Hard Drive not detected

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nickleung · #1 Post by **nickleung** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:29 am

Here's the sequence when I boot up:
1. IBM screen
2. Tries to detect for an operating system, but returns "Operating System not Found"
3. It makes one single short beep when I power it off.

I know the hard drive isn't broken, since it works on my other T40.

Does anyone know what could be the problem?

#2 Post by **rkawakami** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:07 am

The only things that come to mind are:

- the BIOS in the T40 that does not boot the hard drive is set to not recognize the drive; enter BIOS, reload the defaults and insure that the drive appears in the boot list
- problem with the IDE interface on the motherboard; try another drive that you know works in another system

zdriver · #3 Post by **zdriver** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:02 am

If the problem machine is a 15" screen thinkpad, and you do not have the special long HD cover for that model, the drive from your T40 will not be inserted into the motherboard ATA connector.
If not, can you hear the drive spin up when you press the power button?
What is the 7 digit model code on the base of the notebook with the drive problem?

nickleung · #4 Post by **nickleung** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:42 pm

The boot menu doesn't detect the hard drive. I even go into the BIOS to configure the boot order.

SteveS · #5 Post by **SteveS** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:48 pm

Are you using the exact screws for the caddy?
I had the same problem with a generic caddy I bought that used normal flat head screws (with tapered heads) rather than the stock pancake head ones, which have a small cylinderical head.

The geometry of the screw is very critical in aligning the drive with the IDE connector. The connector on the motherboard floats, allowing some missalignment, but it flexes if the pins too far out of alignment to allow the ramps into the connector to center them.

When the drive is correctly aligned, the caddy should insert smothly to within about 3 mm (3/16") of bottoming, then should fully seat with a gental push. If you need to push really hard, you are probably only flexing the connector away from the drive, rather than engaging it.

nickleung · #6 Post by **nickleung** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:11 am

yeah I'm using the same screws that came with the caddy. Everything is stock.

#7 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:45 am

If it's a known good working drive, as Ray mentioned the other possibility is a bad IDE controller or interface. My experience is that this bad IDE interface issue does not happen very often, and the usual culprit is a misaligned or mis-seated hard drive/caddy. With that said, I would still try another drive, just because ...
If that fails, replace the systemboard.

madkat · #8 Post by **madkat** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:43 am

the caddy is not the right one for your model...
didnt think there are differences - but when i've made the motherboard transplant from the donor R51 to my T41 - i've tried to insert the original T41 hDD with caddy in the R51 and i couldn't...
viceversa worked though...

remove the caddy - insert the 4 screws - if they are the correct ones, and insert the HDD
if it goes all the way in smoothly - the caddy is wrong

Hard Drive not detected

Hard Drive not detected

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