Why does Lenovo\'s "Parts Lookup" site not (always) work?? (2024)

I am lurking around here and there to find a specific T61 motherboard (the "Crestline" 42W7872 supporting Penryn CPU's, and this mobo having the Intel X3100 GMA graphics controller); although I am primarily after the mobo itself, I am also considering buying an entire T61 with this mobo, and with an e.g. busted LCD. Few sellers know what they are selling (and this is fair enough for the average user/seller), in terms of what parts their laptop specifically consist of/contain, so I am often asking sellers for the specific part- and model-number of their ThinkPad (such as e.g. 8897-03G), and the serial-number, in order then to become able to do a Parts Lookup through Lenovo's site.

Now, and here's where it gets spooky; I have several times lately found myself being unable to do such a Lenovo "Parts Lookup" for ThinkPad's; Lenovo's site would report "Error: Could not retrieve parts information for..." for e.g. a known T61 with model=8897 and S/N=L3B1868 although I have seen an image of the BIOS-screen, certainly confirming this machine to exist!?!

Try see for yourself see e.g. this T61; it has model/type=8898-55G and S/N=L3-A2268 (there's a larger image of the BIOS screen here) but the Lenovo "Parts Lookup" won't recognize it?!?

Question: How to retrieve parts information (P/N and FRU info) for ThinkPad's under these circ*mstances?? Thanks in advance for each and any expert advice to solve this mystery! (and wouldn't a Lenovo technician need this site to be up and running always??)

Johan

hi Johan;

Most infuriating is that that often some ' older items' DONT EvEWN SHOW UP (appear as that item dont exist!)

The most amazin part for me was to see a LAPTOP MODEL and SERIAL NUMBER (usually set in rock- cannt change that combinations) - these even have been compromised and noone seems to care. This was ONE OFF - we got 4-5 laptops where model # serial didnt match with BIOS INFO , and or both .....

I found that very frustrating to say the least - but it seems then I made Lenovo Tech Support (usa) aware of this - they seems to not bother to even DOCOMENT THAT

Johan wrote: How to retrieve parts information (P/N and FRU info) for ThinkPad's under these circ*mstances??

In such cases one simply can't. I tried with the part numbers and serials you cited, and while i was able to retrieve warranty information, the parts information just failed in the way you described. As i once had a T61 in the past for which not even this limited information was retrievable, with the Lenovo database simply devoid of any information for this particular machine, i feel hard pressed to believe that this very database is simply not perfect. And that's probably all needed to explain the mystery.

The T61 in question was virtually unknown in context of this publicly accessible Lenovo database, but i was able, nonetheless, to send in the machine for servicing under warranty because they were able to retrieve the relevant data from elsewhere internally. The data for said machine became finally available for public view after i got the machine back from the service workshop. So i assume that there is a database for external view, the one which we usually tend to frequent, and an internal one which is not available to the public. Unfortunately they don't appear to be properly synchronized.

Regarding your search on eBay for the mainboard FRU 42W7872 contained within a used T61, just make sure the machine used to run any kind of Penryn CPU in its original configuration as formerly delivered by Lenovo. It will then definitely have that very mainboard FRU, and therefore looking up the parts list is not really a requirement.

Ask for a picture of the first BIOS screen of such a machine, that will give you MTM and S/N.
If the CPU shown there is T9xx it's a Penryn.

When you do parts lookup, you need to omit the - in the Serial No., i.e. L312345 and NOT L3-12345

Why doesn't it always work - no idea! However, you can use IBM's Parts Lookup! It does work for that machine --> http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/parts

I believe that T61 mobo supports Penryn, FRU: 42W7648. (Sorry, not true, no native support.)

Enjoy it!

Parts shipped with your system Type Serial number
8898 L3A2268

Yes - The part can be ordered from IBM.

No - The part cannot be ordered from IBM.

Mfg part # FRU part # Description Serviceable?
28L3135 0000000 LABEL:LABELS N
39T0494 39T0495 WRLSS ADPT FRU ADONID MDC-1.5 Y
39T2850 39T2851 CD/DVD DRV Y
39T5624 41W1155 FRU USB SUB CARD Y
39T7209 0000000 TOUCHPAD PLATE:PADS N
41R0593 40Y8402 512MBPC25300NP FRU Y
41R0593 40Y8402 512MBPC25300NP FRU Y
41U5400 42W7654 MICROASSEMBLIES; FRU CPU ASM INTEL CORE Y
41V9478 44M4360 CARTON LABEL, 802.11B/G (INTEL, A/B/G):L N
41V9479 44M4360 CARTON LABEL, 802.11A (INTEL, A/B/G):LAB N
41V9547 0000000 LABEL hom*oLOGATION -IIPC:LABELS N
41V9656 0000000 TVT LABEL #2 ENGLISH:LABELS N
41V9757 41V9756 RUBBER SHEET FRU Y
41W1156 39T0497 WRLSS ADPT FRU CALLISTO BDC-2 Y
41W4528 0000000 HDD BRACKET:BRACKETS/STIFFENERS N
42R9978 42W3820 FRU PALMREST ASM W/ FINGER PRINT 14 W/ T Y
42T0362 42T0363 FLT PNL DS FRU 14.1 XGA Y
42T0854 42T0855 WRLSS ADPT GOLAN WLAN CARD FRU Y
42T1029 42T1417 HRD DSK DR 120GB ASSEMBLY FRU Y
42T1415 42T1417 HRD DSK DR 120GB ASSEMBLY FRU Y
42T3115 42T3149 KEYBOARD FRU Y
42T5126 0000000 LINE CORD:LINE CORDS N
42V8508 46V0823 SP1VB32RDVDDK Y
42V8615 0000000 BOMS, NOT SHIPPABLE ACROSS BORDERS; 14 X N
42W2143 44M4361 NOT AVAILABLE N
42W2739 0000000 LABELS; MS WINDOWS VISTA PREMIUM LOGO:LA N
42W3007 0000000 FINGER PRINT READER ASM:MECHANICAL ASSEM N
42W3630 0000000 LABELS; PRODUCT LABEL 8898CTO:LABELS N
42W3807 42W7648 SYSTMBRD FRU PLANAR CARD ASM INTEL C Y
42W9334 0000000 GENBU6R PLANAR:SYSTEM PLANAR N
42W9563 0000000 T61(DAVINCI3/CORONADO3):PUBLICATIONS MIS N
42X3626 0000000 T61(DAVINCI3/CORONADO3) ADDITIONAL ENGLI N
42Y6651 87H4776 RECOVERY DVD KIT N
42Y9469 0000000 RECOVERY DVD:PUBLICATIONS MISC N
91P8421 0000000 TRACKPOINT CAP KIT:MECHANICAL ASSEMBLIES N
91P8642 44M4360 EMEA CARTON LABEL - BMDC/BMDC2:LABELS, S N
92P1138 42T4621 RCHRGBL BT SANYO 6 CELL FRU Y
92P1154 42T5283 AC ADAPTER 65 WATT 3 PIN FRU Y

underclocker wrote:Why doesn't it always work - no idea! However, you can use IBM's Parts Lookup! It does work for that machine --> http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/parts

Fantastic! I was not aware about that!

underclocker wrote:I believe that T61 mobo supports Penryn, FRU: 42W7648.

This FRU does not support Penryn-CPUs unless one applies the patched BIOS by Middleton which suppresses the thermal sensing error message after turning on the machine. I'm not so sure if i would trust a fix which only suppresses an error message, as there is a technical reason for it in first place. Therefore it is much more advisable to prefer the proper Penryn enabled FRU 42W7872 mainboard for these CPUs.

rumbero wrote:Regarding your search on eBay for the mainboard FRU 42W7872 contained within a used T61, just make sure the machine used to run any kind of Penryn CPU in its original configuration as formerly delivered by Lenovo. It will then definitely have that very mainboard FRU, and therefore looking up the parts list is not really a requirement.

A very clever approach - why didn't I just think of that myself? You're obviously a very intelligent fellow, Paul!

underclocker wrote:Why doesn't it always work - no idea! However, you can use IBM's Parts Lookup! It does work for that machine --> http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/parts

Absolutely AWESOME link; thanks very much, Ed! I never, ever heard of this before... but I'll surely keep it in mind! For Christmas, I wish from you ten (10) more ThinkPad-links of the same, super-cool, fantastic kind!

Johan

.. resurrecting an old thread...

Question: Does anyone know if it is still possible to find a tool or link or whatever, now here in 2016, useful to do a "Parts-Lookup" which makes it possible to retrieve the parts in a legacy-ThinkPad (say, a T61), like discussing above; a Parts Lookup usable if knowing the model (e.g. 8898) and the serial-number (e.g. L3-A2268) of a particular ThinkPad?

One could assume/fear that Lenovo has perhaps/probably "disabled" such prior lookup-possibilities, like they previously intended to ditch the ability to download all the legacy-ThinkPad drivers, as discussed in the thread ThinkPad Drivers Snapshot: just in case Lenovo deletes them and ThinkPad Machine Type - Model lookup table PIC.

Any hints to still functional (legacy) ThinkPad "Parts Lookup" would nonetheless be greatly appreciated...

Johan

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/partslookup

Machine Type: 889855G

shows a T7100 processor

Thanks so much, jaspen-meyer, for that link... absolutely outstanding! It seems that we still have a working site, which will even work for 10+ year old Thinkpads... simply splendid!!

Thanks!!

Johan