Questions on CF-29

Guess someone removed the SBC logo insert before you got it ; both of mine have it.

The Asset Tag shows up in the BIOS when it's activated. So far, I have not found one to have been set.

You can read about it here.

 

Thanks for the reply.
It kind of depends on what time of the year. In Summer, it can get close to 50 degrees C and during Winter, as low as minus 9. Spring and Autumn are usually somewhere in between. It can be quite wet here too. I don't really know about the sun, as I haven't started yet. But I would suspect being on a farm, that there is not going to be shade sails put up to keep the cattle cool.

Oh, is it a touchscreen version? As in the eBay listing it says nothing about a touchscreen

True, the reason why I would build a desktop is so I could have another machine with more power.

Thanks for the help!

 

Actually, that auction says "PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE TOUCHSCREEN VERSION OF THE CF-29!." Many of the SBC machines have bad touchscreens.

Glen

 

Oh, right! Thanks for the clarification!

 

Since all the CF-29HTM50BM Models of the CF-29 are touch screen (the " T" of the Model Number), one of two things are true:

1) Someone has removed the touch screen and replaced it with a non-touch screen; or,

2) the above statement is true of this unit.

Check the touch pad driver to see if it is the correct one for this system:

Title: Touch Pad Driver/Touchscreen Driver
Model Number: CF-29[H/J]T(Mk3) CF-29[H/J]TxxxBx
Operating System: Windows XP SP2
Language: English
Release Date: 02/03/2005
File Name: mouse_29_3_d030178.exe [357.9 kb]

Follow this path to check the system's driver:

[ start ] --> Settings --> Control Panel --> System --> Hardware --> Device Manager --> Mice and other pointing devices --> touchpad/touchscreen --> Driver --> Driver Date: xx/xx/200x

Update / replace as necessary, then try calibrating the "touch screen" to see if it actually works:

[ start ] --> Settings --> Control Panel --> Mouse --> TouchScreen --> Calibration & Test --> [ Calibration ] --> Press the "+" marks in Calibration order.

It will either work , or it won't.

 

Yeah from previous searches, hold the stylus there on the top left X and be patient. My last time took 30+ seconds for the 1st one to move.

 

hi guys , im new here , but thought id say many thanks for some of the info ive read over the last week , i finally bought a cf29 , now with a sata hard drive a gig and a bit of ram and a brand new secondhand cdrw fitted , a huge saving so many thanks to all who take the time to share their knowledge with those who are only starting down the tough road.
tom

 

Tom, Welcome to the forum, as you found out we have a lot of info to read but if you can't find it , we are here to help or try this search....just replace the word "test" with what you are looking for.....enjoy
http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=TEST+site%3Aforum.notebookreview.com%2Fpanasonic

 

I have a question. I saw no mention of the extendable antenna often shown in pictures of the Toughbook. I bought my Toughbook recondition and the antennae just falls out of the the hole. Assuming the antennae is for a WAN/Cellular network module (is this the housing for the antenna), where do I find a replacement antennae?

 

What do you mean falls out the hole? Can you post a picture. If it falls out the hole as it is not supposed to. It means it broke apart into two pieces. The pull out antena has a base diameter bigger than it body that locks on the buttom base of the antena housing.

If its broken, I may still have a replacement for that.

Sorry! I've got a wrong spell...ng it must be hole not whole, Lol

ohlip

 

Yes, the antennae comes out. When I unboxed it, I pulled the antenna up, expecting it to extend. It came out. A little over two inches in length. I figured the base inside was bigger and that was broken. Not a biggy functionality wise, as I wasn't planning to use Cell WAN, but the whole needs to be filled. Haven't had any luck finding a replacement. So the entire left side black module has to be replaced then, right? I'd prefer not to have this gaping hole in the top left side of the LCD. Everything else about the laptop is outstanding.

 

Ok! I will need the whole thing on it.If you could handle it on dismanling the lid cover. I will send you htis item that will replace that rubber corner piece but of course it is your decission to make. Let me know. Pls, see the picture a replacement corner piece. It will filled up the whole thing like the opposite side right corner of the unit.

ohlip

 

Ok. I can dismantle it and take corner piece off. I have the service manual. PM me info on what the part will cost and ETA of send?

Oh, and I apologize to admins and mods if it appears I jacked the thread. Not my intention. Did search first to find anything on replacement antennae and found nothing. When I read here first and saw everything but antennae listed, I thought I'd ask. Thanks for the assistance.

 

Its no cost, man! Its a trade if you have to agree. I have a place for that corner piece too.

ohlip

 

Cool Will PM you address info.

 

PM sent already with info.

ohlip

 

Thanks Teo. I appreciate it. One less technical problem to worry about.

 

Ok so now that I have read the entire faq I have this to ask. What drivers do I need to make the touchscreen work on my CF-29ETKGZKM. I currently have windows 7 installed on it and was excited when I found out it was touchscreen capable. Any help that I may have overlooked is appreciated. I've downloaded all the drivers I could for my model. I have the touchscreen driver for the cf-30 mk1 but it doenst work for the cf-29. Please help and thank you.

 

You could check if it is enabled in the bios first

W7 detects touchscreens and in my experience loads a generic driver

You should be running xp pro though on this model
I don't think any members here , after testing have w7 on this old model as there were issues with getting it to run properly

 

Well I actually have 7 running without any issues. I found in my extensive search that I installed the driver for the touchscreen wrong. I found it in another forum on this site. I appreciate the help. I have the touchscreen working well.

 

It needed a driver ?
Sorry I have never loaded 7 on these , and on both my cf-30's and cf-19 tablet did not need a driver

Our ongoing thread had no members listed that had the older cf-29 with windows 7 working
Can you confirm that all functions work well and post any tricks you used to make W7 work
http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/471307-w7-issues-toughbook-model-status.html

What touchscreen driver did you load for your mk-2

 

Yeah I just posted the info on the link you posted.

 

My 29 MK3 had touchscreen but it was a digitizer driver. I had to manually load it to the 1st or 2nd mouse in device manager. My only tricks with the unknowns is just point it at the utili folder and it will most likely find it. Only thing I cn't get to work is emissive hot keys. After sign in windows blocks them for incompatibility.

 

I have a toughbook mk3 it was an sbc, the screen was broken on it. I ordered a new screen from ebay (entire lid for simplicity and almost same price)

The one from sbc has an antenae in the lid, new one doesn't. What's it for?

I can't get touchscreen drivers to work, is there anyway if I open up the back of the lid someone can tell me how to tell if it's a touchscreen version?

Also, has anyone resolved getting a touchscreen to work with windows 7 yet? I can't even get my wireless to work right now. Do you guys use driverpacks? The panasonic config website listed wont load in IE. ?

Also the bios password hasn't been reset, so I know on some CMOS just removing the battery will work and on others it isn't volatile. Will a bios update fix this? I'm thinking that maybe touch screen isn't enabled in the bios as suggested earlier in the thread.

Alot of questions I know.

Thank you.

 

We don't talk about resetting bios passwords here on this forum, sorry

But, a bios flash will not remove the password

You might be right that the wireless is disabled in the bios
A check on this is to look in device manager for unknown networking devices

 

Can someone direct me to logic board jumper settings?

I decided to install xp pro instead, so I threw an extra 80gb hd I had laying around in, which was more like a rubiks cube than a hd swap... lol

Installed an extra 1gb ram too.

I want the touch screen working so bad, it's all I can think about.

How much is one of these worth on average its a I paid $50 for it with the cracked screen and $60 for the new screen, charger and battery work excellent? I see them on ebay between 100 and 500.

Thank you. Rep sent.

 

I'll direct you to the first post in this thread. If you read the whole thing you will find that you know 85% of what you need to know and you will know how to quickly search for the rest.(hint: Azrial's signature)
CAP
"FAQ" stands for "place to find answers to frequently asked questions" not "place to ask questions which have already been asked (and answered) frequently"

 

Did someone call my name?

Hey Cap, we could put the search tool in the FAQ, if you think that it would help?

 

Alex, Rick, we probably should. Will anyone see it? One can only hope!
EDIT: ACTUALLY, ITS ALREADY THERE, JUST NO INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE IT.
CAP

 

Thanks for the advice...

When I use the search for jumper settings nothing but my own question comes up and some topics on master/slave rom drives.

Anyways I guess I'll just figure it out on my own because I can't really go any further without seeing in the bios if wifi and touchscreen are enabled as they aren't recognized by the device manager.

 

Since you looked, the Full Rugged Toughbooks always have hard soldered CPUs so there is no need for logic board jumpers. These ain't Macs.
CAP

 

CF-29HTM50BM Original Configuration:
***SBC ONLY***
Intel Pentium M 738 1.4GHz LV (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Transmissive Touchscreen, 512MB RAM, 40GB HDD, Intel PRO/Wireless 2951ABG 802.11 a+b+g WLAN, Windows XP Pro SP2, Tempo VIP Sidekick Tester/ADSL Loop Validator Media Bay Interface, Sony-Ericsson GC83 EDGE WWAN, Single Hi-Gain Antenna Pass-Through Connector, SBC Logo, Asset Tag, Replaceable RJ11 Jack

 

This is ridiculous.. I've got the laptop running like a barebones with all cmos and regular battery removed. Go to try and run the residual power out of it. Finally the date resets.

Go to reset it, still locked.

Attempt to use killcmos, ibios, cmospwd and other utilities on hirens boot

Still NOTHING!

So basically I need to know what version the bios is, and where to get a copy of the bios i can go in and manually install thru ibios or a program of the like.


yes it does have a b g wlan card thanks tc88

 

TrillPhil, We do NOT, under any circumstances, discuss bypassing bios passwords on this forum! We have very few rules, but this is one! If you can prove you own it and its not on Panasonic's hot sheet, you can send it to Heartlands to be reset.
CAP

 

And as one member found out its $160.00 plus shipping both ways . They did not have the restore disk for that old of a machine....as he put it.

 

Spray paint to repaint your Toughbook.

Rust-Oleum
Textured Metallic Silver
251053

 

Post # 83 of this thread says that the "T" as the 7th character in the CF-29 model # means Touchscreen. What is "W" in that same position?

Also, this may have been asked before, but I was not able to find it. (Maybe searching for wrong keywords?) do the other characters that follow represent features of the laptop as well? For instance, does a "G" in my model # mean I have GPS?

 

Look here to figure it out:

CF-29 - ToughWiki

CF-29x X designates TS or not.

 

W = 13.3" XGA Touch Screen also equipped with the backlit rubber keyboard.

 

Thanks! Very handy table of model name meanings there in the ToughWiki under "Model Nomenclature".

Thanks again!!

 

I'm considering the models listed below.
Which take DDR and which take DDR2 and what is the max for each model?
Do any of these have a USB port so I can use an external DVD drive to install OS?
Do any of these have an externa USB port and/or a PCMCIA slot so I can use WiFi?
Do any of these have internal WiFi?
Will any of these run W7?
Any recommendations on which model is preferable, what to be aware, concerned about, watch out for?
Any ideas on how to make these the best they can be?
Thank you

CF-29ETKGZKM
CF-29LTQGZBM
CF-29NTQGZBM

 

What's the difference between MK4 and MK5?
According to the wiki at ...
CF-29 - ToughWiki
... they look the same.

 

First is DDR1; other two are DDR2: 1GB additional RAM max on each.

Yes

Yes (see below).

Yes; but why? Isn't Bill Gates rich enough already?

Model Number: CF-29ETKGZKM
Status: DISCONTINUED
MSRP: $4,488
Description: Pentium M 1.3GHz LV (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Transmissive Touch Screen, 256MB Base RAM, 40GB HDD, 802.11b+g WLAN, Windows XP Pro

Model Number: CF-29LTQGZBM
Status: DISCONTINUED
MSRP: $4,488
Description: Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHz LV (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Touch Screen, 512MB Base RAM, 80GB HDD, Intel 802.11a+b+g WLAN, Windows XP Pro SP2, No Optical Drive

Model Number: CF-29NTQGZBM
Status: DISCONTINUED
MSRP: $4,295
Description: Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHz LV (Centrino), 13.3" XGA Touch Screen, 512MB Base RAM, 80GB HDD, Intel 802.11a+b+g WLAN, Windows XP Pro SP2, TPM1.2, No Optical Drive

 

Thanks TopCop1988 for the great info.

What does TPM1.2 mean?

What OS would you recommend? ... Linux? XP-Pro?
I have XP-Pro but not a touch screen version.

Would you recommend I get the CF-29NTQGZBM before the CF-29LTQGZBM before the CF-29ETKGZKM?

I've been reading throughout the forum that some can take a 2GB stick of RAM and either use 1.5GB of it or perhaps all 2GB of it. Oddly it may have been the ones with 256MB base RAM. I could be wrong. It may have been the ones with 512MB base RAM.

I have a CF-51 low speed Duo Core and a CF-51 Pentium M.
I'd prefer a Duo Core or a Core2Duo but they'd probably be far out of my reach price wise. I'm thinking one of the CF-29's I listed would be a nice addition to my collection. They should be suitable for email, simple web browsing and perhaps a word processor and spreadsheet program.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

XP-Pro

no such thing as a touch version, its the drivers/computer that make it a touch

CF-29N MK5

Only the 256MB base RAM ones you can use the 2GB stick

The CF-51 MK3 Core Duo can be upgraded to a Core 2 Duo T7200 2.0mhz for about $45.00 or a Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33 for a $110.00 CF-51 CPU upgrading

Will work just fine and this search works fine too Let me google that for you replace the word "test" with what you are looking for.
Wow, I think I am all quoted out now :wub: :laugh:

 

I hate to be a PITA, but...
@Pareto Optimal, if you had read all 12 pages of the FAQ in which you posted you would not have had to ask your questions. And before you tell me it's too long and too hard to find what you want to know, it's that way because people insist on posting questions in the stickies instead of the general forum.
Actually I don't hate to be a PITA, it's in my nature
CAP

 

Google is your friend.

Trusted Platform Module

"Touch Screen" is a hardwire and driver issue. All the ones you listed have the hardware, and Panasonic provides the drivers: not Mickeysoft:

Touch Pad/Touchscreen Driver:
Mk2
Mk4
Mk5

Yes.

Mk4 and Mk5 non-touchscreen (256MB base RAM) CF-29s can accept a 200-pin 2GB DDR2 SODIMM; but they are finicky about the Make (I use Crucial in my CF-29NDLGFBM Mk5).

 

I'm sorry if I've repeated questions previously posted by others.
I did read the first many pages and skimmed over many others but didn't find my answers. I was pressed for time by a potential seller to make a quick decision on a purchase. I needed the knowledge, wisdom and speed of the Panasonic oracles of this forum. It was after 4AM and I hadn't slept for days as I'm grieving a family loss. I thought doing some techie work would help but found myself researched out and out of sorts. I need to fix a puncture/break in the outer surface of the lid.

Thank you for your help and patience.

 

I've read through all the CF-29 FAQs, and I can't find anything about swapping WWAN modules. I have a couple of EDGE cards that are mini-PCIe, and I'm wondering if I can swap out the CDMA card that comes with some of the units and make it work.

 

To use these in Canada they cost too much so I stayed away from them but have you tried this search Let me google that for you . You also might want to start a new thread like " EDGE card in a CF-29 " Someone might be using one