Ultra DMA 100 combatibility ?

[raphaelaz]

Hey,
I have old working fujitsu e-6624 without internal HDD, i could get few different HDDs with size differences, and am abit confused. I dont have original hdd to check what specs it have, on manufactor site it says: Hard Disk Drive ,15GB or 30GB, Ultra DMA 100.

Would really like to get atleast 80 / 100gb hdd but dunno if its supported, cant find it anywhere.

Does the hdd need to be configured FOR e-6624 or can i just get right size dma 100 hdd?
also if i get ATA-7, Ultra ATA/133 is connector same, and if it does, is there any speed boost?

thx

 

[rehed21]

Any drive with the correct connector will work (PATA/EIDE). An Ultra ATA/133 will not provide a speed boost, but is backwards compatible with the DMA 100 controller on the motherboard. Once you install the drive, just ensure the BIOS settings are at AUTO for the drive settings, and the computer will configure it. I wouldn't be surprised if the Fujitsu motherboard manufacturer limits the size of hard drives that it can detect, which may cause a problem for you, but I'm pretty sure 80 gb should not cause a problem. I had run into a problem with a 160 gb drive not being recognized in an old desktop computer, but a 80 gb drive worked.

I'm assuming you are doing this for fun, since any money spent is not worth anything else.

 

[raphaelaz]

I will get 256mb ram stick for free in about a week for this laptop. Then i can go bios. Dont know if empty slot for hdd is actually 2nd hdd place and there is already integrated HDD inside.
This slot is empty, dunno if i need caddy or just push it in without : http://www.manualslib.com/manual/246369/Fujitsu-Lifebook-E6624.html?page=18#manual

In this page it says : Some Life-
Book notebooks may also contain a removable hard disk
drive in addition to the internal hard disk drive
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/246369/Fujitsu-Lifebook-E6624.html?page=56#manual

My friends father is 70 and i doubt he will do anything other than email / writing with this laptop, so should be ok even if its 15 years old.

 

[rehed21]

Have you started it up to see if a hard drive is installed? (Never mind, I see that you are waiting for memory). Looking at the manual, it appears that the internal hard drive release button accesses the only hard drive. Have you tried to release it to see what it looks like inside?The manual does mention the possibility of another hard drive, but never mentions where. If BIOS lists another hard drive, then you know there is one in there somewhere.

<My friends father is 70 and i doubt he will do anything other than email / writing with this laptop, so should be ok even if its 15 years old.>

That laptop will struggle even with email, assuming it's done through a web browser. The only safe operating system it might be able to handle is a lightweight Linux distro, such as Lubuntu or Zorin OS 9 lite, and even then I doubt it. I played around with a desktop with a Pentium 4 and 1 gb of memory with a 32 bit Linux OS, and it was just barely usable.

If it were me, I would not give it away to anyone, since it's just too old to be usable with today's tech - unless I didn't like the person and wanted to frustrate them.

Good luck.

 

[raphaelaz]

Hahah, dont want to annoy him, but i already promised to get it to work. IF its dead slow....will go to garbage bin.
And yes i looked inside, there looks to be 40 or so pin connector end of the hole, no caddy or hdd. Only this lid thing which opens it.
When i press power on.. it gives 3 short beebs with black screen, should it post someting even without ram installed? Battery and sound are atleast working.
I have another broken laptop but its borken.. fujitsu amilo d8330 thats atleast better than e6624. I got it to even work slowly as hell on xp with chkdsk /r, but it was full of viruses and couldnt load even windows updates. HDD seemed to fail cause no other os working aswell, pretty loud clicking but couldnt get hdd open without right size torx. Now its only showing black screen on boot after i cleaned cpu and took hdd out trying to open it.
Cpu slot was strange. It had plastic lid between cpu pins and mobo slot pins, with tiny holes where pins go. which cant be removed. Maybe i did someting wrong cause after reaseating hdd / ram / cpu, black screen.
Should i put first seat cpu to plastic so pins are seated in holes, then tighten this plastic thing with lever? or just tighten it with lever and THEN put cpu in it? Fans / dvd drive are working, and numlock etc flashes at boot, but it posts NOTHING only black screen, heard few times one beep sound. Now cant hear it at all. probably cause cmos time wrong and it wont try start os before correcting it in bios.
Tried also reseating RAM few times. If i get this thing to work will give it away more likely, what should i try next?
thx

 

[raphaelaz]

Got my memory stick now installed, e6624 now boots to bios, and passes boot memory diagnostics test to 512mb ram. It has loud beep noise when i use down arrow key and some other keys, i can still change settings with pgdown etc.
When i choose hard disc as primary boot, it just says no operating system installed. There SHOULD be win 2000 pro installed, sticker is on back of laptop with licence, but maybe previouis owner took hdd / memory and os was in hdd.

EDIT: Never even tried linux before, I will try lubuntu cause zorin 9 lite is 947mb and this thing only has cd drive. Lubuntu is less than 700mb so i can burn it to cd.

Found one 250gb hdd with sata connector from old stuff, and another 80gb drive with ide connector, although latter one makes clicking sound and is really old. Dunno how i put it in place without caddy, can i also use 250gb with sata if i find => pata adapter?

 

[raphaelaz]

No 2nd HDD, tried lubuntu from disc cause couldnt install it, everything seem to work fine but keyboard beebs with certain keys. Dont know if it detects or not cause i cant fit even IDE in that slot, its very odd, like i need some kind of adapter for it. Opened whole laptop and tried to fit it in and still couldnt. Pin count seem to match, but no idea where i can get adapter like that.

 

[rehed21]

You will need a an IDE adapter to fit between the IDE drive and the motherboard connector, or you can purchase a SATA to IDE adapter to use the SATA drive (they sell them on EBay). A problem I found on old computers is that the motherboard doesn't always recognize hard drives larger than a certain size, so the 250gb may or may not work. As far as the CPU, it sounds like you need to insert the CPU over the plastic, then tighten the lever (that is a strange setup). Check for bent pins on the CPU. Don't forget fresh thermal paste. If a laptop displays a black screen in BIOS when the CPU and memory are installed correctly, then the video chip or the inverter could be bad, but if black screen only when OS starts - then it is a driver issue. A drive caddy is likely needed, unless there is sufficient pressure within the enclosure to keep the drive in place. For a computer to post, it must have a CPU and ram.

 

[raphaelaz]

Its strange that i need IDE => IDE adaptor for e-6624. Found one today for 3 euros and bought it. Sata=>IDE connector seems to cost too much, so im saving my SATA hdd for use in other computer, would be waste of speed anyway to use it in IDE connect.
I applied now new thermal paste for both e-6624 and amilo d8830, both had this strange setup, there was no bent pins and slot looked ok also, although i cant remove that plastic cover at all to look closer, only tighten or loosen it so i can apply cpu.

When i can connect hdd which e-6624 recodnizes, i will install lubuntu to it. Some keys are still beeping in bios and when i try to write in lubuntu notepad. Will try external keyboard tomorrow to see if cmos / mobo problem or just keyboard.

I have 2 compatible 1gb sticks for amilo d8830 and i remmeber it was pretty fast for a laptop, 3ghz with hyperthreading. Too bad i cant get it to work, would be better choice to give as present.
I tried get it to work again yesterday and it actually posted boot msgs, like no operation system found etc, then black again. This happened multiple times, no beeps mean its not hardware error? Its like the graphic card is still working, cpu and memory cant be problem cause it posted boot menu. its like 1/5 times i boot it shows everything normal until bios. then bit of screen flashing, and for 3 boots nothing, only black.

Update: Replaced d8830 ram sticks and got to bios, it had correct time and recodnized RAM too. Keyboard worked aswell.. after few mins screen freeze and nothing works, after that all black when i try to boot. No error beeps still and sound works, hdd is removed.