T30 WILL NOT BOOT FROM HARD DRIVE

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KEITHFJ · #1 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:12 am

Hi

I just acquired a T30 (2366-41U). I just put in a new hard drive in it along with a new caddy. My problem is it will boot off the Windows XP Disk, It will recognize the hard drive, Format it and will load, But when it wants to restart, I then will hit F1 and change the Boot Order for it to boot from Hard Drive. Once that is changed the only thing it will do is give me a flashing cursor and the hard drive light stays on continously. I have also disabled the network boot and any usb device boot. This one does not seem to have the infamous Memory problem (512MB). Any Suggestions??, I am stumped!!, Could it be a bad IDE Controller??

#2 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 11:26 am

Welcome to our forums.

Just in case, hard disks in a T30 do not need any jumpers. If you have any on them, remove these.
You should set (and keep) the F1 boot sequence as 1:CD and 2:HD.
If you have a self-booting CD in it when you boot up, it will bypass the CD after a few seconds and go to the HD, unless you hit any key at startup to boot from that CD.

When you boot from the XP CD to install XP, it initially offers to partition/format. That obviously worked. You do not change the boot up sequence during an install anyway. If that's what you tried, start all over again, and let XP reboot itself when it needs/wants to.
Once you have the full install on it (ca. 30-40 minutes) and you have the new 'desktop' where it wants to 'show' how XP works, you can take the CD out, NOT before.

Let us know if this solved the problem.

KEITHFJ · #3 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:46 pm

Okay, With Hard Drive firmly seated and boot sequence set to 1.cd and 2 as hard drive with a self booting cd all i get is a flashing cursor and the hard drive light continuously on. If i power down the laptop and remove the hard drive and then turn it back on it will boot from the cd and if i push the hard drive back in, it will load windows and will recognize the drive, format it, and copy the files and when it finishes it tells you that it will restart the computer in 15 seconds, no matter if i remove the cd or set the BIOS to start from hard drive i just get the flashing cursor with the hard drive light continuously on.

#4 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:36 pm

Can you test that HD in another laptop or USB enclosure?
Sounds like a 'duff' hard disk to me, OR your ID interface is shot.
Take the HD out and check with a good flashlight if any of the pins inside the HD-opening are bent. There should be 1 'missing' in the middle, that is normal.
What happens when you put the old HD back in, does it boot then?
Did that have any jumpers on it perhaps?

By the way, you use F1 to go into the BIOS! You should use F12 for a boot-order change. This is then only valid until the next reboot.

KEITHFJ · #5 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:49 pm

I have checked this hard drive in another enclosure and it works perfectly. There are no bent pins. When i got this laptop it did'nt have a hard drive or caddy. I already had the hard drive, but purchased the caddy on ebay. If the IDE Interface was bad, would
it give an error on start-up? Could it possibly be a bad IDE Cable?
Or if the IDE Interface was bad can it be replaced or do you have to put in a new Motherboard? I have had more experience on Dell Laptops and am a newbie to IBM.

#6 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:08 pm

You can find all the info and drivers for your specific T30 here.
http://tinyurl.com/yua556

Get the Hardware Maintenance Manual from the tab 'User's guides and manuals', it's an invaluable help for all your problems.

Also get the PC Doctor in the CD-ISO version. Burn it on a CD and run it to test your hardware.

KEITHFJ · #7 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 8:11 pm

That was my next step, i will let you know what i find out, I really appreciate your help on this!!

vanaya · #8 Post by **vanaya** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 6:34 pm

After it tells you it will re-boot in 15 seconds it still needs to complete the install of XP. This is the first part of install. First part copies all files from cd to hdd (the background is solid blue), then second part will start xp and "unpack" all the necessary files and drivers (the background is xp theme and tells you the benefits and features of xp while it is configuring).

jamerslong · #9 Post by **jamerslong** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 8:54 pm

hmmm yes, VANYA is correct, you will need to give it time to install windows i know when i installed Xp on my older PC with the 4200 Drive it took forever for it to show the first screen. a total of 2 hours and 26 minutes to install...... If it is a large problem with installation then i would suggest cloning the drive once installed so you dont have to reinstall windows every time, i did this with my thinkpad and have no issues. i put in a new hard drive and Re imaged the drive with acronis true image it took less time then acctually installing windows

KEITHFJ · #10 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:24 am

That's possible but when it restarts the only thing i get is a blinking cursor on the screen with the hard drive light constantly on, even after 10 minutes it still is the same.

#11 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:46 am

Have you tried starting XP in Safe Mode? Keep pressing F8 at booting until you see the menu. Perhaps the resolution for the display is set too high?
Normally 1024x768.
Safe mode is 640x480.

KEITHFJ · #12 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:07 pm

Okay this is what i tried this weekend. Downloaded and ran PC Doctor and let it run all it's tests and it did not find anything wrong.
I may have forgot to mention that if you take the Hard Drive out, and set up the defaults in the BIOS, You get the PCX-E61 ERROR
MEDIA TEST FAILURE, CHECK CABLE. If you go into the BIOS with the hard drive out and disable booting from the Network and removable devices, and reboot you only get the "OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND" When you have the hard drive inserted and the BIOS set to boot from CD then to Hard Drive it will not boot from cd as the Hard Drive light is on Steady and just a flashing cursor. I also took the hard drive out and put it into my Dell Inspiron 5100 and was able to load XP Without a hitch, after doing this i tried putting the Hard Drive back in the T30 with XP already on the drive but still no luck, Just STEADY HARD DRIVE LIGHT, WITH FLASHING CURSOR. Also the only way to get it to start a bootable CD Is when the hard drive is out. I also tried to take the Keyboard out and was looking at the directions on Keyboard removal and was able to take the screws out, but i never found a release lever for the Keyboard. My thoughts are that this either has a bad IDE Interface or Cable. Has anyone ever had this problem on a T30 as i am about ready to give up on it.

#13 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:42 am

It appears that you have a non-working IDE connection/controller.
To still use this laptop as it is, you could always try the Ultrabay hard disk adapter, which you would insert where you have your CD-drive now.
Alternatively look for a new/used motherboard. On eBay they go for around $100.- and you could also try our Market forum.
Do a search also on eBay for "IBM Lenovo Thinkpad T30 Motherboard Repair" where you end up with Hammerhead, who can repair most any board for a flat fee of $95.-

Perhaps some other users have other ideas of what this could be?

andyP · #14 Post by **andyP** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:30 pm

Is the hdd complete with caddy and all of it's screws? The reason for asking is because of what happened with this T43
As I state in the thread I have also experienced similar on T23s without a caddy.

#15 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:57 pm

Very interesting point! I would have never thought of asking that, assuming one will/should always put in all the nuts and bolts...

KEITHFJ · #16 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:54 pm

Yes, I believe it's the ide connector too. As for the other people who asked if the hard drive caddy is with it with all screws, IT IS ALL THERE!! Thanks for all your help with this as i really don't need this, i was just trying to EASILY resurrect it.

#17 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 6:24 pm

Don't give up yet!
See if it has the latest BIOS and Controller Program.
You can get an ISO file to burn on a CD, to update the BIOS/Controller.
See at the bottom of the IBM-Lenovo link that I gave you earlier on.
If all else fails, you can still sell it on...

KEITHFJ · #18 Post by **KEITHFJ** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:07 pm

Yes, I have not tried that yet, but how can i flash the BIOS if there is no working hard drive. Also this t30 does not have a Floppy drive.

#19 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:57 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:You can get an ISO file to burn on a CD, to update the BIOS/Controller.

smugiri · #20 Post by **smugiri** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:10 am

Try restoring the master boot record - read this thread for an explanation of the potential problem.

If this is the problem, then the solution described below should fix it. You will need to do this AFTER installing windows when you are at the point where the machine will not boot the new Windows XP install.

Try this: you will need a Windows XP boot disk though (you can use any as you do not need the key). Windows 2k or Win 95/98 disks might not work. The recovery CDs will not work.

Boot from the CD and choose to start a Windows installation by pressing the "Any" key. Go through all the prompts (F8 blah blah blah), choose the repair option (rather than new install) and go into the installation you just did to repair it. You may be asked to type in the admin password you entered on installation.

At the prompt, type

fixmbr

then

fixboot

Then

exit

to reboot and see what happens. If all went well, the install should be working.

fixmbr fixes the boot record while fixboot writes a partition boot sector to the system partition

ThinkpadT20User · #21 Post by **ThinkpadT20User** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:13 am

Smugiri,

I have a similar problem, and I'm going to try what you suggested. But do you know if doing these commands:

fixmbr
fixboot

will damage my data on the disk?

I don't want any of my files to be rewritten, and I don't want to have to reinstall windows.

Thanks for your help.

T30 WILL NOT BOOT FROM HARD DRIVE

T30 WILL NOT BOOT FROM HARD DRIVE

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