Constant 0x0000007B BSODs on z61m before OS loads.

[johnnydotexe]

Earlier today I purchased my buddy's IBM ThinkPad Z61m 9450-47u laptop, in complete/fully functioning condition. It has the T7200 2.0GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, CD-R/RW DVD ROM drive, 80GB HDD, and had Windows XP Pro SP3 on it...it booted fine right to the windows account login screen, and since he had no restore discs or way to wipe the HDD I went ahead and threw in my Win XP Pro SP3 CD and rebooted/booted from disc to do the format and OS install.

OS installed fine from disc, then it went through the final graphic-interface half of the install fine, then rebooted...after the OS load screen, BSOD. This BSOD lacked any info about any trouble files or anything in particular from what I noticed. After that, BSOD each time after the OS load screen, after safe mode starts, after safe mode + networking starts, etc. Eventually it got to the point where it doesn't even reboot after the BSOD, now the laptop just shuts down.

I reformatted and re-installed from my Win XP Pro SP3 disc, before it even reached windows for the graphic-interface half of the install it BSOD'd and shut completely down. I even tried shutting off all the extra garbage I know I don't need in BIOS, then tried running default settings in BIOS...no matter what I do, this thing BSOD's before windows can load. I can try to get what little info the BSOD displays, but so far it doesn't look to offer much insight in to the problem.

Why is it doing this?

EDIT: Problem resolved, see last post for details. I'm going to add some info below in hopes that this thread can be seen publicly via search engines to help others with the same problem, as it seems to be a common issue and is easily fixed with a simple setting change in BIOS...basically you need to set the SATA setting to Compatibility Mode, by default it is ACHI mode which causes this BSOD.

Lenovo IBM ThinkPad z61m 4950-47u Blue Screen of Death / BSOD with 0x0000007B error.

[ZaZ]

Could try a Linux Live CD. Good Luck.

[johnnydotexe]

I'm running my other Windows XP Pro SP3 disc, just in case my first one was messed up...about 56% in to the format, the laptop just shuts down completely. I can not figure out why it's now doing this, the only problem the first/previous owner had with it was a failed HDD and battery, both of which were replaced 3 months ago. Ugh!

EDIT: It shut down on me again, but this time it beeped before the shut-down and the battery light was flashing. Maybe all the preivous random shut-downs, and shut-downs after BSOD were because the battery was low? I removed the battery and plugged in the power cord to see if low battery was the cause of the shut down, attempting to full format/install windows again from my xp pro sp3 disc. Will update if anything changes or the problem persists.

EDIT2: Formatted and re-installed with my other Windows XP Pro SP3 disc...format went fine, file copy went fine, graphical-install went fine, rebooted fine...once it hit the OS load screen it gave me the BSOD again. I know it's not my windows discs now, it's something else.

Here's a picture I took of the BSOD -


Can anyone help me fix this? I just got this laptop and it worked great until I did the format/OS install with the SAME OS it had before I touched it.

EDIT3: Fixed it, using this page as help...

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-72367

It was the SATA > AHCI being turned on in BIOS. I switched it to Compatibility Mode, windows booted up, finished the OS setup, I'm now looking at my desktop!!!

[ZaZ]

Glad it worked out.