cf-30 GPS-There or not there?

I just got my hands on yet another Toughbook,a CF-30 in amazing condition and for an amazing deal.
I am impressed at how big a step up it is from the CF-29,didn't beleive it until I had it in front of me.

Anyway the Bios says there is GPS....I think,it has an enable/disable selection but the Device Manager neither reports it or its serial port?

Any ideas?

I have tried a few GPS software to try and detect the presence but I am not convinced so far.
A lot of devices in these TB's are not visible until the correct drivers and sequence is followed first and I can not find any reference to this for the GPS.

Thanks
Ed

 

Ed,

Welcome to the forum!

If you have it you should enable it in the BIOS... After that you should be able to open up any Satellite program like WinFast or GPS Info and find it (usually) on COM3. The Panasonic site has GPS registry drivers available though I don't recall ever needing them. I think they are for use if you have the "jumping mouse" issue.

So... Fresh intall or old install?

 

Thanks for the reply.
It is enabled in Bios but no Sat programs I tried have seen it and there is no indication in Device Mgr that the port is there,there are Com 1& 2 but not 3 listed.

There is also an issue with some unrecognized device and I can not figure out what it is.

PCI Data acquisition and signal processing controller-which could be it? but I can not find a driver it is looking for?

It is an install the previous owner put there to sell I guess but he clearly had little idea what he was doing as almost nothing worked when I got it. In fact the screen was so bright it was almost hard to look at and the hotkeys didn't work yet either.

I got almost all of it going but am stuck on this.

It has XP on it but I got a Vista Business recovery disc with it and I don't really want Vista on it at all.

I will probably stick a huge fast drive in it right away and have to start fresh anyway and decide then which way to go.

Ed

 

Post your full model number, that will give some needed info

Did you happen to notice a big bump-out on the lid on the right hand side ( thats the gps antenna)

Its possible that the laptop has been damaged at some point and a complete lid/lcd was swapped for the original , leaving you with the gps internal engine without an antenna

New restore disks are available to restore xp ,they are available from Hearland Services,or on Ebay
I might have a new one aswell

I will check later as to which com port to look for a signal, as I am away from home now and my cf-30 mk-2 c/w stock gps is there



Alex

 

Alex

It is a CF-30FADAXAM

I don't think it is as born though.
The guy I got it from made some swaps I am fairly certain.
Panasonic Support insists that since the Bios shows the GPS that it must have one in there but he also said it is on the motherboard which I am not at all sure I have heard before?

The guy at Panasonic seemed certain also that the issues I am facing are due to the fresh install of SP3 from the seller and I only got the Vista recovery disc.
I think I will try to restore it to Vista and see if that fixes any problems and also see just how bad Vista will suck on yet another machine.
I have had one machine that I could tolerate Vista on to date and who knows?Maybe this will be the 2nd.

plan on putting a big drive in soon anyway so I may well be looking for the XP recovery set as this machine looks like a keeper so far.......that is my problem they all are keepers!

Also it does not have the bump out on the screen,is it possible the antenna is somewhere else?

Thanks again,all info is most appreciated.

I can not believe I have not found you guys sooner as I have a fairly long history and growing pile of Toughbooks.

Ed

 

Well i'm confused
My bios does not list gps at all
Under which tab does yours show gps ? and let me know what the item is before and after the gps listing
The gps in on com 3
Go into hyperterminal and configure to com3 4800 baud and see if the gps is outputing any sentences


Alex

 

I am wondering if he has a CF-29 sled with the GPS installed, this would explain the lack of the bump on the LCD right side. The standard CF-30 GPS is mounted under the keyboard. I have often wondered if the CF29 sled mounted GPS would be rcognized by the CF-30 BIOS.

 

I am on my way out of town for the week so I will not be able to look at this right now.
the only thing on the sled seems to be a Verizon Modem.

I am fairly sure in Bios it was on the second screen?

I will be back when I can.

Thanks
Ed

 

I think tough-to-go nailed the answer
That makes sence, a wwan sled has been put in that included the gps
Thats why it shows up in the bios and my stock gps doesn't
If you take the two retaining screws out of the wwan sled above the battery and slide it out you should be able to tell if there is a gps module there as you will see two different antenna outputs on the sled ( one for wwan + one out for gps) and possibly even see the gps module


Alex

 

If it is a 29 sled, then he would have to remove the PCB for the Verizon modem before he would see the GPS engine. But, if he took off the end cap, he should see the small patch antenna for the GPS (unless of course, that too, is missing). Some pics would help a great deal Ed. If you could, remove your sled and end cap and take some pics of that sled. Also, remove the PCB holding the verizon modem and take pics underneath.

The other thing I was thinking is having him run GPSinfo to see if GPS shows as being installed on an odd comm port. Ed, this program searches ALL comm ports, it may help also.

Report back with pics if you can after your trip.

 

OK,I am back in town now having traveled last week with the 30.

I don't know where I thought I saw the GPS indictor in the BIOS but now I do not?!?

Sorry for the time I wasted of yours trying to help me with this.

I am sure I saw the GPS somewhere but now I can not find it.

Now I am trying to understand what it will take to get one in there?

From what I read here has anyone gotten a CF 29 sled with GPS & WWAN to work in a CF 30?



Ed