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the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

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ajkula66
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the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#1 Post by ajkula66 » Sun May 13, 2012 4:18 pm

Once in a blue, I feel like pushing stuff to and beyond its limits...even at this age...

When I was younger - much younger - it was doubling the output tube voltage on "black face" Fender amps as well as on some others...killed a few of them in the process, of course... :roll: ...but those that survived sold at interesting prices...

Then it was shaving engine heads, enlarging combustion chambers and stuffing *big* carbs in a variety of cars...now some serious fun was had with that... :jhem:

All of that took place several lifetimes ago...

In my "ThinkPad era" of experimenting I'm at the point that I've forgotten half of the stuff I've done over the years, and only recall it once someone else reminds me of all the craziness... :P

But I always wanted a maxed-out T43p...the last full-size ThinkPad with no Windows key...

This particular unit has a somewhat unusual history. It was built in November of 2006 - a year and a half after Lenovo had acquired the PC division - and was "assembled in the U.S. of U.S. and non-U.S. components for Lenovo". The original clear plate stated " Lenovo T43p".

I purchased a bulk of these a couple of years ago and sold this one to ThinkRob. It was likely the cleanest example in the entire lot at the time, and Rob kept in the same - if not better - condition until he gave up on it mostly due to lack of support for ATi cards of this vintage in the *nix world...so yes, I bought it back from him last month... :)

Here's what my blank canvass started as - with the updates in bold - and coloured for the most important ones...

ThinkPad T43p (2668-BY8)

Based on 2668-Q6U:
P M 780(2.26GHz)
2GB RAM
80GB 7200rpm HD................now Crucial 64GB SATA III SSD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820148361)
15in 1600x1200 LCD
128MB ATI FireGL V3200
CDRW/DVD........................NONE. UltraBay SATA HD carrier pending a 1TB drive...
Wireless upgradeable...........generic Atheros chipped a/b/g/n mini-PCI card
Modem..............................now Bluetooth/Modem
1Gb Ethernet
UltraNav
Secure chip
Fingerprint reader
9c Li-Ion batt
WinXP Pro..........................now Windows 7 Pro 32-bit
Modded BIOS

Now, this is what the unit looked like once RealBlackStuff was done with the SATA mod:

Image

Well...since no one else in this household will be allowed to touch the machine, I had to exchange the keyboard for my favourite worn one:

Image

Yes, this is a pretty clean T43p...no matter where one went to school...

Image

An UXGA IPS LCD at its best...and I'm being very serious here:

Image

A special shot for the non-believers...

Image

Why do I need a SSD since there's no option to enable AHCI (which is really a must on many of them) and am stuck with SATA I (1.5) speeds anyway? Well, this is from a fresh install of W7 with no tweaks:

Image

No rotational drive will even come close. Trust me. I've tried the very best of them...

For those amongst you who believe in WEI...I don't but have taken the screenshot anyway... :mrgreen:

Image

The Frankie and The Beast chilling together, discussing the demise of a 7-row keyboard on ThinkPads over a couple of cold ones:

Image

And lastly, the baby's bottom... :D

Image

Well, someone asked me to post Crystal Disk results...couldn't figure out how to save them, so here's the picture...

Image
Last edited by ajkula66 on Sun Aug 12, 2012 10:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

twistero
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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#2 Post by twistero » Sun May 13, 2012 7:28 pm

<nitpicking> Does the wireless indicator LED work? :wink: </nitpicking>
X60 tablet 6363-P3U, 3GB ram, 128GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, SXGA+ screen, Intel 6300
T61 Frankenpad in 15 inch T60 body, UXGA LED-lit AFFS LCD, T9300, 6GB RAM, NVidia NVS140m, Intel 6205, 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, 1TB HGST HDD + eBay caddy in Ultrabay
701c butterfly, 75MHz 486DX4, 40MB ram, 1GB CF card

ajkula66
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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#3 Post by ajkula66 » Sun May 13, 2012 8:09 pm

twistero wrote:<nitpicking> Does the wireless indicator LED work? :wink: </nitpicking>
Nope. I guess you knew that... :D

However, the HDD LED does work which is a new addition to the SATA-modding process...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

twistero
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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#4 Post by twistero » Mon May 14, 2012 12:23 am

ajkula66 wrote: Nope. I guess you knew that... :D
But you can make it work. :wink:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_w ... h_WiFi_LED
... and then the LED must be enabled in registry by editing a couple of values called "gpioFunc0ActHi", "gpioLedCustom", and "gpioPinFunc0".
I did that on my X41t and Atheros 5006XS. The hardware mod is slightly tricky, but once everything's in place the result is beautiful. :mrgreen:
X60 tablet 6363-P3U, 3GB ram, 128GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, SXGA+ screen, Intel 6300
T61 Frankenpad in 15 inch T60 body, UXGA LED-lit AFFS LCD, T9300, 6GB RAM, NVidia NVS140m, Intel 6205, 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, 1TB HGST HDD + eBay caddy in Ultrabay
701c butterfly, 75MHz 486DX4, 40MB ram, 1GB CF card

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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#5 Post by dr_st » Mon May 14, 2012 1:53 am

This is an amazing machine. It is only fitting that one of the last T43p units made becomes the ultimate maxed out T43p. :bow:

The collective knowledge and skills of the members of this forum are nothing short of incredible. All the different hardware and BIOS mods, many of which were first revealed on the forums, really unlock the potential of some Thinkpads.

As I said before - T43 series is one good example of a series that aged better than others. Offering very few (if any) tangible advantages over T42 at the time of its release, now, 7 years later it is a much more advanced machine, which can take larger/faster SATA drives and will leave any T42 in the dust.

Congratulations, George - you've got a great unit on your hands. May it serve you well for years and years. :thumbs-UP:
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#6 Post by pianowizard » Mon May 14, 2012 7:12 am

dr_st wrote:As I said before - T43 series is one good example of a series that aged better than others.
Not to mention that it was the last truly beautiful Thinkpad. After the T43/43p, Thinkpads have looked okay at best (even the Z61t) and outright awful at worst.
Dell Latitude 7370 (QHD+, 2.84lb); HP Pavilion x2 12-b096ms (1920x1280, 3.14lb); Microsoft Surface 3 (1920x1280, 2.00lb);
Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (Core i5-6600); Acer ET322QK, T272HUL; Crossover 404K; QNIX QHD2410R; Seiki Pro SM40UNP

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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#7 Post by andi t43p » Tue May 15, 2012 12:11 am

in theoretically, SATA 3 perfomance
-Sustained Sequential Read
up to 355MB/s
-Sustained Sequential Write
up to 75MB/s,

how can you do it next time ?

tks

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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#8 Post by lophiomys » Tue May 15, 2012 3:57 am

What a beautiful machine!
Lophiomys
Thinkpads with 15inch 4:3 UXGA 133DPI IPS/Flexview: 2x T43p SATA Mod., 3x T42p (dying by Flexing), 2x T60p (1xATI, 1xIntel/new BoeHydis);
R51 SXGA+; X31; X41T; X41 Sata Mod; all Made in China; 570E, 701C; MBP15c3UB non-glossy mid09 / formerly 600X, 760E

ajkula66
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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#9 Post by ajkula66 » Tue May 15, 2012 4:51 am

andi t43p wrote:in theoretically, SATA 3 perfomance
-Sustained Sequential Read
up to 355MB/s
-Sustained Sequential Write
up to 75MB/s,

how can you do it next time ?

tks
I'm not quite sure that I understand your question....

While the Crucial SSD is indeed a SATA III capable unit, the old T43p - mine or any other - will only run at SATA I speeds...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

redsparrow
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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#10 Post by redsparrow » Tue May 15, 2012 5:33 pm

George, what an absolute beauty. I remembering being massively tempted when ThinkRob offered it on the forum - seeing it in it's full glory, i can see why you were tempted to buy it back :D I echo the thoughts of the previous comments, and wish you many more years of solid use!

ps. Can we look forward to seeing pics of your two golden oldies - the butterfly and A31p, also??
Current - A31p - T60p - T61
Past - T42 - R50p - Z61t - X61t - T510

ajkula66
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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#11 Post by ajkula66 » Tue May 15, 2012 5:47 pm

lophiomys wrote:
What a beautiful machine!
Thank you. Words of appreciation from a fellow FlexView buff are always...well, appreciated... :thumbs-UP:
gibradford wrote:George, what an absolute beauty. I remembering being massively tempted when ThinkRob offered it on the forum - seeing it in it's full glory, i can see why you were tempted to buy it back :D I echo the thoughts of the previous comments, and wish you many more years of solid use!

ps. Can we look forward to seeing pics of your two golden oldies - the butterfly and A31p, also??
Thanks, mate...

Glenn, you might be disappointed once I actually get them posted...both of them are well-worn.

Once I get these in *proper* working condition, pictures will follow...
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

andi t43p
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Location: indonesia

Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#12 Post by andi t43p » Tue May 15, 2012 10:00 pm

@ajkula66,

best mod ever T43p,
- can you posting error scan in HD tune 2.55 ?
- Super Pi benchmark ?
- Pc Mark 2004 benchmark ?
- 3d Mark 05 score ? :D

Andi

ajkula66
SuperUserGeorge
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Re: the ultimate - in MY book - T43p with HUGE pictures

#13 Post by ajkula66 » Wed May 16, 2012 8:01 pm

andi t43p wrote:@ajkula66,

best mod ever T43p,
- can you posting error scan in HD tune 2.55 ?
- Super Pi benchmark ?
- Pc Mark 2004 benchmark ?
- 3d Mark 05 score ? :D

Andi
Thank you.

Here's the error scan:

Image

Honestly, I can't be bothered with any of the other stuff. I despise synthetic benchmarks and have *never* bought a laptop based on that type of evaluation.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


PMs requesting personal tech support will be ignored.

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