New to me CF-30 with a few issues. There is always a few issues...

CF-30KCPTQ3M with 7190 hours, Win7 Home Premium....

screen is way dimmer than my CF-19, about 4 clicks towards dim on the CF-19 and that first click is a big jump. Though both rated 1000nit. Is 7k hours enough to bring the dim screen? Its also a noticeably warmer/yellower white. The F1/F2 keys bring up the brightness symbol and a press of either causes it to jump to full brightness shown on the power options page. Moving slider to minimum is also nowhere near as dim as the CF-19 can go so i'm wondering does adjusting brightness by way of the power options screen give the full range available?

I bought this with "touchscreen not working". In the BIOS set to "auto" it is in tablet mode, the mouse pad works nicely but nothing on the TS. If i set BIOS to "Touchscreen" both the TS and mouse pad work but the cursor does exactly this - http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/cf-30-touchscreen-issues.739821/ It jumps around slightly while sitting there and springs back if i move cursor with pen on screen or mouse pad. I tried everything Sadlmkr suggested with no change. Bit of a weird problem that mine and a number of theirs are resting in exactly the same place (unless i just bought one of theirs) but seems unlikely that dirt would give same symptoms on multiple machines (?) but maybe that is a default place for the cursor when the screen gives no signal?

Any cures available?

 

Model Number:
CF-30KCPTQ3M
Status:
DISCONTINUED
MSRP:
$2,200
Description: WinXP (Vista COA), Intel Core 2 Duo SL9300 1.60GHz (Centrino2), vPro, 13.3" XGA Touch, 160GB, 2GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, TPM1.2, Bluetooth, Emissive Backlit Keyboard, Fingerprint, GPS, Dual Pass (Upper:WWAN/Lower:WLAN), Gobi, No Drive, Toughbook Premier-3Y

did you use a restore disc or manual install of drivers?

 

Not weird at all, seen it many times. Did you download the drivers from Panasonic ?

 

I bought it from a "refurbisher" on ebay with a fresh win7 install not authorised until i turned it on so he's not been through and checked it like if i'd bought it from some proper person on here.... Seems most things are working though except mentioned above and GPS

You think the TS might be driver issue? Seeing the other post where they seemed to be doing this as they aged made me assume its a failed screen rather than a driver

 

The Mk3 screen rarely fails at least on my end,go to Panasonic support and download the driver bundle and run it,right click run as admin and see what happens. I have also found the screen brightness may be a driver issue. I have seen that on units I have restored where they start out dim and then the correct driver kicks in.

 

will do that, thanks

 

Just downloaded the bundle, ran as admin and thought this is getting easier each time. Thanks Panasonic!

The brightness hotkeys work now and it goes brighter and very dim. Not quite the CF-19 bright but not bad. I guess maybe same 1000nit on smaller screen appears brighter but not sure how it's measured

On the System info screen it now says "single touch input available", initially after the update it showed the TS pen cursor but it was still jiggling in the same place on the screen. The pen could move it while in auto/tablet mode still (in bios) which was new but as soon as i'd used the mouse pad the screen stopped responding to pen. After a reboot it did the same, started off on TS mode then went to mouse pad and wouldn't go back to TS

On the GPS in "Location and other sensors" it says no sensors are installed though NMEA is there in ports. I've got gobi 1000 drivers somewhere for my cf-19 which has the same model gobi so i'll try that.

 

Sorry to interrupt but how did the machine detailed on their auction. I ask coz there are so many expert and specialist now on ebay with regard to Panasonic Toughbook. My best advise to those who are planning to buy a used or refurbished Toughbook is to make sure that the vendor is a member of NBR or tbt and he/she must be active. Otherwise you will hit or miss on the process. I am serious though.

No worry! my friend, we can figure it out what is the problem of your unit. This is the only place you can find the real know how people with regards to that unit. We are not specialist or expert but we know the machine pretty well, lol...

ohlip

 

I just checked the listing and to be fair he doesn't claim it's "refurbished" the OS is for refurbished PCs which put the word in my head. But he did claim it "Works great" which clearly some things don't. He is selling a lot of laptops and seems like put minimal effort into one and cloned the drives without bothering to check each one before selling it.

I disabled pen input in device manager as it was reverting back to touchscreen mode when i was trying to install things and stopping the mouse pad working. I'm assuming the TS is defective? Anyone give me a price for the parts i need?

Now the hkeyapp is running the processor between 50-80% all the time?!? any ideas?

I'm emailing Panasonic UK for gobi/gps drivers they were really helpful for the CF-19

I'm in the market for a CF-53 as well though so if anyone has a good one with DVD rom or multi, emissive KB (though i can get either separately if needed) willing to ship to the UK let me know.

 

Before you start throwing money at it,
disable the gps in bios and see what happens with touchscreen...
You may need to physically verify that the gps module is still in there...(under keyboard).

I am not sure the bundle includes the registry fix for the gps units...
I would download the gps registry patch from Panasonic and install it.

It is possible that someone replaced the top half with an older top...
Considering you are in the UK..It's probably cheaper to buy a new touchscreen panel direct from Honk Gong, or Chinee.
How are you at doing electronic work?...Led strips will cure that dim LCD panel...I have a complete LCD here that already has led strips modded in, but I don't know what shipping will cost to the UK.

 

I ran the PC diagnostic utility from the BIOS and GPS and Touchscreen both passed (all tests did) I guess that confirms the hardware is attached but not that it functions in windows?

I found the GPS patch and will try that when i get home

 

Next step is boot from a Linux live cd and test the touchscreen.
I want to say Ubuntu 10.010?
lemme look..yep..

Thread with info.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ubuntu-10-10-is-this-the-toughbook-version.524581/

 

About $80 to the UK give or take in a medium priority box.

 

GPS registry patch worked, thanks for pointing out it wasn't in the bundle.

I tried ubuntu 10.10, it loaded and cursor jiggled in the same place and pen behaved exactly the same as it did under windows. So it's 100% sure hardware fault then? As those other cf-30s had exactly the same behaviour i'm guessing it wasn't that we all had dirt in the same place but this is what happens when the touchscreen dies?

Now to figure out why the hkeyapp is running at 50-80% cpu. Same here http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/cf19-windows-7-x64-issue.749692/#post-9618654

Edit: Uninstalled / reinstalled hotkey drivers and hkeyapp and all is well again. Must remember to go to the drivers first next time....

 

Which parts is that for? Now the drivers are correct the LCD is bright enough for now.

To repair just the touchscreen what am i looking at? Best way to buy in UK Shawn you say go direct to HK do you have a supplier you can recommend?

If it's almost same process as this i'm willing to give it a shot

 

Check these out http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...ic+toughbook+cf-30+touchscreen+panel&_sacat=0

 

That would be for Shawns modded screen from the US,I think FedEx could do it cheaper then that.

 

thanks for the link.

I'm wondering now though. I put my CF-29 next to the 30 and the 30 looks seriously yellow tinted on the whites and greenish on the blacks. I tried windows gamma and colour correction but no joy. Is this the LEDs or could it be the touchscreen got tinted? If LEDs can i replace just them or am i being a bit optimistic, i normally deal with bigger things, welding not soldering

 

If you don't solder then I would suggest against doing the LED mod yourself.
It's not leds now. The original panels use 2 CCFL (fluorescent tubes). They are about 1mm in diameter and 29cm long..Quite fragile!
In the modded panel, I pull the CCFL's out and replace them with 2 strips of leds. The result is much better color light, about 20 to 30% brighter than a good original panel with CCFL's and estimated 15% better battery life.

If you want to do it "on the cheap", Buy a Touchpanel from Hong Kong. Get a used LCD panel from a CF29 that had a touchscreen. The LCD will fit your CF30. But you may get a used panel that's as bad as what you have now..

I would love to sell this modded panel but I do understand that $80 for shipping alone is a lot of money.

Here is a link for a brand new 10o0nit LCD..From Hong Kong....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/L5F30812P00...979?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a40bccedb

 

Is it the illumination that's causing this yellow hue then or could it be the LCD panel is faulty/aged as well? In other words can i possibly save money if i have a go with LEDs first and if it goes wrong buy a modded completed one later. I've soldered about 2 wires in my life but can turn my hand to most things with a little practice.

 

I may be able to ship for less than $80. I have not had time to calculate it.
There is not much actual soldering but it is VERY detailed work.

 

The LCD panel from a CF52 that's kicking around here is 1.3lbs,so use 2lbs total to account for packing and see what it cost to zip 13074 in the US from you. That's my old zip in NY but close enough.

 

Shipping to UK from here is $32.00. That's First Class international at 3lbs.

 

That's nice,much better price.

 

This is not a mod for every one to do...trust me.

 

CF30 is easy compared to a CF19...and a CF53 is almost impossible to do.
Definitely not for everyone to attempt, but wow the results are great.

 

I saw some threads on it and it looks like not the best first mod to attempt. But i have to be realistic and remember this is for my young kids and its only when compared side by side does it appear bad to me, its really perfectly useable. I'll leave this for now and probably be better off selling this one and buying another sorted laptop direct from someone here if i needed.

I need to save my money for buying my wife a CF-53... Let me know if you have one

 

Just an option,I have 2 CF-52mk3's ,zero hours with dedicated graphics and wuxga screen.

 

would be good except we can't live without emissive KBs. most laptop use is night time when kids have gone to bed, when one of us is trying to sleep next to the other with the lights off.

 

earplugs and a blindfold ?

 

That's how I tolerate other drivers...