How to tell what MK laptop you have?

Anyone know how to tell what MK CF27's are?? I did the whole recovery CD thing, and it didn't partition my hard-drive correctly, was just thinking that I possibly used a wrong recovery CD...? HELP YO!
~Ryan

 

i know the mark 2 is 27E

a few others will know more.

 

Couldn't you find that out on the config site?

 

Should be able to find it there but here they are anyway. Mk1 = 27R, Mk2 = 27E, Mk3 = 27F, Mk4 = 27L

 

What about the 28 - I have a 28ptj ? don't see this listed anywhere - thanks

 

28's are Mk1 = 28M, Mk2 = 28P, Mk3 = 28S

 

Might as well do the 29's

MK1 = 29C, 29D
MK2 = 29E, 29F
MK3 = 29H, 29J
MK4 = 29L, 29M
MK5 = 29N, 29P

And the 30's

MK1 = 30C, 30D, 30E
MK2 = 30F

 

That is what I thought - Do you know why my MK2 recovery disk will not work - ? says wrong model. Does each specific model have its own disc - can any info in the recovery disk still be used. Thanks

 

There are some major variations within the marks themselves. 27EA and EB are pretty different. Same with 28P3 vs 28PC. It may be enough to cause you problems.

 

Okay, so I used the recovery disk....the silly error message is still up in the post screen "Save to disk function partition not found
"Save to disk disabled"

Any ideas? I used a MK 2 recovery disk, windows works good, and it also left a 110meg unpartitioned space on the c: ; verified with fdisk.

P.S I was under the impression that my CF27EB6GDAM laptop was touch-screen, is it not?

 

I believe you need to activate the 110 partition as an extended DOS partition, no?

 

How do you activate the partition? And actually, its like 204meg...any help would be appreciated.

 

Guys... I'm not sure, but I believe the CF-27 uses PHDISK.EXE to create/manage the restore partition... and NO, if it does use it, the partition is deliberately NOT DOS, as they don't want DOS/Windows to even be able to SEE it.

mnem
Looking for a better way...

 

Corrected by a DRAGON... geez... Well, if that is the case, wouldn't PHDISK then be the utility to use to "activate" the partition. Even for a partition used for hibernate, it still needs to be active, no? Otherwise you just have a formatted partition that the PC doesn't know how/what to use it for. I seem to remember the Micron GoBooks using the same type of partition and I thought PHDISK or GDISK or FDISK had an option to making the partition a 'save-to' partition or something of that nature? It's been a while though.

 

Well, yes & no -

My experience with the NEC laptops I used to be a field tech for them) that used PHDISK.EXE was the one made a floppy from an image which contained a bootstrap/OS/executable which then created the necessary partition table, modified the MBR & installed the necessary files for it to run, all BEFORE you EVER installed an OS.

The reason for this was that in the "Fuzzy old days" before Windows 2000/XP incorporated Hibernate (Suspend to disk) into the OS, they did it at a hardware level from BIOS.

mnem<~~~ Feeling a bit old & fuzzy himself*

 

I used the recovery disk which supposidly restored the partitions to factory, but I'm not 100% positive that the bios I ended up installing on my p2-300 box is the 100% correct bios, its the only one they listed for a CF-27EB***** laptop. It claims to work on all CF-27EB seires laptops, although it shows CF-27EB6G CAM and my is a CF-27EB6G DAM

 

I have a 29GTP14KM Can you decode that for me? I have checked everywhere

 

That's a strange one, not listed on the configurator. Check and see if that's the model on the first bios screen. Just keep hitting F2 when the machine is booting up. Otherwise maybe Zero or the TBtechs have some knowlege.
Cap

 

CF-29GTP14KM

DESCRIPTION:
***AIR FORCE CUSTOMER ONLY***PentiumM1.3G LV (Centrino), 13.3Transmissive Touch XGA ,512MB,60GB,Cisco WLAN802.11b, WinXP

 

Its in the BIOS and on a white label on the bottom of the unit and it is also on the outside of the box

 

Thanks
That looks like the configuration except it has 1GB RAM and a DVD. Should I use MK2 drivers when I load the OS?

 

It is a MK2 so the MK2 drivers should work, the RAM and DVD could have been added by the customer and not part of the original configuration.

 

Another way to tell which mark -- Hit F2 when you boot up and are at the Panasonic splash screen. Right next to the BIOS line will be a version number starting with a V. The number right after the V and before the decimal is the Mark. Example ------

BIOS: V1.00L13A

That is a Mark 1.

Some of the older models may not show a V before the number.

 

Wow, didn't know this

 

Thanks. Great info!
I reloaded WIN XP from scratch and used the drivers I found in this thread. I am left with one "unknown device" in Device Manager. I do not see a modem listed in device manager so I suspect that is what is "unknown" I have tried all the different modem drivers I could find with no success. Can anyone suggest how I might find out what the "unknown device" is and also is there a trick or tip to loading the modem driver?

 

1) Unknown device is chipset drivers... if that doesn't work (which I'm 70% sure it will)
2) then go for the keyboard drivers (the one that controls the backlight and the volume and whatnot via the fn button),
3) also if u have GPS built in then that could be it or if you have a built in WWAN that could be it too... but if none of the above extras (WWAN/GPS) then try the 1st then the 2nd if the 1st doesn't work

 

Its hotkey driver

 

Thats what I was trying to say for option 2 lol... hotkey!!!! thats what it's called.... DOPE, having a loooonnnnng day at work lol

Remember with toughbooks, the hotkey/keyboard FN buttons is a hardware function, not a software function... so you need drivers... (assuming that it isn't the chipset drivers )

 

In device manager ,for unknown device ,search and select the location to the folder where the hotkey drivers are located.
Alex

 

I have to ask Alex, what are you doing with a digitizer 19!?!?!?? I hate the digitizer model... unless u like that you can use it as a signature pad and not worry about your palm messing it up

 

Rob,

I compared both the touch screen and the digitizer before buying and preferred the brightness of the digitizer screen .
I don't use the the touch screen, I hate cleaning the screen.
The cf-19 was the replacement for a cf-m34 700 that I packed around for years as part of my career as a licensed skipper .
I hop on yacht's all over the west coast here and need portability as I am usually only on the yacht going only one way.
They all have nav computers onboard ,but I’m used to my own software,tracks etc.
Also for internet access ,most harbours have it but sometimes I have to use the sierra wireless conection.

Alex

 

oic... sweet... i have internal rev a sprint in my cf-30 and i couldn't live without that! i hate trying to find a hotspot! especially while driving... the girlfriend or other family member of mine can use my laptop to get online and check their email.

 

Tomcat,
I was once a "Nautical Aborigine", PC for BN, in a past life. Used to have to get on airplanes with a huge folder of charts, Loran, and a 8' loran antenna for deliveries. Sure wish I'd had a Toughbook back then!
Cap.

 

Alex, I would have thought that the 'evolution path' was....
cf-m34 400 > cf-m34 700 > cf-18
cf-m34 1000 > cf-19... no?
Cheers,
Ron in SG

 

I believe he was talking about his personal replacement for the CF-M34.

The 19 was derived from the 18. They fixed quite a few of the issues that they had with the 18's.

The battery connector was separated from the mainboard and plugs in with its own connector now - the 18 Battery connector was working its way loose from the board in some extremely rugged environments.

The wireless modem also got its own 4 screw panel on the bottom cabinet for easy access.

The *on board* RAM now plugs into a connector instead of being soldered to the mainboard.

The speaker moved from the bottom cabinet to inside the LCD cabinet. It was way more prone to damage where it was located on the 18.

There are other changes but those I listed are the main ones the techs were looking at.