T43 PXE-E61 booting problem, HDD not recognized.

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iluvtruenos · #1 Post by **iluvtruenos** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:10 pm

I have a T43 notebook that I bought used without a harddrive. I also bought a Toshiba 100gb HDD, and installed it.

I have read that the 43's don't like non-IBM disks, however the machine should still recognize the HDD, right? Well, it doesn't. The Toshiba HDD works in an enclosure, and I think it's formatted NTFS. Think, not sure, will test tomorrow.

What it will do is allow me to boot from an XP disk, and get up to the point where you start installing XP. Then it says that it cannot find a hard drive, even though it spins up and the HDD light lights up and the disk spins up. Bios has been reset to factory defaults, I have disabled LAN boot, but always the same problem exists.

I also have a T42p that works flawlessly. I was thinking of swapping HDDs since the 42 doesn't care about disks, but the 43 does.

If I can't get the 43 running, then is anyone intrested in a 15" 43 with 512mb ram, DVD/CDRW, and a 100gb HDD?

OR.

Does anyone have a T43 hard drive? Any size, just as long as it works.

Brad · #2 Post by **Brad** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 1:27 am

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry for your trouble.

Are you using the hard drive caddy? I have had trouble at times making sure the drive is seating properly. Usually the last 1/8 of an inch or so you can feel the drive seating in the ThinkPad's hard drive connector becuase it sounds like a hardware problem to me.

Brad

iluvtruenos · #3 Post by **iluvtruenos** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:41 am

Brad,

Thank you for your reply, but I've had the notebook taken apart to the bare minimum. I could see the hard drive inserted properly into the socket, and still no go.

The thing that irritates me the most is that I know the notebook works. I've seen it work with the OEM IBM HDD. Heh, that's three capitalized acronyms in a row.

Anyway. Does anyone have any suggestions? I really want to try the T42p's HDD in the 43, but I'm afraid of having two fancy matte black paperweights.

Any suggestions?

frankiepankie · #4 Post by **frankiepankie** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:47 am

Is it possible that there are master/slave jumpers installed on the drive?

Brad · #5 Post by **Brad** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 8:16 am

The trouble with the T43 ThinkPad and NON IBM HDD's (three in a row!) is a simple screen that says you are using a NON IBM HDD (wow, three in a row, again!). There has been discussion that the required firmware that all other drives are missing may impact other ThinkPad features for example hard disk parking while dropping your ThinkPad.

If you have a recent BIOS you can set it to display the error for a few moments and then continue. On older BIOS's this option was not available.

To me the firmware issue is a non issue. All drives will work just fine. So this firmware issue is not the issue you are having because this screen never appears according to your posts.

I would move the Toshiba to the T42 just to confirm operation. Then if it works you may have an issue with your T43's motherboard and may have to use the warranty to have it repaired.

Brad

iluvtruenos · #6 Post by **iluvtruenos** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 12:21 pm

The Toshiba works perfectly.

The T43 works perfectly.

Why won't they work together?!!

Bah! With every passing day the temptation of swapping Thinkpad drives rises, but I'm afraid of having two fancy paperweights.

NorrisCell · #7 Post by **NorrisCell** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:51 pm

First of all, awesome forum name.

Second, does the BIOS show an attached drive at all? If the drive has been formatted, the BIOS should show it as connected, even if it is a non-IBM drive.

iluvtruenos · #8 Post by **iluvtruenos** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:53 pm

Thanks, Norris!

The HDD is formatted, but Bios is not recognizing it.

How do I get into the screen that lists the IDE devices attached?

NorrisCell · #9 Post by **NorrisCell** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:08 pm

Boot the computer, then hit F1 to go into setup. Go to the Startup menu, then select Boot to display the boot devices. Find HDD0 in the list and see if there is any drive information showing next to it.

For example, I have a Western Digital 120 GB in mine. My boot line looks like this:

IDE HDD0 - WD 1200 BEVE

I'm not sure if the T43 shows the drive as IDE or SATA, but the HDD0 line is the one you're looking for.

iluvtruenos · #10 Post by **iluvtruenos** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:16 pm

Out<deleted>standing!

I just <deleted> decided to swap the T42's disk into the T43. It recognizes it in BIOS, and allows the XP install to proceed.

I am ecstatic.

This means that all I need is a cheap, small HDD, and I have two functioning machines.

That, and the ad in the marketplace is null and void.

Yay.

Thank you all for your help, apparently it was simply my stupidity. I'll probably use the Toshiba HDD for storage now.

Brad · #11 Post by **Brad** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:52 pm

So the Toshiba drive is working but just not in the T43. It works in the T42?

I am not sure what the problem is.

Brad

iluvtruenos · #12 Post by **iluvtruenos** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:58 am

No, the T42 does not recognize the Toshiba drive either.

Maybe bad sectors, something, or other. Frankly, I don't care. Now that I can silence that little voice in the back of my mind that I had a fried motherboard, and know exactly what's wrong, I can rejoice.

pianowizard · #13 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:43 am

Do you know whether the Toshiba drive is still under warranty? If it is, you can get it replaced for free. It's worth going to the manufacturer's site to find out.

iluvtruenos · #14 Post by **iluvtruenos** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:04 am

The Toshiba drive came out of an Acer laptop years ago.

I doubt it's still under warranty.

T43 PXE-E61 booting problem, HDD not recognized.

T43 PXE-E61 booting problem, HDD not recognized.

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