Can faulty hard drive cause T43p to freeze

[Think43p]

I know my hard drive is faulty and time for a replacement. And also it freezes randomly. As suggested on this forum it could be the SB or the GPU and would need reflowing.

But just wondering if just my faulty HDD (always fails the PC Doctor extended surface scan test) and HD Sentinel life shows 70% life remaining, is it correct to assume that random freezing could be occuring due to a faulty drive?

Thanks

T43p 2668-GEU
T60p 2007-WUK

[Harryc]

I'd boot up a Linux live CD (like the latest Linux Mint) and see if it freezes there. If it does, it's not the hard drive.

[poshgeordie]

Mmm good question - I'd suggest getting a replacement HDD first and seeing if the freezing continues.

OK I know I only see broken Thinkpads, but we're seeing more and more unsoldered SB's on the T43 range so it wouldn't surprise me if that's (also) the issue.

Sorry to not be more help.

[Think43p]

I have an old PATA hard drive that I tried using but all the laptop did was show a blinking cursor on the top left and no progress beyond that. I was forced to hard restart and it repeated the same.

I then just put back my current HDD and waiting to get hold of an old PATA HDD to test the real cause of the random freezes.

[Think43p]

I booted from a Linux Live CD and the laptop did not freeze at all during the whole time it was running from the CD, thereby coming to a likely conclusion that it may be my faulty drive.

I'll swap with my new drive next week and post results thereafter.

Thanks

[poshgeordie]

I may be wrong here, but doesn't the live CD just load into memory and can run without any HDD fitted?

[Think43p]

Yes you're right that the laptop loads the LL CD into memory and runs from there. And therefore I guess it does not matter if the HDD is there or not there.

So the way Im looking at this is that my laptop did not freeze for the time I ran from LL CD. So Im forced to assume that the first culprit in my case could be the HDD.

So Im keeping my fingers crossed and will post results after I put in a new drive to confirm my assumption

[poshgeordie]

Your conclusion is only partly right coz if the Linux desktop doesn't load on the HDD then the other component which could be faulty is the Southbridge.
Reason - if nothing's being passed to the HDD then that part of the SB isn't being used either.
Therefore it could be one or other part which is faulty and not just the HDD.

HTH

[Think43p]

I see your point. My knowledge is a bit limited regarding what other parts work alongside the HDD and thanks for clearing that up.

I have been wanting to upgrade my HDD though for quite some time, so I guess I'll start with the HDD and if that still causes freezing, I can eliminate it as the cause of freezing. Then I guess its the SB needing reflowing. Im planning to put in the Samsung HM160HC.

Will update info after installing a new HDD.

[RealBlackStuff]

You probably know already that you will get the infamous "Error 2010" with that new HD.
However, with the latest BIOS, there's an option in it to automatically continue booting after a few seconds.
No other consequences known.

[Think43p]

Thanks RBS for the info..

I do have the link to update to the latest BIOS:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62282

Secondly about the click noise on these drives, I read that with NHC tweaking I can actually get rid of the superclicks.

I guess these are the 2 known issues with the Samsung HM160HC.

Thanks for the upfront redflag.

[Think43p]

Okay so here's what happened. Yesterday I swapped the hard drive and installed the new Samsung HM160HC using the recovery CDs that I made earlier and the process went fine, installed the updates, MS Office etc.

But inspite of that the laptop did freeze once yesterday and twice again today making me come to the conclusion that it has to do with the SB and I guess that makes my laptop due for a reflowing/reballing. Nick you were right. Thanks buddy.

Thanks all for the help and assistance.