Thinkpad General Thread

No /tech/ yet, but let's do it. Thinkpad General thread, post em', discuss, ask questions, and find your new /comfy/ Thinkpad. If you're looking for purchase advice, READ THE BUYERS GUIDE FIRST. Then post, stating budget and requirements (e.g. size and performance). Don't buy anything OTHER THAN T, X AND W/P SERIES if you want the Real ThinkPad Experience™ Recommended models: T420 - 14", normal size X220 - 12.5", ultraportable Used ThinkPad buyers guide: http://ktgee.net/tpg xsauc buyers guide: http://www.dankpads.com

I have a Memepad t410 and I absolutely love it (especially considering I paid $65 for it with 8gb ram, a docking station, charger, and Win7 recovery disk.) However, I'm finding that it's been overheating. It's averaging 65-70 most of the time - which I understand is warmer than ideal - but when Firefox is eating the soykaf outta my memory, it'll start running hot. Living in the desert (it's 86F at 9pm) isn't helping. I had my first critical shutdown the other day. I keep the fans clean as best as possible without taking it apart, and have Thinkfan going with the best T410 configuration I could find, which has helped. Outside of taking the thing apart and reapplying thermal paste, etc, are there any other software/OS (Arch) specific solutions that can help keep the temperature low? I'm thinking that my best bet is to just take it apart (I'm slightly afraid to, though I've taken apart other laptops plenty of times) and give it a thorough clean. If anyone has any solutions other than that, I'd be grateful. Also, does anyone else's Thinkpad/T410 get super hot surfaces (namely, the plate near the trackpad where my wrists lay, and the underside)? I know this is related to the earlier issue, but I'm wondering if anyone else has encountered this, and how they countered it.

Also, this link wasn't in the OP: https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

I want to buy a thinkpad and just read webpages offline then connect to the internet once a day to update the thread or send emails like Stallman.

Meme thread. As with desktop threads, they should be banished. Also, thinkpad is soykaf. It sure is better than most of laptops (the IBM ones, not the lenovo), but, have you already disassembled one at least one time? The motherboard is completely soykaf, as in any other laptop post ~2002. Only the Thinkpad 760C was the really good ones. If someone manage to put an i.MX6 Sabrelite on these would be really great.

>>79 >760C correction: the 800 powerpc series, not the 700 series.

I think I'm in love

>>125 >blackberry priv >lenovo thinkpad >let me open htop here to show how I'm 1337 h4x0r c'mon, these thinkpad threads and desktop threads is idiot as fuarrrk. Attention whores, everywhere.

>>127 Thanks!

>>128 welcome

>>130 Its ironic you called monkey call me hacker being my name field was hacker. Also, speaking of fuarrrking the place up, could you not swing your superiority complex so eagerly? Does denigrating anyone contribute anything? If anything, your post was more worthless than mine, being that you only posted your opinion which = 0.00 Why so butt devastated lain?

>>133 Mockingly*

>>133 >Does denigrating anyone contribute anything? Nope. I was just having fun. I got into the conclusion that, if my opinion is not worth ("0.00") I should just say what I think and see the reaction. Don't take things too serious on internet anon. I guess I'm just too tired of all this predictable culture... all infinite regress, with the same patters repeating over and over again, never changes. My derealization is getting worst, it seems. The pattern here is the exposition. The same reason people use t-shirts with symbols they like. Or a mug with some fancy pop-culture references. Or sticks on a thinkpad, or showing the rc'ed window manager on desktop threads. Don't make much sense to me all those things. People are losing the sense of identity, so they try to keep themselves on the ground, using social approbation (if one perceives me therefore I exist - the same bullsoykaf from Berkeley).

>>135 Perhaps I am being too predictable by posting my ThinkPad in this thread but I think that's the point. I came here so I could to predictable patterns, and as always, here we are far from the predictable pattern. But as you will say, even this tangent in conversation is most predictable. I digress. >my derealization is getting worse Non-attachment doesn't wait lain

>>127 >>128 >>130 >>133 >>134 >>135 >>137 Please keep it on topic. This is the thinkpad general, not the predictable derealisation general.

i'm using a x220 with windows 10 and the 9 cell battery gives me around 9h runtime. how bad will it fall if i install fedora?

I got my X220 last week, and came to post, but lainchan was gone, now I'm finally on the thinkpad general on a real thinkpad. Really awesome machine, definitely will get an ssd and the 9cell battery. Running Xubuntu

>>150 keep the hdd for files and heavy load and add a ssd via msata and install the os on it. best combo. 9 cell is defentily worth the money.

Why do you buy x220? It has a cleft instead of 8:5 screen, it doesn't support core-/libreboot.

>>155 because it's a great, durable piece of hardware able to run state-of-the-art software and i really don't give a soykaf about trannyboot.

>>156 x201 does all this too.

>>157 great, then get one. i'm happy with my x220 and don't intend to trade it soon.

>>151 Awesome, I just ordered an 850 evo msata ssd The battery can wait, on win10 I had 90 minute battery but on xubuntu I have over 3 hours with tlp running.

>>169 you'll see it's the best combo. i never noticed a difference between win10 and xubuntu regarding batterly life in my machine and settled with win10 (mostly because i already have a linux desktop and i use my thinkpad at work, so ms office comes handy)

>>76 I have a t420 that had the same issue. I even went so far as to reapply the thermal paste. nothing worked. It turned out it was a soykafty driver from Lenovo. Installing a Linux distribution solved my problem. Maybe try booting from a flash drive with puppy Linux to see if it's a driver issue.

>>76 First, try to update your BIOS. It can be some low-level issue. Then, set the bios settings to default. Somone (older owner or someone else) might be done overclock or overvoltage. Check if the fan is running on 100%. As the other anon said, update the drivers if you're on windows, for run debian live just to check. If nothing works, you probably have a hardware issue. As you said, thermal paste is important. See if you can clean everything and get a good, silver based, thermal paste...

I want to get into this meme. I've always wanted a Thinkpad and today i searched a gray market here in my country and they had a lot of models. They had the T410 and the T430, i think i like the T430 more. Anyone here has that model? Is it good?

>>241 Get pre 2005 IBM ones.

>>242 That isn't an answer to my question, but thanks for the input i guess.

Any opinions on the X500? I saw some cheap ones for sale, been thinking about using it with a docking station as HTPC, since my TV is 720 I really won't need anything better I guess.

>>241 410 has a true keyboard. If you buy the 430, you won't get the meme.

I have a x200, x60s (with no screen) and a r31 (with some dead ports). The last two are in storage right now. I use my x200 as my daily driver with ubuntu. I want to get a ssd for it and flash libreboot onto it at some point. It also has a nice lainchan sticker on it. I paid $150 aud for the x200, $50aud for the x60s and nothing for the r31 (friend found it on the road, and it worked after a night of being rained on). If you get a x model, I highly recommend getting a dock. You have extra ports, can put in either a optical drive or another hard drive. It also allows you to plug in and have another set up (for example, I have a dock for my x200 hooked up to a screen, keyboard and mouse, so I just put it in the dock, enter one command and then I can lean back and use dual screen comfy setup)

>>248 What's the difference between keyboards?

>>257 410 still has the classic keyboard, 430 the chicklet.

>>259 How are the 410 and 430 compared performance wise?

>>260 can't say, i'm a x220 user. but i guess if you're just brewing soykaf and other office stuff, you won't feel much a difference.

>>241 i can't comment on the T430, so this is not technically an answer to your question. but i ( >>76 ) have a t410 (with 8g RAM) and I absolutely adore it. it very quickly became my daily driver, replacing a laptop with far better specs. This is primarily due to how much more natural and comfortable it is to interact with this machine: the keyboard has a very pleasing about of physical feedback; the use of a docking station means that this laptop functions happily as a desktop as it does as a laptop; the clitorispointing stick, though initially awkward, is far more ergonomic and natural; this thing's tough a brick (which is extremely important given that i am a natural at stress testing) - just to name a few things. granted, there are definitely some issues with it. as my quoted post said, this thing overheats significantly - ie, often not safe for lap; generally warm if not uncomfortably hot on the face plate; has shut down from crit temps 4 times in past few days (granted, the ambient temperature here is definitely not helping.) It also took a fair amount of configuration with the Arch setup to get things running smoothly (ie, setting up individual keybindings for things like volume or function buttons; getting the computer to wake from sleep without restarting, etc, etc) but it's been super worth it. depending on your usecase, the 420 or 430 may be more appropriate for you. but if you're looking for a durable, comfy, and decent laptop on the cheap, i think you'll find the T410 worth the money.

>>262 Well I really want to use the thinkpad as my daily driver but I'm absolutely terrified of the overheating problem. So far I think I'll go for the T430, since I saw them next to each other and the guy who was selling them told me about the overheating problem too. There's a good money difference between the two of them but it's still on my budget so no problemo, I think.

>>226 >>228 just saw these. i'm running Arch on this thing, but for the brief interlude where i tried out win 7, it still got terribly hot. there's no overclocking going on, the fan is 100% operation as far as the bios can tell. However, when I received the computer I was not able to boot it due to the fan not being able to start. research seemed to indicate that this was a fairly common problem with older machines that hadn't been maintained, and moving the fan manually with compressed air resulted in the fan running - without much visual indication of heavy dust. there are definitely some benign issues during my init that are BIOS related; guess now's the time to get around to fixing them. I'll take another look at the BIOS and see if anything might be causing it. but my concern is that it most likely is due to dust accumulation, or some small hardware issue. i'm wary of taking this thing apart, though - i've heard repeatedly that it's an easy process, but it's definitely more complicated than every other laptop i've taken apart, and i love this thing so much that I'm afraid to mess it up. i guess i'll just have to suck it up and gitgud, should i need to take it apart.

>>263 my x220 barley starts spinning up it's fans and i'm running windows 10, so maybe you have a look at the x-series?

I know it's not really in the style of lainchan but My current daily is a t420s, I upgraded it to 8GB of ram and a 128 ssd, it boots to windows desktop in 15 seconds flat, its pretty good desu I have to use windows a because I need it for school and b I don't have the time to properly configure a linux os

>>265 my x220 is oregano isalso windows 10 fan loud dont get one

>>265 >>812 I have a x220T, the fan is not loud. windows 10 seems to run much hotter than linuxmint. battery lasts longer on linuxmint as well. I wonder if windows 7 fairs better in the heat/fan noise/ and battery life department.

I bought the T500 on eBay for $40 and I'm seriously impressed. I'm running manjaro i3 edition and it just flies on this machine. It should be noted that I did install 6 gigs of ram though

Just got my first Thinkpad. The T400 after my HP laptop finally bricked, and I am beyond pleasantly surprised at how sturdy and easy it is to upgrade/take apart along with a super sweet feeling keyboard. Confirmed Thinkpad is not just a meme.

>>919 The build quality is good for the T400/x200/x201/etc series, but gets noticably worse for t420/x220. I can't comment on anything later than that

I have a x220 but this palmrest and bezel really bums me out, they break so easily. Ill be getting a T470 for the summer, its gonna be gr8

How do you guys find the resolution on the t420? 768p seems a bit low for my liking, I'm worried I'll have trouble going back to a non HD display.

>>1116 Most desktop UI is still geared toward 1024x768 so 1366x768 is very usable for most use cases. Where I've found it to be a real problem when I want multiple VMs with 1024x768 screens. I bought a T430 with a 1600x900 screen for just that. It's too bad that screen choice for Thinkpads is so poor.

>>1116 I don't know about the t420 but for the x220 and x230 there are some fairly involved screen mods that allow you to upgrade to 1080p

>>1129 >>1116 There was one for the t420 a few years ago but the kit hasn't been available since then.

>>865 If you need to use windows I'd reccomend using Windows 10 LTSB edition. It runs a lot better than either Windows 10 or Windows 7 on my machine.

>>1274 LTSB = ?

So I'm about to buy a used T420. Hows the battery on used models? Should I buy a new one right away? It functions but I don't know how good it is.

>>1278 That's unanswerable for the same reason that nobody warranties used batteries.

>>241 I own a T430s and it's great. The nvidia graphics are not worth it but I got mine for free so whatever. Only thing that is subpar with this otherwise 98% perfect laptop is the screen. Get atleast the 1600 screen and if you can live with the quality its gr8. You can also apparently transplant a T420 / T410 keyboard to it (but do research first).

Ive had a lenovo T61p for a while now; its in fair condition but im looking to refurbish. Any tips?

I'm thinking of buying a X220, what am I in for? Are there any known issues with them. I know about the Intel ME but the libreboot team is working on it.

>>1456 I highly recommend looking for an x220 with an IPS display, they're a little hard to find and are more expensive but in my opinion it was easily worth the money and time spent finding it. Once you get one, look into installing an mSata SSD, a larger battery, and a bigger hard drive.

Can you guys help. My t420s screen stays black when I boot. It beeps after booting and flashing the light from the webcame with 1 - 3 - 3 - 1 beep which comes out to DIMM or Mobo problems. What the fuarrrk do I do? I took out the RAM, put it in the opposite slots and retried, do I need a new mobo? Where do I get a cheap one from china or something, its not even the nvidia one, I'd replace it myself if its not too hard or is the price better to just get a new laptop? Anyone have this prob or know how to fix?

Does anyone else experience T420s opening their DVD readers outta nowhere once you put some pressure next to it?

>>1976 I've never had the drive open of its own accord, but the button is very sensitive and seemingly positioned in the spot where it can most frequently be pressed by accident. I got so sick of having to shut the disk tray whenever I picked up my laptop that I disabled the thing.

>>1976 My T430's DVD drive ejects at random, even when used on a flat, hard surface. The drive will also sometimes spin up at random.

>>1976 yes, replace it with another ssd

Hello Lains, what about Lenovo ThinkPads, are they ok or not?

>>2049 the differences between ibm/lenovo thinkpads started as pretty negligible starting 2005 (when the brand transferred), and increased over time. mostly things began to merge with macbook-esque modern design over durability and pragmatism after ~2012 (roughly), so anything before is generally fine. in terms of whether you want something from after that, it depends on whether you want to be able to run considerable load (videogames, media, matlab, 3D in general) without hiccups (t-series has discrete/dedicated graphics even before 2012; x-series has integrated, and manages with HD video fine and games like tf2 reasonably, although with high cpu temps for the latter). avoid chiclet keyboards though, from ~2015 onwards. best recommendation is x220/t420, with the caveat that anything made after 2008 (i.e. most of lenovo excluding a few e.g. x200, t400) has untreatable security vulns as per https://libreboot.org/faq.html#intel . if you go with x220 try for the ips screen even though they don't come up often, if you're in the uk i saw one floating around: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad-x220-i5-2-5Ghz-9GB-RAM-500GB-HDD-IPS-SCREEN-WIN-7-PRO-/232376213951?hash=item361ab3a1bf:g:7wsAAOSw-29ZRWLj

>>2051 Thx for info. I decide to try our this model ---> Lenovo ThinkPad T460 20FN004CRT. Hope it will work well.

>>2088 Nop. It won't.

>>2088 Srsly, Lenovo spyware is hardwired, it reinstalls itself.

>>2088 >>2094 >>2095 I tried to find brand new T420, or x220, but there is no one, and i definitely don't wanna buy used one.

>>2096 Buy a macbook then. Or that xiaomi copycat of macbook. Why bother buying a thinkpad if you dont wanna thinkpad.

Gonna need an honest opinion. I've been trying for the past 3 weeks on getting a new OS for my T420 after scrapping win7. I have been going back and forth for this time period, and can't decide. All I want is a good cross-platform dev enviroment that doesn't require me to do too much springcleaning

>>2116 I have been using Debian Stretch for the past year on my libre x200. It works great.

>>2116 ubuntu is probably the most user-friendly, set-up and leave it Linux OS, but comes with a large amount of bloat, some integrated undesirable software, and arguably hides the 'DIY'/program or be programmed ethos of Linux. However, it's also got a huge user base and much support, so problem solving is generally pretty easy and a quick search engine query away. Debian is what Ubuntu is based on and is a far better option, since you're likely able to use the existing collective troubleshooting via Ubuntu for Debian, with less of the bloat, and more opportunities to customize. I'd also make the case for Arch; it's a *little* more effort-intensive to setup, but not significantly. Personally, I think the meme-status Arch has regarding power users and difficulty quickly erodes once you spend a few hours with your first install - which, for the uninitiated, should take an hour or less, including research (minimum installation guide and any related queries.) It is minimal by nature, and this makes it perfect for being an OS that is tailored as you like it. To top it off, the Arch Wiki as well as the forums are some of the best online, community-sourced documentation you'll find. Troubleshooting can be a little more intensive, but if all you're looking to do is get setup with the right DE after install, install the desired software, and get to work, Arch is something to consider. I have used Ubuntu, Debian, and Arch. After some deliberating, I recently decided to replace a machine running the Studio variant of Ubuntu with Arch, and work my way from the ground up. As of yet, I am significantly happier with my Arch installations than my bloated Ubuntu installs, and plan on running Arch on my remaining Ubuntu machine when I organize, backup, and migrate the media that's preventing me from immediately installing the OS. Also, the ability to customize/Rice Arch is very nice, both for aesthetic/cuber-as-fuarrrk purposes, or less-meme-tier purposes, such as really grasping the underlying structure & organization of your OS, and being able to selectively tailor it to suit you. (You can check out the Desktop thread for examples of this.)

>>2120 For the record, my daily driver is a T410 running Arch.

>>75 i just got a ticket (IT user here) for over 30 x220 that to be broken down and listed for pick-up by a recycling vendor. They are mostly ok, just the company doesn't want them anymore. These things are going to get shredded and I'm depressed af right now. Can't take them home because the company follows HIPAA and they have a no-risk policy for equipment, we get certs from the guys who shred these.

>>2119 >>2120 Well, I installed debian 9 yesterday. I'm gonna install the intel wifi drivers, but overall I enjoy the distro. It being a laptop, I may use a tiling wn instead of a de

Well I fell for the meme guys, my t420 arrived. It's so comfy but I need to replace the battery.

>>2150 I would recommend i3 due to easy customization and super intuitive key bindings. Clearly, many Linux users agree - check the desktop thread as well as UnixPorn for some prime examples.

>>2171 https://lainchan.org/%CE%A9/res/81.html There are a few dozen i3 examples in there (including several of my own, with links to dotfiles.)

Hi Anons, I need some purchasing advice. I don't live in Europe or NA, so when getting a thinkpad, I'm a bit shafted when it comes to choice: My options are: * getting a second hand thinkpad from ebay. I'll have to probably pay shipping, import tax and VAT * buy a refurbished thinkpad from abroad. taxes apply here as well * buy second hand TP in my country (probably with a crap battery and not the best physical condition) * Buy a refurbished TP in my country Thing is, getting a laptop from abroad would cost almost as much as getting a refurbished one locally. Could get to almost double the prices from ebay. What do you reckon my best choice is?

>>2153 Same, but I ended up with a t410 because it was cheaper and in nearly perfect condition. No coreboot though. I got a larger, 9-cell battery and it's surprisingly very effective. Reads at 92.36% at full charge.

OK, time for a serious security question. Last fall I bought a T420s (used, of course). After verifying that it turns on and everything, I shelved it. It's been sitting and collecting dust until yesterday when I finally pulled it out and opened it up. It turns out that CompuTrace is enabled and cannot be disabled. fuarrrk. I've never dealt with this soykaf before, so I'm not really sure how it works. Does this affect me? I have seen conflicting sources - some say that it only infects Windows installations; others say that they have Linux capabilities as well. Does running Arch, as I intend to do, render CompuTrace impotent and inert, or will it still be able to infect my OS and phone home? Does it present any security holes? I have read that by calling the provided number and explaining the situation I might be able to have the company deactivate it. If the computer isn't running Windows and it can only phone home through Windows, will it be able to be properly deactivated, or will it simply be deactivated server-side but remain active on my machine?

Bought a T460, loving it. I know, I know. New thinkpads, blahblah. But it really is better than most out there and it still has a nice feel, similar to old. Needed somethin' new

>>1277 Long Term Service Branch. Essentially its a debloated version of Windows 10. It doesn't receive any feature updates, and it spies less than your average Windows 10 install would do. I would recommend it if you absolutely need to run windows

>>2437 > similar to old It's not similar. Enjoy your macpad.

I've had my T400 for about a year now and i'm pretty happy with it ^_^

In need of a replacement battery for my x200s. https://www.amazon.com/CSEXCEL-Li-ion-7800mAh-Battery-ThinkPad/dp/B00PRX42H2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1499917445&sr=8-4&keywords=thinkpad+x200+battery+9+cell Are these any good?

>>2642 It's a chink-battery. So, you may have back luck and happen to get a not-so-good product. I got mine on AE and seems to behave well enough, I get 5 hours with a consumption of 10W

>>2652 Do you have the brand of the one you bought or a link? Thanks.

>>2655 >aliexpress.com/item/chink-battery/514564942.html I should specify though, that the battery is charging up to 88% for some reason, not sure if it's because of a faulty cell or if it's just a calibration problem... >>2634 You need a bit of OCD in your life.

I've never seen a thinkpad before. I'm looking at the x200. It seems to have 3 buttons and no trackpad. How does that work?

>>2664 there's a little red button in the middle of the keyboard you use, takes a little getting used to at first but most people end up liking it in the end. picrelated

>>2665 Oh, that's cool. Thanks.

>>2664 You have: Left Button -- Scroll Button -- Right Button just like a mouse, but the pointing is made through the clit

>>2634 Bought a Librebooted one and waiting on it to arrive. Love the T400.

>>2667 >just like a mouse, but the pointing is made through the clit >Literally fingering your laptop in public

Do Lainons replace their T420's DVD drive? With what?

Would I have any trouble installing Libreboot/Librecore on a X200 tablet? Do the tablet series have any trouble with certain distros?

>>2752 I replaced mine with a $10 HDD bay so I can use a SATA HDD and SSD

>>2642 >>2656 I'm the first posting reporting back. I decided to go with the 9 cell from DTK on Amazon and it just arrived today. Charged it up and it goes up to 99%~. Not bad for a chink battery right?

I bought a used x40 for like 40$. It's battery lasts for like 15 minutes. I will pick it up in a month and a half. I plan to use it as an experiment testbed. My first experiment will probably be to do my first proper(non VM) Gentoo installation.

>>2785 >x40 >gentoo Isn't it going to take forever to compile?

>>2788 You can (cross)compile your whole system into binary packages on a more powerful machine. https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Binary_package_guide

oops I just read the post you're replying to properly. >My first experiment will probably be to do my first proper(non VM) Gentoo installation. Yeah, that could be painful. Listen to >>2788

>>2788 I don't care. If I get fed up with it I will try Arch. Ofc. I won't be paying mind to the machine either while it's installing. Can a x40 run 720p video?

>>2814 It can push the pixels. It can definitely decode a typical 720p Xvid video. I would expect x264 to be borderline and case-by-case.

Are the s models significantly worse in any respect? Looking specifically at a cheap x200s.

TFW you remember that the first Thinkpad was actually a tablet.

>>2784 >>Charged it up and it goes up to 99% Well, sir, that doesn't really mean anything to me. If you could provide maybe the estimation time from PowerTop and the related power consumption, that would be a lot more useful, to be honest

Hello

>>2752 I replaced my T420s optical drive with a second battery.

>>2870 Sorry about that. Here's powertop after doing a full charge to 99.96% and on a fresh boot up, after calibrating it.

Hi guys. I need to replace my t420's battery. Can somebody please recommend good sellers/chink batteries on ebay/aliexpress/etc. ? I am afraid that I'll end up with some soykaf-tier one if I'll pick battery on my own.

>>2872 >T420s optical drive with a second battery. you just blew my mind.

I had a SONY 17" laptop which I loved dearly. It had a Core 2 Duo chip, and about 2 minutes of battery life. I've often thought of going the Thinkpad route, but I can't really decide. Do I get the x220 with its portability? I really don't need an optical drive in the field. I want decent performance, general computing, heavy emphasis on LOOKING at photos, but not editing them, and many hours of battery. I'm perfectally happy carrying around an 4kg laptop. So the weight of the t420 is not an issue. Which is the right choice?

>>2878 Thank you! Also, a little pro tip: you probably don't need the fan spinning all the time. You can use the kernel module "tp_smapi", usually contained in the package "tp-smapi-dkms", and shut it off by doing so: echo "options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/thinkfan.conf echo "tp_smapi" >> /etc/modules modprobe tp_smapi modprobe thinkpad_acpi

>>3016 Based on your post, all it comes down to is if you want a 14" screen, or a 12.5". I love the X220, and I believe it gets better battery life than T420, but I could be wrong.

Does anyone has any experience in removing the supervisor bios password from thinkpads? The specific model in question is T400. From information I've collected from random forums and youtube videos, the trick is getting access to the bios by shorting the SCL and SDA pins on the EEPROM, then resetting the password. The T400 was bought around 6 months ago by a friend who never bothered to check if the bios was accessible at all until now.

>>3017 Are there any harms in shutting off the fan? After I shut it off with your instructions, how would I turn it back on when I want to?

OwO what's this...

>>75 x230 here Installed a 120gb SSD when I bought it and it works like a charm. boots pretty fast. the only problem I have with it is battery life kills dead in 4 hours flat. I love this thing running lubuntu 16.04 it does video editing like a champ.

>>3024 >>how would I turn it back on when I want to I forgot how lame lainchan.org is... do you really need to be spoonfed? Most people will use thinkfan, it's even mentioned in the previous piece of script. http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Fan_control_scripts

>>3021 according to http://ktgee.net/post/49423737148/thinkpad-guide#_=_ > Never EVER buy ThinkPads with BIOS locked (Supervisor) passwords, you cannot reset it by taking out the CMOS battery. The Supervisor password is stored on a chip and requires special equipment to extract it or a complete motherboard replacement. > If you do know what you’re doing, there is a $100 tool which can be used to recover the BIOS/Supervisor password from almost any ThinkPad (except some SL models) available at www.ja.axxs.net. good luck

>>3050 >>3021 That's a T400, though. Couldn't he simply flash libreboot on it?

>>3050 We learned that the hard way. Before taking the battery out, we simply couldn't access the bios. After taking it out it actually got worse. Now it detects the system clock was reset and asks for entering the correct time, which require getting into the bios that is behind the password. Now the machine doesn't boot at all. The procedure I saw that doesn't require external equipment is described here: http://kinggeek.co.uk/tech-notes/item/46-clearing-the-supervisor-password-on-a-lenovo-thinkpad-r61i-at-your-own-risk According to comments it works with T400, but I'm asking around before doing it because I believe it is somewhat risky. >>3053 I believe that could work as well. Only problem I see is that the it wouldn't work with Windows, which is what my friend uses. If it was my machine I would probably go this way.

>>3056 >>Only problem I see is that the it wouldn't work with Windows Coreboot should have a specific payload for Windows. But yea, you should consider it as last resort.

>>3056 I did that on a T420 a few ago and succeeded. My issue was to get the laptop to boot correctly with everything taken apart so here's what i did: * Took the laptop apart to reach the chip * Solder two wires of small diameter but pretty long to SDA and SCL (the pins were small and close, be careful with the solder) * Run the wires out of the laptop case (easy on the T420, the chip is near underside vent holes) * Reassemble the laptop * Power on the laptop then maybe 0.5/1 second later short the wires * The BIOS will complain * Go in the BIOS with an empty supervisor password (or no password at all, can't remember) * Go to the security menu to change the supervisor (I set it to empty) and unshort the wires when validating the password. * That's it. I then just electrician-taped the cables under the laptop.

>>3091 Thanks for the info. I did the procedure today, before reading your post. Indeed getting to the chip was difficult since it is below the motherboard, so we had to disassemble the whole laptop. As we were working in a group of three, we did manage to short it with a screwdriver, but we had to work with more than two hands simultaneously. All went well, I didn't realize at first that you have to keep shorting the pins untill confirming the new password, I though that getting into the bios menus were enough, but after a few minutes of trial and error we cleaned the password. What got us into cracking the supervisor password at first was that we were trying to put 2x4GB ddr3 memory, that didn't succeed though. Probably incompatibility either with 1.35V or higher frequency. At least we don't have to worry anymore about the supervisor password.

I got my X40. Installed gentoo on it, at least until the point until it boots. Will continue later.

Question, why are Thinkpads the go to techy and /cyb/ laptop that gets creamed over on most chan technology boards? Is it really just a meme from from people shilling because they bought one and now have sunk cost syndrome, or are they actually decent computers when it comes down to it? I'm asking this because I just bought a Thinkpad x230 in an attempt to live my cyb dreams and finally be able to soykafpost on this site using the proper equipment. So other than it being small enough to fit in my bag and being my little debian box that I would use for when I go cross country or abroad, why else would I use a Thinkpad. Why not some other small form factor laptop that has the same specs but isn't bloated with crappy software. tl;dr I bought an x230 and I am wondering what I should use it for

Lains, I have a bit of a predicament. I can get myself a thinkpad x230 is really good condition, 8gb of ram, 350gb hdd and is in good working order. The question is though, what else can I use it for, other than it being a ssh and brewing soykaf machine?

>>3226 They're durable, cheap (which is what is most important), last a very long time, are repairable and upgradable, and run Linux great. Extremely hard to find all of those things in any other laptop.

>>3233 Is £140/$180 a decent price for one?

>>3226 >>3232 Why are you buying computers without knowing what to use them for?

>>3234 What's the full specs? I'd say so though, that's about average

>>3235 Because and I already have a my dev and daily user machines. I just wanted to know if getting a thinkpad was worth the money and what are the reasons why I should get one over another laptop of similar specs and price. Oh and im retarded

>>3237 Thinkpads are super simple in terms of hardware. The only thing you can't replace easily on most think-pads is the motherboard. Everything else is modular. They're really good for tasks like web development, image manipulation, video editing on the fly, light gaming, music production, web browsing and coding. The keyboards are quite nice and the keyboard nipple is super great. Usually the trackpads are solid and you can just switch em out if you don't like em. They're durable. I have no problems taking my X230 anywhere it was cheap and it's not liable to break if I drop it. Personally I put a solid state hard drive in mine so it boots up in 10 seconds and I can open it whenever and have my instant access to infinite knowledge/whatever else I want. I don't play video games much anymore but my X230 can run fallout 3 on GNU pretty superbly.

What is the fan noise like on i5 Thinkpads? Can I take it into a library or am I going to piss everyone off?

>>3256 lol no it's pretty quiet

>>3256 I can barely hear it, even on higher loads. If you are buying, look into getting a machine with an IPS screen. I just got the TN panel on my x220 replaced by an IPS, and it fixed the main thing I disliked about it. The TN panel I had on mine was horrible. Only thing that's not ideal now is the onboard speakers, but I use headphones most of the time so it doesn't bother me much. I've read around that you can install speakers from Nexus phones as a mod, I'll probably look into it in the future.

>>3258 Btw, TN panels with soykafty view angles are better against shoulder surfers. Best speakers are no speakers at all. That way no ultrasound signals from your browser can get to your phone.

The oldest thinkpads are now 25 years old. Meaning you can sell them to some museums.

>>2120 >>Linux OS Is this bait?

>>3252 >>The only thing you can't replace easily on most think-pads is the motherboard. You're wrong, the x2** and everything newer than t440/w540 has socket'd CPUs. Modularity is a feature only in retro-Thinkpads.

>>3286 I am completely sure that neither x220 nor x230 are socketed, and probably this applies to the whole x2** series. You have to do a motherboard swap for changing CPUs on these models. You are right that there are machines from t4** and t5** series that have socketed CPUs.

>>3377 Yeah, I fuarrrked up writing the sentence. I meant soldered, not socketed. The newer models are all soldered.

I got a t420. Is the 1600x900 panel upgrade worth it?

Alright so I got a thinkpad, finally. X220, bought off of Amazon used for ~$250, lucked out and got an IPS display. Battery is soykaf though, with ~3 hours runtime even with i3, probably would be worse with windows. What's a good place to get a new battery, or, what are some things I can do to minimize my battery consumption?

>>3699 Lucky, my battery lasts ~15 minutes.

>>3699 >X220, bought off of Amazon used for ~$250, lucked out and got an IPS display You got ripped. Not lucked out.

>>3704 How so?

>>3705 250USD is a lot to pay for a x220 unless it's absolutely specced out. All the deals are on sites like Ebay, not Amazon. That said, value derives from utility, so if you're happy with it don't let thoughts of price weigh you down.

>>2098 Since the 50 series thinkpads have gotten significantly better than 40 series and arguably the 20 and 30 series. Smdh elitists want everyone to have t60s that clearly aren't suitable for people new to thinkpads.

>>3740 >t60 aren't suitable for people new to thinkpads Why is that?

>>3740 t60 and older are IMo there to show us that laptops could have been different than the Mac inspired crap we have today. Arguably even the latest Thinkpads are buckling under the trend.

I have a X40 with what is probably a almost dead battery. But it might be a calibration issue. Is it risky to recalibrate a 13 year old laptop by emptying it's battery, taking it out, decoupling the power chord and then putting everything back in?

Got my T470s setup with KDE on Arch. It feels really great and i love it. My previous laptop was an X220

>>149 I have x220T came with win10pro. i have 6 cell battery. in linuxmint the thinkpad lasts longer on battery and doesn't get as hot as it does with windows.probably around 15-20% longer.

Is there a list of thinkpads that includes the new models?

>>3946 Why would you need such a ridiculous thing?

>>3949 I like reading wikis.

>>2435 I've been wondering the same thing myself, information appears to be conflicted about it.

>>3927 have you considered replacing the battery?

>>4119 I am considering buying the extended battery TBH. But first I want to investigate this. What do you say, risk it or not? I could completely blow the battery, or the cmos battery, or maybe even the power mechanism in the laptop, or all of them. I did this several times on my favourite Probook 4530s with success on the other hand. In fact it that battery in my X40 is definitely decalibrated. I had it running for a couple of minutes on 0hr 0min 0s remaining.

>>4141 My x200t had battery calibration issues, I re-calibrated using tlp and it only marginally improved. I would say if you are having issues with a battery that old you are probably not experiencing _only_ calibration issues. That being said idk why it would explode on you, but I'm no battery expert

I want to get a test computer to kind of mess around with stuff. Practice adding linux and just various stuff to it. Add ebooks and walk around with it instead of my cell phone since cell phones are soykaf. What is something I should get for 200-300?

>>4171 USD? x220 since you're walking around with it.

I have an x200t with an OG battery that gets me 5-6 hours. Can I recell it with some fresh panasonic 18650s to get some more life? I read up on the subject, and from my understanding, you have to keep voltage on the protection circuitry the whole time. Could I just hook my bench PSU up to the leads on the correct voltage or would that be a really stupid idea.

>>4171 I've found my t420 to be quite a bit more portable than I expected, as long as you have a backpack you should be able to daily drive one. If you want something smaller the x220 is great, never owned one but I know 2 friends that have them. >>4183 I'm also interested to know how to go about this. Also if you figure out how to open the battery without breaking things let me know

>>1116 I lucked out and got one with the 1600x900 display, although the colors are absolutely terrible. I'm not sure if it's any worse than the other panels but luckily I don't use it for any color critical work

Did you know that 1st generation x1 carbons are about 300pounds on ebay uk? Is the first generation of the x1 carbon worth it for 300pounds? I'm thinking about it. Is not a bad ultrabook if you don't mind soldered cpu and stuff

>>4249 soldered ram* I should pay attention to what I type

I want to upgrade the CPU on my T420 and i assume some of you already have. A i7-2720QM is pretty cheap on ebay, but i hear alot of screaching about it going to overheat and thottle, and im pretty sure it wont unless it goes above ~80% utilization. Is it going to..?

what are the cutest thinkpads?

>>2871 how did you do the bios splash screen?

>>4486 I had the 2670QM in mine. Worked well, idle temp was comparable to the dual core i5, but temp under load will be higher. During longer full load scenarios the temp will go above 90°C and the CPU will throttle after two or three minutes. Still more computing power than the i5. Had no issues with overheating or instabilities. Battery runtime will suffer a little bit, but still okay. Had mine with i7, 16GB Ram and a 500GB SSD. Very nice machine, but fell apart completely after five years of use. Now i have an Acer Travelmate P which has the same qualities as the old thinkpads minus the easy battery replacement (battery is screwed in) but with a better screen and better build quality (not kidding here, the acer is built like a tank). Definitely a good alternative to the T560/T570. The price is very reasonable too.

>>4489 IMO all IBM era ThinkPads are cute, but the plamtop Japan only one takes the cake.

>>2871 >>4490 Yeah, I wonder as well. Can one do it on a Linux only x40?

>>4493 >>4490 You may not be familiar with a website i like called "goo gle". Very useful for finding information on things. Basically, the lenovo bios update utility lets you use whatever picture you want for a splash screen, as long as its 640x480 and 30KB or lower.

Let me share this bit of lore. It might be wrong though so take it with salt. There are actually 4 'eras' of ThinkPads...sort of. The first one was when IBM built, designed and trademarked ThinkPads. However the second one was around 2000 when IBM started outsourcing production. Funnily enough the i series was known to be outsourced to Acer which many ThinkPad fans love to point fingers at and laugh. Back then ThinkPads were designed at IBM and they had the IBM trademark, but actual production was increasingly outsourced. And eventually it was all produced at lenovo. The third era was when Lenovo took over the ThinkPad division between 2005-2006 but kept the IBM branding. Lenovo actually ha the rights to use IBM branding up to 2010 but they decided not to, because they wanted to start promoting their own brand awareness. At that time all ThinkPads were designed and produced at Lenovo. And the fourth era was of course 2007-present when ThinkPads became all-Lenovo. I think the most surprising trivia from this was that Lenovo and IBM are not the only manufacturers that were in some way associated with the ThinkPad brand.

I almost got a hearth attack. I was upgrading my x220 bios and the update got stuck (I waited around 15 min). Expecting the worst, I forced it to shutdown, and to my surprise it booted just fine. Bios was updated to the newer version, but the Embedded Controller remained at the old version. I redid the flashing (second time took around 10s) and now everything is fine. I always refrain from bios upgrades for this exact reason, its fuarrrking scary.

>>5001 Are you running GNU/Linux? How did you update your BIOS if so?

>>5001 In the worse case, there's ways to unbrick them: https://karlcordes.com/coreboot-x220/ Once it's bricked it's not like you've got anything to lose, but before that upgrading BIOS always has me really stressed out.

>>5008 Yes, I am running Arch. The bios update can be done from a Windows partition or by booting from a cdrom. I used the cdrom iso, but followed the instructions on thinkwiki for making a bootable USB drive from it. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend doing it this way, in the end it worked out just fine, but it's possible that the booting from a USB drive was the cause of those troubles I had. >>5009 Good to know. I even have a raspberry pi, but I'm glad I didn't have to mess with the eeprom. In the end it was worth it. Updating the bios fixed some memory warnings I was getting with the hammer test of memtest, which indicates a possible vulnerability for privilege escalation. The bios seemed to increase my stability too, the only problem I had was that brightness control stopped working on arch, but that was fixed with a simple acpi kernel parameter. I still have to update the firmware to fix the ME vulnerability, but that is Windows only as far as I can tell. AMT is disabled in the bios anyway, so I'm not worried at the moment. Until libreboot is released there's not much one can do to avoid the hardware backdoor anyway.

Any one uses a 3rd party battery for there Thinkpad? My T420 needs a new battery soon but I can't find the orginal Lenovo 6-cell batteries for my model (only 9-cell which will extend beyond the normal laptop size) in my country. Can you recommend a good 3rd party battery brand? You can find information on the net that soykaf-brand battery can damage the computer (what I would like to avoid).

Using i3wm, how do I make the Access IBM button do anything?

>>5231 use xev to find out the event name of that button and then do a keybind for it in your i3 config

>>5242 Good idea but xev doesn't seem to catch this button. Which probably means those buttons are invisible to X.

>>5245 Try XF86Launch1

>>5251 I tried, doesn't work.

>>5260 What model of Thinkpad are you using? I tested on a x200s and XF86Launch1 works for me.

Bought a nice T450s with computrace enabled for cheap cheap. Running Arch w/full disk encryption, but having a rootkit in the bios is unsettling. Even if it wasn't active I'd still want to remove it. Anyone got any tips before I brick the motherboard?

>>5266 You can call them and ask for it to be disabled.

>>5266 Computrace does nothing by itself, it needs Windows to be useful. For extra money you saved, buy a pomona clip and reflash the bios image.

>>5283 That would be too easy **and awkward if it actually was stolen** >>5289 Ordered the parts already, just waiting for delivery. The plan is to dump the bios, delete the PCI Option ROM section then reflash with whats left.

is the trouble and price to libreboot an x220 worth it compared to the ease of librebooting an x60 and cheaper price? I'd have to buy every single part from the beaglebone/pi to the laptops themselves, but from what I've heard, x60s can do it without even opening the laptop. What do i sacrifice from each one? will anon learn how to not be a massive glitterboy?

>>5126 The battery in my T400 right now is "Image" brand and it's fine. I bought it because I was in a pinch and couldn't afford a Lenovo battery any time soon, but I haven't had any issues with it in 2 years. The thing with aftermarket batteries, though, is that people lie on ebay, so it's probably impossible to know for sure that you're not buying a soykaf battery.

Hey guys, I have a X230 and I'm looking for a screen to replace. My question is, what is the best option to replace that? Buy whatever in Ebay? A specific vendor? What about non original replacement? I'll wait for your answer.

>>5289 Unfortunately, that may not be the case. It depends on when the BIOS was last updated. Newer versions of Computrace work on GNU/Linux too. >>5266 You should be able to just permanently disable it from the BIOS, unless there's a supervisor password, which requires some careful pin-shorting to bypass. If not, you can call up like >>5283 says and they'll disable it after contacting the original owner to make sure it isn't stolen.

>>5955 Here's a link to a thread that covers it in greater detail. https://forum.thinkpads.com//viewtopic.php?t=114641

Can we get some more ThinkPad memes?

>>6002 >Makes you use Firefox and Thunderbird >Not lynx and mutt Put it in the garbage bin

Anyone have the T400 with switchable graphics? They mostly-kinda-sorta work most of the time in linux, but sometimes I can feel that the discrete card is on since that part of the case gets really hot, and sometimes I get nasty tearing after re-opening the lid. I've tried googling around but I can only find info on much newer switching-graphics setups like optimus.

>>6009 Imagine gentle femdom, in the same way she treats her users.

I bought a t400 and i plan on librebooting it soon. Any advice before i fuarrrk up?

I was an idiot and dropped a plate on my Surface Pro 2, destroying the screen and, well, borking the whole thing. Would any of the write-on thinkpads I could get for about $600 CAD be a worthy replacement for reading/annotating scientific papers?

>>6432 Check if you have a dual-core processor since libreboot for quad cores is still in development. Don't forget to back up your original BIOS image and update embedded controller firmware if you don't mind newer proprietary code running there.

>>6002 >These are my parents I just imagined an awkward american whyte guy with his chinese wife, it perfectly explains why modern thinkpads are so weird looking and borderly insane. just like in those WM/AF couple memes, what a coincidence xD Though, he used to be into Japanese girls, but had to lower his standards later I unironically cuddle with my thinkpad in bed, she's comfy, warm, flat on top and curvy on the bottom

>>6450 >fsociety Please tell me this ain't real yo

I think this is a common problem, anyone know how to tighten the hinges of the screen on an x200? I have no problems with this laptop except that the screen kind of wobbles and it's a little annoying, and I think it's getting worse

>HP handmedown had a massive defect >HP doesn't want to do soykaf >hey, I'll just look into a used thinkpad >ktgee's guide is down

>>6467 The Internet Archive is your friend.

>>6012 I have a T500 with switchable graphics. If you want to switch the card your system is using, you can manually change it in the bios, or you can look on the archwiki for a less than optimal fix for switching between the two. In my case, I just would switch to internal while on campus, and back to discrete when I'm plugged in at home watching videos or playing games.

>>6457 I happen to be an expert on this topic. https://ventilatorxor.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/fixing-loose-thinkpad-screen-lid-hinge/ A piece of metal/teflon wire + a drop of glue. If I recall correctly, X200 hinges should have the similar design and can be tightened this way. If not, or wiggling is within the hinge bolt you'll have to buy a new set, they cost around $10 on Ebay and probably even cheaper on Aliexpress.

Looks like rms upgraded to a T400s instead of his X60 now. I kinda wish I had bought that one T60p I had come across for $50.

X201 (i5 520M) will be enough for internet and music on Linux? Price is 140$. I am gonna take it to university. My biggest fear is overheating or battery requiring permanent plugging in.

>>6484 Overkill. You can do basic tasks on an old X60 easily. If you need the extra power go for it.

>>6484 Typing from one, definitely yes. Budget to buy a new battery if you're worried about battery life, though. At that price you're getting a used, possibly worn out battery.

>>6484 i7-640lm in my x201s is a little slower than the i5-520m and its igpu is underclocked music and browsing is fine, 720p streaming is fine

How do i de-stink x200 hdd rubber cadys ive tried soaking in white vinigar but it still kinda smells

What's the Ω's opinion on Latitudes and Elitebooks?

It's almost 2018. Is the T420 still good enough?

>>6777 It completely depends on how you plan to use the laptop but I'd recommend you the t430 instead. At least for me it holds up way better than the t420

>>6771 Couldn't recommend them new but you can get great prices in refurbished. A lot of business dump them in mass sometimes still with a warranty.

>>242 What's the best IBM model to get?

>>6777 >>6778 Is there really that big of a difference between ivy and sandy bridge? My T520 holds well.

>>6766 Have you tried 3D printing new ones?

>>6812 Nothing really. T520 has a better keyboard anyways.

>>265 had two x220, both got insanely hot, dug up a t420, this one is cool

>>6777 Even a G4 PowerBook is still good enough for me, what do you need your laptop to do? T420 is still powerful, well built, only thing lacking are slimmer dimensions and weight, and battery life, actutally maybe a better screen. If you care you could upgrade to coreboot+me_cleaner and install an Ivy Bridge Quadcore.

>>7170 Its not like you can't change the t420 screen for a better one, there are plenty of options out there.