Hello, New Toughbook CF-29 ower.

Hello, everyone. I am gld found this forum. I am going to be a new Toughbook owner very soon. I am just waiting for it to come in. I am getting a cf-29htm50bm, and just had a few questions. Is there any info ya'll could give me about this model? It is an sbc model I guess that is what it says on the top of it. I don't know much about the toughbook line besides they are very rugged laptops. Any information would be helpfull. Another question is since it is a touchscreen do I need to load the tablet version of windows xp, or will any xp pro version work? Thanks everyone and sorry if I posted in the wrong spot please feel free to move. Thanks agian.

 

Thank you. I just had a copy of the tablet version left from my hp2710p and was just wondering. Agian thank you for the welcome.

 

Welcome to the nut house. We strongly recommend doing a little research before asking questions. As it happens your model has been discussed at length. Try reading the stickies at the top of the thread list, particularly the CF-29 FAQ. We have a member, Azrial, who developed a very good method of searching the forums: http://.com/?q=TEST+site%3Aforum.notebookreview.com%2Fpanasonic
Just enter your model number in place of the word test at this link. You will be surprised at the number of hits your model will return.
CAP

 

Congratulations! I've been rocking my 29 MK1 for about 18 months now, and don't know that I'll ever want another type of laptop!
yeah.
search, and then read, read, read, read.

The SBC's are just as good as any other 29's, but they all have different quirks. It depends on what company had them, where they were used, and who was using them.

Regular XP pro is just fine for the touch screen. My advice is to get the OEM recovery image disks (poke around here): this will save you the aggravation of having to locate and install, the correct drivers, correctly. From there you can tweak and install other stuff.

Search, read, read, read, read and then ask (i'm guilty of not following this procedure, but it really is the best way).

Good luck, and TTYS!

 

Thanks for all the info guys.

 

Welcome to the nut-house. As I.F. said "get factory restore disks". This is the most ignored advise(by newbies) out there. And the best.
Research with Azrial's tool but get the disks!

Then change to Linux.

Jeff

 

@sadlmkr
Nice earmark there
"then change to linux"
;p

 

I thought you meant the one on the Hereford but it's not visible I see.

Jocularity lives.

sadlmkr

 

mark_hawkins on fleabay has the different sets of cf-29 mk 3 restore disk you need shipped at 35.00. yours should be the touchscreen model and it probably doesn't work anyway( some do though) for the sbc model. the restore disc will get you to the xp2 level and then spend the time and grind up to updating to the latest update. some of the gurus can have them on the buy&sell forum but you have to have a minimum number of posts to get on it. read as much as you can on the cf-29 and particularly your model. it's been given a bad name only because the units are abused and not taken care of. but it's still a toughbook and still will get you HOOKED and into the land of toughbook addicts. you have been warned. but do it anyway..Driller

 

I really hope the touchscreen works. I will have to put a bigger harddrive in it and add more ram but here are some pics it looks to be in very good condition.

 

Driller, I didn't want to harsh the mellow, dude.

Yeah, the SBC units are most often left in service vehicles to bake in the sun, causing the touch screen to fail prematurely. It may be best for you to either be ready to deal with no touch, or shelling out a dollar for new glass. I don't recommend using an intermittently failing screen, it will just * you off.

All of that is my humble (or not) opinion, and you should use that info at your own risk and discretion.

 

Helo agian. Just recieved my toughbook, but it did not come with the optical drive as listed in the auction. I have contacted the seller to see if he will rectify the situation. I am just trying to see if I can boot from usb so that I can load windows and drivers. It came with a sierra wireless card in it, so that is a bonus, it was not listed in the auction.

 

Welcome to the great obsession!

 

CF-29 Mk3 - SBC
Model Number: CF-29HTM50BM
Status: DISCONTINUED
MSP: $3,631.00
***SBC ONLY***
Intel® Pentium M 738 1.4GHz LV (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Transmissive Touchscreen, 512MB RAM, 40GB HDD, Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915ABG 802.11a+b+g WLAN, Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional w/Service Pack 2, Tempo VIP Sidekick Tester/ADSL Loop Validator I/F in Media Bay pocket, Sony-Ericsson GC83 EDGE WWAN, Single Hi-Gain Antenna Pass Through, SBC Logo, Asset Tag-capable, Replaceable RJ11 Phone Jack

 

Thank you so much for this information. I could not get the configuration tool to work.

 

That's because when the Panasonic Toughbook webmaster reworked the Configuratot site recently they removed the capability to configure Special Order Toughbooks; like the SBC-specific unit you now have.

Since I have a "few" <snicker > of these and bought them back before the "reconfiguration" of the Configurator, the above specs are from my files.

Also; I "enhance" the specs with better descriptions of the components.

 

TC is our local toughbook configurator, better than the OEM one was.
who needs one from panny???
:wink:

He just rattles them off at 90wpm

 

LOL. By his sig It looks like he may have owned everyone of the toughbooks made.

 

Not yet ......

 

He dreams in toughbook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Driller

 

hehe....
When I first got into computers, irq's, dma's, dos boxes, handshake lines, etc....i actually did dream in "windoz" for a bit.
hard to explain. but my wife would complain that i wasn't making any sense while she was waking me up......

 

Ok, guys I need HELP. T took my toughbooks screen apart today to repair the hole in the case and paint it. Now that I go it painted and put back together it wont boot. It wont even start. I push the power button and the power light comes on but thats it. I pluged an external monitor up but still nothing. Any help would be appreciated.

 

my advice:
take it back apart, paying close attention to everything.
if you find nothing, then put it back together....paying closer attention.

a loose screw, bent pin, pinched wire, or any number of things could be wrong.
and/or bake your mobo or any other part; be careful.

 

Here is a helpful link.

CF 29 Repair guides

I am not the author.
It's not exact, but it is close enough to be a big help to the newbies.
Anyone who wants to flame me for the minor inaccuracies of the linked site, please don't bother. I've been there, done that already on this forum. Save your fingers.
I know it ain't perfect, SO WHAT... It's a great visual help to someone with no experience.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Looks like I need a new mobo. I have went problems withrough the whole computer and I dont see any thing wrong. None of the lights blink when I turn it on, but the power light comes on and thats it. If anyone has a mobo they would sell me let me know please.

 

It is a good visual guide, yes there are some inaccuracies but again a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll keep rambling on till I get 972 more words in here(not counting the last 11 words) Driller

 

Well guys it looks like my toughbook is dead. I am trying to find another mobo for it. If anyone has one they would sale please let me know. I would like another 1.4ghz but what ever will work in my current case. Thanks. It still looks good though.

 

Just took a look at the service manual for a Mk.5 - I don't have one for a Mk.3.
There's no schematic but the parts list shows:

F2, F3 K5H502Z00003 fuse 5A
F4, F5, F6 K5H202Z00005 fuse 2A

That's 5 fuses that will almost certainly be marked on the MB.

The K5H...etc. will be Panasonic part no's and I can't tell if they are slow or quick blow.
You should order the correct ones from Heartland anyway if they are blown and bridging them lights it up again.

Good luck.

 

I ran a continuity check on the fuses I could see and they seemed good. There may bee some I didnt see, but I will look into it a little more . Thanks.

 

I may have a board for you. PM your email. Trubble (sic) is I have a H3 that may need it. Let me look around.

 

Ok, guys I think I found one on ebay for 42.00 with a 30day money back garuntee. I am just waiting for them to cross reference the boards part numbers with mine to let me know if it will work. On another note maybe this is why mine is dead. When I was taking the screen apart to fi the hole in the case the connector on the wwan antenna broke, so I pulled out my trusty battery powered soldering iron and stripped the wires and soldered them onto the board in the antenna, but I forgot to pull the battery and harddrive on the computer could this be why my mobo is not working. I did try disconnecting the antenna and removing the card but to no sucess?

 

Mark 1 and 2 have one USB connection. Mark 3 has 2. (yours) Mark 4 and 5 have SD reader and two USB if you can see the ebay pictures. Send me a link and I'll take a look by PM if you want.
YES it could be why. Thanks for fessing up.

Jeff

 

Here is a Mk3 board for under $30 shipped.

Panasonic ToughBook CF-29 13.3" Laptop MOTHERBOARD w/ PM 1.4GHz CPU Tested! | eBay

I've done business with this seller several times, and he will go the extra mile to make things right.

 

Hello guys. my toughbook is back up and running. new model #cf-29j3lgzbm, but it only has 256mhz ram built in. I did have a pc-2100s 256mhz ram chip that I put in it so now I am back at 512mhz. Hopefully I can find a bigger one. Thanks for everyones help.

P.s I did get my cdrom drive for it too.

 

Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 Mk3
Model Number: CF-29J3LGZBM
Status: DISCONTINUED
MSRP: $4,040
Description: ***FEDERAL ONLY***
Intel® Pentium M 738-1.4GHz LV (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Transmissive NON-touch Screen, 256MB RAM, 60GB HDD, NON-WIRELESS, Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional w/Service Pack 2

Go for the 1GB SODIMM.

I use and recommend Crucial® Memory for the Panasonic Toughbook 29 Series Laptop/Notebook.

 

Hello everyone just seeing how everyone is. Well I got my toughscreen semi working. Every so often the mouse will retreat to the bottom of the screen havent figure that out. I also bought an adapter to put a sata 160gb harddrive in it but for some reason either the harddrives are bad or the adaptor is bad. I have tried 2 160gb and a 80gb with no luck the 80gb will work for awhile then then if I restart the computer it fails to find the hd. The 160gb want let me load windows on them. Sorry for the long post just looking for wisdom. Thanks.

 

Base ram for a touchscreen is 512. Scrounge up a gig stick. Silver Trooper on toughbooktalk.com (TBT) has/had some. You may be asking too much of your ram. At least eliminate it as a cause then deal with the adapters.
Your touchscreen is on the way out. I recommend a new panel. (techtuff)
I and several others can repair them but the new panel is bright and clear and you'll really like it.

Jeff
Engine 5151 Type 6

 

Thanks for all the advice. I just lost my job and on top of that I got robbed about a week ago so buying any accessories is out of the question.