Got my CF-29 today!

So I gave up on ever putting the CF-28 back together(I'll post a for sale thread for all the parts left, someday), and bought a CF-29, moving up in the world. I installed WinXP Pro, and ran through the list installing drivers. Now, here's my problem. Well, problems.
1: I have the driver for my sound card installed, and the volume control works, the computer thinks it's playing sound. That said, there's no sound coming from it, anywhere. I can't get it to make a peep.

2: I have tried every driver I can, and I've still got one "Unknown Device" left on the device manager. My touchscreen isn't working, my sound isn't working, and there's no wifi card visible in the device manager. Also, my hotkeys(the FN+ F1-F12) aren't working.

It's a CF-29CUKGZDM, so it should have wifi and a touchscreen...

 

1: Have you tried hooking up a external speaker/headphones ?
2:Have you checked to see if their is a wifi card installed ? It looks like you don't have your drivers installed (Hot keys , mouse/touch screen)
In Device Manager under "Mice and other pointing devices" do you see touchpad/touchscreen ? If you don't then the drivers are not installed.

 

For the sound problem, I would suggest checking to see if the speaker is even hooked up. Open the RAM door and look for the connector just to the left of the ram module. Chances are the speaker is not connected. If that is the case, you might as well pull the bottom off and check to see if the WiFi card is installed. I don't believe you can see it through the ram opening.

 

CF-29CUKGZDM DESCRIPTION:
***Cinergy ONLY****
Pentium M 1.2 GHz Ultra Low Voltage (Centrino), 13.3" Transmissive-Touch Screen, 40GB, 256, 56K/LAN, FDD, Intel PRO Wireless LAN, Win 2000, SMK Backlit Keyboard (factory)

Download the Win XP Installation Instructions and follow them to do a proper upgrade.

OR: simply get the proper Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 Recovery CD - Restore CD. There were CF-29 Mk1 systems that came with Win XP Pro instead of your system's Win2K, so the CDs should have an XP "restore" option (right, Rick?).

Also, you should follow toughasnails and rusty503's suggestions, as well.

 

I've also had MANY CF-29s where everything looks great but the speaker is bad! $15 or less from heartland.... Easy to swap too!

Do the checks above first though...

 

If you have sound at the head-set it has been suggested that the switching mechanism in the headset jack is sticky or at fault. Several posts. Eons ago. Look it up.
If that is the problem and you get it fixed tell me how you did it as my MarkIV has the same symptoms.

Good luck.

Jeff

 

No sound at the headset jack either. I got the touchscreen working, I had installed the drivers wrong. Now, I've tried every wireless driver listed for my model, and I can't get any of them to work. I have to force the installation, then I get the error "Device cannot start" in control panel(this is when I'm installing them as the "unknown device".

 

Are you sure it still has the OEM-installed Intel PRO Wireless LAN card onboard?

 

Unfortunately, no. I'm a little irked at this laptop, I bought it from a reputable seller, but it showed up with an empty caddy instead of the 40GB HDD the auction promised. Add to that the fact that the sound evidently isn't working, and I have to say I'm not entirely sure that the wireless card is still there. I'll crack the case and have a look, but I'm thinking that this laptop's going back to the seller, I need working sound.

 

If you end up returning it try for at least a Mk3 (Mk4 or Mk5 even better ).

Sometimes "cheap" isn't!

 

Yeah, I know. The only reason I settled on a Mk1 was because in my original search, I was looking for CF28s. I realized though, that Mk1 CF29s were going for about ten bucks more than I picked up my CF28 for, and were slightly faster/newer/nicer, so I decided I could justify the small extra for a 29.

 

Guess who feels like an idiot? I'll give you a hint, it's me!

So, been emailing the company I bought the toughbook from, in regards to the lack of sound, and they suggested I check and make sure everything in BIOS looked okay. WiFi was disabled, I enabled, and Windows autoinstalled everything for me. So that last unknown device in the device manager? Hotkeys, which apparently override Windows volume control. Installed the correct driver, hit unmute, sound works perfectly.