My cf-28 is actually a 29. Now what?

Greetings fellow Toughbookers! I won a cf-28 on ebay, but it turned out to not be as advertised. I sent it back to get a replacement 28 and ended up with a 29 (CF-29CTPGZKM). Granted, this one didn't come with a hard drive, but considering the faster CPU and the DVD ROM, I think that I can deal with that. I bought 512 MB of RAM for the 28, which I think is now the wrong type! So what type of RAM do I need? I also purchased a DVD R/W, and a 100 GB 7200 RPM hard drive. What other upgrades to you gurus suggest? Is there any way to turn on the keyboard backlighting to see if it works with a system that has no hard drive?

 

Congratulations! I think that you will be happy with your 29. I know that I'm sure happy with mine. I'm going to do the Dutch Uncle routine for you like someone did for me.

Search this site for your questions one at a time. On the welcome page for the Toughbook forum is a blank for the search engine. Use the advanced search so that you confine your search to this forum.

Once you've read all of the info that's available for 28s and 29s, I'll bet that most of your questions will be answered. Some of the questions that I asked when I first came on the site were really dumb and had been answered many times before. The folks here are real patient and extremely knowledgable; they will get almost any problem solved and any question answered. The reason I'm suggesting this to you is that 1) you gain a tremendous amount of knowledge about your machine; 2) you'll see what others in your same situation had issues with and 3) most importantly what had to be done to solve those issues. You will also read a tremendous amount of info about the mods and hacks that the wizards (not me) have done to their machines.

Consider it an initiation into a very select crowd of good guys. Good Luck and Happy Toughbooking.
Pappy

 

Thanks Pappy42! I'll do as you say.

Oohrah

 

Oohrah?
Are you an active or former lover of Women, killer of men, defender of freedom and the tip of the sword of American military might?

 

Unfortunately no, but I have (and had) several friends that serve with honor as mighty Marines and have picked up some of the their traditions. No Offense is meant if taken wrongly. On another subject, I'm responding with my 29 using Sidux Live CD. I'm quite happy to discover that wired EtherNet seems to function! Later I shall endeavor to test for a working wireless. I haven't picked up some precision screwdrivers and thought that software testing for hardware would do until I can crack this baby open.

 

You're a braver man than I. When I first got my 29, I wouldn't even change batterys with the machine on and plugged in until I queried the forum. My first big plunge came when I removed the 4 screws where the memory goes and copied the numbers off of my plug in memory chip. With a little help from our friends, I was able to buy a 1 gig memory chip and install it myself. That was big for me. You sound way beyond that stage.

 

I didn't have much of a choice as this thing didn't come with a hard drive. It did, however come with the caddy, so until I get my 100GB delivered and installed, this is the only way to fly! I'ts been years since I last played with anything resembling Unix and due to that, I'm grateful that they come with a GUI. I'd heard that using the Live CD part took forever for it to boot up, but mine seemed to come up about as quickly as my Vista Dell that I normally use. Since I planned on loading the 29 with Linux anyway and taking this baby with me to "the land of sand", I thought that I might as well get used to it. It looks like it will be an easy transition.

 

Well thats a pleasant surprise!

congrats. The machine should turn on without a HD, and should get to the bios menu which isn't loaded on the hard drive

quickly press f2 for setup and browse around to see what you got.

since you have a CF-29C its an early model that should use DDR ram(later models use DDR2 not compatible). but check it just in case.

my new keyboard is back lit and seems to toggle with the function-f12, so I'm pretty sure if its back lit hitting function-f12 in a dark room should do something.

I'm probably going to call panasonic tomorrow to see if my 29's got a SATA or IDE connection, I'll ask about the C as well and tell you what they say.

Also, I'd rather ask stupid questions here and look like a retard than **** up my toughbook which I really can't replace.

 

OK.... Way to go! It's nice to have stuff like that happen every now and then isn't it?

It sounds like you are headed in the right direction. I did a tutorial on swapping hard drives in the 29... Others pitched in with helpful suggestions also. Check out that thread and familiarize yourself with the pictures. I think it will help a little. The RAM is an easy one. You'll find links to all the stuff you need I would think. The good thing is... The threads should be too far buried as most of use just got the 29s fairly recently.

To answer one of your questions... You can't make your existing keyboard into an illuminated one. You must buy it. There are two, to my knowledge, that work in the 29. The rubber tyope and the hard plastic type that has the low, flat keys. I'll snap a picture of mine tomorrow and post it. It's a VERY easy keyboard to use!

Ask anything you like. We don't flame people on this forum so the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!

Congrats again on the great score!

 

Although I don't know anything about super fast computers, I'm really pleased with the difference in speed made by the added ram and the HDD. It seems fast enough for me; but then, I don't move as fast as I once did.

If your unit has the built in wifi, I'd think that should serve your needs in the sand pile. My wifi has worked pretty well. I doubt that my "stock" wifi works as well as those modified by Toughbook (user name) in his Ultimate Toughbooks (TN), but it works for my purpose.

I think you'll find that oppinions will vary about built in GPS. I use GPS a lot, and found that my bluetooth units really do all that I need. I lust after the built in GPS because there is nothing else to mess with outside of the unit.

 

Toughbook, a quick correction. We do flame Dell guys that come in here that incorrectly answer easy questions.

OKshooter; while I may have a St. Patty's buzz, I must address a very important issue. You scored a great deal! Great job!

You got a 29, which while not leaps and bounds better than a 28, has many advantages.

I hope you enjoy it and I hope you get to use it well. Good luck in your armed service travels!

 

The wifi in the CF-29 works just about as well as the the 600mw cards I'm using in my 28s. It doesn't quite pull in the ones that are really far away but then you wouldn't expect it to. But as far as around the house... I get just as good a signal as with the 600 cards and I think that is what most people are concerned about.

My internal GPS (Stock Panasonic GPS installed by me) works almost as well as the GPS units we have been putting in the 28s too. The only difference is that instead of puicking up 12 satellites you might pick up 9-10... You only need 3 for a fix so it works just fine. Good enough for me not to worry about modding my own GPS into a 29... Yet. I plan on doing that to the next CF-29 I can get my hands on for a decent price.

 

Okay... I meant that we don't flame the "Toughbook Family"... All others are fair game!


Of course I am just kidding.... Um.... Yeah... I'm just kidding.

 

*Taps TB on the shoulder*

AHEM...

*Snorts smoke*

mnem
*It is unwise to meddle in the affairs of dragons; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup*

 

I'm getting stoked about this little tuffy! All of this for the $256 + S/H! I look forward to opening up this thing and doing the whole upgrade thing. Thanks for all your advice and encouragement. You guys have made me feel right at home here!

 

That's what we're here for... Just pull up a chair and put your feet up!

 

Looks you got one hell of a deal. I think everyone here is pumped and jealous at the same time.

If you're keeping up with your reading goal, you are probably amazed at the depth of Toughbook knowledge that some of these folks have. It seems like every time that I go through the old posts; I learn something new.

 

Is this what you think is a good deal?

A CF-29 1.3 ghz touchscreen barebone for $350.00. Thanks




ohlip

 

Looks like you did good! You will have in tip shape in no time.

 

I wished I'd have seen that... I'm looking for another barebones CF-29...

 

Very nice. I would enjoy a good 29.. but I should really wait until after I get my own place in Oregon to start collecting toys.

 

Now! I've got three of those cf-29 (1.6mhz,1.3mhz & 1.2mhz) keep filling up. What the heck is goin on, Oh, man! I can't control my mouse when I've see something like that.

 

Well if it is bothering you... I'll take that one off your hands that you just bought... If you are starting to have buyer's remorse... I'd pay over what you paid. I already have the caddy, battery and charger.... Just need the laptop now.

 

I am just looking for a complete touchscreen display for cf-29 to replace the 1.2Mhz coz this one is not a touchscreen display and now I end up buying another one.

Are you interested of buying the 1.2 non touch barebone? Barbone, coz I'm gonna transfer all the missing parts of 1.3Mhz.

Those are not yet on my hand. On its way

 

Update: I have to admit that I'm not used to dealing with a HDD caddy and after tearing it apart, I found that I did indeed have a HDD (Fujitsu 60 GB). It just needed to be reseated for it to work. The drive had been formatted, but I loaded Sidux and got things working. My new HDD that I got from eBay came in today. It was in an external case and the description only stated that it was a 100 GB 7200 Rpm drive. I was relieved to see that it is a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100. Once again I luck out with a good buy ($71 + S/H) and it includes the external case for the 60 GB stock HDD. Now I am looking at getting some RAM. I take it the Mk1 29's use the PC2700 RAM? Oh yeah, one more gloat, the battery is in great shape as well! Over 4 hours on a single charge!

 

We are gonna change your user name to lucky!

Concerning your ram; go to the Panasonic Config site, root around with your model number and see if you can't pin down what RAM type the MK I needs. That's what I did for my MKII and was successful.

http://config.toughbook.com/

 

I don't want it if it isn't a touchscreen or has all the doors missing.

I saw the same guy had another one but it has a major scratch down the scren. It loked pretty bad. If definitely would need a new screen. That ups the price tremendously.

Let me know about the barebones 29...

 

Hi Guys.
I have purchase a similar Laptop from eBay today. Want to upgrade Memory + HD as soon as I get it!
1-What is the Memory Technology for this Laptop?
2-Is that an IDE Hard Drive or a SATA one?
Any help? Thanks a lot.
Andrey

 

It will help us answer your questions if you can provide us with the complete model number.

 

If you purchased a CF-29 then you have an IDE hard drive.... But Pappy is correct... To help you any further we need the complete model number!

 

Hello again an thank you so much for the fast response!
Model number is: CF-29CTPGZKM
Hope that clarifies it a little better!

 

OK, you're ahead of the game. I'm suggesting that you read the CF-28 and CF29 sticky at the top of this forum.

It may be more information than you want; however, like ammunition, beer and one more unnamed commodity, there is no such thing as too much information.

You're sure to learn things about your new toy, and most likely, you will pick up tips on mods, upgrades, and nice to have items.

Trust me; I've already asked most of the questions about the 29; so learn from my ignorance.

Good Luck, Pappy

 

If I received a 29 instead of a 28 I would be dancing in the streets.