Help...what's inside???

I just bought a Panasonic Toughbook CF-51 and don't know what's inside or what my upgrade options are. This is my first laptop, I only have experience building and working on desktop towers. It looks like the model # is CF-51PFVDEBM. Near the keyboard says windows xp, Intel Centrino Core Duo. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping to turn it into a scan tool for working on light, medium and heavy-duty engines. The more memory I can fit into it the better.

 

Blair can you move this to the right section?

Intel Core Duo T2500 2.0GHz (Centrino), 15" UXGA, 512MB, 80GB, 128MB VRAM, 56K, 1 Gb Ethernet, Intel 802.11a b g, COMBO drive, WIN XP SP2, TPM1.2

Is what I have for that model number. I have run windows 7 on this pc with out any problems, had to play with different video drivers though to get the best performance and not run ATI control panel install. This PC maxes out a 4gb DDR 2 ram, has the 2.0 core duo, 32 bit only CPU, but this CPU is socketed and can be upgraded to core 2 duo, 64 bit CPU. The hard drive is 2.5" IDE. Your screen has the higher resolution. Remember this toughbook is "business" tough and is not as tough as the semi or fully rugged toughbooks.

 

Unfortunately we moderator drones do not circle here all the time. You can order fast mod strikes to specific targets with the report button... ...and thread moved, too

 

Welcome to the Toughbook Forum
Check these links out . I still have 2 of these 51's and they work great

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/529599-cf-51-f-q.html


~Toughbook Talk~ Toughbook Discussion • View topic - CF-51 Intel CoreDuo 1.66GHz to Intel Core2Duo T7200 /400/600

~Toughbook Talk~ Toughbook Discussion • View topic - Windows 7 On A CF-51 MK3

 

Trying to figure out how to upgrade the memory, hear there are different clock speeds. How can I tell which will work with mine? And the usb ports...are they 1.0, 2.0???

 

This link should help you out with upgrades to RAM, etc.
Toughbook Support
Happy Googling

 

Here is a site that I bought my scan tool interface from .

ScanTool.net LLC - PC, Laptop, or Netbook - Scan Tools - ScanTool.net

 

Now I'm having display problems. Getting vertical "stripes" across my screen and occasionally the whole screen "pixelates" scrambling the screen image and text. Happens randomly, sometimes when I first boot up, sometimes once windows loads, and other times when I'm in the middle of working on something. Same problem whether I'm using the laptop screen or I connect an external monitor. Tried updating and reverting back to the old display drivers with no difference. Is there a video card that could be going bad and need to be replaced. Looking to upgrade the operating system, memory, processor, etc. Is there a higher capacity hard drive out there which is compatable? Mine is currently 80G.

 

That behavior is often the result of bad ram, at least in Toughbooks without dedicated video cards. Try swapping in known good ram. welcome the the disease.
CAP

 

Does the video card have it's own ram or does it share the main ram? My specs show 128k of video ram. Is there a video card which is replaceable?

 

The video card has it's own ram. There are two different models 128MB and 256MB card.

 

I replaced the old memory and upgraded to 4gig(2X2g) but it didn't make a difference with the display problems. Does anyone know where I can get a video card? Is it possible to upgrade to the 256K, I have the 128k.

 

I think the video card is made onto the motherboard on this model. The ATI CF-73 models are the only toughbook I know of with a removable video card.

 

This, or a similar problem has been discussed here before: http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/651897-taxing-my-patience-cf-52-crash.html
CAP

 

A Tootsie roll is inside.

View attachment 95990

 

No it shares 128K of ram with main memory, we always have good luck with crucial ram.

 

I don't mean to threadjack but I saw your post above...

I've got my work CF-30 with the SSD running this scan tool!

BMW Scanner 1.4.0

My little BMW has so many cool things you can do with the scanner... Turn your daytime running lights on or off, program your keyless entry, locks, windows for remote up/down, etc. I turned the gong off in my car, turned off the seatbelt warning light, etc. Plus you can get direct readings of everything! You can also, obviously, read codes and reset them. The Toughbook was literally made for things like this.