Possible to swap HDs between T41 and T43?

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PH0ENIX · #1 Post by **PH0ENIX** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:21 am

Hi all, I did a quick search on this and did not see any answers.

I have a T41 at work with an 80GB HD running WinXP SP2. I'm upgrading to a T43, but it only comes with a 60GB HD. Is it possible to put my 80GB HD in the T43 and have the OS run without reinstalling Windows? That would save me a lot of trouble (having to reconfigure Windows and reinstall my software, etc.).

Thanks in advance.

sjh953 · #2 Post by **sjh953** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:19 am

I can't answer your question directly, but I bookmarked this Acronis software from another discussion -- and it looks like one way to do what you're looking for.

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/produ ... store.html

If I ever more from my T42p to a newer machine, this is probably the route I'll take. I'll gladly deal with updating drivers if all my software and settings remain intact.

#3 Post by **KristianJ** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:09 am

When I bought my T42, I moved the 80GB drive in the T40 I upgraded from to the T42 and it worked without a hitch. Therefore such a move is possible in practice.

If I were you I'd back up the installation before trying it out, just in case something goes wrong, but there shouldn't be too much hardware difference for it to not completely work (you may need to update some drivers).

aaa · #4 Post by **aaa** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:39 am

The T43 has a different chipset (vs the T40/41/42), so that might be be a big deal. Windows tends to bluescreen if the interface to the hard drive is different.

#5 Post by **underclocker** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:20 am

I've gotten this swap to work, but it will never be correct because, as I recall, the T43 uses a different HAL which has to be installed - not upgraded.

Thread -> http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... hlight=t43

Without a fresh install, the device manager always showed a problem device and it's possible that performance was impacted. It's also possible that the fingerprint reader won't work properly.

I spent HOURS on this, it's not worth the effort. A reinstall of all you apps and copying of the data would be faster!

PH0ENIX · #6 Post by **PH0ENIX** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:58 am

Okay, thanks a lot for the replies and links. I'll just back up my data and do a clean install then.

Thank you all.

rssb · #7 Post by **rssb** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:44 pm

no need to reinstall

chipset is different will crash if directly plugged in

work around is , before removing run sysprep with option of running mini setup on next power up, everything will be up and running in 5 mins, once xp is up install the required drivers from lenovo you will be good to go.

HTH

PH0ENIX · #8 Post by **PH0ENIX** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:13 pm

Well, this morning I removed the 80GB HD (HTS721080G9AT00) from the T41 (2372-9KU) and plugged it into the T43 (2668-CTO). Just for giggles I fired up the laptop, and at first, it gave me the dreaded 2010 error, but then I pressed the ESC key and Windows booted up normally! Of course I need to install a ton of new drivers, but it's been running for several hours now without any problems.

I found this thread to resolve the 2010 error, but the problem is that none of the IBM links work anymore, and unfortunately Lenovo still points to IBM's site.

Does anyone, by chance, have the file that I need?

UPDATE: never mind, the IBM links are working now. I'm going to download all the updated drivers while they're still available....oh joy.

#9 Post by **Johan** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:26 pm

PH0ENIX wrote:<snip>

I found this thread to resolve the 2010 error, but the problem is that none of the IBM links work anymore, and unfortunately Lenovo still points to IBM's site. Does anyone, by chance, have the file that I need?

While writing this, I can download with no problems from this Lenovo-page: Hard drive firmware update utility (Bootable CD ISO) - ThinkPad - was that the site you were having troubles with?

Best regards,

Johan

PH0ENIX · #10 Post by **PH0ENIX** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:30 pm

Johan, I reported the broken links to IBM, and they must've either been working on it or were quick to react to my email. I was able to get in too (and updated my previous post).

Now down to work...thanks!

PH0ENIX · #11 Post by **PH0ENIX** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:09 pm

Well, they say nothing worthwhile comes easy, and that was true in my case with getting rid of the 2010 error.

Here is the procedure I used:

I downloaded the fwhd49.iso file (version FWHD49, released 10/02/2007) from the IBM site.

Then I mounted the ISO image to my desktop using the free Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel utility mentioned in this blog.

Next I opened and searched the FW.PRO file for my drive, and found the following lines:

; HTS721080G9AT00 80.0GB
"HTS721080G9AT00","MC4IA41M","MC4IA5CA","MC4IA5CA.bdr","hfui15.exe","IA5CA","/u mpcA5CAb.tbl"
"HTS721080G9AT00","MC4IA51A","MC4IA5CA","MC4IA5CA.bin","hfui15.exe","IA5CA","/u mpcA5CAb.tbl"
;

So I burned the ISO image to a CD, booted to it, and followed the instructions given in this thread except I had to modify the commands as follows (because the mc4ia51a.bdf file was not available on the CD):

copy mc4ia5ca.bdf mc4oa5ca.bdf

hfui15.exe oa5ca mc4ia5ca.bdr /f mpca5cab.tbl

Result: Update-->Fail (error code = 0100, I think)-->dos prompt

hfui15.exe ia5ca mc4ia5ca.bdr /f mpca5cab.tbl

Result: Update-->fail (error code = 0451)-->dos prompt

I was worried at this point, because the original thread said that the second update should have came back with PASS. However, I found this blog that also had the second failure and claimed it was fine. So I rebooted, and the firmware version now shows MC4IA5CA, and best of all no more 2010 error!

Here's an excellent thread which gives more information on the firmware updater tool, and explains the command & arguments.

Hope this info helps someone else going down this path later. I had to be very careful with my typing because I primarily type using the Dvorak layout, which was not available at the primitive DOS prompt, but luckily I didn't screw anything up.

#12 Post by **underclocker** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:00 pm

rssb wrote:no need to reinstall

chipset is different will crash if directly plugged in

work around is , before removing run sysprep with option of running mini setup on next power up, everything will be up and running in 5 mins, once xp is up install the required drivers from lenovo you will be good to go.

HTH

Please report back if this solution works. I've yet to come across a viable solution for changing a HAL. That would be great if this works.

#13 Post by **richk** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:57 pm

I don't think that T43 and T41 use a different HAL. They should both use ACPI Uniprocessor PC. T43 just has the PATA -> SATA bridge.

PH0ENIX · #14 Post by **PH0ENIX** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:14 pm

Ok, I got everything up and running on the T43 using the hard drive pulled from my T41 without reinstalling Windows. I was able to download and install all the new drivers except for the TPM (I ran into the problems noted in this thread), so I disabled that and there are no other unknown devices in Device Manager. The fingerprint reader works, hibernation works fine, as well as the ThinkVantage utilities. I'll report back if I encounter any other problems over the course of next several weeks.

FWIW, the OS I'm running is not the factory installed WinXP version from IBM, but rather a generic corporate image from my company which I've customized (by installing Thinkpad drivers & utilities). I'm not sure if that would make a difference, but I don't have the recovery/restore partition which may or may not complicate things in a HD swap like this.

Anyway, so far so good (knock on cyberwood).

#15 Post by **underclocker** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:45 pm

Yes, that is how far I got, too. XP is not "properly" installed because, I believe the wrong HAL is loaded, as mentioned above.

It will work like this, but I'm not sure if there are any performance issues, other than the obvious issues ith the TPM.

PH0ENIX · #16 Post by **PH0ENIX** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:14 pm

Well, I don't know if this is true but the helpdesk person at work told me that they put the same Windows XP corporate image on all our T4x laptops (just a generic Windows install plus some company apps, which is why there were no Thinkpad drivers loaded on my drive), so I'm not sure that asking for a new image would buy me all that much at this point. It seems to be running fine, and I really have no use for TPM.

I also have a personal T43 (1871-4AU), and I'm not noticing huge performance differences between the two so far.

If it were my personal machine, I would probably care more and bother with the effort of doing a clean install. But as a work machine, "it's good enough for government work", as they say.

EDIT: I believe that the TPM issue may be resolvable with a repair install of Windows. I was successful in using the Windows repair install option to fix a problem with another hard drive (non-Thinkpad) that refused to boot after being placed in a new desktop machine. The repair install restores Windows XP to its original state (so you will need to reinstall all Windows updates) but leaves your settings, programs, and data intact. Unfortunately I am unable to try this approach with my Thinkpad from work, because the entire hard drive is protected by corporate encryption software which prevents the files on the disk from being accessed outside of the installed Windows OS.

Possible to swap HDs between T41 and T43?

Possible to swap HDs between T41 and T43?

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