The OFFICIAL Panasonic CF-29 Toughbook Thread!

I thought I'd start a CF-29 thread. I also wanted to post the Service Manual for model that is close to mine. It should work for 99% of CF-29s but for some reason the CD I got has pretty much every variant in there.

Since the price of CF-29s is droping rapidly I imagine that more people will start buying them. I paid $850 for my CF-29ETKGDKM. I got it from Hitech Assets on ebay for $850 and it came with a DVD Rom! I cannot stress enough what great guys they are. (No connections there... Just a happy camper.) Mine came looking pretty much brand new with only light wear on the Touchscreen protector. I've already spiffed it up with a 7200rpm, 100GB hard drive and a Bluetooth PCMCIA card. Since there is no internal slot on the 29 I used one of the side slots. Using the Billionton Bluetooth card with the moveable antenna... It fits right in and you can close the door and STILL get a signal if you are within 20-30 feet! I want to add GPS and maybe an external SMA antenna jack. Since mine came with the CDMA it has the antenna connector in the back just like the 28 does when equipped with the RIM board. It looks like there may be enough space on the 29 to take that out and put in a SMA bulkhead connector. There is not enough room to do a proper job on the 28. (and leave you enough threads to make sure you can connect with ANY antenna.) On the 28 you can't slide the door closed if it is installed correctly. It looks like the 29 has a little more room in there so I may try it. I almost don't want to mess with the wireless as the existing setup is pretty darn good. It even gives the 600mW cards a run for their money!


Link to Service Manual


Use this thread for anything related to the CF-29... Problems, answers, mods, hints, tips, tricks, hacks or whatever else you can think of. Of course if you need quick answers you should start another thread with your own topic.

So... Have FUN and Post Away!​

 

Thanks. I appreciate the link. I'll hook it up and do the Service Pack 2 updates after I get back from the doctors office this morning. So far I like this thing. It just has a whole different feel to it versus the 28...

 

What? Nothing? no mini PCI? no PCMCIA? no multi-purpose option board? wow.. That's going to be hard to get used to after using 28s!

 

I've only had it for 3 days.... Give me time.... give me time....

 

TB,
As you know, I'm waiting on a 1gig DDR, 333, PC2700 memory chip from newegg at the present time. I'll post a report when I receive that.

For what it's worth, my interests are CDMA, internal GPS, BT (I'll take a look at the Billionth PCMCIA card) and a "how to" post with photos for the hard drive change out like the one posted for the CF-28.

 

The hard drive was easy enough to change out. It is a little more complicated as there were a lot more taped areas. But there is really only one way to put it all back together. My thought is that you should take a picture of it with a digital camera so you remember how it all went together. Maybe when I have the time I can put one together. The Manual (above) will help a little too!

 

Okay... I took the bottom off to take a gander at what we have... Here's a shot of the laptop with the bottom removed.




My first thought was that there is not near the room inside when compared to the CF-28. The shot above is with all the components taken out. (Battery, hard drive, floppy, etc.) It appears that the Sprint CDMA assembly slides in the side just above the battery.




I'm assuming that this is where the other options would go as well. (GPS, Bluetooth, etc.) Here's a shot of the slide assembly... The top...



And the bottom... (I guess depending on how you are looking at it!)



I suppose this is a good news/bad news type thing. The bad news is that there is limited space. The other bad news is that there are A LOT of connectors with HAIR THIN wires that feed into the connectors. It looks like it would be VERY easy to pull the wires out of their connectors if they were pulled the wrong way. The other bad news that I already touched on... Lack of space.

Now... The good news. The wires are already run up to the antenna so I would imagine they could be disconnected and used for a GPS antenna. Where the CF-28 is easy to split and is faily easy to work on... This one looks like it would definitely take patience and knowledge to do just about any mod to it. Did I mention that space is at a premium in here?

So... I am either going to have to have a 2nd CF-29 to play around with so if I mess it up I can still use my other one or it will just happen one night... I'm in my shop... I'm drinking Jack... And the rest you can figure out.

 

Oh... And the other thing I did was to put a little dab of Artic Silver paste on the heatsinks. I'll run SpyBot now and see what the temps get up to.

 

Well, I was just going to ask a question but your pictures answered them. I loaded Service Pack 2, successful and then tried to load the driver for the ProWireless card(or whatever it's called) from the panny website. Looked like it was going to load and then up popped a message that said it was NOT supported.

I thought about going back down to High Tech but it's snowing like crazy. I'll pull the back and first make sure the card is in there. Some work has already been done on the 29 as it has a 60 gig hard drive with a sticker from Heartlandsi with a date of 08-06.

 

It looks like the Arctic Silver cooled it down by 2 degrees F so far.

 

Here's one way to tell if you (should) have the card. Unscrew the two screws on one of the black tabs on the top of LCD. Lift it up to see if there is an antenna there. If there is that means that you should have the card in there... I would think. I'm not sure of they run the antennas anyway... Regardless of if you have a CF-29 equipped with wifi or not.

 

The card is in there. That was just too easy to take the bottom cover off. Only 2 sizes of screws. I will get this figured out, one way or the other....

 

You should go the the link I sent you and download every driver you need... Reinstall them!

 

TB,you and Modly gave me the same advice when I first got my 29. It worked for me.

 

I don't feel so down any more. It was in the BIOS settings. It was marked DISABLE. I changed it and bam!!

So if I want to put a new, faster card in, do I need to delete the program for the Intel(R) wireless first????

I kinda feel like a chump for not checking that hours ago....

 

Hey... Play with it first. Believe me... That was the first thing I thought...

MORE POWER


But this thing is actually pretty darn good the way it is! I'm surprised and don't think I even want to mess with it now. But then the flip side is... If it works that well now...I wonder what another 500mw would do for us!

Your shot to call... If you swap... Please use some guidelines to reference performance of both... Like how many SSIDs you see in NetStumbler and maybe some dB measurements.

... Just checked the BIOS... <snickering as he sips his Jack>

 

who is this guy jack and why are you sipping him?

 

. <Hic> .​

 

:confused2: I feel sick....

 

Well... I just go in my plastic "chicklet" style illuminated keyboard. Of course I had to install it. I love the keyboard because the slightest tap and the keystrokes register. No forcing the keys as on the rubber type. The thing is... Just like on the rubber type... It has three levels of illumination. BUT... The CF-29 doesn't have the sensor (At least on this one.) to turn it off to save the battery. I'll have to check on the schematics and parts diagrams to see if one is available. I'm sure it would have to be.

 

TB - How is the screen in daylight compared to the 28 - I really struggle with the poor visibility when in bright conditions in my truck - is the 29 better?

Thanks

 

The 29's screen is much brighter overall than the CF-28. It appears to be better in daylight as well but still is not a daylight readable screen.

 

Nope, no sensor on any of 'em. The light stays on all of the time. Except for the black chicklet backlit keyboard on the 28, the backlights don't go out too often. Usually the warranty is up long before that happens so it's no money out of their pocket. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen but isn't too common.

 

I have a new hard drive I'd like to put into my CF-29. Does anyone know who has the best prices on Windows XP Pro full edition? My 29 as a COA on the back but I don't have the disks to reinstall.

 

Stiffnecked... You have PM...

EDIT - Any XP install disk will do. Though I think it should be ver. 2002 with Svc Pack 2. It doesn't matter if you use one from a different PC as you will be using the COA on the bottom of the laptop. That is how I install XP on the CF-28s that I have. I have been using the same XP disk for months. BUT... They are all legit, factory stamped COAs. When they don't... I take off the old COA and apply a fresh (legit) Win XP COA.

 

Stiff -

If yer looking for Retail Copy of Windoze, yer best bet is gonna be to Google for "Shop Windows XP" or similar string; otherwise yer getting into kindof a grey area for this forum. If you listen to Micro$uck's Pinkerton men, they'll tell you ANY copy of Windows sold without a COA (Unless, of course THEY are the ones selling it) is a violation of their CopyRight; They've been doctoring the laws for so long it's nigh impossible to tell for sure in every case. I do know it's legal to sell a computer with Windows installed with a used COA and Product Key on it; but getting the copy of Windows to install from is another story. I have legal copies of pretty much everything back to '95; but I simply will not risk making copies for other people.

mnem
*WhiteHat-ily*

 

You're right about getting into the gray area and maybe we should stop while we are ahead.... BUT... I thought the COA was the thing. If he has 3 PCs in his house with all having XP Pro installed... He can use the install disk from one for the other as long as the proper, legit COA goes into the correct PC... There shouldn't be a problem... Technically or legally.

 

Thanks guys. I was just looking for directions to a good retail "seller" of the legit full version. I looked on Ebay but that got me to thinking how do you know if the real, is really real???

My first bad experience happened on Ebay this week. Been buying and selling on there for 10 years, only 1 negative feedback out of 2500+. Anyway I bid on an item and won. Paid via Paypal, seller sent the item right away. Good deal so far. Until I opened the package. He had pulled the bait and switch.
Posted a pic of an item and then sent me something else. Contacted Ebay so we'll see how that goes.....The seller's response, no refunds!!!

 

I think that we all dread that happening on ebay. If the seller doesn't make it right; please let us know who to watch out for.

 

I don't buy software on ebay any more. I was burned BAD by a guy who sold me several XP install disks. As soon as I got them I could tell they were fake. Good fakes but fakes none the less. They wouldn't install. I demanded a refund and got it. He wanted the disks returned but I didn't send them to him. I thought about turning him over to Microsoft but he pleaded that he was burned by he guy who sold them to him. He had 99.5% pos feedback so I would think he wasn't lying. He sent me emails for about a month asking for them and then gave up. I started an email to Microsoft but never followed up on it.

It's too easy to get scammed for that on ebay.... But I agree... They are going downhill because they don't follow up on the scammers as they should.

 

Absolutely correct TB. This was why I was so picky about getting my XP COA for the TB I just got from blindcenterNV - I know how much that 3-Pack from Newegg costs.

Pappy, your best bet is to try and find a friend locally who will let you borrow their install disk. M$ has jacked the price up so high on XP to FORCE us to buy Vista... I remember when Vista came out - I bought a 10-Pack of XP Pro for $600; now the vendor I bought from only has single copies for $189.

mnem
The least they could do is give you a little K-Y...

 

Mmmmhmmm... Stiff - one thing to look for is a large number of "Ratings mutually withdrawn". There are vendors who will gladly sell crap, then not service their customer, then when you post negative (or even neutral) feedback, they post a negative feedback of utter vitriolic lies. This pressures a member with good feedback to want to get the evil feedback off their own record, so they "settle out of court" by doing the mutually withdrawn feedback thing.

There are vendors who play the razor's edge game and are eBay PowerSellers, but beware - as long as their feedback is 98.5% or lower (This SEEMS reasonable, especially for a large-volume vendor) they are not held responsible under eBay's Fair Trade regs. With a vendor selling 150 items at a time, this means they can totally hose a customer every week and still keep their feedback at right around that level; more if they play that mutually withdrawn feedback scam. Now multiply that by 10, or 100, or 1000 for some vendors...

mnem
*Member of echoBay since 1995*

 

I buy my XP from Newegg in 3-paks... That is the cheapest way.

The Nevada Centerr will most likely want you to ship it back. OR... They will offer you a $60 refund. Since I bought so many of them from them and 4 were wrong... They offered me a choice. send them back (NO) $60 X 4= $240 (NO) or two CF-28s with XP COAs when they get them in. (YES!!!!!) They also switched out the last parts unit I bought with Win98 to the coolio one they sent me with XP dual booth/GPS/ WIFI/etc. So they will have MORE than made up for their mistake in my book... When I get my two laptops that is. They usually have good stuff. I think they were training someone and they posted the wrong info. Either that or they were just plain... uh, nevermind.

 

Oh, now you're just gloating.:rolleyes2:

Bad TB... BAAAAD...
mnem
*Slaps TB with a largish trout*:tongue:

 

It was scary at first... The guy said he wanted them all back. I told him that I immediately clean them up and start refurbishing them immeiately! I have a business to run. I told him that we have *options*... such as... <insert list here> He gave me 4-5 options. The guy was very apologetic and very nice at all times. Something VERY rare on ebay these days and why I like to deal with this seller in particular. I haven't seen the laptops yet so who knows how it will actually turn out. But normally a month doesn't go by that they don't list a string of Toughbooks on ebay. So I'm keeping my eyes open.

 

Is this a general thread?

Now this question may sound like a how long is a piece of string, but is the CF29's touch screen better, brighter and more daylight readable?

I'm about to get a CF28 marked as "bright" so with the 2 I have already I'll have a comparison. But am thinking of moving up to a CF29 but only if the screen is serviceable, in a vehicle in daylight.

 

gbee.... Welcome! Yes... It's a general thread.

The 13" screen on the CF-29 is brighter than the CF-28 but I see no daylight readable screen option in Panasonic's Toughbook Configurator page. (Click below)

http://www.config.toughbook.com/pcsc/config/tgconfigure.nsf?open&selected=discontinued-all

The 28 has this option clearly available (12" transflective) while the 29 does not. With that said... The 29's screen is easier to read in daylight than a similarly equipped 28. But it is not as easy to read when the 28 is equipped with a daylight readable screen.

The strange thing is... .The configurator doesn't mention a daylight readable screen option (For CF-29) yet Panasonic's website does!

Does anyone know for sure?

 

My Fujitsu ST 5031 has a daylight viewable screen, and so far (haven't had the 29 that long) it does a better job outside (the 29).

 

Yes the CF-29 has an optional 12" transflective screen with bezel mounted sensor set up just like the 28 except that it really works a little better than the CF-28.

 

How come it doesn't show up on the configurator? I've been reading up on the subject... I only see mention of a 13" transflective, daylight readable screen... No 12" for the 29.

 

It's in the configurator try inputing: CF-29CRKGZKM

 

Aha! I wasn't looking under 1.2Ghz... Apparently the only model available....

EDIT - But it doesn't say daylight readable like it does with the 28 series.

 

It says transflective at the bottom of the page

 

Hey Guys,

Im eying CF-29s. Do any of you have the document that breaks down the CF-29 models...CF-29XXXXXXX. I would like to know what exactly Im looking at because I don't trust half of the yahoos on ebay.

 

K,
Check through this thread, and the thread for RAM for CF-29, in one of them I posted the support site for Panasonic. Check the FAQs; they should tell you letter by letter what each letter of the model number means and the specs. Also the Panasonic configurator site shows information for any model number that I have tried.

Plus, if you have any doubts about the model number given on ebay, contact the seller and have them read the number off of the back of the machine. Between the two sites I mentioned above (plus this forum) you should be able to find out most things about your prospective purchase. Many of the 29s I've seen advertised have been upgraded to DVD instead of Floppy disc. In my case the hard drive is 60 gig instead of the 40 gig that Panasonic listed.
Good Luck!

 

Go here....

http://www.config.toughbook.com/

And type in the model number... Or play around with what you want/need to see if they make that configuration. (If not... YOU can!)

 

Thanks guys. Im waiting to hear back on the model number of the machine Im watching.

 

Just got my 1GB of RAM installed. It seems a little quicker but time will tell.

I do love the CF-29..... Especially with the keyboard I bought for it.

NOW... I need to get GPS in it!

 

TB,
You should have said it's a whole lot faster after the RAM. MneM will Gloat for sure!

I'd like to do internal GPS, but my first priority is the built in CDMA (Sprint) wireless broandband. If we can figure out how to do that without me mortgageing the ranch, I'd be happy.

 

Moi? Gloat? Hardly... I might dance the Happy Dance, but only if there's a clear winner... And Snoopy can come out to play.

mnem
Did anyone see a huge rottweiler chasing a deer come through here?

Yup... it were nip and tuck, but I think the dog were a bit ahead...