Unable to boot in Windows after trying to use recovery.

[tfan]

Hi all,
So, my 6 month old T42 is running just fine, that is untill today I updated the Thinkpad softwares last week using thier update connector, and today, the curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see what the rescue and recovery partion held. So, I hit the "Access IBM" button at boot-up, and after loading the rescue and recovery stuff, it prompted me for password. I tried the same password that I use to log-into Winxp, and that failed. Tried a couple of different ones, but none of them worked. After 3-4 attempts, the laptop rebooted. I hit "Access IBM" button again to try a bunch of other passwords, and none of them worked. After 3-4 attempts, it rebooted.

At this point, I was ready to give up, and waited for WinXP to load up. I was shocked to see the error "Drive read access error, hit ctr + alt + del to reboot" message. I called IBM support, and they weren't able to help much and aren't sure what happened.

I have quite a lot of data in there, and I am pretty sure that the hardware didn't fail. Looks like the recovery software did some screw-up

I always used the fingerprint security feature at both boot-up and windows level for access. I had enabled the security chip and set a password. But I never used that feature. I have since disabled that feauter from BIOS.

Has anyone faced the same problem? Any suggestions? A couple of things that I would like to know:

- Is there someway I can connect my laptiop drive directly to my PC as a seconday drive so that I can check the hardware. Also, if this works, I can pull my data out and let IBM deal with replacing my drive..

- Is there someway I can reset the password, or gain access to the rescue/recovery software ( the one access using "Access IBM" button at boot up) ? I searched the forum and looked like the answer was no

Would appreciate any any help ..

Thanks,
Bharath

[makai]

Since you must be able to access the web via another computer, look for BartPE on Google. The BartPE builder will allow you to build a bootable CDrom that is able to access data on your T42.

Also look for plugins that you add before you burn the bootable CD... I think there is a plugin that allows you to access/change passwords. I have used BartPE, and it does work, but the password part, I really don't know about.

Good luck,
makai

[tfan]

Thanks Makai for the quick response.

Alls well and my laptop is back to life

So, as I was reading about BartPE, I realized I could use my housemate's Dell Winxp installation CD as boot disk. I did that, and was able to get access to the drive. However, directory listing failed with some cryptic error. I did a chkdsk at the prompt. Did a dir again, and could see all of my files. And once that happened, restarted the computer without the bootdisk and vola, the laptop booted into WinXP.

Have no idea what happened, but looks like chkdsk fixed the issue.

So much of IBM rescue and recovery :X

Hope this helps anyone who ends up in a similar situation..

Bharath

[makai]

Glad to hear that all's well! LOL! I think there's lesson here somewhere!

By the way, keep BartPE in mind, it's a great tool!

Aloha,
makai