Thinkpads Forum

I have a ThinkPad T61. The USB boot is activated in the BIOS. When I hit F12, it boots fine for USB hard drives and USB optical drives. However, it is having difficulty recognizing USB flash drives. The only one it recognized is a small 1GB flash drive. I need it to recognize flash drives larger than 4GB so I can easily install Windows 10.

This is the only ThinkPad I have encountered that has this problem. USB flash drives of all sizes work on all my other ThinkPads (T43, T400, T420, T430). Any ideas?

nsxjohn wrote:I have a ThinkPad T61. The USB boot is activated in the BIOS. When I hit F12, it boots fine for USB hard drives and USB optical drives. However, it is having difficulty recognizing USB flash drives. The only one it recognized is a small 1GB flash drive. I need it to recognize flash drives larger than 4GB so I can easily install Windows 10.

This is the only ThinkPad I have encountered that has this problem. USB flash drives of all sizes work on all my other ThinkPads (T43, T400, T420, T430). Any ideas?

Was the flash-drive in question new or old? Maybe that particular drive is corrupt? I would imagine it would be something wrong with the actual flash-drive itself. If it is reading other's it should be working properly. Never had an issue with larger flash drives before on any of my older Thinkpad models.

Start simplest: can you get largest usb flash stick formatted and still picks up no problem on T61? Otherwise problem lies with the usb flash preperation that buries iso image into usb flash stick program is not all equal. Some works best, some fails.

I use rufus.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

A USB flash drive can work fine on Device #1, but not Device #2. If Device #2 is in shape to format the drive, this fixes the problem for Device #2. If the flash drive is now used on Device #3, the problem may occur again, or it may not. Sometimes a format by one particular device will fix it for all the devices that you have. Sometimes it will not.

Usually, the origin of the problem is the software or firmware used to format the drive, not the port it is used on. But it can also indicate a subtle flaw in the flash drive. In that case, replacing the flash drive fixes the problem.

precip9 wrote:A USB flash drive can work fine on Device #1, but not Device #2. If Device #2 is in shape to format the drive, this fixes the problem for Device #2. If the flash drive is now used on Device #3, the problem may occur again, or it may not. Sometimes a format by one particular device will fix it for all the devices that you have. Sometimes it will not.

Usually, the origin of the problem is the software or firmware used to format the drive, not the port it is used on. But it can also indicate a subtle flaw in the flash drive. In that case, replacing the flash drive fixes the problem.

I agree. Sounds like the OP's problem is the flash drive itself.

That is also right, I had a new usb flash drive called silicon power 16gb fail to boot, no way to fix that even I have a kingston 32gb stick with same controller work as boot.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

I will try a completely new USB flash drive in this T61.
This T61 is the only ThinkPad I have seen with this problem. In my experience, all other ThinkPads (from T43 through T430s) have recognized all USB flash drives I have ever attempted to boot from.
Thanks for all the replies.

nsxjohn wrote:I will try a completely new USB flash drive in this T61.
This T61 is the only ThinkPad I have seen with this problem. In my experience, all other ThinkPads (from T43 through T430s) have recognized all USB flash drives I have ever attempted to boot from.
Thanks for all the replies.

Any luck/update?

Are you using a Windows image? Are you formatting the drive as FAT32 or NTFS when attempting this? My T40 has no problems booting from a USB drive. I have used PNY 2.0 FD USB for this purpose.

teamde78 wrote:

nsxjohn wrote:I will try a completely new USB flash drive in this T61.
This T61 is the only ThinkPad I have seen with this problem. In my experience, all other ThinkPads (from T43 through T430s) have recognized all USB flash drives I have ever attempted to boot from.
Thanks for all the replies.

Any luck/update?

Yes, I tried a new SanDisk USB flash drive and it will boot. So it appears that this T61 is very picky as to which USB drives it will recognize. Every other ThinkPad I have tested has recognized ALL USB flash drives I have used. Never have seen something like this before.