A430 - A450

A430 - A450

Samsung A430 (Jazz) & A450 (Jazz-R)

AKA - the Micron (later MPC) ZX or MetroBook LT+

The Samsung A430 plus updated A450 were both sold as the Micron Model ZX. They were also sold as the MetroBook LT+ model. The MetroBook LT+ version differs only slightly in color from the Micron ZX and should not be confused with the Micron LT which was a whole different laptop. By far the majority of these two Samsung produced laptops, that were sold in the USA, were sold as the Micron ZX laptops. So we will use that name, in general, for this laptop.

The ZX was one of the first, if not first, of many laptops that Micron sourced from Samsung and it followed a long line of MPC laptops that were sourced from AlphaTop. (including the VLX, Trek, Trek2) Construction-wise, the ZX is a very solid well-built laptop that includes nice features such as a metal base and metal LCD lid. The LCD bezel plus the top half of the main base unit are plastic, but they don't normally receive as much day-to-day abuse as the top and bottom sides of a laptop. The ZX main base unit is painted with a heavy rubberized coating and the laptop is easy to grasp and hold without fear of dropping it. The MetroBook LT+ does not have this rubberized coating and is painted a slightly darker (somewhat more bluish) color.

ID'ing the Two Motherboards

There were two different motherboards in the ZX model. The earlier production motherboard (A430 - Jazz) was an Intel P2 only motherboard, while the later motherboard (A450 - Jazz-R) could use a PII or P3 CPU's with 66 MHz FSB. Both types use MMC2 mobile processor modules. The Jazz-R will not support the newer 100 MHz FSB MMC2 modules - just the 66 MHz modules. So do not confuse the two CPU types if you upgrade. I believe the fastest P3 is 650 MHz (maybe a few 700 MHz) and the P2 CPU's top out at 466 MHz. Both will also support Celerons of the correct type.

1) The P2 lower case and fan are slightly different for P2 machines. The cooling grill opening will be smaller in height by a little bit for P2 machines The size and way the fan mounts is the only difference inside the laptop.

2) The P3 Jazz-R motherboard is hot-stamped with that name on the motherboard in white ink in the area near the CPU socket, removal of CPU is necessary to see it. But you really do not need to remove the heatsink to determine that you have a Jazz-R motherboard. An easier method is by looking at the heatsink itself after lifting the keyboard. The PII (Jazz) heatsinks will not be stamped with any writing and they have a small brass insert to the right of the large metal block. The PIII (Jazz-R) heatsinks are stamped with P/N 62-00034A and are also marked " T.1.O Jazz-RE" plus does not have the brass insert as found on the earlier motherboard's heatsink.

Do not swap heatsink types. The Jazz-R heatsink will appear to fit in the earlier motherboard machines, but are lacking some bits that are necessary to cool the PII CPU. The P2 style heatsink will not fit the Jazz-R at all. I am not sure if a P2 cooling fan can handle the heat load of a P3, but you can try if you are willing to overheat a swapped board.

3) Of course, if your ZX reports during POST that it is a PIII (and not a PII) then you know that you have a "Jazz-R".

Features

Many "Jazz" (PII) ZX's will have 14.1" LCD's. Many of the newer "Jazz-R" ZX's will have 15.0" LCD's, but the two lid assemblies do swap out and so this is not a clear method to determine the type of motherboard in a ZX. It is possible to swap LCD lid assemblies on your own if you want the larger LCD or if you can't find a working LCD and can find a complete LCD lid assembly -- including the cable assembly.

Both models will support Windows XP if RAM and hard drive size are within XP's needs but a P3 is really the better choice if you can find one. RAM is limited to two 144 pin SODIMM modules. The Jazz-R will take two 256MB/66 or faster 144 pin SDRAM SODIMM modules. At this time I'm not sure if the Jazz (P2) will have the same memory limits, or is limited to two 128MB modules.

Maximum HDD size for the P3 (A450 - Jazz-R) motherboard ZX laptops is 65GB per BIOS the size readings, however XP setup sees the correct size for larger drives. I do not know if the P2 laptops also work the same way. Both versions use 9.5 mm 2.5" IDE hard drives with or without the factory HDD caddy. (Rare item) The hard drive carrier (caddy) module is securing device plus drive pin alignment device only and is not necessary for correct operation of the ZX with a HDD. There is no adapter cable or connectors. The HDD plugs directly into the motherboard's connector. However!!! Since the motherboard connector directly mates to a 2.5" IDE drive and it is possible to mis-align the two and short out the motherboard. It might be best to disassemble a ZX( a few minutes) to see may darn sure that the pins are aligned before you attempt to power up for the first time if not using the HDD caddy. Do secure the HDD with sometape or RTV if using without the caddy.

Some CD-ROM (or DVD) drive modules have a double bank DIP switch on the main connector end of the module and these DIP switches need to be set correctly of the drive may not be seen by BIOS and Windows. (Don't touch if the drive is working) If trying to boot from a bootable CD and the laptop fails to boot then you need to enter BIOS and under the "BOOT" tab turn on (enable) the test for bootable CD function. Else, the BIOS won't see any CD as bootable!

The ZX lacks many "modern" features. There isn't any USB 2.0 ports (It does have 2 USB 1.0 ports), no ethernet (NIC) port, no Firefire port nor is there's an internal WIFI.

There is a two-bank DIP switch on the motheboard - both switches should be off for normal operation. CMOS battery is a plug-in and is next to the soldered in place BIOS chip. Since the BIOS is soldered in place a screw-up with a BIOS flash is a major repair. HINT - DO NOT flash the BIOS unless you are willing to spend some cash.

There are three daughter boards plus the main motherboard inside the base. The three plug-in daughter boards are the same for both P2 and P3 machines. They are as follows:

1) DC-DC power board (Also has power input jack and ON/OFF switch)

2) Battery charger board

3 ) I/O post board

4) There is also an optional modem board too

Hard to Find Parts

Include keyboards, battery covers and hard drive carriers/caddies. Other than motherboards, heatsinks and CPU's all parts swap between the Jazz and Jazz-R. The laptop takes a 19 volt 3.16 amp output adapter that has the Samsung style connector. This connector is not common and not the same as most other brands use.

The battery is a DR202 and is easy to find.

Replacement CD and/or DVD drive modules are hard to find and the Samsung drives used have custom plastic faceplates that won't swap to other brand drives. However, any ATAPI drive will mount to an existing CD/DVD caddy if you don't mind a mis-matched faceplate. I do not know of any limitations regarding optical drives at this time.