There's a hole in the bucke... er Toughboook

I just received my CF-29 Toughbook which I ordered from TigerDirect.

I expected many things from a used item, especially a used Toughbook. Scratches, dents, worn touchpad/keys, etc. What I did not expect was a hole. Right between "Osaka Japan" and "Made in Japan"


Warning Will Robinson we have a breach!!!

What I can see through the hole looks black, maybe more plastic?
As this is my first Toughbook my knowledge is limited, so I'm not sure if this is a bid deal or not. The black piece I'm seeing may be the very piece broken by whatever impact caused this hole.

I don't want to take it apart just yet as I may be returning it. If it's not a big deal I'll probably keep it. If it's more major I may return it for a new one from there or perhaps another source.

You'all with more experience with the inner workings of these devices can clue me in to exactly what I am facing. My take is that at the very least I'll need a new bottom for this machine.

Thanks in advance for your input

Mike

 

Send it back, no question!

 

Yeah, mine had a hole as well but I was lucky enough to buy a good bottom plate from a h3lpMedic here, AND my motherboard was undamaged by the impact. But a hole permeating the case kind of defeats the purpose of a Toughbook, right.

I guess that if you got it cheap enough, like some cash back from the seller, you could J&B Weld it.

 

I used 2 part epoxy to fix a hole in the top of my notebook once after i removed the brand badge , I mixed it with a little black pen ink from a ball point pen to get the colour and it set fine , I masked off the area with tape before i filled the hole.

 

That is a dip in the bottom cabinet, That is just a hole in the sticker and will not affect anything.

 

I was thinking what TB Tech said.

I'd take a small screwdriver or pocket knife and lift up the broken edges of the plastic skin there; you should be easily able to verify if it's actually a hull breach or just a little battle scarring.

mnem
Battered but still standing.

 

Yep, Battle Scar!

Last night I stayed up into the wee hours to open her up and asses the damage. The hole is indeed only through the large lable "sticker" that covers most of the back. It is a raised area in the inside where one of the heat pipes rests, a "bump-in" if you will. Here you can clearly see, no breach.


For a moment I had my self half convinced I wasn't going to open up the case before deciding weather or not to return it. Yeah right!

 

Then fix it, dear Mike, dear Mike, fix it!! So... you're gonna fix it or return to sender?

*off to dig into the vinyl shelves for Belafonte & Odetta's rendition of the holey song performed live at the Carnegie Hall*

 

I would just fix it... Screw wasting money on shipping it back...

 

With the full model number in hand I went to the Panny cornflligulator to peer into the past...

CF-29HTM50BM

CF-29 DUH
H Pentium 1.4GHz
T 13.3" Touch
M ? the list goes from "L" to "N" and skips "M"
5 ? Salt resistant-------------------\__Not sure why/if these two are out of order?
0 ? Floppy/Ethernet special config__ /
B Win XP Pro SP2
M North America

So I have a somewhat better idea of what I have here. Already knew it was a mark 3 from reading the wonderful CF-29 F.A.Q. The rest I'm sure I'll soon find.

Planned mods/extras:
Lind PA1555-655; en route
Emmissive keyboard; en route
CD/DVD burner drive; here, have to mod cradle
EnGenius EMP-8602S; en route
GPS; so many choices here, still researching this one, most likely will
Bluetooth; working on something...
New touchpad, maybe; don't know the price, will check into getting in on the Heartland order
New display back/top: this one is painted silver and missing the "Toughbook" embossed plaque

 

You got it!:laugh:


I'm gonna leave it be. Its not harming anything and battle scars are a badge of honor!

 

"The devil's in the details."

You didn't scroll down far enough on the Configurator:

DESCRIPTION:
***SBC ONLY***Pentium M 738-1.4G LV (Centrino), 13.3 Transmissive touch XGA, 512MB, 40GB, WLAN 802.11a+b+g, Win XP SP2, Tester I/F, EDGE(GC83), logo, asset tag, replaceable RJ11 jack


This is the same as my Mk3 machine: a retired SBC (Southwestern Bell Company) DSL line tester unit (minus the VIP tester module).

That's because it originally came with the SBC logo in place of the Toughbook logo (see specs above).

 

I done scrolled down to the bottom.
All I get is...


I feel there's something I'm missing.
Do I need to input the model# out of sequence, i.e. not HTM50BM?
I tried but I am unable to re-create your result.
I'm probably missing something obvious.

 

Are you using Microsoft Internet Explorer, because that is the only Internet Browser that works on the Panasonic Configuration Site.

 

Yeah... The "hole by the heatpipe" is a fairly common occurrence. You can fix it from the inside or outside if it bothers you.

 

Yes, you betcha. The other browsers won't even load the page enough to show selections.

Below is what I am getting.
Using HTM50BM, there is no "M" option under HDD-RAM. I tried putting "N" as I have a 40GB HDD - 512 MB RAM, but it still does not work. I skip this setting and can continue with the sequence however "0" is skipped and I don't get a valid system in the end.
I tried clicking on "show all models" hoping this would do it, I actually got fewer options under the HDD-RAM drop-down.


Its not a big concern, I just wonder why I can't seem to get the same result as others.

 

I tried it also and it worked fine for me. Make sure you:

1. Use Internet Explorer as was stated
2. Put in the FULL model number (confirmed by looking in the BIOS)
3. If you have been copying and pasting, try manually typing in the model #.

 

If you go to the Configurator page:

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

and paste in the exact model ID:

CF-29HTM50BM

you will get the proper results (listed previously).

You are using Mickeysoft Internet Exploder, aren't you?

 

1. Check
2. Check, same in BIOS as on HDD caddy
3. COPY/PASTE... TYPING??? OH!! I have been going to the CF-29 page and manually clicking on the drop-down menus, totally skipping the enter your model number section.

I see it keeps several areas blank.

Thank you for the help I knew I was missing something simple.

 

Hi all,
I'm new as an active member but I'm already a Toughbook addicted...
I currently use Mozilla Firefox as internet browser and discovered that the Panasonic Configuration Site also works with this browser.
Go to the view menu>page style>no style than click the refresh button... and the conf page will display and work!
BTW thank you all for this very informative forum
Ciao
Pierluigi

 

Sorry Pierluigi, When I follow your instruction exactly in FireFox 3.5.2 , I get a very basic text page with the place to enter model number near the bottom. It does return some information, partly, for me with 3 fields blank.

HDD - RAM:
Multimedia Pocket - LAN - Bluetooth:
Integrated Options:

It then get stuck at:
Loading Model Data, please wait...

Based on this, I can not concur that it "works" with Firefox. Perhaps others will have better luck.

Now when I try it in M$ Explorer, it works correctly, first time, every time.

Look even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then...

 

Ooops, sorry for not being that helpful as I hoped for
It works everytime for me...maybe the italian version of Firefox is different or it is my XP64 desktop...

 

Azrial,
You should update your Firefox to 3.6.3 and then toughhog's fix works just fine. Of course, YMMV.
Paul

 

Yes, it works with Firefox 3.6.3, sort of. It does not give all the info that IE6,7,8 give. It will give the drop down list to pick from. And it works without changing any settings in Firefox.

Glen