Some CF-20 internal photos

Hello everyone! I scored the most amazing deal on a brand new CF-20C0031KM mk1 and received it yesterday, here is some photos of the internals. I might dig deeper when i replace some cards as i want to confirm if the ram can be upgraded or not. And no removing the back cover will not void the warranty, no screw stickers.

Just noticed that for the first time, it shows a voltage input range on the laptop! 15.6v to 16v! It always seemed to work ok but i was worried about long term reliability. Now i know!

The SSD is a Samsung Sata M.2 drive MZNTY128HDHP

Enjoy!

 

great photos.

 

I've dug a bit in the system information and it seems that the onboard memory is soldered chips like the fz-g1. For the CF-20, In the Panasonic PC info it shows form factor ''TSOP'' and device locator ''onboard''. FZ-G1 is almost exactly the same beside specifying it is using ''ddr3'' in memory type. Maybe someone here can share what it says in their CF-31 or CF-19.

I've ordered a dell variant of the em7455 to test in this CF-20, i had some good success with dell cellular cards in the past with toughbooks. My CF-U1 uses a dell MC7355 and my FZ-G1 a generic Sierra MC7700.

 

So i replaced my ublox card with a dell dw5811e 3P10Y (em7455), altered the optional kit setting from 1b(ublox gps) to 13(wwan). Then i followed this guide in ubuntu 18.04.1 to flash the dell card to generic and unlock all the features; https://github.com/danielewood/sierra-wireless-modems. It is very important to install the bleeding edge libqmi packages (1.20) otherwise the flash will fail/timeout. (the links fail so you need to manually browse the packages through the links and install them one by one in the right order). Now instead of showing unusable dell devices in task manager(none of the drivers worked), it shows Sierra Wireless Snapdragon X7! Just install generic 7455 drivers/skylight/reboot and it works great! (all from Panasonic website)

 

I just posted an ad on ebay for the Ublox ngff gps receiver that came with my CF-20,

 

That post had to be deleted because you need 100 post to sell on that part of the forum (sorry rules) but you can sell in the "Toughbook buy and Sell Forum" with just 20 post BUT first read the rules. There is a form you must fill out or your post will be deleted.
Here is the form you need to fill out...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/bst-form-you-must-fill-this-form.243578/

Post your add here...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forums/toughbook-buy-sell-and-trade-forum.1047/

 

It is not Toughasnails who sets the rules.
It is the marketplace forum moderator and Supermod who usually edit and delete things, especially in the other forums.
The have set the rules not Toughasnails.
He just has to follow them even if he does not agree with them all.

If someone does not like those rules, they need to take it to the supermod.
Try this thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/nbr-forums-suggestion-box.576398/page-56#post-10852926

Or send a message to him directly.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/members/charles-p-jefferies.16273/

Here is the official form with the rules listed clearly at top.

 

That's exactly right!

And I can tell you that if we didn't have those rules, the NBR Marketplace would be overrun with people who are not genuine NBR members, but only come here looking for buyers in a highly targeted and lucrative demographic. It is meant to be a place for "real" NBR members to buy and sell from trusted fellow members.

I can assure you, this is real. Remember, as mods we see the attempts from spammers and scammers, of which only a fraction gets through to show up on the site. And we much appreciate the reports from members when they see ones that slip through

Edit: I think it is obvious, but just to clarify: I'm certainly not saying that @towelie's ad in itself was a problem. It's just we have minimum rules for the reasons I described, and if we don't enforce them they're not going to have the desired effect.

 

Here are some shots of the internals of the keyboard.

 

And deeper look inside the cf-20 motherboard




I could see in between the motherboard and the screen and there is no way a slot for ram could fit there. Ram is soldered and not upgradable.

Also i noticed that after disconnecting the bios battery, it gave a bad cmos error and the accumulative time went back to zero. After a few reboots everything went back to normal but hours still 0(was about 50 before).

Also try to avoid breaking the screen as it would be very difficult to replace, like the FZ-G1 it would likely require replacing the front assembly. At least even though there was a ton of screws and ribbon cables to remove, most of the screws were the same kind and the ones that were not usually were identified. For the ribbon cables most of them had some kind of securing lever which made it not too difficult to re-insert. I would say for anything other than replacing a screen it's pretty easy to service(I did not risk getting on the other side of the motherboard as there was ribbons underneath and i was worried about damaging one).