~Toughbooktalk~

Hello. I just bought a used CF-17 & I can't find too much information about it anywhere. I understand that it is a version of the CF-M34 chassis. It is a model CF-17TR42AEM according to the marking on the bottom of the unit. I know that it has a 300mHz, 4.3GB HD, 96mb RAM. Other than that, I have no real clue. I am trying to find out what it is equiviliant to in the CF-M34 line - Mk1, Mk2, etc? Also I see recovery disks for CF-M34's that are for sale....will one of these work on this model? Are they Mark specific as the newer models are? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks folks.

If I remember correctly, the lowest processor in the 34 was a 400MHz, and there aren't many of those around any more. The main one you find these days is the 700MHz. Yes, the recovery discs are model specific and it is probably going to be a stretch for anyone on this forum to have them as that is a VERY old Toughbook and little can be done with it due to its configuration.

BTW, if you would be interested in a 34 to replace the 17, let me know as I have several I would be willing to sell.

After a little more research, I have found that according to the Panasonic Toughbook configurator, the cf-m34 came with a Celeron 300 processor. I still don't kow where that puts my unit in regard to mark number. I appreciate the offer on your C-M34's. I have a couple of CF-18's that I love and bought this CF-17 just because it was the forerunner of the CF-18 (and good price). I hope to get it restored close to factory condition, just for nostalgia's sake & because the CF-17 seems to be a bit more rare. I have found a battery, power cord, and maxed the RAM out at 196mb to get a little better performance. It appears that it originally came with windows 98. That shouldn't be too hard to find & I have downloaded all of the drivers from panasonic. Any advice on the order of loading drivers? Thanks again for the input.

If there is not a Panasonic PDF on the order of the drivers I would not worry about it. I usually do any chipset support first, which will not be an issue here, then Network, then Graphics, then everything else.

Good luck with it and let me know if you need a DC-DC and/or a AC-DC Power supply for it!

OK. I attempted to boot from an external CD drive, & it was no go. In the bios, I have the boot option of A:/ or A:/C. A:/C is selected. Can anyone tell me what went wrong & how to correct it? I even tried a floppy USB drive with no luck. Also, after fooling a little with a CF-27 300MHz running XP (very slowly), I am consdering a Linux OS to get the most out of this old dog. I would like to use it solely for wireless internet surfing in my work downtime. Any suggestions as to a Linux distribution to support this? Thanks.

Thor, are you sure I can't interest you in a 700MHz CF-M34? I have it loaded with XP and all you need to do is plug in a USB or PCMCIA wifi card and you are ready to rock. I can probably make you a great deal on one as I have three or four right now.

Your model needs a special panasonic cd
I had some success loading the o/s in a simular toughbook and transfering the hard drive

If it was me I would take Silver trooper up on his offer to sell you a newer version


Alex

Silver Trooper wrote:Thor, are you sure I can't interest you in a 700MHz CF-M34? I have it loaded with XP and all you need to do is plug in a USB or PCMCIA wifi card and you are ready to rock. I can probably make you a great deal on one as I have three or four right now.

Trooper, I truely appreciate the offer, however my wife will have a fit if I bring another toughbook home without getting the ones that I have up and running. I'm curently sitting on about 4 toughbooks that I need to get together. Thanks again. I will keep your offer in mind.

Michael