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X61 Won't boot into any OS

X60/X61 and X60t/X61t Series
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thinkpadgeek91
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X61 Won't boot into any OS

#1 Post by thinkpadgeek91 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 12:27 am

I recently bought a X61 and it has Windows 7 and Middleton BIOS. I started getting constant BSOD so I pulled the drive and installed a known working drive and booted up a ubuntu live USB and installed ubuntu. The install go fine but after the first restart I get a flashing hyphen then eventually a kernal panic. Any suggestions on what is going on? I can't rule out a hardware failure but I don't think that is it.

Thanks.
Thinkpad X220 2.5Ghz Core i5 2520M
Thinkpad X61s 1.6Ghz Core2Duo L7500

axur-delmeria
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Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#2 Post by axur-delmeria » Wed Nov 01, 2017 1:00 am

Start with a RAM test. Check if Ubuntu Live has memtest86+ in its boot menu.
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

thinkpadgeek91
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Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:00 pm
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Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#3 Post by thinkpadgeek91 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:16 am

I did a RAM check. I think I might know what it is. It never did the driver_error BSOD till I booted it in the dock. Going to check it out tonight after work. I read that is a common thing.
Thinkpad X220 2.5Ghz Core i5 2520M
Thinkpad X61s 1.6Ghz Core2Duo L7500

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#4 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:42 am

Another option: in BIOS check/change SATA settings (AHCI or Compatibility).
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

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thinkpadgeek91
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Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:00 pm
Location: Fortuna, CA

Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#5 Post by thinkpadgeek91 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:10 am

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:42 am
Another option: in BIOS check/change SATA settings (AHCI or Compatibility).
I tried that before work. I also reinstalled ubuntu and also put the Windows 7 drive back in it without it connected to the dock and still getting a kernel panic and BSOD.
Here's what I have tried:
Swapping drives and operating systems.
Using it on and off the ultrabase.
Swapping known good RAM from my T61 to it.
Changing BIOS drive settings and restoring BIOS back to default settings.

Not sure what I am missing.....
Last edited by thinkpadgeek91 on Wed Nov 01, 2017 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thinkpad X220 2.5Ghz Core i5 2520M
Thinkpad X61s 1.6Ghz Core2Duo L7500

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#6 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Nov 01, 2017 2:02 pm

I would really like to see you put T500 (DDR3) RAM into your X61 (DDR2)...

thinkpadgeek91
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Location: Fortuna, CA

Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#7 Post by thinkpadgeek91 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 2:24 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Wed Nov 01, 2017 2:02 pm
I would really like to see you put T500 (DDR3) RAM into your X61 (DDR2)...
Haha nice catch. I meant known good RAM from my broken T61 into my X61. All these models you know. :roll:
Thinkpad X220 2.5Ghz Core i5 2520M
Thinkpad X61s 1.6Ghz Core2Duo L7500

thinkpadgeek91
Freshman Member
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:00 pm
Location: Fortuna, CA

Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#8 Post by thinkpadgeek91 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 10:22 pm

Well, Tried 32bit ubuntu this evening and installed and booted normally. Something happened and it won't run 64bit OS' anymore.
Thinkpad X220 2.5Ghz Core i5 2520M
Thinkpad X61s 1.6Ghz Core2Duo L7500

axur-delmeria
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Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#9 Post by axur-delmeria » Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:34 pm

For Windows, boot with "Automatic Restart on System Failure" disabled. So when the BSOD hits, the system will freeze and allow you to take a picture, which can help in narrowing down the cause of the issue.
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

thinkpadgeek91
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Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:00 pm
Location: Fortuna, CA

Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#10 Post by thinkpadgeek91 » Thu Nov 02, 2017 10:14 am

axur-delmeria wrote:
Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:34 pm
For Windows, boot with "Automatic Restart on System Failure" disabled. So when the BSOD hits, the system will freeze and allow you to take a picture, which can help in narrowing down the cause of the issue.
It was a driver error. I googled it and it never came up with anything reasonable. The machine stopped booting 64bit OS'. I installed 32 bit Windows 7 Pro and not one issue.
Thinkpad X220 2.5Ghz Core i5 2520M
Thinkpad X61s 1.6Ghz Core2Duo L7500

halocaridina
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Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:57 pm
Location: Auburn, AL, USA

Re: X61 Won't boot into any OS

#11 Post by halocaridina » Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:37 pm

@thinkpadgeek91

Thank you for this posting and your observation that your X61 stopped booting 64bit OS'. I've observed a similar situation last week with a X61 that I've recently refurbished.

Details: installed a factory-refurbished P8100 motherboard into the X61 and flashed Middleton's BIOS from a Win7 32bit HDD. Swapped the HDD with a SSD at that point with up-to-date Arch Linux 64bit that was previously running fine in a X200 and suffered a system freeze requiring a hard poweroff within a hour. These system freezes continued over the course of a day in an unpredictable fashion, including a different SSD running 64bit Ubuntu. Just as I was ready to give up, I reinstalled the Win7 32bit HDD and the freezes disappeared just like that. I've since cloned the Win7 32bit HDD to one of the Linux SSDs and haven't run into the freezes with that SSD (suggesting it wasn't being caused by the drive itself). Lastly, I installed Ubuntu 32bit to the other SSD and that OS/drive hasn't caused freezes with the X61 either.

The above lead me to do additional searching and found your post on the topic.

So you are not alone in seeing this unusual situation, athough I have no idea why its the case since these Core 2 Duo's should be/are 64bit-capable.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be going on here? Thanks in advance for any input/insights.

Halocaridina

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