refurbishing a lost 2006 tablet

[The End of A Heartache]

So my dad found this tablet outside of his work place.


He said the guys who cut the lawn at his work found it and didn't know what to do with it so they just gave it to my dad to throw away.

Knowing that i repair computer for a living he calls me up so i can come by and pick it up.

Well i get their expecting an old thinkpad or Compaq something for the late 90's cause all of my dads work stuff is from that era.

Turns out its a one of a kind 2006 tablet made by gateway.



The name on it is called "Motion tablet"

its an LE 1600 series

Problem is, the tablet was rend over.. By what? I don't know but the entire tablet Minus battery is OK i think

How do i know it was run over??

cause it came with this



But the stand was in 4parts with missing keys and a seriously bent lock


Now i checked the entire system through, Not to impressed with the tablet.

Here the specs:

Intel Centrino Pentium M Processor (2MB of L2
cache, 1.60GHz, 400MHz FSB)

Intel 915GMS chipset

Intel 915GMS Extreme graphic
controller with 128MB gfx memory

1.8" ZIF. Hard Disk Drive

Intel PRO/Wireless 2915a/b/g
network connection


Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN controller with
RJ-45 connector (Gigabit Ethernet)

Integrated Bluetooth

512MB 400MHz DDR2


So from the list its not all to impressive but being a 2006 product its high end for its standard Minus the processor and RAM

But here the thing. This are the "stock" spec's from motion computing

When i checked out the RAM it was a 667MHz DDR2 RAM at 2GB. Because of the size of the tablet It can only hold a single stick of RAM but being that it can I'm guessing support 667MHz every computer and electronic store i go has stocked 667MHz *PC 5300 for cheap. 2GB for $30 which is great. On-line on eBay i can get 2GB for $10 if bidding.

Now for the HDD, its not your standard Psata HDD. This is allot thinner. The size say 1.8 Mm thin.

Looking around for the specific HDD i came across the specific name. Its known as ZIF HDD and the only media beside this tablet that uses this specific HDD are in Ipod classic and in Zune

I used Harddrive regenerate to see if i can get it working. I of course has to buy a specific addapter to work with the HDD and then ran a scan using my desktop.

What i found was an entire Harddrive damaged with fully bad sector. Nearly 1/2 of the size is bad sector. Not even HDD Regen. was able to repair it.

The battery was damaged as well and is not repairable.



So Now comes what i should do with it??


Honestly i would love to repair this tablet and use it.

I found on eBay where i can buy a new battery and charging station or charging unit and where i can also get the tablet stylus.

Looking for cheap ZIF HDD i was not able to find one under $80 on eBay. But luckily i do own a work 120GB ipod classic

Since i do not use it any more i can extract the harddrive and whip off ipod firmware and install window NTFS Or ReFS. which is suppost to be the newest supporting fiel system that will be use on window 8


Yes i do plan on using window8 as the leading OS. Why? Because microsoft made win8 without the thrid party "Dr. watson" hardware enabler  So this alows the OS to run at a minimum of 1Ghz processor and 1gb of RAM since it will not consume a quarter of RAM to run "Dr. Watson"

I would like to dual boot and run Win8 and maybe Android? I dont know if its possible Im not really a software guy im more of a hardware guy.


Anyways i also do plan on  repatching some of the broken shell parts and painting the shell .

They do clam the upper shell is a Carbon Fiber Blend which does explain how it withstand a run over.  But thier are some cracks where the battery sits and i do want to repair those before i can slide a new battery in.

Since the power supply was fracked also by the run over i was not able to find a close enough external charging unit. It does say it requires 19v and 2.46Amp which is Fracking high voltage for my laptop charging unit to work.

As for painting the shell...... No idea what i should paint.... I was thinking of going all 80's style and go neon color, bright and bold. Swapping the SMD and matching the color skeme.

Also go and get some chromium color to paint over the chrome parts to also match the color skeme


So thats my little plan... It to me sounds random what i really want to do but hay i really dont plan things cause they usually never go as plan haha.

Would like some idea Maybe get a chotto psp cam, addapting it to the tablet some... how... lol maybe its a bad idea Not sure.

Well, I found a gateway laptop power unit. Fits, right voltages An amp more then requires. But it works....

Bad news..... the screen is definatly busted... Its another set back..






Well im ganna have to see how much a replacement will cost.

Hmmm one of this motion computer use are around $200.. New $300 and up at amazon, ebay and motion.

Im hoping the screen wont break the bank



I know its going to be alittle costly

[The End of A Heartache]

Hay I have returned.

I am sorry for not updating this post a lot has been happening

I was able to not only fix the screen issue, but buy a new ZIF drive and battery with polarity Stylus and sell it all for $180

Now will I know its been awhile I did not have a working camera with me sadly

But I was able to take final shots using my android phone



So, some background spec on this gateway tablet

Processor: Intel® Celeron® M Processor  (Centrino M) 600Mhz/1.5Ghz

Ram: 800Mhz DDR2 pc-6400 @2GB

Gfx: Intel 915GMS Extreme Graphics

Storage: 1.8" Hard Disk Drive (ZIF) 30Gb

Network: Integrated Atheros 802.11a/b/g network connection, Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN controller with RJ-45 connector (Gigabit Ethernet), Integrated Bluetooth

Expansion: Secure Digital (SD) slot, One Type I or Type II PC card slot

Operating system: Window 8 professional x 86































So this is how it worked. I had issue intergrating the Gfx driver to Window 8 :/ was not able to utilize it and had to render it disable since Intel Is no longer supporting my Gfx to upgrade beyond window vista.

Anyways the ZIF drive was the near most expensive for its weight in size (Gb per $) So I was limited to buying a small 30Gb size. The hard part is finding a matching ribbon to work with the tablet. Since this is a specific tablet the parts were hard to come by.

As for the screen I managed to throw in a Bid on another same tablet with Bios issue mobo (Really was a pain in the ass to fix) in which case I did not fix but took off the screen and replaced my tablet front bezel and screen with the replacement tablet.

I also throw in a new bid and won carbon fiber vinyl for around $1.30 ( $1 shipping , 30 cent win's the bid ) LOL

So this is the update and finally to this mod/repair.