Service Forum

[jesco]

Hi friends, I would like to get some information about replacing a
eeprom on ibm thinkpad x41 with svp . I strip down the laptop trying
to find the eeprom . finally found the chip phillips 24so8. I would like to
see if anybody out there knows where can I get a new eeprom. for this
machine. otherwise it will be hard for me to build a interface device
Please if anybody can help. thanks

[bob]

Replacing the eeprom is not doing any good because it must have the info in there. You can't just set a blank one.

If you want to unlock the laptop you have to build the circuit and read the eeprom with R24RF08

[jesco]

i just built the circuit interface but this error comes up. no eprom available. I don't know if the circuit is working properly or not. when I open the program patcher to try the read the eprom and the circuit is not
plug in it says circuit no found but when I plug it in it looks like it found the
circuit but it says eprom not available. what I'm doing wrong? If anybody can help I will appreciate it. thanks friends.

[victor]

First, no need to use patcher for X41.

Secondly, to be able to give you some hints, I need to know what device you made, SIPROG or the max232 one. Did you see the Practice thread?
If not, take a look around there.

[jesco]

Hi Victor, I got your answers and I think I built max 232 circuilt . with the following conponents : 232 chip, 2 diodes 14148, 2 resistors, 4.7 k oms,
5 caps. 0.1 uf. and a db9 female conector.which program should I use to
try to read this eprom? this eprom is a 24s08. I think this the eprom on
this Ibm x41 machine. also how can I check this circuit to see if it's o.k.?
next what program can I use to read this eprom? because I think I wired
the eprom with three wires but since I don't have picture showing me how
the eprom is wired. Is this chip is the same as r24f08 or different? I would
like to learn how to even start this project. thanks.

[victor]

I think you have the pictures and everything in the R24RF08 kit.
PCA 24S08 is almost identical with 24RF08 (it doesn't have the RF) and it has the same 8 pin layout.
If you pay attention to the driven-i2cprog schematic just a bit, you'll got all you need to know.
To use the software put '/x /d /i' in command line - with spaces between.

[jesco]

Hi Victor, first this type of programer that I built does it power up from
the cable port or does it need separate current like the three batteries
on the schematic? when I power up the laptop I connect the ground and
the sda and then the scl then f1 then what is next to do? when I try to open the w24rf08 it says to buy a license and when I open the r24rf08
all I see is a black box showing me the r24rf08 eeprom reader. but what
do I do there? and I don't understand where the command line are is
really complicated for me . If I don't get it I just probably forget all about
this. thanks alot for all your information .