intermittent failure to boot up problem

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boy_wond3r83 · #1 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:39 am

My IBM T43 sometimes fail to boot up as it cannot find the OS. The display shows the below:

Broadcom UNDI PXE-2.1 v7.7.5
Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
All rights reserved.

Broadcom UNDI PXE-2.1 v7.7.5
Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MDF:Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM.
Operating System no found.

And I have done the following:
1) Reformat the hard disk with the recovery disk.
2) Sent it to IBM Service Centre for a change of harddisk.
3) Updating to the newest BIOS(1.04) and embedded program(1.24).

To my dismay, none of the above managed to solve this problem. Anyone knows and can help? Note that this problem does not occur all the time. It occurs randomly.

monkey243 · #2 Post by **monkey243** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:21 pm

It must be something wrong with the HDD or the connection.Make sure the HDD was connected to the IDE interface tight.
If the connection is OK.Recomanded to reinstall the operating system.
If the problem was still,that must be the HDD's problem,buy a new one(for your data safety).

christopher_wolf · #3 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:59 pm

Yup, 90% sure that is a HDD drive problem; either that or there is something wrong with the connection of the HDD to the rest of the system. They should change the HDD...You could have also run some diagnostics on it that may have flagged some bad sectors. I had this problem on two 2 year old laptops; one a Compaq, the other an HP.

boy_wond3r83 · #4 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:07 pm

i have changed the hdd with the manufacturer. Problem still occurs but with a less-er extent. I've just tried to reseat the harddisk drive. Can we really tell if the hdd is slotted in tightly? Actually, i had thought it could be a motherboard problem. Any possibilities? Hope this media failure thingie doesn't occur again. Anyway, thx a lot for the ideas you guys input=)

#5 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:45 pm

What brand of hard drive do you have?

boy_wond3r83 · #6 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:58 pm

it is now a hitachi 80gb hdd. I reseated the hdd a few time already, yet the problem persists.

boy_wond3r83 · #7 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:59 pm

Does anyone here think it could be a motherboard problem?

christopher_wolf · #8 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 12:21 am

Mmmmmm, I don't know. I, myself, am leaning towards it being a problem with the HDD. Have you made sure that your system is up to date? You can also check it using the SMART Utilities. Does it make a repetitive clicking sound? Just a few things to check on. Good Luck

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 7:40 am

Try running this: Hitachi Drive Fitness Test

I ran across the following looking into your problem. It seems like it could be one of several things.

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/PXE_E61_ ... 10527.html

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/foru ... dId=727811

http://www.mcmcse.com/forums/viewtopic. ... viewresult

http://www.nocrash.com/ncbbs/msgs/3247.shtml

boy_wond3r83 · #10 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 7:51 am

thx for all your help..I shall try 'em out!

boy_wond3r83 · #11 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:09 am

hmm..i read through those forums u linked me to..and i did the following:

1) Remove "booting from LAN" from the bios setup. i.e:no"waking on lan".
2) Arranged the HDD to be the 1st in the bootup sequence.

It didn't work out. Quite frustrating. So i called up the ibm technician to do an on-site repair.

He just came to fiddle around with the bios. But result is still the same. Still sometimes the system still doesn't find the harddisk. Really wonder what was wrong.

Any more solutions from you guys?

christopher_wolf · #12 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:01 am

Bizzare; if it isn't a problem with the BIOS, I would go with it being a problem of the connector from the HDD to the System Board or with the HDD itself. Can you test the drive out on another system? If this is a working hard drice, and the BIOS has the latest compatible firmware...Then the problem may lie with the IDE connector may have some issues. However, it isn't possible to just narrow down the problem from this information alone; it could be anything from the connector on upwards to a fault somewhere else that is intefering with the ability of the BIOS to find the OS and boot it.

Here is something I tried that actually let me narrow down the problem:

I had an old, now defunct, HP laptop that had the HDD make a charcteristic repeated clicking noise then display the PXE and "OS not found" error. The drive was old, and it had held out pretty long with Windows...So I tried to re-install Windows, that didn't work; but Linux would install fine. That worked for 2 or 3 days, then the drive died again. I went out and a got a new 60GB 7200RPM Hitachi drive for it. It would install Linux from the LiveCD just fine...When it came to boot time, however, it would hang at GRUB Stage 1.5-2; around where the "OS not found" error would pop up during a windows boot. Installed Windows fine; then it gave me the same error.Why? The drive was fine, it installed, it was quiet, it was fast...No problems. Except the firmware on that HP laptop, namely for the BIOS, was from 2000 when I had gotten it in 2003. I couldn't find any updates for it either. It could read the data off the LiveCD just fine, since the drive was fine, but it *couldn't* boot by itself because it didn't have the latest firmware. You might try to see whether you could diagnose the "rough" region of where the problem is. I don't mean to say you have a firmware issue, as the BIOS is OK, but simply rule out possible causes one by one. HTH

stangri · #13 Post by **stangri** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:35 am

boy_wond3r83 wrote:hmm..i read through those forums u linked me to..and i did the following:

1) Remove "booting from LAN" from the bios setup. i.e:no"waking on lan".
2) Arranged the HDD to be the 1st in the bootup sequence.

It didn't work out. Quite frustrating. So i called up the ibm technician to do an on-site repair.

"Boot from LAN" and "Wake on LAN" are two different and not really related settings. But as long as your HDD is 1st in the bootup sequence it should not have looked for the boot information over LAN. Could be that either HDD or motherboard are faulty, I'd send it back to IBM if it's still under warranty.

If not, try using other 2.5" HDD first to see if that'd work.

boy_wond3r83 · #14 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:12 am

the technician told me there is no IDE connector or something..strange..haha..i asked for another technician to come to my place to do again..well, it's still under warranty..guess i've to bug them till they solve the problem..maybe this 2nd harddisk they gave me was spoilt also??

boy_wond3r83 · #15 Post by **boy_wond3r83** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:38 am

Besides the above, it's quite hard to tell if anything works or not..Given a "lucky" day, the hdd will just boot up very nicely. I do not have to on and off the laptop at all. Somedays, this PXE-E61 do occur. Additionally, if i succeed in booting up the first time, it will very likely succeed for subsequent trials unless i rest it for quite sometime(ard 15-20min).

The hdd being changed once, from fujitsu to a hitachi 80gb one. Perhaps I should get them to change again? Or change the motherboard?

1)Now, the Booting from LAN and waking from LAN are unlikely to be the ones causing the problem as i have disabled the two and the problem persists.

2)Problem with the OS discs i used to install also don't seem to be as i have encountered the problem with reformatting with the recovery discs provided by IBM and the IBM helpdesk too.

Bios and Embedded Controller are also both updated to 1.04, 1.24 respectively. The newest the IBM website provided.

3)Bootup sequence: Changed to 1st in priority.No avail.

4)Change of hdd: from fujitsu to hitachi 80gb..same. Wonder if i'm so unlucky to get 2 bad hdd??

5)Assistance from IBM engineer: He fiddled with some bios setting. In the end, he told me it's a strange problem. I've called IBM to send another guy down my place to do another check tomorrow. The first guy didn't open up my laptop to do any checking. You guys said there may be a possibility of IDE connector/cable being loose right? I asked him to check for that, he told me there isn't any IDE cable for laptops..Can anyone clarify this?

Well, a bizarre problem ain't it?

stangri · #16 Post by **stangri** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:46 pm

I you have tried two different HDDs and neither of them worked properly, I'd say it's a solid argument to send it to IBM for mb checkup/replacement.

#17 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:25 pm

boy_wond3r83 wrote:...he told me there isn't any IDE cable for laptops..Can anyone clarify this?

AFAIK, there is not a cable, but rather a socket that the hard drive plugs into. The socket is attached to the motherboard.

christopher_wolf · #18 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:30 pm

This sounds a bit too familiar to me...it will boot if you let it "rest" and jump through flaming hoops, etc *shudders*

Well, I would send it in to IBM for service.

intermittent failure to boot up problem

intermittent failure to boot up problem

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