T400 screw placement problem [ Edited ]

[Pastie]

Hey guys, small problem working out where one screw goes(well two screws sort of)... Bought a T400 second hand and it was flithy. Seen the well detailed pdf and thought there was nothing to lose, so took it all apart lol. But now on my way back to re-assembling it all, I've quickly hit a snag.

The diagram in the pdf page 102 seems to be different from my layout (my magnesium frame is different in a way it has more holes in some areas)

Here is my layout

Notice that the pdf diagram hasn't got as many holes under the wifi card area. Also the hole to the left of the lcd connector on my layout isnt there in the pdf .. reason why I mention this hole also is because I have a screw in it coming up from the bottom(you see, this hole is there from the bottom in the pdf on page 110(screw 8) of how the motherboard screws onto the frame, but from this top view its gone(mistake in the pdf maybe?.., but why all the other differences too, like extra holes on my layout?)..  Is it a half hole, that doesn't come through to top, maybe only on certain models?).. the thing that is confusing, is that the lcd brace uses that same hole too. So that is going to be 2 screws in the same hole - one screwed in from bottom, then from from the top when brace goes on... is this right?

Now getting to the "1 screw" that is confusing me the most. It's a "9.5mm screw" and it is meant to go to the right of the lcd socket. but the layout in the pdf is slightly different. Should I put it there anyway?.. What if it goes under the wifi card instead?.. the holes there look more deeper, and the screw is big. And I'm afraid I may damage the MB if screwed into wrong hole. It is on pdf page 102 (screw 4)... can anyone shed any light on this confusion?

Thanks in advance for any replies

[richk]

Some wifi cards are different size.  You use the 2 holes you need.  The screw to the left of the LCD connector is screw 2 on page 17. The one to the right of the LCD is a 9.5mm screw that does not go through the bottom case. It helps hold the frame down to the base (number 4 on page 120)

[Pastie]

Hey richk, thanks for the reply mate. But what pdf are you refering to? I only ask because yours maybe different and help me out more.(page 17 on mine is nothing but warning stuff, theres no pictures and disassembly stuff until further down into the page 100's)... I'm using the T400/R400 pdf downloaded  from the lenovo site.

Ok, so you say the 9.5mm screw goes into the hole to the right of the lcd connector and down into the black casing?. OK,I guess that makes the most sense since the pdf shows something very similar. I will go ahead and put it there.

But tell me this.Notice the hole to the left of the lcd conector?.. I have a screw coming up from the bottom(not through the casing, just holding MB to the magnesium  frame).. but I notice that this hole is the very same hole the lcd cable brace uses too. That's what I mean by saying 2 screws same hole lol.  I am assuming this is right, and infact 2 screws use the same hole. As the pdf shows it this way, on page 110, screw 8.. and the same hole is used  on page 99, screw 2.(I'm going backwards remember).. so that's. one up through the bottom of the mb and the other down through the same hole from the top holding on the lcd brace.... I just want to know if this is right. the pdf has confused me a little, and with my frame being a little different and all.

Thanks again for any help.

[richk · Accepted solution]

Sorry. Page 17 should read 117.

Yes. The same hole in the frame receives a screw from the bottom, holding the mb to the frame and also from above to hold down the same side of the lcd cable. That's the one on page 117.

[Pastie]

Thanks again richk. I went ahead and followed the pdf like you said, and all looks well so far. The screw was very hard to get in at first mind you(only going half way and getting very stiff to turn), but then just as I was willing to give in and tell myself this screw doesn't go here, it  suddenly took one of those loose jerks that screws like to take when they find their place in the hole.Went in good and easily after that.

One thing I noticed when I took off the bottom casing again was the screw hole in which the 9.5mm screw goes into. I can't believe I never noticed it before. That is what I should have did in the first place. I should have just looked at the inner bottom casing to see where all the screw holes and screw holders were placed. Now I know that's where it's definitely goes.

Thanks for your help mate.

Now that I'm sorted, Don't mean to unload the noob upon you all, but was wondering can you guys give me some quick fire answers to things i've been wondering about the T400 without me having to open new threads?...

- Is the wifi card "N" compliant?(there doesnt seem to be any way of knowing this in windows, so thought to ask here for verification, as there seems to be different wifi card models).. mine has 3 antenna cables(I'm guessing they are b/g/n)... is this right?

- Also my T400 hasnt got the "intel turbo memory card" but has the socket and holder etc. Should I get one?.. what does this do?.. I don't have the discrete gpu, only intergrated, if that's anything to do with having turbo memory installed. 

- Also can you make phone calls using the laptop, since it can take a simcard?.. or is simcard for roaming internet only?

- And finally can you update the cpu in these? At the minute I have a 2.4ghz C2D with 3mb L2... could I buy and install the 2.5 ghz with 6mb L2?

 .....I want to max this laptop out. As T400 parts seem pretty cheap on ebay at the moment. I am a thinkpad noob, just got my T400 last week, only turned on twice before starting the clean out of the casing.

Thanks again for any input

[richk]

All the T400 wifi cards are "n" compatible. The 3 wire cards are primary (b & g), auxilary and "n". There are also 2-wire cards that are primary (b, g, & n) and auxilary. I never found that turbo memory really helped. I ran tests and had no improvement. CPU upgrades only help if you do very particular cpu-intensive tasks. In general, adding memory and getting a faster disk are more cost-effective. If you have a WWAN card, you can access a celular network as if you had a mobile phone. In the U.S. the service is expensive, and I have never gotten it because it doesn't cover the areas where I would use it. Someone else can probably give you more help on the particulars in the UK.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you can upgrade the T400 to the T9900 CPU, but unless you need the CPU speed, then upgrading ram and hdd to SSD is more effective.

As said the Turbo Memory is useless. It was probably done to get people interested in Intel SSD. Think of it as training wheel for the real solid state drives.

[Pastie]

Thanks a lot guys, really appreciate the help. Yeah, i was always going to add another 2gb of memory to bring it to 4gb, and a bigger faster hard drive. But was just wondering if the cpu upgrade was worth while. See, the reason why I was looking at the C2D 2.5ghz with 6mb L2 cache upgrade is that it seems to use the same amount of power(25w) as the P8600 2.4ghz C2D with 3mb L2 cache that I have at the minute. And the extra kick along with the extra 3mb of L2 cache would pay off a lot in cpu performance. I if ever seen one for a good price on ebay, I'd buy it.

I do a lot of messing around in old-skool games like doom3 and Half life 2 and mainly Gmod(half life 2 sandbox).. I love physics sandbox games.like Phun, OE Cake etc. These are usually designed  with a big emphasis on cpu power.  I was thinking the cpu upgrade would help aid the intergrated gpu alot more too, as older games around 04/05 era still did rely on a good cpu and ram combo (I'm guessing the 4500HD should be ok at 1200x800 or even 1024x768 on medium/high settings) . I wouldn't be playing any games later than 05 since they usually have a bigger emphasis on gpu power... dont worry, I'm very optimistic when trying out games. So I do expect things may not run very well at all lol

Thanks again guys for all the help. At the moment I'm waiting on some Artic Silver 5 to arrive so I can put the heatsink back on and try out the said games etc. Maybe I wont need an upgrade at all lol. I know the laptop will browse the web in it's sleep, but I do alot of other messing around in programs/older games too, so it's nice to have that extra power. If I ever find something going cheap enough.I'll probably upgrade the cpu.

Cheers guys.