cf29, HELP!!

Background story: I inherited a cf29 with no hard drive, no battery, no charger, no wireless card.

I basically destroyed an aftermarket hard drive caddy trying to get a sata hard drive to work. I opted to use the media bay to hold my hard drive as it's much easier, and I think my caddy is toast.

I canibalized an old toshiba satellite s302 and got my wireless card.

Got a charger and battery from somewheres (don't remember) and installed xubuntu linux. Everything was working fine, but at some point while I was trying to figure out what was going on with my wireless situation, a metal bracket fell out of the bottom of the laptop.

Chapstick is for size reference.



And the main problem with this thing being gone? All of a sudden my battery stopped charging. Blinking red light of death, ubuntu doesn't recognize there's a battery in it, and neither does the bios (ctrl+f9)

Are the issues related? Or do I just have a junk battery? And where in the world did this bracket thing come from?

Any help will be appreciated!


Also, bios recognizes that I have a touch screen, but touching the screen doesn't seem to do anything. I'm wondering if somebody swapped the screen out before I got the toughbook. There is also no extendable antenna on the left side of the screen.

I also have a 2.8ghz single core processor from my old toshiba... would it just fry if it were in the tough book due to lack of fans?


P.S. I'm planning on using this baby for college work starting feb 25th so the sooner the advice, the better. Thank you!

 

That little bracket is the Kensington security lock reinforcement I think. Not related to electrical/electronic issues unless battery/power lead was connected when it fell out and it short-circuited somewhere.
With a 2.8 processor you'll be able to toast bread..
And the processor is BGA soldered.

 

First of all, please post the full model number. I am guessing that it is a CF-29HTM50BM
What voltage is your charger? It needs to be 16 volts NOT 19 volts.
Forget a SATA hard drive. It needs a PATA (IDE) drive.
Processor is soldered to the motherboard and NOT upgradeable.
Touchscreen is probably worn out. They are repairable (by the knowledgeable members of the forum)or replaceable.
I don't recognize the bracket, but I have not had a cf29 apart in a long time. And I just sold all of my cf29 parts, so I can't even look.

 

Part number: CF29PTWGZBM (MK5 I think?)

charger, 16 volts, 4.5 amps.

Nix the processor idea. I figured it would get too hot anyway (toast bread! I like it!) Considering the heat sink in that toshiba weighed almost half a pound.

I'm willing to try my hand at fixing the touch screen... I'll look into it. Sounds like fun. Thank you very much for both your quick replies. Any idea on the battery? I hope the model number helps.

 

Battery is probably bad. Just for the fun of it, leave the battery in the unit and leave the charger connected for 10 or 15 minutes. I do this to be certain it is bad.
The batteries have 2 different RED conditions. They either blink red or stay solid red.. One will take a charge and one won't. I forget which is which.

Touchscreen has 2 options. First is you take it out and replace it. Second is take it out and send it to someone for repair. The specific repair technique is a guarded secret.(I am serious about that)
The repair method was discovered by a longtime member who earns a living selling Toughbooks. So we can't give away this secret and thereby affect his income. If the secret was out, Fleabay sellers would destroy his profit margin.

 

The battery is definitely bad then. I've tried taking it out, blowing on it, putting it in, let it charge for a while, etc. I'll try to track down who I bought the battery from, as it's less than a month old.

How much does a touchscreen repair roughly cost by this gentleman, and how do I get in contact with him?

 

I sent a PM to him. I don't know the cost. That will be between you and him.
Definately try for a refund on that battery.

 

Gentleman? There's a good start.
$50 minimum which might repair the screen. If not repairable parts and labor bring it to $125. with a new touchpanel. I prefer to repair it. We...don't know how long the repair lasts....no returns yet. I did have one un-repair itself but caught it as I was shipping it. Second time worked.
You pay shipping both ways...medium flat rate works fine. I will need the a real caddy or can use one of mine. If I get the caddy I will factory restore it so the files are there in the right order. Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa! did you say Linux? What kernel and flavor....is that Ubuntu based? I like 10.10 for the mark 5. You should have touch out of the box with 12.04 as I recall.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/pan...untu-11-10-touchscreen-issue.html#post8400457

Check this out. It's only three pages and has some other links mentioned.

Some like Unity some ()hate it.

Jeff....a work in progress...

Code:

$lshal | grep LBPS/2 ##what does this show?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/496467-cf-29-ubuntu-10-4-success.html#post6422641

 

This is what your 29 had when it left the factory.

Configuration Results

Model Number : CF-29PTWGZBM
Status : DISCONTINUED
MSRP : $4,521
Description: ***FEDERAL CUSTOMERS ONLY***, Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHzLV,13.3" Touch XGA,512MB,80GB, NON-WIRELESS, Win XP SP2, SmartCard, TPM1.2,No Drive

 

P.S.
I've got repaired touchscreen panels on the bezel. $35 plus shipping conus.

Can you boot to a white screen? Any screen burns? If no burns then this is the best deal. I'm scrapping a few upper halves due to burns and this is the result. For long term word processing and stuff the burns would bug ya I think.

Third time I wrote this. I got interrupted before or didn't send it right. I did find the last one in autosave so thanks to NBR for that.

 

That's a good deal! :thumbsup:

 

That's an AWESOME deal!

 

And as usual it's good for 72 hours from the time I posted it. I do this to encourage the occasional poster to check back. Especially those with no PM privileges. (Those with PM I can contact directly).

Thanks guys,

Jeff

Deal good until 12 noon pst 10 February 2013. Counting down.

 

ONLY 4500? That's a Steal LOL

Sadlmakr;

Can you repair pretty much any touchscreen? (CF29 & CF30?) I have a CF30 with a blown fuse on the CFl board. No fuse, bad eyesight, and havent done micro components in 2 decades...

 

I don't do fuses. My repairs are in the upper half. Thanks for asking.
I nearly missed this.......not complaining....repeat not complaining but for those that want to talk to me ....please use PM. I'm jumping around, busy on the ranch, and once a post gets dated I probably won't look at it until the next rain. I have my little niche...is that the fancypants word? and drop in and out of the forum when I'm settin.

..........isn't too far off.

What's a CFI? .........see what I mean.....and I'm 64 and my eyesight ain't too keen.