Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

Any help on the following problem would be much appreciated.

Background: Old HDD crashed on x61s. New SSD (Samsung 850 EVO) is installed. For the OS installation, I have an LG multi-drive with a Windows 8.1 ISO DVD. The boot order lists USB CD as first.

Problem: The boot is stopped short by the following error message: PXE_E61 Media Test Failure: Check Cable. Then the screen immediately goes to the boot list, which shows the USB CD as: No valid operating system. The new SSD seems to be installed correctly since the ATA HDD0 row shows: Samsung/No valid operating system. I already tried disabling the WAKE Lan, an action that does not solve the problem.

What am I doing wrong?

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Based on your description, I would go into the BIOS and "flip" the setting for the SATA mode (Compatibility->AHCI or AHCI->Compatibility) and try installing the OS again. My guess is that you currently have the system in AHCI mode. However, once you do this, my understanding is that you will have to leave the setting as is for the duration of the HD (if you flip the setting, the disk will be unbootable). I not sure if it's possible to install the AHCI drivers once you are in Compatibility mode; you'll have to get a better answer on this from one of the experts here.

Hi Mod, thank you so much for your reply!

You are correct that the SATA is in AHCI mode! As I am not too computer literate, I don't really know why AHCI mode would impede OS installation and why compatibility mode would create difficulty for AHCI drivers. Should I wait for others to chime in before switching to compatibility mode? I don't want to further damage the laptop.

If the laptop is in SATA controller mode for AHCI, AND the OS installation disk is not equipped to handle such a system, then you can run into problems. I do not have any experience with Windows 8.1 so I don't know if this is the case but I would expect that Microsoft would be able to handle such a hardware setup. I DO know that I had to set one of my T420 systems in Compatibility mode since the aftermarket slot-loading Blu-ray drive I installed in the Ultrabay would refuse to work when the controller was in AHCI mode. Perhaps this the same case with your LG drive, if it doesn't have a Lenovo FRU stamped on it.

Orician_terebinth wrote:Problem: The boot is stopped short by the following error message: PXE_E61 Media Test Failure: Check Cable.

This is indicative of a network boot ROM being executed; media test failure means there's no Ethernet link on the NIC for network booting. Disabling wake on LAN isn't going to turn off network booting; you'll need to remove it from the list entirely or turn off the ability for PXE booting in network settings in BIOS.

Are you able to boot from other bootable discs with the USB optical drive you're using? Are other PCs able to boot to the Win8.1 DVD? Another thing you can try would be making a bootable USB Windows installer. I've had good luck with Zotac WinUSB Maker for my Win8/8.1 USB installers.

theterminator93 wrote:
you'll need to remove it from the list entirely or turn off the ability for PXE booting in network settings in BIOS.

Are you able to boot from other bootable discs with the USB optical drive you're using? Are other PCs able to boot to the Win8.1 DVD? Another thing you can try would be making a bootable USB Windows installer. I've had good luck with Zotac WinUSB Maker for my Win8/8.1 USB installers.

Thank you for your reply! Your solution to axe PCI LAN from the booting list has eliminated the PXE problem! But now, the booting process goes straight to the boot list, which continues to show "No Valid Operating System" for USB CD and SSD.

As for your question, I did try the ISO disk on my HP laptop (running Windows 8.1) to see if the CD and optical drive are working for booting purposes. I didn't go as far as booting but I was able to open the ISO file and see setup.exe and other folders. Would that be enough to check the booting capability of the optical drive? I will see if I can find a Zotac WinUSB Maker on Amazon and hope to have the same luck you have had!

rkawakami wrote: I DO know that I had to set one of my T420 systems in Compatibility mode since the aftermarket slot-loading Blu-ray drive I installed in the Ultrabay would refuse to work when the controller was in AHCI mode. Perhaps this the same case with your LG drive, if it doesn't have a Lenovo FRU stamped on it.

Ray, thank you for your reply! After I excluded PCI LAN per Terminator's solution, I followed your suggestion and switched from AHCI to Compatibility. Unfortunately, the booting list still shows "No Valid Operating System" for both USB CD and SSD. Would it be possible to say that if I tried the Zotac WinUSB maker and the error persists, there are other problems on the computer that I don't know about? I am quite frustrated because in theory, the process to revamp my x61s seems so deceptively simple...

BIOS should report your SSD as un-bootable as there's nothing there yet (new drive should be "blank") AND it should list it as a valid boot device if it's recognized properly. BIOS also detects your LG drive but also says there's no OS. What seems to be left then is that your Windows CD/DVD is not bootable. A common problem such as this is caused by not properly writing the .ISO image file onto the blank disk. If you are not familiar with the workings of an .ISO file, it basically is a complete snapshot of a disk image. It's one huge file that contains the directory structure of disk, along with the data files within. As such, you can't write it to a blank disk like a "normal" data file. It needs to be written as an "image". Most programs that burn optical disks will have a special mode that will handle an .ISO file.

So I guess the questions are, how was the Windows 8.1 .ISO file obtained and exactly how was it written to the blank disk (i.e., what program was used)?

It's almost sounding like you may have just burned the .iso to a DVD as a file instead of writing the image to disc. If there's just a single .iso file on the DVD when you open the disc to view its contents, that would explain why you cannot boot to it. You'll need to re-burn the .iso to a new disc. A freeware application such as ImgBurn will do the job nicely if you aren't using a version of Windows that supports integrated .iso recording. All assuming, of course, that the .iso has no issues.

Zotac is a freeware application and may be found here: http://joshcellsoftwares.com/products/zotacwinusbmaker/

A big thank you to both of you! My Windows 8.1 OS has installed successfully on the rejuvenated x61s!

You guys are exactly right that I did not create the ISO DVD the correct way. My mistake is that I just downloaded Window's installation media for 8.1 onto the DVD and expected my laptop to boot from it; I had no idea that I had to burn the ISO file onto another DVD, which would then create a bootable disk.

Again, thank you both for your patience and help!