Several questions for Panasonic CF-27

Hi, I’m a new owner of a Panasonic CF-27; I bought it on ebay-UK for 32 pounds as it was labeled as “maybe faulty”.
Really, it works great and has installed not only battery, hard disk (6GB) and RAM (128 MB), but also a Matsu****a DVD ROM drive.
It came without AC adapter, so I powered it with a 40W 12V AC adapter; the CF-27 powered up showing a bright LCD; the battery started to charge and arrived to about 80% before the red light begun to flash (maybe the supply voltage is to low); also the sound is working.
Question #1: can anybody help me to identify the model number? It is a P II 300 MHz, no sticker on the bottom, Bios version V2.02L19B; the number near the RAM module is DL 3U11029FAA; moreover it has a “wireless” panel with four lighted icons on the front side.
Question #2: the laptop has no carrying handle; the fixing holes are closed with adhesive caps that look to be factory installed, no traces of handle installation, so I presume it was sold without handle.
Does anybody know where I can find a cheap replacement handle? (I’m looking also for the rear cover that is missing).
Question #3: I didn’t find a way to activate the touch screen. Do I have to install a particular driver for it? (the laptop has installed a “fresh” Windows98 with only the video and sound drivers); in the Bios there is no option for touch screen activation.
Question #4: I would like to install Windows 2000; I think it is quite simple, thanks to the DVD drive; which drivers should I install? (I’ve seen a lot of them in the Panasonic Canada site).
Question #5: Do anybody attempt to carry a CF-27 (or other Toughbook) through the Security Control of an airport? The metal case should be not transparent to X-ray!
Excuse me for the poor English, but it is not my language (I live in Italy)
Thanks to everybody
Fulvio

 

#2: I've got extra handles, but you'd have to pay the shipping from the US. If you can't find someone in Europe with an extra, let me know.

#5 I've taken mine through airport security many times.. since they require you to take notebooks out of bags and send them through by themself, I guess they know it's coming before it shows up on the X-ray. Usually though, I'm carrying a bag full of cables, adapters, test equipment, and arabic literature and textbooks, so the toughbook is the least of their concern I did have to explain what a 4-20mA loop tuner was for one time, and had to explain why I should be allowed to carry test leads with sharp points on them, but for the most part the screeners have been pretty cool about it.

 

1: It's a Mark 2, most likely a 27EB6GNC? where ? is the keyboard layout (UK, US, French, etc.) Check on the back and look for a standard modem jack over by the parallel port. If it has one, then what I wrote above is definitely it, if not, I'll do some research.

3: If the BIOS doesn't show an option for touchscreen, installing drivers won't help. I'm assuming the model # I gave you is correct for this stuff. The BIOS doesn't see that you have a touchscreen which means either the BIOS got changed, somebody swapped the screen out for a non-touchscreen, the screen is bad, or the cable got disconnected (a few other possibilities but that's most likely). Start by loading the default values and checking the BIOS again. If that doesn't work, remove the hinge cover (6 screws) then the LCD cabinet screws (10) and carefully open it up. The cable will be on the right side so open it from the left. Reseat the touchscreen cable and check the BIOS again. Let us know what you find out.

 

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No modem socket on the rear panel.

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Done, but still no option for touch screen.
I have read on a CF-27 Reference Manual that Serial Port B has to be set on "Touch screen" but in my BIOS I have only two options "IRDA" and "Port Replicator" for Serial B Device.
One of next days I'll try to disassemble the LCD lid and have a look of the inside;
the hinge cover screws are the four screws just above the keyboard?
Thanks

 

OK, I can survive also without touch screen….However, I would like at first attempt to update the OS from Windows98 to 2000.
I’m not an expert of laptops, but every time I loaded a new OS in my desktop, I had to load the motherboard driver: in all the website I visited (modly.org, Panasonic.ca, …), I never found a driver for CF-27 motherboard: is it needed or not?
Furthermore, in Panasonic.ca website, it seems like every model number needs a specific set of drivers, but I know only that my CF-27 is a mk2 and not the exact model number: do I have to test several drivers until I find the right one?

 

Fulvio,
I think you are looking for bios updates and you won't need one to load Win2K on your CF-27. If you look at the drivers list text on Modly's site you will find which drivers are needed for your MkII. Win2K runs fine on the 27, the only problem I've ever had is updating IE, the latest version seems to make things a little unstable so I don't download the IE updates. Good luck.
http://www.modly.org/CF-27/CF-27-1/Drivers.txt

 

Hi, my cf-27 is running Windows2000, without need for any particular driver.
There is still an "unknow device" in the list of hardware devices, and no driver (both from Modly.org and Panasonic.ca) seems to be accepted for it.
I'll try to discover what it is running Everest Home.
I try to attach a picture of the Wireless panel, hoping that somebody knows what it is (never seen it in any CF-27 user manual).
The keyboard is English-UK.

 

that is for the sider or cdma modems. basically cell phone data plan modems. im sure zero will chime in after a bit for further explanation.

 

Give the man a cigar, it's a generic power switch but for the most part, the 27 internal modems are so old their technology is only used by Illinois anymore. On the plus side, if it's a Spider modem, you have the highly coveted internal pc slot board.

 

fulvio50,
Remove the battery pack, if you have one, and look beneath it - there must be a sticker with your CF-27 exact model number.
It COULD be as mine - CF-27EJ6(and etc.).
The funny thing is that I can't find more info about CF-27 EJ6 series.
But I think they are "stripped-down" model, without touchscreen.
I have the latest BIOS for my CF-27 and if you look at the info you will find something interesting too:

Version: 202L10G
This BIOS provides support for both types of LCD screens now used in the CF27 MK2 computers.

"BOTH" types of LCD.... Could they be "touchscreen" and "normal"?

 

Nope.. It is for two different manufacturers of the 12.1" LCD panel, the older one is Hosiden-Philips and the newer one is (I can't remember.. was it Toshiba? Fujitsu? Something like that..) Anyway, the newer one is NOT a drop-in replacement for the old one.. Along with the BIOS upgrade there is a circuit modification necessary to make the newer screen work with the older mobo's.. I read up on this because I had wanted to use the beautiful 12" Hosiden displays that came with the CF27Rs I was parting out, on a few CF27Es that came with horrid 10" screens. didn't work.. They never bothered to publish a mod for using an OLD screen on a NEW mobo..

 

Panasonic never made an EJ. It's possible someone modified one and added that sticker. The only reason a model number would be inside the case is if a user put it there so unless he's lucky enough, there won't be one. He did right by listing the mainboard number.

Yup, the mod is to use a particular newer LCD but only works on the RJ mainboard (DL3U10956AAA) and involves adding about a dozen resistors to a particular area.



FULVIO - It looks like you might have a 27EA6GC?M It's still a mark 2 but did not have a touchscreen but have a very bright and crisp LCD, not dulled down by the touchscreen.

 

Hi, ReWired is right! Under battery there is a sticker (that seems quite similar to the other stickers inside the laptop) with the model number CF-27EJ6GVEE.
I found a lot of files for CF-27EJ (manuals, drivers, ...) on this site:
www.toughbook-forum.de/viewtopic.php?p=267&sid=61c6b167e002f891633222679f74b49d - 26k
and this one:
http://www.panasonic.at/product/pro...@@@@-@Lumix-Digitalkameras@&altMod=N&prop=DOC
In the Reference Manual I found on the first site, no mention is made about Touch Screen.
Maybe CF-27EJ is a special version for some European (UK?) government agency (I bought my laptop from ebay-UK and the keyboard is English-UK, not US!).

Does it mean that inside there is a module (PCMCIA?) that I can remove and substitute with a 802.11 module? If yes, where is this module located?
Thanks to everybody for the support!

 

The spider modem is a PCMCIA card mounted in a special slot directly under the touchpad. Unfortunately yours would not have the spider modem because the spider modems do not use the front panel switch that you pictured. You probably have the RIM modem or similiar for CDPD in the same spot but it is not PCMCIA.

 

@ZeroFlight:
Yes, I could agree with you about EJ series, because my search on the Net came with almost nothing.
But Panasonic published a video driver for EJ model, so may be they are involved in this somehow:
"Description: CF-27EJ6 Video driver for Windows '95/98."
( http://dlc.panasonic-europe-service...did=124619&fmt=EXE&lang=en&src=3&uilang=en-GB)
Anyway...probably we have for sure "non-touchscreen" version of the CF-27, and as fulvio50 said - this is may be some europian edition (driver for EJ6 is found only on Panasonic Europe support site).
Two persons at the same time got their CF-27 with no touchscreen option in the BIOS (with different BIOS versions), both have CF-27EJ6... - of course it can be still some hardware bug (bad cable or something), but I think this is as it is by design...

 

Hi, I would like now to add wi fi to my CF-27; I think I have three ways to do that:
1. substitute the RIM modem with a PCI wifi module inside the laptop and substitute the antenna inside the screen lid;
2. use a wifi PCMCIA card;
3. use a wifi USB dongle connected to the USB port of the laptop, or better, to a USB port of a PCMCIA to USB adapter (I saw on ebay a pretty and cheap "short" PCMCIA to USB adapter that can be left in the slot allowing the PCMCIA cover to be closed; moreover the adapter can be externally powered, allowing "heavy" load on the USB ports).
The first solution requires a lot of work and the right wi fi module; I'm not sure that the antenna will be very happy to work close to the metallic part inside the screen lid.
I prefer the USB dongle solution (possibly with an external and detacheable anternna) because the dongle could be connected to the laptop via a cable so it could be placed far away from me (wi fi electromagnetic radiation is not very good for health).
Does anybody knows if the CF- 27 MK2 can drive any kind of wi fi dongle?

 

I am using a Linksys Wireless-G PCMCIA card with my CF-27 MK2.
It is a model WPC54G ver 1.2.
Works very well.

Bob