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Does anyone know where I can Find restore CD images for my late 90's P3 Dell Latitude CPX-J laptop?

VERAULT

VERAULT

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Jan 30, 2012
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Location
Connecticut, USA
My pentium /// 550mhz Dell Latitude laptop is getting long in the tooth. I have been running linux on it for years now but its not really to useful for that anymore either. I was using it for ADTPro disk transfers for Apple II systems but honestly my HP modern laptop is easier and faster.

Im thinking its time to put it back to a stock image of windows 98 and have fun with it the way it was meant to be again. I have tons of accessories, 2 removable floppy drives, a removeable CD-rom, and a removeable DVD-RW. Two still working battery packs. One works for over an hour!, and an secondary HDD removeable module. I never was able to get the docking base for it but thats fine.

I have a fondness for these things as I used to repair them when they were new. Its probably the easiest laptop to take apart. You could do a motherboard swap in 12 minutes flat without rushing. It was made pretty modular which is something you dont see anymore.

I think it would make a great gaming laptop so if anyone knows where I can find restore CD's that would be great. I threw all that stuff out years ago!
 
I know how you feel about those Varta button cell clock battery packs and all, but I will warn that there is one under the palmrest in the CPx and they're known to kill the trackpoint clicker buttons when they leak, so I'd recommend removing or replacing it (if you haven't already).

CPx is a great laptop. They have the same keyboard that the later Inspiron 8000 and 8100 laptops have, one of the best laptop keyboards ever made.
 
yep. I am aware. I replaced mine at least twice already. To your defence I have seen ONE leak on this model (not mine) in the past so I know it can happen. But its not too common. Anyway its easy to get to and you need it for the settings.

I think they are parts intechangeable with the inspiron 3700 (possibly 3800 also) (essentially the same unit new badge)
 
Alright, glad to hear it. It's funny to hear you've only seen one leak, I've run into well over a dozen of these things and only 3 of them weren't visibly leaking in some way, and I know for a fact that one of those three was NOS and the second one was barely used. Just the way luck goes I guess?

The 3700 and 3800 I believe are both just CPx laptops with styling changes, although I'm not sure what makes the two different. I don't own a CPx (yet) but I think I'd honestly rather get one of the Inspiron variants, they came in some fun colors that are unique to those two models (as far as I know). They look VERY late 90s, I think I'd like to get a green one at some point :)
 
on this exact laptop? Again I used to work on them and after they were no longer under warranty I would do repairs on them on the side for years to come, thats where I bought and sold a bunch. These things have been amazing. I still have a cpu module unused... 500mhz I think.

I always wanted the LARGE dock which took drives and if Im not mistaken one or two expansion cards. (a voodoo or voodoo 2 gaming rig!)
 
No, not this exact one. I've never owned a CPx - when I said "these things" I meant the batteries, sorry about the unclear language. But I've seen 3 CPi laptops each with a leaking one, 1 CS, leaking and damaged the board to the point it barely works, 2 C610s, one leaking and one intact (that's the one used one that I found that hadn't leaked), a C400 that leaked and possibly was the cause behind a dead motherboard, a C640 that leaked, and an Inspiron 8100 that leaked. Then a bunch more in different brands. Usually I'm able to catch them when they're only leaked down the wires and into the connector, before they wreck the board, but that's probably because I usually only buy laptops I know have these as working.
If you were doing out of warranty repair back in the 2000s then yeah, they wouldn't have leaked then. It's really more of a recent thing.

Those huge PCI docks are indeed sweet. A lot of the laptops from that time had similar ones, they're pretty darn rare now. I wouldn't mind having one of them for one of my laptops, but they are pretty big so I wouldn't want to keep a bunch around - that would be if I could find any though, I'm sure they show up on eBay from time to time but I wouldn't be too keen on paying shipping for that.
 
I tend to take things on as a "case by case" approach. For instance its safe to say early mac batteries are the devil... But not ALL rtc batteries. there are still plenty of systems with ancient batteries that havent leaked. The numbers do the talking. I know this line for whatever reason. Brand of battery perhaps? Teends not to leak.
 
Brand matters to a degree, but I think the chemistry and common components in all batteries of a given type are the main cause - NiMH laptop main batteries would be one example. They all seem to go and leak, I've never heard of one cell manufacturer that people say is better than another in this regard. I have seen some that appear to be worse though - whatever cells Apple used in the PowerBook 5300 batteries seem to be particularly nasty (Sanyo I think??). I actually saw something a couple weeks back I never thought I'd see - a leaking Lithium Ion laptop battery. Battery was circa 1995, and used red Sanyo cells. It had corrosion on one of the battery contacts and the cells seemed to be leaking rusty crap from all angles. Someone who works on a lot of Compaq laptops said the LTE 5000 batteries use the same cells and he's seen the same thing happen a lot.
One I do trust more are Lithium RTC coin cell batteries - definitely not the 1/2AA ones that the Macs used, but the CR2032s and similar seem to only leak VERY rarely.

NiCad laptop batteries are another weird one - seems to depend on the age and the brand. Some of the older 80s-era ones seem to be better than the later ones, it just depends. I've even heard a few examples of them still holding charge. Same goes for NiCad CMOS batteries - it's rare, but I actually did find one intact and functional still in a 1994 LTE Elite 4/75 CX laptop.

It is really case by case, depending on the type/brand/whatever. Cases I've seen have just told me those NiMH green Vartas have gotta go. I do generally take a very preventative and preservative approach to my collection though - I'll do stuff that isn't strictly necessary a lot just for peace of mind. I really don't think that approach applies to these varta batteries though - I've just seen too many examples of these leaking to trust them.

I may have mentioned this before as well, but Varta's old Lithium batteries seem to be GREAT. They're the only one of the brands that were found in old macs that I've heard MANY reports of them still holding 3V or close to it to this day. And I think I've only heard one report of them leaking.
 
Every zenith 286 sportster (EVERY SINGLE ONE AND I HAVE SEEN MANY) was burned to nothing because of leaky batteries. I never said it doesnt happen. It happens alot. But it doesnt happen to everything.
 
Oh by the way - @VERAULT - I'm curious, back when you were servicing these, what were the most common failures you ran into?
 
Cola spilt on keyboards and the owners lying about it. From highschool kids to corporate adults.... Sticky brown residue doesnt lie.

Secondly was broken screens from obvious drops.. Which they always lied about but since the laptop was plastic finding the origin of impact wasn't hard.

You were expecting failure right? That would be hard drives then, maybe an occasional optical drive. Most of my work was by gross negligence because people are stupid and careless and lie.

However... In the summer there was a common occurrence which was somewhat out of the owners hands. See lightning strikes always happen during summer months and back then (much as now) people were ignorant to buying a UPS for power protection. They would plug their computers modem right into their phone outlet receptacle and if lightning struck anywhere within a half mile it would blow thier computer. Most times you could see the ASIC popped on the modem. Depending on the damage a new modem might be all they need. But electricity is funny, it could take out everything too. So we ordered what was called the "party pack" and it send just about all major parts (with the caveat to send back what wasnt used).

And yeah, dial up internet was the most common form of internet even when I left in 2005.
 
Why lie about the damage?? It's out of warranty, they're paying anyway, right?
 
It really came down to i had say whether or not to negate thier warranty because of grosse negligence. And honestly if they were honest and sincere id do the repair.i mean i was being paid to be there anyway.however if they really would push the lie or they were just plain cruel or jerks id cancel thier eatranty and walk. You have no idea how negative that job was.. so many folks treated me badly and blamed me for whatever problems the machine had..as if i had something personnaly to do with it.
 
VERAULT said:
so many folks treated me badly and blamed me for whatever problems the machine had..as if i had something personnaly to do with it.
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I had some fun with that in my desktop support days. Irony of iron is I still miss the work. Just not the people.
 
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