Greetings and help please !!!

Hi all !!! Great site you have here for a newbie. Just purchased a CF-28S off Ebay and I think I got lucky. Was in near mint condition and cleaned up almost new !!!!! Must have seen alot of trunk use at some PD/FD ???

Quick question.

Wont take 512 stick of Crucial ram and in reading here most reccomend Kingston.

I see a Bios update posted by a member here and d/l but am scared to update. Tried once years ago and wound up getting new computer.

My bios version is V3.00L11B.

Do I need to upgrade and what is the benefit of doing such. I was unable to find the version number of the one I downloaded.

If I do upgrade what is the prcodure.

Been reading all aftrenoon and not able to find this.

Great Site and will be here often. Like the trick ur pony stuff you post and gonna give some a try.

CF-28S PIII 1000,512,30gig,touchscreen is what I got.

Thanks all

 

I don't know about your bios; but are you certain that the ram you tried is the right one for model of computer?

 

Yes the label states 512 SDR 133 mhz

 

Unless you made a typo; I think you probably need DDR type ram. Go to this site or your operators manual with your complete model number and you should be able to determine your ram needs:

http://config.toughbook.com/

Also read the Cf-28 Sticky at the top of the opening page and that should tell you which ram you need.

The search engine for this site will turn up everything you ever wanted to know and more.

 

If the RAM will read at all (even partly) in some cases a BIOS upgrade will add support for unusual timing configurations; however - if the machine locks up or doesn't read the RAM at all, a BIOS upgrade will not likely fix it.

The problem with RAM (ESPECIALLY PC100 & 133 RAM) is that the individual chips can be arranged as any of several different configurations;(for 512MB it can be 32x16, 64x8, 128x4)... and if your memory controller doesn't support a particular configuration or a range of timing settings, then it simply won't even start the POST. The reason these configurations exist is that its cheaper to produce(in this case) 64x8 or 128x4 for machines which can support it;
however the reason we recommend Kingston here (particularly the ValueRAM) is that while they DO cost more, they are designed for the broadest range of compatibility, so they will work in place of nearly all memory configuration types.

mnem
Cheap RAM is very often NO BARGAIN AT ALL.

 

Just ordered Kingston from Newegg so I will find out soon. What is any benefit would I get by upgrading my bios ? I cant find anything on it.

Thanks again for the help !!!!

 

Look at this site it is Panasonic Canada for some reason they still have the drivers for the CF-28's. They show a newer Bios for your machine "Version: V300L12" how ever both Bios's show support for 512 ram.

http://panasonic.ca/english/customercare/sandd/softwareResults.asp

I have updated many Bios's over time. Panasonic was very easy to do. You will need to download the new Bios to a folder of you choice or just write down where the default folder is. Double click on the zipped Bios file and it will extract into a folder called cf28s_mk3_v300l12. Copy all of those files onto a floppy disk. There will be five files. Restart your toughbook with the floppy that you just made and be ready to hit your Esc button at about the same time you see the Panasonic screen. Choose boot to floppy disk follow the instructions and you should updated. I didn't have a battery in my laptop and Panasonic wouldn't let me update my Bios. Pretty fail proof I'd say.Good luck