Have Lenovo/IBM T60- Advice for Thrift BUT Comfy Modifications

Dear friends,

I am a college student and fairly new SL user unable to afford a different laptop for playing, especially as the only thing that I really play is SL. That being said, I have a school-issued IBM/Lenovo T60. My experience w/ SL so far is thus: for about 2 weeks the only crashes Ive experienced were game-related crashes (the kind that everybody, no matter what system SL is ran on, experiences), but the 3rd week my entire hardware system crashed, twice. The blue-screen message referred to memory each time (never took down what it said exactly, unfortunately). The first time was when I was running two windows of SL; the second was when I was logging into my main avator using only one window. In all three weeks,I was playing almost every day, for long periods of time.

My SL use will taper once school starts, limited to probably about 30 minutes daily except for long runs twice a week. Does anyone have any thrifty cheap suggestions for making do with what I have? Or any inexpensive upgrade recommendations so that I can run SL when I would like? Also, please note if you have the t60 yourself....

The full specs according to Notebookreview.com is below- however, I believe my school probably modifeid the specs and it isnt as full-featured. Ill update this thread once I know the full specs from the Tecnology Department. But from Notebook Review:

# Model #: 2623-D3U
# Processor: Intel T2500 2.0GHz Core Duo
# Motherboard Chipset: Intel Calistoga i945GM/PM
# Hard Drive: 100GB 5400RPM SATA (Hitachi Travelstar HTS541010G9SA00)
# Memory/RAM: 1GB (1,024MB) (configurable up to 4GB)
# Screen: 15.0" 1400 x 1050 SXGA+ (LG Philips LP150E05 - A2)
# Graphics: ATI X1400 128MB
# Optical Drive: Multi-Burner DVD recordable
# Battery: 9-cell (extended life, protrudes from back of notebook)
# Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11 a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0, InfraRed
# User Input: Touchpad, Pointing Stick, UltraNav buttons, Fingerpring Scanner
# Warranty: 3-years parts and labor, 1-year battery
# Dimensions:
14.1" screen config: 12.2" x 10.0" x 1.0-1.2" (width x depth x thickness)
15" screen config: 13" x 10.6" x 1.2-1.4" (width x depth x thickness)
# Weight: 6.4lbs (14" T60 is about 5.2 lbs with a 6-cell battery and optical drive)
# Ports:

* 3 USB 2.0 ports
* dock/port replicator
* Display-out
* AC adapter port
* RJ-11 (Modem)
* RJ-45 (Ethernet LAN)
* Audio line out for headphone/speakers
* Microphone

# Slots:

* 1 Type II PC card slot
* 1 ExpressCard 54 slot

# Buttons:

* Power on/off
* Volume up/down/mute (3 buttons)
* Wireless on/off
* ThinkVantage shortcut button (shortcut to system support, security and diagnostics suite)
* Battery lock and release


THanks a lot!


God bless,

Therese

So is this the Model of your machine? or you just copy it from Notebook Review??
The T60 come with variety of configurations more than a dozen (from intel graphic to ATI graphic, from T5500 chipset to T7200).
It would be really helpful to know which model you have.. and I mean it is not a rocket science to find out such a thing... just turn your laptop up-side down and you should able to find out the model# from a label, it should be in the following format:
0000-A0A
4 digits and then 1 alphabet 1 digit and a alpahbet.

but if they turn it upside down how they gonna type? hehe

Har har, Rhaorth

Jack, yes, I do have the IBM Lenovo T60- sorry if that's not clear. Regarding my specific model number, I don tthink its listed that way, actually- I searched the otherisde of my keyboard and couldnt find it in that format....however, I believe you are looking for this:

TYPE 2007-EY5 S/NL3-1Z5h4

Product ID: 2007EY5

Checked the school website, and that's what's listed too....its a T60 EY5.

Will update this thread with full specs tomorrow as soon as I can....

I use a T43 with pretty similar specs. Memory is important because you *really* don't want anything to swap on a laptop disk (they're slow, and burn battery); on this machine, I keep cache to a minimum because my network connection is fast compared to the disk.

The most cost-effective upgrade for SL, though, is a cheap, comfortable USB mouse. (Unless Lenovo has gotten smarter since the last time I updated the BIOS, once it loses connection with a PS2 mouse it will not see it again till rebooted--which is a tremendous pain especially if you take the machine in and out of the port replicator--so USB is the way to go.)

If you're planning on using voice in SL, a good bluetooth headset might be worth considering... especially if you'd also use the laptop to complete VoIP phone connections (or if your cell is also bluetooth capable). (I/ve never bothered to try mine with SL yet... but it should work.)

Therese--- Go into SL, and on the Help menu, choose About. The top of this dialog box will have your machine specs relevant to SL, like this:

CPU: Intel Pentium Pro (Unknown model) (1662 MHz)
Memory: 1015 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: Intel
Graphics Card: Intel 945GM
OpenGL Version: 1.4.0 - Build 7.14.10.4785
LLMozLib Version: 1.1.0 (Mozilla GRE:1.8.0.12_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 0/619672 (0.0%)
Viewer Digest: 85017f1d-8ccb-62f6-97ea-37f4ebc61368

..... probably exactly like this!

That is most of what we need to know. You can also get the disk space, from Properties on the right-click menu of your drive.

Hi, Nika,

Unfortunately, I cannot re-log into SL w/o risking another hardware crash- and as this time around I am aware of the risk of doing so, I do no think it will be covered under my laptop insurance ...and I cannot afford repairing.

But, let's put it this way- I do not think my computer configuration is compatible for a program like SL- at all. From the specs listed on SL's website, or from any thread message in which people listed substitues that worked for them, I do not any of the video/graphics card listed, which Im sure has to do with the crash. I do not think these are the full specs, but what I found out on my school website is that I have:

* 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo Processor
* 1 GB RAM
* 60 GB Hard Drive
* 14.1 TFT Active Matrix Display
* DVD/CD Super Multi-burner Drive
* IBM Trackpoint and Touchpad Mouse
* 802.11 a/b/g Wireless Support (Built In)
* 56.6 KBPS v .90 Modem (Built In)
* 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter (Built In)
* 64 MB VRAM
* Li-ION Battery 4.7 hrs
* 3 - USB 2.0 Ports

...so far. Not sure about the video card, though I definitely have one as in running SL as I able to see things. But Im sure its not the right video/graphics card. Also, my free memory according to C: drive Properties is 67.4 GB.

So, just to clarify-- Im looking to find out how I can use SL w/o purchasing another laptop OR crashing my hardware every time. I dont want the crashes, period. I am asking if people can recommend inexpensive, yet quality (preferably quality, of course) additions to my laptop so that I can run SL w/o the hardware crashes or other big problems. Any advice at all would be appreciated. Thank you very much, everyone!

Honestly I would recommend just bowing out of SL for the school year. That schedule is so minimal, it certainly does NOT justify designing a system and spenindg $$$ on that.

Well, getting a Blue Screen Of Death is a sign of something pretty dramatic going wrong, but I think it unlikely that triggering the BSOD is breaking the computer in such a way that a repair would be necessary.

One thing about that, though: if it was working fine for two weeks, something changed to make it stop working, and while the most likely candidates are changes to SL or other settings or software, it's just possible it could be environmental: laptops are extremely sensitive to heat because they have such a small fan and everything is packed so close together. And SL will make the CPU and especially the graphics processor run extra hot--they're working a lot harder than they would with just a browser and some office app on the screen. So, if you've changed the machine's location (slightly blocking the fan, or sitting on something softer that insulates the case more)--or even if the room is warmer--that could cause crashes, and that kind of overheating could indeed damage the hardware.

If you haven't already, you may want to search the Technical Issues forum at , but you'll want to know the graphics card model first; if not from SL, then from My Computer, Properties, Hardware tab, Device Manager, Display Adapters. (It may be that ATI X1400 card listed in the specs, but those are for the 2623-D3U model, not the 2007-EY5 model that you have.)

The heat topic is certainly a concern and one I've experienced then using my T42 with inferior spec to your T60. For thrifty and comfy mods you might try

http://www.roadtools.com/

Actually, that's probably the best advice I've read here!

Therese, I have a T60, with the exact same system specs you have. I don't see how you would have gotten one without the same graphics chipset I have, the Intel 945GM. This chipset is not supported by SL. Getting it to work is a real balancing act. If I had to guess, I would say the most recent version of the voice client sent your laptop over the edge. Perhaps, also, you are running a virus protector (Norton or McAfee or even the free version of AVG) that interferes with SL's cache. But the basic problem is that your CPU is working overtime to compensate for the inadequate graphics chipset. I would guess that your lappie is runnning very warm; mine does.

You could try doing the same dance that I do to play SL ... using the non-voice client, setting your graphics up very carefully, using the Nicholaz client, having a small desk fan blowing under the laptop ... lalala ... but really just focusing on school is the best advice. It's a losing battle ... I am fairly sure that sometime soon the 945 chipset based laptops will be completely unable to cope. And you cannot plug in a new graphics card or chipset.

Thank you, everyone. For those of you reading this after today and who also have this problem, I hope what these good people have suggested would be of use to you. For those of you considering posting to help....I have made a decision regarding this problem, and so as to not waste anyone's time any longer, have as part of this decision not bother people any longer .

Take care and God bless!

-Therese Tammas