Thinkpads Forum

Hey everyone, I'm really hoping somebody here can help with my problem.

First, the background... My father recently upgraded to a Centrino laptop, so I got his old Thinkpad 600, 266Mhz (2645-51U). After reading all I could about upgrading these machines, I went to Ebay and bought a new battery, a 600E motherboard and base (2645-4au), 466MHz Celeron, and a 40GB 5400 Samsung HD.

I got everything installed and running great...well I did accidentally break the connector for the speakers and subcard, but no big deal. Anyways, problems started when I tried to install Windows XP SP1. With a clean hard drive, the install screen starts, it usually begins to format the hard drive. Then is just shut off, no warning or anything...just poof. I've been able to install Windows 98SE just fine, and I've tried running WinXP install on top of Win98 but the same problem eventually occurs.

I've installed the latest BIOS (INET36WW) and tried updating the firmware on the CD drive, but the program said it didn't need updating. I'm all out of ideas, so I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

Thanks.

Same problem as one of my customers. He installed Windows 2000 in the end. I am afraid your memory can not pass the check of Windows XP.

Doh! That does make sense though. my Dad put some cheapo RAM in here before I got it. That's a bummer, guess it's Win98SE for me

It was suggested that I install XP and tweak it vs. sending a laptop off with Win98SE to a student. Is there a memory checker that can be used prior to upgrading the OS? I'd rather not have to reinstall everything!

Hey farna

Check out http://www.memtest86.com for a memory testing program. You can get a bootable iso file to create a boot CD for the program to run. I've used it many times on my desktop systems.

This should work, but I tried it on my 600E last night, and the computer kept throwing back error code 8000. I'm not sure what this means, but maybe it was a bad burn (this CD drive is a little screwy). I'm going to try again tonight, hopefully with better results. Of course, maybe this program isn't compatible with the BIOS on this laptop.

Good luck.

weeber, do you have XP loaded on your computer or 98SE/2000?

farna,

I have to admit, I gave up and installed 98SE. I have too much other stuff going on in my life right now to keep trying to get XP on this machine.

Besides, 98SE seems to be working fine for me now. I have all the drivers and configuration files I need working. And both my wired and wireless network cards are working. Since it's not like I'll be doing anything intensive on this machine that requires XP, I'll keep 98SE on it.

Have you tried the memtest86 program yet?

Pressing <F5)> after booting from CD and manually specifying 'Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC' is worth a try, or as a last resort specify 'Standard PC'

I certainly get your point about not wanting to spend hours messing with it, though, and it's a save bet XP wouldn't really run all that well, anyways. Windows-wise 2K /SP4 would be the best balance IMO.

Or your 600 would make a great Linux laptop! Knoppix or Mepis provides a CD you can boot from right up to a live desktop. So in a few minutes and wthout installing anything you can try it for free.

had same problem on my 600,ran fdisk,then format c: /s from a "best [censored] boot disk"and it went smooth

I don't know what you guys are talking about? i installed XP NO problems.
Go to the bios, and make sure the cdrom is a boot option. restart with the XP disc inside. format, and install. that simple. and if it's your ram. spend 25 bucks, on some pc100 128 Modual.
Best reguards

I know this is an old post but it sounds like the same problem I have with my 600e. When I installed XP at first I thought it was shutting down but when I looked close I saw the install screen but very dim/dark. After installing XP I used remote desktop to try and fix the dim/dark problem but no luck!! If I find out how to fix this I will post up my findings.

Are you trying too instsall Home edition or pro, cause I installed pro with no problems. I diden't have too do this, but you probly do, goto the ibm website, and download the neo-magic video driver. or just do windows update.

I am installing pro.

After I installed the INET36WW BIOS upgrade I had the same problem. After messing around for a few hours I finally removed the CMOS battery for about 5 minutes and it cleared up the problem nicely.

For some reason initializing the machine in EZ Setup wasn't enough to clear NVRAM after the upgrade.

Yes now that I think about. I installed the BIOS update after I Installed Windows XP PRO. it was a new motherboard.

Thats what I was going to do but now I found out that I need a working battery to update the BIOS! I have searched to see if there is a work around but it looks like I will have to purchase a new battery.

You can't update the BIOS with the computer on AC power? Or are you talking about the CMOS battery? Can't update without a good CMOS battery makes sense.

I was afraid to try XP on the 600E I plan on shipping off (soon now!! moving got in the way...) because of so many people reporting problems. I had so much trouble with an image restore to a alrger drive (using some Linux tools) that I had to resort to totally wiping out the drive and starting from scratch again! Decided I didn't have much to lose by trying XP Pro, and I'm glad I did! Cmputer takes a bit longer to boot, but once it's up and running it's quite snappy compared to Win98SE. At worse it's just as fast! I booted from the XP CD and let it format the HD using NTFS and install. Installation took about an hour, but I didn't load ANY special drivers -- not even video. Everything works great! Not having to load drivers for everything (including a thumb drive and digital camera) really cut down on rebuilding time!