T42 replacement hard drive problem

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RoundSparrow · #1 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 4:40 pm

This situation is a bit crazy to me and seems like some kind of BIOS bug with the T42.

My brand new T42 came with a Fujitsu 40GB, I did a Ghost 2003 sector level copy to a Toshiba 80GB 5400RPM drive.

With the cloned toshiba... The system turns on with the hard drive light stuck on... won't see the hard drive.

NOW, HERE IS CRAZY PART: If I put the Toshiba in the Ultrabay adapter I have, it boots fine! I just use F12 and pick the 2nd IDE controller... And it is the only drive in the system (main drive bay empty)....

So how come a drive won't boot from primary position but will from the ultrabay tray.

The IBM web site doesn't show any BIOS updates for my T42, it came from the factory with the latest. Sounds like a BIOS timing problem to me...

n3il · #2 Post by **n3il** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:37 pm

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... MIGR-57590

Have never done it myself - but it may be linked.

Another option is perhaps to use FDISK/ MBR - that may solve the problem.

Just a thought or two...

kevinh · #3 Post by **kevinh** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 6:42 pm

IBM also has a boot sector repair disk to repair the boot sector and reenable the Access IBM button or F11 to start Rescue and Recovery if "fdisk /mbr" doesn't restore the boot sector properly. That also might get the drive to boot properly.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-54483

Kevin

RoundSparrow · #4 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:24 pm

Ok, but the problem is more fundamental.

The drive won't even READ the boot sector. The hard drive light stays stuck on like there is a problem with the controller talking to the drive itself.

The IDE controller just hangs on it.

I take the drive out, put it in the ultrabay adapter and it works fine....

RoundSparrow · #5 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:04 am

The drive model is a Toshiba MK8026GAX - it is 80GB 5400RPM.

This is a drive with 16MB cache, I wonder if that is a factor ... maybe the Thinkpad BIOS has a problem with the cache size?

JohnDrake · #6 Post by **JohnDrake** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:20 pm

Pick up the old image again with the ghost -ib command switch, and apply it.

RoundSparrow · #7 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:22 am

This is not the problrm -ib was done with ghost.

RoundSparrow · #8 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:25 am

I still have this problem, even with latest everything.

My problem seems fundamental to the IDE controller.

-- The drive won't even READ the boot sector. The hard drive light stays stuck on like there is a problem with the controller talking to the drive itself. I mean it stays on FOREVER, never going off.

-- Pop the same drive back into my Ultrabay and it works fine, even can boot from it.

Have reloaded it deleted it, tried everything in the world. No matter what I do, this drive freezes the IDE controllre / the hard drive light gets stuck ON when system is first turned on.

RoundSparrow · #9 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Mon May 02, 2005 11:07 am

Ok, now I'm really frustrated

I tried a second drive, an entirlely different model Toshiba (60gb 7200rpm vs 80gb 5400rpm) and it does the same thing.

Anyone ever put an IDE drive in backwards, know how it hangs the controller as soon as power is applied? exact same symptoms.

Yes, I am sure the drive isn't upside down

No jumpers set, all is correct.

The original 40gb fujitsu (IBM stickered) drive works fine. But BIOS POST always has a stuck drive light and never frees up /times out with these two toshiba drives.

The same two drives work fine in the Ultrabay.

Since the are third-party drives not sold by IBM, I can't really see it as something IBM will service. I'm just confused why this is happening, none of my prior thinkpads have I ever had anything like this (including a T41).

pae77 · #10 Post by **pae77** » Mon May 02, 2005 11:34 am

After you ghosted the drive, did you then do a reboot with both drives in the system to inspect the clone, before you swapped drives?

egibbs · #11 Post by **egibbs** » Mon May 02, 2005 12:35 pm

I have no idea what is diffrent between the primary drive slot and the Ultrabay, other than that the primary slot is on IDE channel 1 and the Ultrabay is on IDE channel 2. Must be a chipset thing - or maybe the ultrabay is optimized for compatability with many devices, while the primary slot is optimized for all out speed with selected devices.

Was the drive specifically sold as compatible with your T42?

Ed Gibbs

RoundSparrow · #12 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Tue May 03, 2005 8:49 am

pae77 wrote:After you ghosted the drive, did you then do a reboot with both drives in the system to inspect the clone, before you swapped drives?

Sorry, but you just aren't reading my messages close enough I"m saying no data can be read off the drive, the controller just plain hangs.

RoundSparrow · #13 Post by **RoundSparrow** » Tue May 03, 2005 8:50 am

egibbs wrote:I have no idea what is diffrent between the primary drive slot and the Ultrabay, other than that the primary slot is on IDE channel 1 and the Ultrabay is on IDE channel 2. Must be a chipset thing - or maybe the ultrabay is optimized for compatability with many devices, while the primary slot is optimized for all out speed with selected devices.

Was the drive specifically sold as compatible with your T42?

Ed Gibbs

No, they are generic 2.5" drives... purchased online from ZipZoomFly like 95% of laptop owners do (not purchase replacement drives from IBM).

The same drives work fine in a T41!

I keep hoping some firmware update will fix it, but most recent one still doesn't help.

Sorry, I'm frustrated, I know what SHOULD work as this is my 10th Thinkpad in over 12 years... I've had a T20/T21/T22/T23/T41 and now this T42... I've replaced drives in all of them... only this T42 has given me problems like this.

T42 replacement hard drive problem

T42 replacement hard drive problem

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