T43 HELP!! (please)

[AcousticNRG]

hi guys first post hereso hello to all.

i recently got hold of a t43 thinkpad, the only problem with it was it was giving an error on startup saying

PXE-E61 Media test failure check cable
PXE-MOF Exiting broadcom pxe rom
operating system not found

i have managed to get hold of a new hard drive model number MK8026GAX Its the 80gig drive
this model is listed as compatable.

but its just not detecting the drive!

i have tried everything on the net that i can find but nothing seems to work
can any of knowledgable folk help me out on this ????

i have heard something about fdisk for activating the drive ??

please help

[Harryc]

It's upside down. Remove the drive/tray and flip it over, then reinsert it into the drive bay.

[AcousticNRG]

the drive is in the correct way label facing downwards, i have tried it both ways thou and still nothing.

[AcousticNRG]

can anyone please help im at witts end with this thing :@

[Harryc]

Wait...how do you know it's not detecting the drive? Does it see the drive in BIOS? (F1 key on boot). You will get the error you did if you just install a blank unformatted drive without Windows on it.

[RealBlackStuff]

Did you also install the hard disk caddy?
Without it, you may not get proper contact.

[AcousticNRG]

i cant see the drive in the bios and yes it is in the caddy

i get an error saying could not open the boot partition ?

do i need to reset the bios ?

[AcousticNRG]

????

[Harryc]

If BIOS does not see the drive, there are only (3) possibilities that I am aware of.
1.) The drive is bad
2.) The drive is not installed correctly
3.) The disk controller or interface is bad on the systemboard

[AcousticNRG]

3.) The disk controller or interface is bad on the systemboard

how can this be sorted?

the drive is ok it displays in another laptop ?

do i need to installed firmware or anything ?

[Harryc]

If that is the problem, the only fix is to replace the systemboard unless you can identify a loose solder joint at the connector inside the drive bay. You'd have to remove the systemboard to even begin that process.

[underclocker]

It's possible that the IDE drive is exluded as a boot device. Go ahead and try pressing F9 at the first BIOS screen to load setup defaults. Then check to see if the hard drive is listed in the bootable device list. Make sure to press F10 to save prior to rebooting.

If that doesn't work, then it's possible you have a bad IDE interface. If it's the connector and you still want to use the T43, you could use a hard drive in an HDD caddy. Chinese knock-offs sell rather inexpensively on eBay.

[AcousticNRG]

right i have just ordered a 2nd hd caddy from ebay i hope this works, is there any way to check the conections on the main ide drive?

if id have known think pads were this much mither i wouldnt have bothered

[Harryc]

I've been hanging out here 3+ years and this is the second time I have seen anything close to a disk controller issue. Does that answer your question about 'mither' ?

[underclocker]

Agreed. This is a very rare problem. I've seen it once.

[AcousticNRG]

Well it may be something else?

i have tried everthing that you all have posted but nothing is working.

does a new hd usually show up in bios straight away >?

i dunno what else to try

[ajkula66]

One silly question for OP...you do have it secured in its caddy with all four screws when you're inserting it, right?

[AcousticNRG]

er no just 2 screws at the back , does it need all 4 ?

[Harryc]

Yes, for proper alignment.

[Microspeed]

I had a similar problem I talked about on this post > http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85466
The amount of tweaking to the caddy was so very little.
Hope this helps

[poshgeordie]

I've seen "undetected" HDD's on T43's due to the Southbridge becoming unsoldered.

What you could try is pressing down on the palmrest just ot the right of the trackpad, or better if it's stripped down to remove the wi fi card (which is under the trackpad) and to press down on the SB chip underneath it - then try firing the laptop up and see what happens.

If you'd like me to have a look at that please PM me. We do chip reflowing and reballing up in Newcastle - also see our advert here in this forum.

Good luck!

Nick

[AcousticNRG]

thanks for all the replys guys, i have put all 4 screws in the drive caddy but still nothing

im begining to think its something more serious with the main board like you say

im gonna open it up see if the sb is loose , if it is loose how hard is it to repair ?

[poshgeordie]

Welcome to the forums!

We reflow / reball southbridge chips all the time on Thinkpads and for us it's straightforward.

Can I suggest you don't do any DIY methods since there's a good chance you'll overcook it (literally!).

[AcousticNRG]

hi can you please tell me what you mean by reflow / reball ?

also how much does it cost

[poshgeordie]

It's been found on many many laptops, including Thinkpad T4x series that the graphics and southbridge chips become unsoldered after a period of time.

These chips are soldered to the motherboard by 100's of tiny solder balls which are collectively called the Ball Grid Array or BGA.

There are a variety of reasons for this happening such as picking up the laptop in such a way that the motherboard inside flexes and breaks some of the chip solder ball joints.
Also it's been found that the normal switching on and off of the laptop causes the BGA temperature to change, stressing the solder joints and causing eventual failure.

What's needed is a method of resoldering these tiny solder balls back onto the motherboard again, and the most reliable method is to use Infrared reflowing.

This uses a combination of infrared head which is applied in the correct amounts on both the top and bottom of the motherboard and over the chip which gently reheats the BGA and causes it to melt and resolder the chip back onto the motherboard again. This is called reflowing (or resoldering).

In many cases this is a good long-term fix.

However sometimes the BGA is so damaged that the only thing left is to remove the chip, replace the solder balls and to resolder the chip back onto the motherboard again. This is called chip reballing and is the best sort of repair because the solder balls are renewed and good solder joints created.

Have a look at the blue advert at the top of every page which gives more information and prices etc. If you'd be interested in me having a look at the board then PM me & I'll send you a proper quote which will answer questions like how we do payment and our address etc.

[AcousticNRG]

Thanks for the replys posh

my ultrabay arrived today low and behold the drive is now recognised , althou my next problem is installing windows without a cd drive ?

i have looked around various methods and and external bay seems the easiest outcome??

are there any known issues with booting from external drives?

thanks.

[AcousticNRG]

anyone ?

[richk]

I don't think there are issues with installing from a USB optical onto an ultrabay HD. I want to go back to the original post. Are you absolutely sure the drive is correctly installed? It is really easy to get the top set of pins inserted into the bottom set of holes and have the other set connected to air. The way I install drives is to open the lid and lay the machine down so that the keyboard and palmrest are resting on a table. Then slide the drive in with the printing on the drive facing up and the machine upside-down. You can confirm the connection by removing the palmrest with the drive inserted

[AcousticNRG]

i have the ultra bay installed and now both hard disks are recognised in the bios so the normal hd bay is defo fubard.

i have tried installing the drives 100's of times nothing works.

i have been trying to install windows from the external cd rom for hours with no luck also trying a flash drive which aint getting very far.

can anyone shed any light on this matter ?

thanks again .

[Harryc]

Make sure the external CDROM drive is first in boot order in BIOS. If you are trying to boot a DVD or CD, make sure that it will boot other known good working CD's or DVD's.