T43p BSOD won't boot to Windows with error

[akoustic]

Hi Folks,

I have been using my T43p for some time now.. actually I haven't used it much until last year... but I fell in love with it quickly! But recently I have been having some major issues with my laptop.

In the beginning it was occasional BSOD on boot plus Windows error message complaining about Graphics driver. I have then made sure my driver was correctly installed (downloaded from lenovo website) several times. I have to confess tho I am using non OEM IBM Windows XP Pro. I don't have the IBM recovery cd so I can't really go back to factory default.

I have recently reinstalled the OS and was having issues while installing as well (I didn't install the XP pro before so I don't know if this issues existed before too). While installing it seems to be not locating some of the files needed (I believe it is drivers?) but it can install and I was able to use the laptop normally for couple of times. However right now it boots straight into BSOD.

The error reads:

"STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The session manager initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0x000026c (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down."

I love my thinkpad and I'm sort of surprised I am having this issue. Can anyone help me out with determining what the problem might be?

I looked around for T43p recovery CDs but apparently it's not easy to find! I called lenovo and they asked me for 45 bucks over the phone.

I'd like to at least know that this might not be a hardware issue so even if I do get a hold of the recovery cd it's not a total waste.

Please help..

Thank you kindly,
Kevin

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

In my experience, BSOD with message about ATi drivers is a warning sign of a GPU going haywire in most cases when it comes to T4x units.

Mod Edit: Content removed pertaining to a recovery CD website

Good luck.

[USSS]

You might want to start with this KB article from Microsoft. It was last reviewed just within the past week:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/156669

I checked a few other Web sites, and the "0x000026c" status appears to point to a defective graphics card (as noted by ajkula66) and/or its associated driver.

[akoustic]

Welcome to the forum!

In my experience, BSOD with message about ATi drivers is a warning sign of a GPU going haywire in most cases when it comes to T4x units.

Mod Edit: Content removed pertaining to a recovery CD website

Good luck.

Thanks guys,

It seems like it is a GPU issue.

What is the possible fix to this?

Thanks again!

[ajkula66]

Search the forum for "reflowing" and "re-balling" along with reading all the stickies at the top of this (T4x) subforum...