t60 windows xp startup problem

[mhsu88]

So today out of the blue my IBM t60 shut off. when i try to start it back up it gives a blue screen of death while on the windows screen (windows xp). This occurs every single time even when the option to boot into safe mode is used.

I've tried reformatting the computer but when the boot disk was used, it gave an error stating that the hard drive could not be recognized even though I've been using the same hard drive for over 3 years now.

Is this a sign of a dead hard drive?

The thinkvantage system restore utility does not work for me either saying that I have the wrong windows password and also do not have the correct answers for the "forgot my password" utility. is there any way to get around that in order to see if I can get my data back?

thanks in advance

[ZaZ]

You could buy an external case for your hard drive and dump the data off that way if it's readable. The boot disk may not see the hard drive if it's set to AHCI in the BIOS, which if you're using the factory install it likely is.

[mixz1]

First thing to do is enter the BIOS and put your HD controller into IDE compatability mode and out of AHCI mode. That's probably what's causing your reinstall attempts to fail with a hard drive not found message. For a complete explanation read http://forums.vr-zone.com/troubleshooti ... ndows.html. Good luck.