed the SSD in the 19. Straight into the BIOS and it recognised the drive no problem. Found a sticker in the battery slot with a model number which is different to the one in the bios.....

BIOS model is CF-19KHRCHAG

From Toughwiki

H: 10.4" TS
R: 160GB HD, 2GB RAM, dual RF (what is RF?)
C: GPS, BT
H: not listed ! ?
A: Vista COA, XP downgrade (Vista Basic sticker on bottom)
G: not listed but i guess Europe

Model from battery bay CF-19KHRAHZZ

A: BT...... it has the GPS bulge on the side so i'll go with the BIOS model number.

Wonder what the H is for. It was sold as having Gobi.

BIOS version is V3.00L15 (Is that the latest?)
Embedded controller V3.0016
Accumulative operating time 380 hours :thumbsup:

Hmmm entered the diagnostic utility and it says i can't touch the PC for about 32 minutes

Nothing coming up for model number here Panasonic Mobile Computing Configure Products Is there another configurator?

 

He sure is...it's ME :hi2:

 

lol gotcha. So far i might need one of them stickers and a tether for the pen, will let you know. The tether that came with the 18 is still coiled properly so they seem to last well but i didn't get one with the 19.

I notice the side covers on the screen are beefed up where the tether fixes, both sides of the 18 have cracks there. There are a few subtle changes to the 19 like that, it's a design/function evolution thing isn't it. Brave for a manufacturer these days but it makes perfect sense to me.

I'm on the driver search and for MK3 it's not giving me the option of Win 7 64bit only 32bit. If i select MK4 i get option for 64bit.....

http://pc-dl.panasonic.co.jp/dl/search?q=&button=&dc[]=002001&p1=&p2=&oc=&lang=

damn that didn't take long to need your help

 

You can use some of the 64 bit drivers from the Mk4. But the chipset and a few others like that are different so you can't use those drivers. I did 64 bit windows 7 on the Mk2 19 my girlfriend has.

 

I thought sod it and went 32bit instead (short of time to mess around tbh) but noticed in the readme of the chipset driver pack that one of the OS that must be installed was win7 x64 so it looks like the mk3 one would have been ok, maybe it was the drivers for the mk2 that wouldn't work

OSINFFileDriver_v9.1.1.1019_19K_19L_W732_ss6937

from the japan site in UK english

installing the drivers and wondering if i'm doing the right thing with the batch files that it's telling me to run from the command prompt, i'm right clicking and running as administrator instead, lot quicker but is it the same thing?

 

Here is the correct sticker to get the model number from.



The CF-19KHRAH ZZ is not the "correct" model number. Nearest I can figure the " ZZ" numbers are base model numbers before Panasonic adds the options and configures the Toughbook for the buyer.

The best bet is trust the number in the BIOS.

From my research,
32bit is fine.. 64bit won't really improve performance unless you have 8gb of ram and run memory hogs like photoshop or cad.

 

There was no sticker on the bottom for some reason. I think i've installed all the drivers now, i guess i'll see when i start trying to use it. Seems fast enough, big improvement over the 18 anyway, very quick restarts at least

Has anyone found their new stick of RAM won't fit in the spare slot? I'm sure i'm not doing anything wrong it's just not fitting

 

Did you pick up a DDR1 or DDR3 by accident? Does the middle slot align up? Or does it fit but just doesn't want to go all the way in?

 

Double checked and its DDR2. Slot lines up. It wont go in far enough to clear the two black tabs at the rear so that it can drop down to be the right angle to go in far enough to clear the two black tabs...... I pushed it more than i liked to already. Might have to file the front corners a bit but its hard to tell where its too big. Made by Crucial.

 

That is not a good idea. If its Crucial it should fit without doing any modification to the memory. To be sure what memory you have try Google search the numbers/letters on the memory and see what it gives you.

 

Just before i took my angle grinder out i checked how the slot was on the 18 and realised i was putting it in too flat. Angled it up and it slot right in. Er. Doh. I was just assuming it was not flat enough so didnt try angling up. At least i didnt break it

 

This 19 is coming together rather nicely!! Gobi, Win7-32 SSD and an emissive KB (that one is really important for me!!, no 19 without or else I can't type 10-finger blind anylonger!!)
Do all the drivers work properly now?

 

I had to go out so left it for a bit. Will take me a while to test everything. Not even sure what version of gobi its got yet.

The screen is a huge jump. I'm glad i held out until the mk3's came down in price. The speaker on the 18 died a couple of years ago and i got used to headphones only (it has been my only computer all these years would you believe) so nice to have a speaker again.

Yes the keyboard is much better than standard but strangly going back to standard on the 18 i'm hitting less wrong keys than before. Like smaller emissive keys trained me to be more acurate

The GPS is set to auto in the BIOS and it works great, even indoors it's picking up 6 satellites and giving me an instant fix when i open my mapping program. But i'm wondering if this means it's always on. Is there a way to check?

 

The factory gps always has power going to it.

 

When you say power going to it do you mean fully running and locked on satellites? Can't be good for the battery life.

 

Don't know the details. I just know from installing gps in my cf30 that the factory one always has power. No it's not great for battery life. If you let the laptop set without using it for a month, the battery will be drained. I always pull the batteries when I let them set.

 

oh you mean even when it's turned off. Surely it's not actually running when it's turned off? I was only bothered about it running when the power was on.

 

I know it still drains power when the laptop is off.

 

Only thing i know isn't working yet is the Gobi. Showing "Qualcomm HS-USB" in device manager. I sent a couple of PMs to people from old threads but if anyone has the drivers i can try please let me know.

Updated:

Just found this on an upgrade to Win 7 guide on the Panasonic JP site:

For CF-19, CF-30 with Wireless WAN (6) >

About Wireless WAN driver (Gobi 1000) >

We have confirmed behavior on Windows 7 with Vista driver, and we haven't found any problems.

So i'll look for that driver......

And here is the Gobi 1000 driver pack and Toughbook Connection Manager thanks to Panasonic Cardiff - Toughbook Downloads

Might only work on Euro Toughbooks and is probably what was installed on the Vista models. Looks like it works perfectly with Windows 7 on my CF-19 mk3. I don't have a data sim to try it yet but an old PAYG Three sim was accepted (after a reboot). It's not locked to any carrier, detects all the UK networks and would allow me to chose which one i want to use.

Publicly available downloads and i mentioned posting it on the forum however the link might not stay up long so if there is anything else useful you better save it asap

 

Hello toughbook masters. i am knew to this page and have been spending the past few evenings reading questions and comments and answers and searching and reading and getting an education from the what i can only describe as the toughbook G-Ds and what i can say are some of the most helpful and friendly group of knowledgeable and amazing people in any forum i have seen so i consider it an honor to join this group and would really appreciate any help or guidance that you guys will be willing to afford me.

i apologize if i am asking these questions in the wrong threads i will take your direction from here as to which threads to ask these in the future
I have just purchased a toughbook cf-19kdrag6m from fleebay and it did not come with an operating system or restore disks so i would like to respectively ask a few question to the masters first what would be the best os to put on this unit. I know it originally had vista with a downgrade to xp and i would like to put win7 on it or would your guys recommend xp tablet or go with what was originally installed and what should i be looking at for the mk3 recovery disk because i have seen and read there are different versions or recovery disk for a mk3
2... this cf-19 came with a 160gb hard drive and a upgrade to 4gb of ram so does that effect the decision of what i should be installing either a 32 bit or a 64 bit system.

3... After reading some of the post regarding internal gps modules and you guys had good things to say about techtuff in canada's sirf4 i purchased one from him and will be adding that to this machine do you guys have any pointers for this.

4... Do you guys have any helpful or constructive advice for me as to what i should or should not be looking to add or things that i will need to do to make this work to its best and totally awesome capabilities.

5... i would like to get an idea as to what you guys think of this model as far as option and capabilities that this model cf-19kdrag6m has installed and what and if you guys think about this model

I thank you guys in advance for any help or advice you can give prior to purchasing this. i had owned a cf-28 which i loved but has since been retired that unit and have been wanting a cf-19 for a long time
thanks again and all the best to all
steve

 

Not to be a PITA, but can you PLEASE edit your post and add periods and commas? A few capital letters thrown in would be nice also. It's REALLY hard to read it as it is.

XP with sp2 and later has ALL of the XP tablet features incorporated into it. That's why MS quit releasing the "tablet" edition.
I would run Win7 ....32bit is BEST unless you have 8gb of memory or more.

 

Welcome to the Panasonic Toughbook Forum
Well for starters this is what you have

and I guess Shawn has got the rest covered for you :thumbsup: .

 

Thanks Shawn sorry about my typing it was late at night ( I know no excuses just don't do it or let it happen again ). I appreciate your input and advice.

I am ordering the OEM backup and restore driver cd for this model CF-19 from Heartland thanks to you guys and Toughasnails for posting about them in other posts.

So Win7 will work fine in this model CF-19KDRAG6M so it will be Win7, Just to confirm will win7 Ultimate work or am I better off with win7 home or win7 professional and what is the difference between the different models, and will I have to install additional drivers or updates for the drivers to work 100% above the OEM backup driver install CD, and is there anything else that I should get or be doing besides the OEM CD and the WIN7 OS.

Also as far as the internal GPS did I make the right choice in purchasing A sirf4 setup I got the one that Techtuff from Canada is selling on fleebay.

Also you guys being the experts in these Toughbooks CF-19's how would you rate this model compared to other mk3 models out there as far as options available and whats included in this CF-19KDRAG6M.

Once again let me say you guys are amazing and most helpful and the education I am getting by just reading all the post and different pages about these CF-19's are unbelievable, so thank you guys again, and all the best

 

The restore disk will install Win7 Professional (you do not have to buy a Windows disk) and will set the computer up exactly as it came from the factory (all the correct drivers will be installed). Everything will work. You will have to install a bunch of Windows updates as the restore disks will be current to the date when your model was introduced. Just for cautions sake I would not install the GPS until you have imaged the hard drive.
CAP
EDIT: The above is true IF the disks you are getting from Heartlands are Win7 restore disks. I haven't paid much attention to CF-19 marks and operating systems. If the restore disks are for XP you don't need them to install Win7. This is how it came from the factory: WinXP Tablet (Vista COA), Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 1.20Ghz (Centrino2), vPro, 10.4" XGA Dual Touch, 160GB, 2GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, Dual Pass (Upper:WWAN/Lower:WLAN), TPM, Bluetooth, Gobi, No Drive, Toughbook Preferred,

 

Some of the Mk3's did come with windows 7 from the factory. The later ones. The earlier ones came with XP or Vista.

Mine is 7 COA with XP downgrade. For some reason it wouldn't auto activate windows 7, and I find it funny the configerator would decode it because of the B at the end.

CF-19KHRAX2B

Description: WinXP (Win7 COA), Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 1.20GHz (Centrino2), vPro, 10.4" XGA Touch, 160GB, 2GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, Dual Pass(Upper:WWAN/Lower:WLAN), TPM, Bluetooth, No Drive, Toughbook Preferred, replaced with CF-19RHRAX1M

 

Well he should be able to get Win7 restore disks. It's kind of confusing, he's posted the same questions in so many different threads.
CAP

 

Hi capt.dogfish thanks for the info and help . When I spoke with the people at heartland they told me and sold me the original restore disk for my specific model.which is a vista with a downgrade to xp tablet os, so that is what I have now. I went and bought a external cd/dvd drive and plugged it in, but the computer wont recognize it. So I am totally confused when I bought my laptop it did not come with an operating system on it so now I have the original restore cd I have a windows 7 32 bit ultimate os but I cant get it to work what am I doing wrong I have tried to load the restore driver cd but it wont read and since I dont have the drivers I cant load the window 7 I dont have the drivers to run the optical drive to load the cd what can you guys recommend or tell me what I am doing wrong thanks

Sorry guys I will try to get the hang of the page and try to post in one thread only. What is the proper way to chose which thread to post in or where to ask questions about toughbooks cf-19k's loading and updating os or drivers or questions about installing a internal gps unit or just general questions about a cf-19 mk3. this is the first internet group I ever joined and posted in, and not 100% sure what the proper procedures are, and really appreciate all the help you guys give and dont want to upset or offend anyone. I am open for any criticism and instruction so thank you again for all your helpful info. in regards to my last post I am wondering what I am doing wrong with my attempts at the oem restore cd install then attempt to load win7. I was told my the people at heartland that I should first use the restore cd then install win7 then update drivers but none of that is working since I cant get the cf-19 to recognize the external optical cd/dvd drive

 

You need to go into the BIOS and set the boot order. F2 at startup and set the USB cd-rom at 1st boot and then hdd. Then save setting and reboot. That should do it.

What you should do is check out the search on the bottom of my sig. It is very easy to use and can be very helpful .If you can not find what you are looking for then start you own thread. At almost the top of the Panasonic Forum you will see " Start New Thread" here Panasonic Forum & Toughbook Forum .

What is best for you first is to check out some of the CF-19 threads here TEST site:forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic - Google Search . After reading a few threads you might understand things better that we talk about or things we will help you with. The more you read up on your new to you CF-19 the more you will understand what I mean. When I got mine I spent a week reading up on it first.

Also some of them cheap external cd-roms will not work. I spent all one weekend on my 19 last year trying to load XP Pro restore disk and then bought a Panasonic one and have never had a problem since. Lesson learned :thumbsup:

 

@esj1, I'm not flaming you, at least I didn't mean to. My reply was meant for the other responders. If you ask a question let it sit for a while. For my old mind at least, I try to respond to your question only to find that the exact question I'm responding to was in a different thread I read a few minutes ago. You'll do better to stick with one task at a time, let's get your operating system installed and working before we start with adding stuff. Follow Blair's advice and do some reading, all will be revealed in good time. Welcome to the forum.
CAP

 

Try this Link here: Windows® 7 Support and Upgrade Information | TOUGHBOOK | TOUGHPAD | Panasonic Global Notebook PC
As mentioned above, have your CF-19 plugged in and after turning it on, hold down the F2 key while it boots up. Use your Tab key to move through the Bios until you find the boot order page. F5 & F6 move the order up & down. Save using F10.
I just picked up a very similar model CF-19 MK3 you have, congratulations. Once you get the original OS (Vista Business) on her, you will find there are many updates available via Windows Update. Besides updating the OS, you'll want to add a Virus Protection Program such as Microsoft Essentials to keep safe. There are directions for upgrading your system then to Windows 7 on the Panasonic Site. If you Search/Google CF-19 MK3 upgrade Windows7 you will find lot's to read. You can also click on the "upgrade" link in my signature. There are many threads posted for people upgrading their MK2's to Win7 also. At least one of those posts has the link from Panasonic for upgrading to Win7. It's kind of like cooking, you have to follow the recipe EXACTLY to make a great dish. Read, read, read and print out your directions to follow. Sit down and go for it, it's very rewarding when all works well, even your front buttons, auto rotate, etc. Best regards, Cleve

 

Thanks to toughasnails , capt.dogfish and UNCNDL1 for all your help. I will read read and re-read I have been doing just that and I bought a LG. dvd/rw cd/rw external optical drive from best buy that is going back it has two usb wires to plug in if you need extra power but their version you plug one in to a usb port and has a pigtail to plug into another usb port and the cf-19 has one on the left side and one in the back so the pig tail plug doesn't reach so that wont work I am borrowing one from a friend tonight to try everything you guys posted I will keep you updated on my hopeful success and thanks again for the lessons on how to search and post thanks and all the best

Okay I have tried now a few times to load the oem cd that I got from heartland and I keep getting a message when it says start windows normally that windows cant start because the following file is missing or corrupt
/WINDOWS/system32/config/SYSTEM

I have tried to repair it using the instructions from the prompts and by using the oem disc and still nothing. What am I doing wrong, is it possible that the file is missing or corrupted from the heartland cd. My model is a CF-19KDRAG6M that I bought on fleebay and it came with a 160gb hard drive 4gigs ram and no operating system. So I got the external dvd/cd working, it loads the oem driver install disk with win xp on that is specific to my model mk3 and then try to install win7 and i also tried install xp but keep getting this message which I mentioned above any advice

 

Sorry to hear your Restore Disk from Heartland does NOT seem to be working. Let's just set your plans on Win7 onto the back burner for now, just put away that disk. Put the Restore Disk from Heartland into the CD/DVD drive, Turn OFF the CF-19, then turn CF-19 ON, while it's booting up, press F2 and make sure you are booting up to the USB DVD/CD external drive, press F10 to save, and let it boot up. You should then be booting into the Restore Disk from Heartland. When it boots up what are your choices to follow on the screen?

 

Do you understand what the disk is that you got from Heartland. It is just a backup image of the hard drive when it left the factory. One way to look at it is, XP and the drivers are all ready installed so all you are doing is putting the image of the hard drive on your hard drive. I have never had a bad restore disk from Heartland ... never but I have had a bad hard drive in a CF-18 that gave me that error.

Like UNCNDL1 said lets start over , 1 thing at a time. It is some times hard to read your post so go slow and tell us...
(1) what you see when the restore disk is in and starting up
(2) what are your choices
(3) did the disk install
(4) when do you see the error