Thinkpads Forum

Hello, I have a ThinkPad x61s with BIOS revision 2.21. It had the stock 80GB HDD installed but I decided to use a WD Scorpio Blue 320GB drive from another laptop.

When I put the drive in, it wont attempt to boot from it, it just stays with a blinking cursor on the top left of the screen. This happens after the BIOS splash screen.

I have tried:

- Loading default settings in the BIOS
- Changing from AHCI to Compatibility
- Re-inserting the drive into the bay while making sure it's nice and snug.

It's not the motherboard because it works with the old drive and also with a 120GB seagate drive.

Download DBAN, then run that up to ca. 5% on that new drive, which you need to put in a USB enclosure or similar for this.
Also, make sure to use caddy/screws/rails when inserting that drive in your laptop.

I wouldn't know if this would pertain to you but I've had the blinking cursor problem because of putting the Grub bootloader into the wrong section while trying out Debian...

It took me awhile but I ended up using GPart and erasing the partition then rebooting and just installing Ubuntu afterwards.

RealBlackStuff wrote:Download DBAN, then run that up to ca. 5% on that new drive, which you need to put in a USB enclosure or similar for this.
Also, make sure to use caddy/screws/rails when inserting that drive in your laptop.

Ca. 5%? I don't want to DBAN the drive because it is being used in another laptop. It has Windows XP Pro on it and I wanted to use that as well taking advantage of the extra speed/space.

The drive came from a Dell Inspiron 1525 which has similar specs to the x61s. I was basing the upgrade on whether the OS would actually load or whether it would just BSOD during bootup.

Also one of the rubber rail things and the screws that hold the drive in place were missing when I got the laptop. You can actually feel the drives spinning. But not the original Hitachi one.

You need to recreate the Master Boot Record (MBR) on the hard drive while the drive is in the Thinkpad. Something as simple as "FDISK.EXE /MBR" will do the job, given that you have a bootable MS-DOS floppy, with FDISK.EXE on it, or similar. See link below:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-62978

Saucey wrote:I wouldn't know if this would pertain to you but I've had the blinking cursor problem because of putting the Grub bootloader into the wrong section while trying out Debian...

It took me awhile but I ended up using GPart and erasing the partition then rebooting and just installing Ubuntu afterwards.

Interesting, I did a google search prior to opening this thread and noticed that people have mostly been having this issue with Linux.

I'm not using the Grub bootloader with XP nor am I using Linux on my X61s, but I plan to at some point.

I really wan't to avoid wiping the drive at all costs, since it's native home is in another machine.

EOMtp wrote:You need to recreate the Master Boot Record (MBR) on the hard drive while the drive is in the Thinkpad. Something as simple as "FDISK.EXE /MBR" will do the job, given that you have a bootable MS-DOS floppy, with FDISK.EXE on it, or similar. See link below:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-62978

Okay, now the drive is from another laptop and I want to keep it intact if I can help it.

It has Windows XP Pro on it. How would the Dell Inspiron 1525 I stole it from be affected after putting the drive back? Would I have to recreate the Master Boot Record again?

Also the x61s doesn't have a floppy drive or an optical drive. I don't have external equivalents either.

I do have Hirens Boot CD on a USB drive, is there anything on that I could use?

You have two options:
a) Clone the drive, then get the cloned drive working in the Thinkpad, rewriting the MBR on the cloned drive, or
b) Rewrite the MBR on the original drive, although this will not keep the drive "intact", i.e., unaltered.

Sorry, but there is no third option ...

Finally, you need a way of writing the MBR onto the drive while the drive is in a Thinkpad -- any Thinkpad, not just the X61s. Perhaps you can find a Thinkpad with an optical drive into which to place the drive in order to complete this task. One way or another, you must find a path to booting a Thinkpad (not necessarily the X61s) off something other than the hard drive in question, and then recreating the MBR onto the hard drive while the drive is inside that Thinkpad.

There are multiple ways of accomplishing this task, but all approaches require something additional to the X61s and the original hard drive.

EOMtp wrote:You have two options:
a) Clone the drive, then get the cloned drive working in the Thinkpad, rewriting the MBR on the cloned drive, or
b) Rewrite the MBR on the original drive, although this will not keep the drive "intact", i.e., unaltered.

Sorry, but there is no third option ...

Finally, you need a way of writing the MBR onto the drive while the drive is in a Thinkpad -- any Thinkpad, not just the X61s. Perhaps you can find a Thinkpad with an optical drive into which to place the drive in order to complete this task. One way or another, you must find a path to booting a Thinkpad (not necessarily the X61s) off something other than the hard drive in question, and then recreating the MBR onto the hard drive while the drive is inside that Thinkpad.

There are multiple ways of accomplishing this task, but all approaches require something additional to the X61s and the original hard drive.

Okay, I don't have a spare SATA drive or another ThinkPad, so I think i'm just going to forget about the whole thing and just keep it the way it is.

I already put the RAM from the Dell into this ThinkPad and it runs much better.

Why do ThinkPads have so many pet peeves? I used to have a T42 that I had to patch the BIOS on to make an Intel 2200GB wireless card work. Just because it wasn't an IBM part. And then there is the problem with hard drives that the T43s have and so on.

You'd think they'd be the best to work on.

GMaguire wrote:Why do ThinkPads have so many pet peeves?

Not many -- just two, and you have identified them. The T43 not accepting non-IBM drives was a bad idea that was abandoned quickly -- that issue has not existed since then. The Wifi or WLAN cards being accepted only if they are "approved" is an FCC certification issue (U.S. regulatory agency; perhaps relevant to other jurisdictions also), and persists generation after generation ...

I had a problem with my T42 type 2373 4WG. The Intel wireless 21003B card always conflicted with the intel LAN controller. It wouldn't stay connected to any network. It was so annoying and even after changing the card it still conflicted. Also there was a problem with the southbridge which made the optical drive pop out every once in a while. Both annoying and embarassing.

I eventually managed to swap it for a Dell Latitude D610 (which is basically a T43 and can also be SATA modded). It's a much better machine.

Anyway what I'm trying to say is that I never have these problems with Dells, or HPs or even Acers!

By applying the NO-1802 hack to a T42 and older, you can put in ANY wifi card.
For a T43/R52, apply TTAV134's BIOS and you can then put in ANY wifi card, and the Error 2010 is history.