Hi, thanks for your replies, everyone. I still don't know what the cause of this conundrum was, but it was definitely not a hardware problem, the computer is up and running again with the same components. On top of whatever the cause of this was, the XP CD must have been bad. I was only able to sort...

Motherboard o.k. as per PC Doctor.
No, unfortunately, no access to another T61 (typing this on my old T30).

Have my data backed up - no worries there.
Able to run Linux Mint live no probs.
XP boot disk not doing its job (as described).

Hi, I am unable to boot my Thinkpad T61 into Windows XP. This is my data-PC that is going offline at the end of this year, so yes: I absolutely insist on keeping XP on it - just in case somebody is about to suggest moving on to Win 7 :-) Back story, it is lengthy, sorry, but I have tried so many thi...

@wolfman: thanks a lot for all the information. I much appreciate your taking the time to type all this out. I am leaning towards the T430 based on what you said. And I'll avoid nVidia. I'd be getting an exhibition machine which is why the T430 and T430s would be the same price. I am not willing to ...

Hi, with XP running out and my T61 falling apart it's time for me to get a replacement laptop as well as a new OS and I do want to give Linux a try. I have chosen Linux Mint Debian Edition (Mate) as an OS and I'd like to run it on either a T430 or a T430s. I have not as yet made up my mind with rega...

Thanks again for the detailed replies. I really appreciate+++ you guys typing out all this background info and experience. I have done some more reading and searching and decided to stick to my prior decision to give Lenovo another chance. It looks like I'll be getting either the T430 or the T430s i...

Thanks for the honest replies. Exactly what I was looking for. It seems that I'll have to go by "the lesser evil". Sigh. I don't see why I should spend the same amount of money on products that just get worse with every generation...

Haha, a Toughbook ? I don't need to take it scuba diving or mountain climbing ! As I said: "The T61 sits in one place, does not get moved, has never been mistreated or mechanically over-used in any way." That pretty much sums it up. It has never been dropped, been sat on, been spilled on etc. I have...

Hi, has the hardware quality and robustness of Thinkpads improved since the T61 came out ? Or has it gone (even further) downhill ? I need to replace my T61 simply because I have had endless problems with it ever since I purchased it (new). And I am now wondering whether it is worth investing anothe...

Great ! That's just what I needed ! Thanks so much. I have run the Bios and Rescue&Recovery updates for now and want to see if that solves the problem. If not, I'll go ahead and update the other drivers as well..... Thanks again. Syd.

Hi, I feel quite embarrassed even posting, simply cause I hardly know where to start. Basically, my T61 keeps blue-screening. The message I get is "page fault in unpaged area". It typically happens when using Firefox and having a lot of tabs open for a long-ish time. Randomly, the blue-screen will p...

Hi, thanks so much for the advice re: F8/safe mode. The comp. is still down - this indeed seems to be a viral infection like jdhurst suggested. I wound up installing older backups (the ones I created throughout the process of installing the notebook over the past 3 weeks) and it must be something I ...

Thanks for your reply. As suggested, I went ahead and restored through Acronis - with some difficulty, but staff at Acronis were very helpful. Thanks again for your input and sorry for the delay in replying, but the difficulties with restoring the system have totally distracted me from my post here....

Doing some more reading after I posted, and found this on another (not Lenovo./Thinkpad-related) site: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How does incorrect SMBIOS affect my system? Usually, it has no impact on functionality or performance. SMBIOS d...

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone could kindly help out: I bought a new T61 around 3 wks ago, installed most things I needed right-away, and a few missing programs well over a week ago. Everything has been running fine - until yesterday. I worked on the computer most of the day, and sometime durin...

Thanks so much guys and sorry for the delay in answering. @ richk: I was glad to hear that it IS possible to replace the screen, cause I had heard otherwise. But supposedly people just shy away from the "work-intense" exchange (as they put it). After lots of research I have in fact found someone who...

Hi, would anyone know if it is possible to replace a 14" SXGA-screen with a 14" XGA in a T61 (with either Intel x3100 or nVidia NVS 140M) ? If yes, is there anything I need to know about the replacement ?
Thanks so much,
Sydney.