T23 Having startup problems/nag messages

[TG923]

Hello,

I am trying to revive my Thinkpad T23, 40 gb hd laptop. I quit using this item last fall and wanted to see if there was any help out there that could get me back up and running. When I try to boot this computer, either from the CD rom or the hard drive and I get this nag. "A disk read error occured" and "Press Cntl+Alt+Del to restart"?'. I have rebooted this one several times and it still has problems. As I have said, I changed boot order and attempted to get it to boot from a boot disk, but to no avail. Thank you.

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.

You may have a dead CMOS-battery, which causes the Startup change NOT to stick.
You could try hitting F12 at bootup, to see if you can change the Startup sequence there.

For the Read-error, try this:
Boot using a WinXP cd and use the Recovery Console (hitting R when it asks). If/when you get the DOS based screen AND you get something like:
1. C:\WINDOWS
Please choose which windows you want to use: 1
Type 1 and hit Enter, it will ask for your administrator password (which I hope you know). Then at the command prompt enter: chkdsk /r and hit the Enter button.
The /r switch tells chkdsk to scan the entire drive and recover any bad sectors.
Depending on the size of your drive this could take a while!

[TG923]

Thank you for your response. I pulled the CMOS battery out of my T23 and think I found the problem. The motherboard connection for the CMOS battery was laying loose and came out with the battery when I pulled it out. I don't believe there is a fix for this other than replacing the motherboard. Please advise me if there might be another way. I have packed the T23 back in its bag and put it away until I can resolve this situation. I looked on ebay and see quite a few motherboards out there, but wasn't sure who to buy from. Thank you. Larry.

[RealBlackStuff]

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can easily replace the mobo battery-connector.
Get any old IBM motherboard, they all have the same connector, and do a transplant.

[tfflivemb2]

Actually, you might be able to reattach the one that came loose, using a fine tip soldering iron. I had to do that on my R40...works great!!

[Harryc]

If you are looking for a working T23 motherboard, please send me a PM.