T23 blank screen during XP install

[zineryte]

Hi everybody,

I have an IBM T23 in which i one day decided to reinstall windows xp.
I reformatted the hard-drive and proceeded with the install, everything went fine until it rebooted itself to continue the install. It booted up fine and showed me the xp loading logo but then the screen goes blank and nothing else happens. The screen however is backlit (i.e. not off or sleeping).

This happens every time.
I have tried:
-VGA mode
-Hooking up another screen
-Reformatting
-A new hard-drive

Does anyone have a solution? All help is appreciated!

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

With my experiences in installing XP onto T23s, I've have never seen a system which does what you describe. About the only thing which comes close is when XP hangs during the install; somewhere around 30-35 minutes, when you see the on-going status messages. In those cases, the usual culprit is the MiniPCI card. Pull it out before installing Windows and the problem goes away. In your case, I'd first download and run PC Doctor for DOS. It's a diagnostic program supplied by IBM for most of the Thinkpads. You can get a free, diskette-based copy from here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4YZM3F

or, if you have a CD burner and a program which handles disk images, I host a copy of an .ISO file here:

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/ibm_t22_pcdiag.iso

(Don't worry about the T22 in the filename; this version of PC Doctor is designed for all T2x systems). Once you have created the bootable media, boot the system with it and select Diagnostics/Video Adapter and run all of the tests in that menu. You may be having a problem with the system going into a certain video mode. I'd also run the Memory tests just in case there's something wrong with one of the memory modules.

Another thing which you might try is booting Windows into Safe Mode. Press the F8 key repeatedly when you see the IBM splash screen and that should lead you to a Windows boot configuration menu. Select Safe Mode and see if that allows Windows to load.

[bajaman61]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!
. . . About the only thing which comes close is when XP hangs during the install; somewhere around 30-35 minutes, when you see the on-going status messages. In those cases, the usual culprit is the MiniPCI card. Pull it out before installing Windows and the problem goes away. . . .

My money is on following Ray's advice about removing the MiniPCI card. That little sliver of hardware bedeviled several T2X's I've rehabbed, not just T23's. And it is not limited to MicroSoft OS installs. Linux-based OS's suffer the same way, unless you go the Ray way on this.

Good Luck.

[czukuczuku]

i use to have similar problem with t23, for me changing dvd rom helped