Thinkpads Forum

Hi

I've got a pile of external CD-ROM/optical drives which do not have a mains power supply. I've tried them on a few thinkpads and none of them power up.

Does anyone know why they don't work - I doubt they can all be faulty - some are still brand new in their boxes. Is there a certain standard of PCMCIA which does provide power on some of the pins and some that don't?

If there is a particular model of thinkpad that definitely can (I was testing on T20/X20/Transnote era) - which I think is a +5v power supply, then can someone name one?

Thanks

Alex

Usually PCMCIA CD-ROMs require external power, i.e. they come with a power brick. Some have battery compartment and can use either external or battery power. IBM 1969-0xx drives or Panasonoic KXL-7xx are of the latter kind. There are also some drives that consume very little power and can run on the PCMCIA socket power. For instance EXP Traveler series (pic below). I think I've also seen some Fujitsu CD-ROMs that were able to work on socket power.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zX0AAOSw ... -l1600.jpg

I've got 4 x IBM portable drive bays (not 2000) that don't have battery or PSU power. Could it be these are only compatible as a floppy drive, rather than CD-ROM?

I've got a JVC PCMCIA CD-ROM which doesn't seem to work, but I've yet to find a JVC laptop it was intended for (maybe these have unique PCMCIA functionality!)

Thanks