Replacing an R50p Harddrive

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boeinguy2 · #1 Post by **boeinguy2** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:39 pm

I purchased an new Fujitsu 120 Gb HDD. I cannot seem to get it to install correctly.

I have mounted it in a USB enclosure so that I can clone the current 60 Gb drive.

I have tried a Hitachi hard drive setup utility, Copy Commander, Norton's Ghost, and Partition Magic's Copy partition utility. Each time, I either cannot boot to the new drive or Partition Magic reports a partition error. Apparently the Geometry is supposed to be 240h 63s but is being set as 255h 63s.

I cannot seem to find a way around this problem. I did get it to boot once, defragged the new drive and it refused to reboot after that.

Help!

#2 Post by **ZaZ** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:20 am

Did you try the recovery discs or installing windows the old fashioned way with a disc just to see if it will work?

boeinguy2 · #3 Post by **boeinguy2** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:13 am

If by recovery disks, you mena the system disks, I do not have these. I bought the machines from the Boeing Surplus store and the disks did not come with it.

I have not tried a fresh install. I would prefer not doing this, I just spent a couple of weeks getting everything installed after purchasing the machine. I would rather not repeat this process over with the new drive.

boeinguy2 · #4 Post by **boeinguy2** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:23 am

An update:

I have tried an number of fixes, including fidsk /mbr.

I was looking however at a utility that I originally used from a hitachi drive. It indicated the drive geometry of the Travelstar drive (the original 60 Gb drive hdd). Then I looked at the geometry info for the new drive, which indicated that the original drive was 240 63s but that something called XBIOS was involved and it indicated that the drive was 255 63s.

Aha! those were the issues that caused PArtition Magic to choke when I did the first install attmept. I began to wonder whether I had fouled things up by using the Hitachi setup disk with a Fujitsu drive.

That led me to look for ways to remove or erase the XBIOS (whatever that is). That led me to Fujitsus low level format app. I am running that right now and should be finished sometime this evening.

Then I will try to ghost the drive without running a setup utility and see what I get.

Will update in the morning. In the mean time does anyone have any other ideas?

boeinguy2 · #5 Post by **boeinguy2** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:34 pm

The latest:

After talking to Fujitsu and then IMB/Lenovo, I discovered two things

1) The R50p requires that an IBM firmware update be installed on the hard drive

2) There is no firmware update for this drive

Therefore, I am screwed. If I want a bigger harddrive I must buy an approved hard drive at two to three times the cost.
This really sucks. I like this machine, but if I had known of this limitation I would have bought another Dell. I never had any problems or special requirements for upgrading harddrives on the several Dell's I have owned.

Oh Well.

#6 Post by **ZaZ** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:54 pm

I put a 7200RPM drive in my T42 with no problems at all. I would think the same of the R50, but I'm no expert. Exactly what did they say? It's not unusual for support to be wrong. If you install Windows and it doesn't work, perhaps it's defective meaning you could return/exchange it. You probably already have a case for returning it now since it doesn't work with your system.

boeinguy2 · #7 Post by **boeinguy2** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:18 pm

If the ghositng process doesn't work, I will try a fresh install.

Interestingly, I called a place called Drive Solutions that listed a 120 Gb drive for $85. I asked about brand it is a Western Digital. I asked about firmware. This fellow said that Lenovo my require the firmware, but IBM did not. His drive is listed as working with the R50 P 1833 but he clasims that it has no need for a firmware update.

IBM told me that the drive must take the IBM firmware to work on an R50p. This drive is not in the list of drives supported by the firmware update, so it is not supposed to work.

I cannot figure this out since the BIOS sees the drive (when installed in the HDD bay), Windows sees the drive (when installed in a USB HDD Enclosure), but it will not get farther than a flashing cursor when I try to boot.

watchtower7 · #8 Post by **watchtower7** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:02 am

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=20858

boeinguy2 · #9 Post by **boeinguy2** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:28 am

Thanks.

I have read this and followed the links. The Lenovo page with this ISO lists hard drives that can be flashed, and this Fujitsu is not one of them. This is an MHV not an MHT of MHN.

Does anyone know whether other drives than those listed can be flashed?

Why do the hard drives have to be flashed anyway? I put the drive in my old (as isn 7 or 8 years old) Dell Latitude and it was recognized right away!

The ghosting process did not work. I cannot load Xp directly to the hard drive. I tried th retail version of Ontrack to see if the correct bios overlay would work and it did not.

watchtower7 · #10 Post by **watchtower7** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:27 pm

I feel your pain. It [censored] me off enough that I sold my r51.

The Spirit of X21 · #11 Post by **The Spirit of X21** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:37 am

watchtower7 wrote:I feel your pain. It [censored] me off enough that I sold my r51.

I don't blame you; having to flash the hard drive always felt like a step backward to me.

Doc Therbligs · #12 Post by **Doc Therbligs** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:26 am

Is this an issue with other R's ?

I am about to upgrade my R31 HDD.

vanaya · #13 Post by **vanaya** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:48 am

I have an R40, and didn't have any problems. Just put in Recovery Disc #1 and off to the races.

boeinguy2 · #14 Post by **boeinguy2** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:20 am

vanaya wrote:I have an R40, and didn't have any problems. Just put in Recovery Disc #1 and off to the races.

But did you purchase an IBM or compatible drive? What brand did you put in? I have a Samsung 80 Gb that has run for a few years in my old Dell. When I tried to swap it over I ran into the same issues and it also is not on the flashable hard drive list.

vanaya · #15 Post by **vanaya** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:58 pm

Mine is a Toshiba MK8026GAX.

ymemuser · #16 Post by **ymemuser** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:23 pm

vanaya wrote:Mine is a Toshiba MK8026GAX.

Ivan, it isn't full answer. Did you get it from IBM/Lenovo or not? Would you please provide us more details. Thanks

boeinguy2 · #17 Post by **boeinguy2** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:53 pm

I did check and Ivan's drive is on the approved list that can be flashed.

vanaya · #18 Post by **vanaya** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:33 pm

I went to the local Fry's store and asked for the drive. It was on sale. What other details you need??

ymemuser · #19 Post by **ymemuser** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:28 am

boeinguy2 wrote:I did check and Ivan's drive is on the approved list that can be flashed.

Where can I get this list. Link, please. Thanks

ymemuser · #20 Post by **ymemuser** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:32 am

vanaya wrote:I went to the local Fry's store and asked for the drive. It was on sale. What other details you need??

Did you have fresh instal? IBM recovery disk? Thanks

vanaya · #21 Post by **vanaya** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:09 am

I did buy the Recovery Disks from lenovo last year for my R40. I first tried the "How to Fresh Install XP". This worked well but, I wanted all the wallpapers and IBM themes. Thats why I finally bit the bullet and ordered disks. I used the 4 Recovery Disks and all worked well.

As far as the fujitsu drives, I can this w/e test if there is a problem with the brand. Thanks to coolname1, I have an extra Fujitsu MHV2060AS 60Gb 5400 Rpm PATA 2.5" drive that I can install and see if I run into any problems. If this will help let me know so that I can "STERILIZE" the OR TABLE.

boeinguy2 · #22 Post by **boeinguy2** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:19 am

ymemuser wrote:
Where can I get this list. Link, please. Thanks

At the bottom of this link are the drives that can be flashed to work.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62282

Replacing an R50p Harddrive

Replacing an R50p Harddrive

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