Help a dummy out, I just bought a CF-19.

I have been on here reading for a couple of days and my little brain is starting to hurt. OK, I lied. It's way past starting to hurt and I need help. I am not a computer expert and am lookig for some help with my new purchase. My new toy is a CF-19FDLC3CM that I purchased from a municipality. The drive was pulled and not included. It did come with the caddy, AC adapter and a docking station (CF-VEB181A), which is marked as a port replicator. Not exactly sure what the difference is. I also have the COA sticker on the bottom for Windows Vista Business. From reading, it seems that XP was installed from the factory.

From this link, this seems to be the specs of my computer. http://toughwiki.com/images/7/78/MSRP_20080330.pdf

Enough talk, now my questions.

What kind of drive should I get? A HDD or A SSD? I would like to keep the cost under $100 +/-.
Should I buy a CF-19 XP recovery disk or go with Linux? If Linux, which one?
If I install Linux, can I still use the GPS? I keep reading that GPS doesn't work after installing Linux.
There is a Sprint ESN sticker on the bottom. Can I set this up for 3G or 4G like my Ipad?

This should be enough for now. Thanks for the help.

 

SSD's have dropped in price..
Go to Newegg.com You can pick up a 256gb SSD for $100.

I like Linux Zorin....It looks a lot like Windows, so I can find everything.

PM member Rob...He can set you up with a recovery disk for a very fair price.

I suggest getting the recovery disk. CF19's can be "difficult" (PITA) to setup. Save the stress level and load with a recovery disk and in 20 minutes the CF19 is setup just as it was when NEW.

Then mess around with Linux as a dual boot or even a separate drive.

 

OK, thanks. Any suggestions on a particular drive? I would rather get less capacity and higher quality and reliabilty. I have read a few threads discussing brands. Samsung and Intel seem to be popular but not with everyone.

I don't think I can PM yet. Does Rob have disks for all the different models?

 

5 posts to PM......Rob doesn't have them all, but enough.

I have a variety of drives. I personally prefer Intel..Several reasons, but one is Toughbooks have an Intel chipset and that should make things more compatible.
Plus I like the quality. They are not the fastest, but that doesn't matter in a Toughbook.
I also have Kingston, Samsung and Sandisk.

One thing to know is that Toughbooks have limited sata speeds. Spending money on a super fast drive is a waste.


Robs info
http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=107548

 

Below is what your CF-19 had when it left the factory

Model Number : CF-19FDLC3CM
Status : DISCONTINUED
MSRP : $4,799


Description: WinXP Tablet (Vista COA), Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 1.06Ghz (Centrino), 10.4" XGA with Digitizer ,80GB, 2GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, Dual Pass (Upper:WWAN, Lower:GPS), TPM,GPS,Sprint EVDO Rev A Bluetooth, No Drive

Like Shawn said check out newegg for SSD drives. You can get 120GB drives for around $60.00 and 240GB drives for about $100.00 . Did you get a digitizer pen with it ? A regular stylus will not work on this.

 

It came with a pen (stylus) on a tether. I assume it is the correct one. I got several units. One was missing a battery and one key.

Sorry about trying to nail down specific drives but there are hundreds on newegg. They can't all be compatible with a CF-19. They all look new and shiny to me.

@toughasnails, are you Rob?

 

i like 'nix OSes (my favorite being mint 13 with MATE desktop ... a real desktop) .
i have run dual , triple and quad boot systems along with windows .
about the second time i had a major hiccup with the grub loader becoming corrupted or just plain "pooched" for no apparent reason and i had to pull all my files and reload windows ...
i learned my lesson and stopped doing dual boot systems .
drives are cheap enough these days ... but with the "carrier" system it is a pain to swap drives ... unless you have two carriers .

there is a 'nix OS called "tails" ... it is designed to run from a usb thumb drive on virtually any machine and when you shut the machine down ...
it is like you were never on the machine as all of the OS is loaded/run in RAM .

 

Thanks. Added to my reading list. My poor brain is getting a workout. Better than shriveling up like a raisin.

 

Nope...I am not Rob BUT close enough . I am a moderator of Rob's Toughbook site ~Toughbook Talk~ Toughbook Discussion • Index page .Once you can PM we can talk. :thumbsup:

 

What size of a drive are you looking for ?? I would not go any lower than a 120GB just because the prices don't really get any cheaper. I run 80GB to 120GB in my CF-19's. Some time ago I picked up four "Manufactured Recertified" SSD's (2) 80GB drives for $35.00 and (2) 120GB drives for $45.00 . Sign up for newegg's email news letter, they send you a email every day on what's for sale and you will always find a couple SSD's on sale at a very good price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4917&IsNodeId=1&name=91GB - 128GB&Order=PRICE

 

120GB would be fine. If bigger, that's OK too. So using recertified drives doesn't scare you?

 

The recovery cd should be your first go. It will set it all up as it was with few if any issues....frustration-less.

Then play with Linux from a USB stick until you find the one you like. Member uncndl1 has tested a bunch of them.

As you have a digitizer the touchscreen will be spot on in Linux. No calibration.

As a member stated above keep your eye on the ad's for another caddy. I dual boot but usually two Linux versions. One is my user and one I am testing.

O.K. if you don't pay attention and dual boot........install the recovery cd then let your Linux program do the dual boot. Most are simple some are less handy. It's a learning curve.

Buy a bigger hat.

 

I like frusration-less. So should I order the XP that came that came with my computer or the Vista on the sticker? I think I know the answer already. XP, right?

 

If you go used route on Intel SSD drives you can sometimes find deasls on X25 intel SSD drives. Just make sure it's a G2 as they have trim and still supported. This will give you a idea on some speed. I even have a XP installed CF-19 on the list.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/725310-toughbook-ssd-thread.html

A newer gen SSD will help out speed some as you can see on the list but not a ton. Mainly on the write side, not the read.

Later on down the road I would see about installing Windows 7 though.

Also check out TBT toughbooktalk as linked above. We have a linux section there also.

The X25 SSD's to look out for if you go that route are 120/160 GB ones.

SSDSA2M160G2GC

Ebay that number, if you decide you want one, right now there are several under 65 bucks shipped.

 

If you are going to use the recovery disk then its going to be Vista. I have the same model as you. You can't use another recovery disk from another model, it will not install. Remember you have a digitizer so if you want to use XP it must be XP Tablet or the digitizer will not work.

 

Recently I bought 2 Intel X25-M SSDs from this seller
Intel x 25M 160GB SSDSA2M160G2GC 2 5" SSD Solid State Hard Drive 3Gbps 250MB S | eBay

Both rated (by seller) as 99% with less than 100 starts and 10k hours. X25-M are fast SSDs so I got 2 more for future projects . . .

 

OK. The specs I found weren't as complete as the ones you posted. I think you're right about the XP Table part. Is there a reason to use one over the other?

I went to Best Buy to see what drives they had (or didn't). They had an Intel 180GB for $139.99 and a Samsung 128GB for $104.99. They price match legit online vendors, so I bought the Samsung for the Newegg price of $89.99 plus tax. Can't get away from those taxes.

This is the drive. SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) I am good to go with this drive, right?

 

Much better than old used slow Intel's drive from the previous post

 

Toughbooks SATA speed is SATA 1....unless you get a CF31 or the latest mk's of a CF19..Then you get SATA2.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/619298-cf-problems-limiting-ssd-speeds-sata-i.html


http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/610856-i-might-onto-something-here.html

 

about XP versus vista ...
as XP is a "dead horse/issue" i would go with vista .
besides , you already have the coa/key for vista ... why spend money when you don't have to ?
heh ... you'll have plenty of opportunities to wad up your folding green and stuff it in *some hole* on your '19 .
:laugh:

@ shawn :
so , you think you can find a set of drivers to up the speed to sata2 ?
if you do , i'll buy the loaded up chili dogs and sodas .
then we can go to the library and listen to the readers digest .
(5 bonus points for the reference of the last line)

 

From my quick read of those threads I linked, no to the drivers, but I will give it a try .

 

I think we all want more speed BUT speeding it up to sata2 brings more heat. With a Toughbook with no fan how you going to cool it ??

 

yes , it is possible that raising the speed may increase the dissipation to the point of needing additional cooling .
i'd say one way to increase the cooling is to increase the efficiency of the interface between the heat pipes and case bottom and the contact between the CPU and the associated contact area on the heat pipe assembly .

looking at my '30 there is an appreciable depression in the thermal pad .
milling a small copper or aluminum block to serve as a spacer/insert to remove some of the "slop" of the thermal pad would be a place to start .
one could then use a thinner thermal pad and thus lower the resistance to heat flow .
there are good thermal "glues" available to adhere the spacer/insert to the center/body of the heat pipe assembly .

an even more efficient way would be to eliminate the thermal pad or make it very thin ...
this could be done if a way to "spring load" the center/body of the heat pipe assembly was found .
a thin pad would be better ... to allow it to be used as an ersatz shock absorber .

 

@CWB32

Or use a very high tech thermal pad of the correct stock thickness.

Fujipoly / ModRight Ultra Extreme System Builder Thermal Pad Blister Pack - 60 x 50 x 0.5 - Thermal Conductivity 17.0 W/mK

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...rmal_Conductivity_170_WmK.html?tl=g8c487s1797

I think 1.5mm is correct for a CF 30. I know it's correct for a CF 29.
Also get some 0.5mm thickness and put it under the arms of the heat sink......

More reading on Toughbook thermal pads

https://www.google.com/search?num=2....20.0....0...1c.1.56.serp..21.0.0.6gLtkIis-Ec

 

I did that to my 30 before I got rid of it, also where the pipes run to the bottom case I redid the contact points there and used some of the artic silver at some other points....made a huge difference in lowering the temp abd dissipating the heat

 

Does this apply to me? I feel myself reaching for aspirin.

 

No not you unless you have a cooling problem or are removing the base for another reason.

 

Yes to all, BUT one thing you are over looking is you are adding cooling to the CPU only. If you look at gaming motherboards you will notice more parts than just the cpu have coolers on them. The standard desktop motherboards doing. I have burnt up a couple of standard boards by not having enough airflow to keep other parts cool. The SATA circuit will heat up there is no heatsink in that area. The extra coolers keep the temps down so when you over clock or bump up other timing you don't kill the board. Just something to consider.

 

@ OP :
sometimes (as i have found out) threads can have a tendency to drift toward the ditches a little ... but generally not to far from where the weeds have been mowed .

it's kind of hard to cool a sealed box by airflow alone .
the ram and gpu should not have any heat issues in this case ... it is the cpu (and a couple of other parts) that will be asked to perform more quickly .
on the other side of that ... the length of time performing "tasks" related to faster data transfer should be lower and not raise the temps as much as one might think .
--- not sure about the data rate vs dissipation per bit of transfer ---
about the only way to tell (for us non-intel engineer types) is to "try and see" .

heat sink compound on the heat pipes is a good idea ...
if it is stable enough to not separate and run .
the practice of "lapping" (as applied to the surface of both the cpu and heatsink in the conventional sense of the term) can be applied to the heat pipes and the inside of the case bottom .
this will help in the transfer .

as TAS touched upon :
there is a limit to how much heat can be moved by virtue of the outside of the case bottom being able to "get rid" of heat .

 

Thanks. I'm not trying to hotrod anything. I would just like to get it back up and running. Still trying to decide on XP Tablet or Vista.

Am I allowed to post a link to a retailer that has a specific item that I have a question about.

 

Now I have another question. After charging the battery, I powered the the computer up and pressed F2. Up comes a password screen. Do I need to go back to their IT Dept. and have them unlock the computer. Do I have them change the password or can I have them remove the password.

 

Have them remove it. You don't need a password.

 

Go ahead and post it. Should be ok.

 

How about something like this. It comes with the cable. I am going to need a couple more drives.

FRYS.com|Kingston

or this

FRYS.com|Kingston

 

I have a Kingston V100 64gb series drive. I had it in 2 different Toughbooks and now it's mounted behind the dash of my truck as a mp3 drive for my stereo.

I seem to think I have a 128gb in something here.......

It always worked fine for me....

 

'Thanks. I'm not trying to hotrod anything. I would just like to get it back up and running. Still trying to decide on XP Tablet or Vista."

as shawn mentioned ... take your machine back to the IT guys and have them remove the password .
all the password does is lock "joe user" out of the BIOS and prevent fat fingers that don't know squat about what is going on "back there" and pooching a machine .
without the BIOS being "unlocked" you are going to be stuck with *whatever* someone else deemed essential ... and it might just be something useful to you .

personally speaking , if they can't unlock it i would have a tough time accepting it (refund time) .
it is kind of like buying a car and you find out that the doors are welded shut .

you might want to hold off on buying an OS or other parts for getting an OS back in the machine until you see if they can unlock the BIOS .
(i have a CF-30 bottom portion sitting here that is only good for parts because the BIOS is password protected)

in the event that you do get the bios unlocked and move ahead with the project ...
i have a brand new full copy of XP sitting on the shelf and yet i chose to install vista .
(the tablet edition of XP aside)
i did this because of support for "vista business" still being in effect for some time to come .
this includes security patches and other items .
there is also some *stuff* built into vista that makes it more user friendly too .

i strongly recommend getting one of those fancy "re-installation disks" that a couple of the guys have mentioned .
one of these will save you a lot of grief and head-banging-on-keyboard .

 

We encourage all newbie here to post a complete model(like CF-19XXXXX) of there unit with question for better understanding and have an accurate response. This will also give you guidance of what you can do to your unit.


ohlip

 

CF-19FDLC3CM

I have it in my original post.

 

@CWB32

So if I buy a Vista Business recovery disk, it will include XP Tablet with it?

 

Sorry! my apology. a bit lazy to go back, lol...Since your unit has a bios password and you don't know what it is. As suggested above, send it to where it come from and made it unlocked. We don't have much we can do until its unlocked. Then go back here and we will guide you the best support that you can get. Sometimes its better to ask here than Panasonic support team.

So far, what you can do is change the hdd to much higher capacity or as you want an SSD but we don't know yet if the boot menu is USB cd rom first. Hopefully it will be. You can also increase the ram up 4Gb(DDR2, 200pin, I suggest get pc2 6400) or even 8GB but its to expensive since you already have limited budget as you've mentioned. For sure your GPS option will be activated or enable on the bios.

Thank you.

ohlip

 

No, there are 2 different recovery disks..One for XP and one for Vista.

 

Just got off the phone with their IT Dept., the lady told me I need to speak with the dept. that sells the computers which happens to be closed on Fridays.. If they make me chase my tail to get this done, I am going to be pi$$ed. I will wait until Monday to tackle this again.

 

anyone placing bets ?
:laugh:

"you can plan the plan , just don't plan the outcome"

 

No kidding. I'm like a kid in a candy store or a bull in a china shop. Don't know which but I want to get one of them off the ground. I'm not good at waiting.

I know this is putting the cart before the donkey. What's up with the wireless hookup? It says Sprint EVDO, Rev A. I've been doing a little reading and it seems that Verizon uses the same modem. Can I connect to Verizon instead without a hardware change?

 

Well, I've just read through all of the first 5 pages of posts. You picked up a nice MK2 CF-19, with a digitizer touchscreen AND GPS, sweet! All of the above advice is right on and handy to keep notes on.
Probably should hold off on the recovery disk until you sort the PassWord out. The SSD is the way to go on these, especially since they've come way down in price. The Samsung you bought will be just fine, and pops right into the caddy. There are u-tube videos on how to change the hard drive out on these. Recovery disk is ordered from Heartland Services, and come next day FedEx for $35. The vista is the better option for you at this point (IOW, don't get the XP version). Heartland will ask you the units model # that you've posted: Heartland Services
I'm hoping you can get their IT department to unlock the unit for you, as you'll need a clean bios to change boot order and set things up from time to time. Yes, I like to use Linux. The vista works just fine on these, and when updated and tuned abit, will be just what you need if you are going to use MS Streets/Trips with your GPS. There are alternative operating systems that work just fine too. Check out the ToughBookTalk site mentioned above. One good distribution is Navigatrix, found here: Navigatrix.net - A Voyager's Companion • Support
There is a little set-up and configuring for the gps after you install, and you can customize the desktop the way you like (all Linux distros allow this feature). Other very nice operating systems easy to use are:
ZorinLite, LinuxLite, Lubuntu, MintXFCE, and the list goes on and on. I suggest you do NOT dual boot. It's just easier once you have another drive/caddy to have one for windows and one for Linux, just my opinion. Hoping for the best and please keep in touch.

 

I'm so glad I found this site. I know my buddy is ready to throw me off the bridge. I ask him about computer stuff all the time. I know he gets tired of my questions. You guys here aren't close enough to get your hands on me.

 

"You guys here aren't close enough to get your hands on me"
wanna bet ? i know a guy named "tony the torpedo from toledo" .


"Don't know which but I want to get one of them off the ground"
i am a little cornfuzzled ...
does this mean you have two of these units ?

 

Yes, Tony the Torpedo, I have two of these units. I actually have more than two. My intention was to get two going for little old me. Remember, two is one and one is none. The one that has a missing battery and keys missing would be for parts. The last two I will try to sell on Craigslist to recover as much of my purchase price as possible as possible.

 

And so it starts . . . the Toughbook addiction . . . two or three or five at first, then . . . . . <check my sig>

 

And another one bites the dust....