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--- blog:ibm_tp_43 [2025/09/11 12:20] – [Overview] john
+++ blog:ibm_tp_43 [2025/09/23 21:08] (current) – [Overview] john
@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 **Bad Points**
-   * Stuck GPU/CPU fan - **Partial fix, below**
+   * Stuck GPU/CPU fan - <del>Partial fix, below</del> **Replacement fan unit fitted**
-   * Discharged BIOS battery
+   * Discharged BIOS battery - 20-30 minutes worth, which is //okay// for a 20 year old laptop
    * Missing hard drive / PATA only drives - **Fitted a WDC WD120BEVE**
    * Backlight/inverter aged - **Replaced screen with new-old-stock**
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 The proper way to repair the noisy fan would be to replace it with a new part. In this case I didn't know if the machine was in a fully working state so I went the hack route...
-First I soaked the fan bearings in isopropyl alcohol to clean out any residual oil/grease - the fan wouldn't turn when the machine first arrived. After getting the fan spinning freely again by hand I then drilled several small holes through the plastic central hub and carefully dripped in some lubricating oil. This clearly isn't the best way to solve the problem, and the sleeve bearing really isn't design to be serviced, however it did work, and the fan spins freely and is somewhat less-than-annoying in terms of sound level.
+First I soaked the fan bearings in isopropyl alcohol to clean out any residual oil/grease - the fan wouldn't turn when the machine first arrived. After getting the fan spinning freely again by hand I then drilled several small holes through the plastic central hub and carefully dripped in some lubricating oil. This clearly isn't the best way to solve the problem, and the sleeve bearing really isn't design to be serviced, however it did work, and the fan spins freely, though with a little vibration from the god-knows-how-long-it-has-been-seized bearings, and is somewhat less-than-annoying in terms of sound level.
 If the machine all checks out, then it may be worth replacing the fan with a new part.
+**[Update September 2025]** After using the laptop on and off for games for a month or so it seems reliable and does what I wanted, so I found and ordered a new-old-stock fan unit from Aliexpress. It was less than £5 including shipping and only needed the old fan to be prised off the heatsink. Much quieter and no vibration any more. //Perfect//.
 === LCD Panel / Backlight ===
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    * {{:blog:pentium:tp_43:thinkpad_t43_ps2_utility.zip|DOS PS2 utilities}} - DOS PS2 configuration utility for T4x series (LCD control, speed, brightness, fan control etc)
    * {{:blog:pentium:tp_43:broadcom.zip|Broadcom ODI packet drivers for DOS}} - compatible with MTCP and other DOS packet-driver utilities
+   * Thinkpad PCMCIA / Card Services - compatible with the T43
 In addition, there is a patched version of BIOS v1.29 which codes out the whitelist of IBM-approved hard disks, and gets rid of the annoying "Press F1 / ESC to continue" message and double-beeps that occur on every reboot if you have a non-IBM approved hard drive
@@ Line 138: / Line 141: @@
 {{:blog:pentium:tp_43:img20250831133043.jpg?500|}}
+=== PCMCIA ===
+The T43 has a PCMCIA/Cardbus (up to Type-II size) socket (just one, the upper socket is a variant of PCI-Express and **not** compatible with PCMCIA/Cardbus cards). IBM/Lenovo provide drivers to enable this in DOS, but they have a major limitation - it only appears to enable the PC Card sockets in PCMCIA mode (i.e. 16bit) and not in Cardbus (i.e. 32bit PCI).
+This means that if you have Cardbus cards and DOS drivers for them, then they **will not work**.
+Normal PCMCIA cards and DOS drivers do appear to work (verified with DLink DFE670 10/100 NIC and Roland SCP-55 MIDI card).
+Under other operating systems with proper Cardbus drivers (Win9x, 2000, XP, etc) or in Linux, the Cardbus functionality seems to work perfectly.
+If using PCMCIA services in DOS, you must //exclude// the **D000-D7FF** range from EMM386, JEMM or any other memory manager.
 ===== Benchmarks =====