X31 Laptop "Blue Screen" problem

[hwittenb]

I have an X31 Laptop (2672-CBU) that has a so called "Blue Screen" problem where WinXP terminates what you are doing, takes a memory dump and tries to reboot. The reboot often gets a message
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent
Operating System not found

The problem is fairly persistent. I have run all the PC-Doctor diagnostics available with the "Access IBM" button with no failures. I last reinstalled the factory software (WinXP SP2) also available with the Access IBM button. It doesn't get a "blue screen" while reinstalling the factory software.

Without adding any additional software to the factory software I still got a blue screen doing simple web browsing with a subsequent "Operating System not found" message when it tries to reboot. A reboot from a power down was successful this time after it did a chkdsk of the NTFS file system on the C: drive.

It seems like it must be a hardware problem. Does anyone have any insight?

[Harryc]

It sounds to me like your hard drive might be failing. Run diagnostics from the manufacturers website...most likely Hitachi Drive fitness test.
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

[hwittenb]

I appreciate the insight and it was very helpful to include the link to the utility program. I ran the Hitachi fitness test but it turned up no hard drive errors after the quick, and advanced tests, or after 90-minutes of exercise.

The next thing I tried was the technique to update the bios as outlined in the bios firmware informaton, loading the default bios configuration and saving it with the utility. At this point it looks like that solved the problem. It has been several hours since a "blue screen".

There is a later bios version available for installation than the one running in my X31. At a later point I may upgrade the bios.

Edit: Spoke too soon. The above must not have been the problem. Got a Blue Screen this morning when I clicked to install Adobe Acrobat from the pre-load. Subsequent chkdsk on reboot wiped out kernel32.dll.

Edit2: For the record, I swapped out the hard drive and the recurring "blue screen" problem went away. I never could get a diagostic from pc-doctor or hitachi fitness test to show any problem with the Hitachi 60gb hard drive, but it looks like the drive is bad.