help with CF29 touchscreen and pcmcia slots

Folks,

I'm new to Toughbooks and this forum. I purchased a used CF29 (Cf-29ETKGZKM) ON ebay and can't seem to get the touch screen and pcmcia slots to work.

Does the touch screen have to use a stylus?

I've tried a Sprint (S720) wireless broandband card and a GPS in the PC slots and neither light up.

Can these machines be worked on by the average computer tech; or should they be returned to the factory.

Thank y'all for the help.

 

You can service it with no problem.

Have you installed the drivers for the touchscreen? If not, find one here; http://panasonic.ca/english/customercare/sandd/softwarequery.asp

I'm not sure about your PCMCIA cards though... Might be a BIOS problem?

Like many of the panasonic guys here, I've been busy drinking tonight to solve some stress problems... so my thinking is lacking tonight.

So try installing a driver for the touchscreen, and I'll ponder the PCMCIA card thing a bit more.

 

Did you try to contact your seller or was this an ASIS item? Need to make sure the OS was loaded from a Panasonic recovery disk to ensure all the drivers are there. Otherwise you will have to hunt down all the drivers on the net.

 

Modly,
I tried the link and no results were found. I did dl some drivers from Panasonic earlier; but they were the same that I had. I'm running XP Pro, SP2

tough_2-go,
I contacted the seller who denied claiming that the unit had TS. It was mentioned in the ad TWICE. The Panasonic recovery disc (which I don't have) could be an issue. When I did the updates with MSN, they said my copy of XP was bogus.

Thank you both for the replies.

 

The model you gave does specify it is touchscreen so it probably just needs a driver and yeah get rid of the bogus OS fast.

 

Does it have a valid license on the bottom? If not, report the guy to eBay for selling a computer with a pirated copy of XP.

Did you read the directions for the touchscreen driver? You have to manually update the mouse in the device manager with the new driver for it to work.

I did find this using the link I showed you; http://panasonic.ca/PDP/Drivers/mouse_29_2_d030178.exe

 

Modly,
You are a stud! The clue about manually updateing the mouse in the device manager did the trick. I had the correct driver all of the time; I just didn't know enough to manually update it. Thanks a million. You folks on this sight know your stuff

 

No problem. We try our best to be the best.

The PCMCIA slots... when you stick a card in, does anything show up in the device manager?

If not, try entering the BIOS on startup and see if cardbus A is disabled.

 

Cheers, Modly.. and don't drink too much. I also just finished 3 bottle of bud and now the hard stuff

 

I had a couple of 22oz Stone brews. Good strong hoppy beer!

 

Modly,
When I plug a card in, I get a yellow question mark in the device manager. It's called an unknown device.

In the bios; the card bus controller A says enable.

 

Sounds like it might not have the right drivers installed or associated with the cards.

Try re-installing the drivers, and if it doesn't work, insert them one at a time and manually select drivers like you did with the touchscreen.

 

Modly,
O.K., I tried that (I know I'm really lame here), but the same thing, (previously described), keeps happening. Most likely my lack of knowledge. On my other two laptops I loaded the CD(s), followed the prompts, plugged in the card(s) and they worked. If it goes beyond that, I'm at a loss.

 

When I plug in the card(s) in my other laptop(s) a light comes on to indicate that the card is powered. That doesn't happen when I plug the cards in my CF-29

 

Is it possible that my pcmcia slots are not being powered for some mechanical reason?

 

I thought that I would make this post in case there is one more DA like me out there some day.

My problems with the PCMCIA slots turned out to be twofold. The PC card that was lighting up, and giving the recognition bonk, just needed drivers applied at the right time. That one was solved fairly easily with help from Modly and the folks on this site. The second card was a little tougher for this old codger.

The card would appear to go in ok and seat, but would not light up, or give a bonk to show that it was being "found".

After trying everything that I "knew" (0), I sat down with a magnifying glass, (yeah, I'm that old) and examined the offending PC card carefully. It turned out that it had a burr in the plastic casing on the sides that prevented it from fully seating. I removed those burrs and now it also works fine. The insidious part of the whole mess was that card worked just fine in my other two laptops; just not the CF-29.

Bottom line; I got this PCMCIA problem solved with a little help from the good folks on this site, and a little old fashioned luck.