A "Tough" Panasonic Toughbook Question!
#1
A "Tough" Panasonic Toughbook Question!
I need some help guys & gals... I bought a Panasonic CF-28 Toughbook on ebay recently. It's in great condition... It's a 800Mhz P3 with 512MB of RAM. It came with a DVD-CD-R/W/RW and I bought a DVD-CD-R/W/RW so I can burn DVDs. The problem is that Panasonic makes it's CD players as master instead of auto or cable select. I have heard that you can solder pins 47 and 45 together... using a jumper (pin 47 is CEL and pin 45 is GRND). I have seen on the web where people have done this with MAC laptops and other Toughbook models. In one case they just soldered in a 000 resistor (a straight short) between two spots on the little PC board that plugs into the back of the DVD/CD unit. I have a spot (it looks like) labeled R201 and R202 where it looks like you could modify it. I tried and it seemed to work at first... The laptop recognized it and installed the drivers. But when I re-booted... It hung! As soon as I took it out... Everything went fine.
Does anyone have any experience with Toughbooks here??? The model DVD/CD I purchased was a Sony AW-G540A-10. (If that makes any difference... I think the adapters use the same pin-outs.)
Can anyone help me with this?
Thanks!
Rick
Does anyone have any experience with Toughbooks here??? The model DVD/CD I purchased was a Sony AW-G540A-10. (If that makes any difference... I think the adapters use the same pin-outs.)
Can anyone help me with this?
Thanks!
Rick
#2
I found it! I had soldered a 000 resistor in R202 and one side was a cold solder joint. I removed it and just soldered a small blob of solder between the connection points (it's only about a 1/32nd of an inch) and it fired right up! Now there is no need to pay $400 for a working DVD r/w/rw DL piece of equipment... I only spent $54 online! (Plus a few hairs pulled out!)