Thinkpads Forum

I have a TP600X. I cannot boot up without getting the 8611 error. I have read all the solutions in this and other forums and none of them work. When it gives me the error I do not get the option to TEST or RESTART as all the solutions seem to indicate which would allow me to get into the BIOS setup to disable the trackpoint. I just get RESTART or OK. When I select OK it keeps the error window up and then will do nothing. I just have to turn the machine off with the power switch. I can press ESC which will take me to the screen with the red crossed out OK and the book icon. The only way out of this screen is to press F1 (trust me I've tried EVERYTHING else I can possibly think of) which then leads to the the next error - "A DISK READ ERROR HAS OCCURRED. PRESS CTRL-ALT-DEL TO RESTART"

I cannot load windows at all in order to disable the trackpoint with the configuration utility as has also been suggested. I cannot even boot up with a boot disk as it keeps looping back into the 8611 error.

I have also removed the keyboard to check the cables etc. Everything appears to be OK.

I am really out of ideas. I have been trying for 3 days to figure this out.

HELP!

The last time this happened to me (8611 error) on a 600 system (I think it was an E), holding down the F1 key while powering on and keeping it held down until the EasySetup screen appeared, allowed me to enter the Config menu and then the System Configuration Edit Utility with CTRL-D.

If this is exactly what you are doing, then try removing the hard drive (and any other bootable drive) and repeating the BIOS access. It seems like you have multiple issues going on at the same time. If you can get past the trackpoint error, then that should make it easier to diagnose your other problem(s).

i cannot get into the bios at all. Holding down F1 on bootup does nothing. I also tried it without the hard drive and the CD rom drive. Same problem.

Two other questions/items:

1) Are there any system passwords enabled (BIOS or power on)?
2) Try holding down any random key on the keyboard and powering on. Do you get a 301 error?

there are no system passwords. i have been into the bios setup before without any problems. I didn't make any changes to passwords or anything like that. I just looked at the different settings for future reference.

Yes I get a 301 error when I boot up holding down anything but the F1 or F12 keys.

Okay, try this:

Hold down the F12 key while powering up. Do you get the Boot Menu?

i get the boot menu and my two options are to boot from the hard drive, cd rom or enter setup. no matter which one i select it just reverts back to the 8611 error.

i tried a different boot disk I just made and I don't get the "Disk Read Error" anymore so I hope that at least if I can get past the 8611 problem I will be able to boot and restore my hard drive.

have you been able to resolve your problem?

I am in the same boat - F1 does nothing and F12 brings up a boot menu (good), but falls back to 8611 error no matter what boot media I choose.

thanks!

Hmm... looks like this post slipped through the cracks last month...

If you cannot access the BIOS in order to enter the CTRL-D (edit) command, then I would guess that the next step to try is another keyboard. I'm confused as to why you both cannot seem to get to the Config Menu. The last time I got an 8611 error, I was able to continue on and boot the system into Easy Setup (the BIOS), select the Config Menu option, and then enter the CTRL-D command to edit the byte to disable the trackpoint. I had to do this because the replacement keyboard had not arrived yet.

thx, Ray.
after ~10 tries it finally worked.

I have changed the CMOS settings as per
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... light=8611