Mystery BIOS T21 - Not Hot Swapping Ultrabay

[fleamourian]

I have what I assume is a T21 that will beep at me everytime I try to hot swap CDRW drive for Ultrabay HDD under Linux. I have scoured BIOS for relevant setting but cannot pin down anything. My other (main) T21 has no such problem.

What is strange is this donor T21 has a 1.17 BIOS. Lenovo's site shows 1.16 as the latest (my main machine has 1.16.) Is this a homebrew BIOS or is it a different model with a T21 keyboard (no service tag present.)

Any clues?

[Harryc]

What is the machine type/model # listed on the main BIOS page?

[fleamourian]

Well I assumed this applied to all T21s:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... PJN8Y.html

I do not know the exact model as service tag is missing.

[Harryc]

Yes, hold down F1 on boot. On the main BIOS screen will be a model number field with a long number. What is it?

[Neil]

The model number is the first seven characters of the serial number in the BIOS, maybe that is why OP didn't recognize it.

[fleamourian]

System-unit serial number: 2647 46U

[RealBlackStuff]

Product: ThinkPad T20 2647-46U [change]
Operating system: All [change]

Original description: PIII 700MHz (256KB), 128MB RAM, 12.0GB HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 6x-2.3x DVD, 3Com combo, Win98

[Harryc]

Thanks RBS, @ fleamourian, you have a T20 there.

[fleamourian]

No way, bought off eBay for friend ages back & re-inherited as they upgraded. I wonder if originally miss sold? Anyone can slap a T21 keyboard on. I have replaced the mobo once though. Are T20/21 mobos interchangable?

The beeping when hot swapping under Parted Magic/Ubuntu is annoying. Glad my main T21 does not.

[Harryc]

I wonder if originally miss sold? Anyone can slap a T21 keyboard on. I have replaced the mobo once though. Are T20/21 mobos interchangable?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 81#p561478

[Neil]

Are T20/21 mobos interchangable?

Yes. So you probably have a T21 with a T20 motherboard. But, that pretty much makes it a T20, doesn't it?

[fleamourian]

That'll be it then.

Thanks for your help.

[Neil]

BTW, the newest BIOS for the T20 is 1.22...

[fleamourian]

That may help with hot swapping under Linux. Will keep as donor for spares most likely as HDD shagged.

Thanks.

[cadillacmike68]

I could never get my T20 series to hot swap the HDDs, might have been a W98SE limitation though.

T30s with WXPP no problem, but if i have a password on the HDD (and ALL my HDDs have passwords) then i can't see the disk until i power cycle the machine.