Thinkpads Forum

I have been given a TP 600 with swappable bay for CDD and HDD. Someone tried to put a new HDD in the bay and now we are unable to remove it.

Whenever we boot the system, it gives error 174 and asks for OK or Restart. If we click Restart -> it shows a red OK which is crossed and the error 174 nothing else.

If we click OK -> it moves to the next screen which shows a graphical image of a manual and hangs.

The HDD LED in the swappable bay is constantly on.

I have tried to boot after removing the battery. -ve
I have tried to boot with a bootable (system has 98SE) floppy. -ve

I am unable to go to the BIOS also with F1, F11, F10, F12 anything.

I would like to know what I should do to make it work again.

If you are unable to remove the hard drive, it looks like somebody put it in without installing the "caddy" that it is supposed to sit on. In this condition, the drive can engage the connector with the wrong pins resulting in a 174 error.

You may need to use a needle nose pliers to get the hard drive out, but you need to do it. Otherwise, you may have to remove the keyboard and see if you can work it out from above.

Then make sure the hard drive works on another computer. If it's not "hosed", you can put it in the caddy and try reinstalling.

If the hard drive is the problem, see if somebody put jumpers on the 4 pins in a cluster by themselves. The Thinkpad 600 is not supposed to have jumpers in this area.

Hope this helps.

I have made it start working. I boot, it gives me 174 and asks for OK or Restart, I Restart, It shows me a different font 174 and then I press F1 it boots.

The problem is that it does not recognize the 2nd HDD.

I did not understand what a caddy is.

Do you recommend that I open up the screw and try to remove the HDD?

Please suggest

To get at the hard drive you need to remove the large screw on the bottom of the case. Then the access panel on the lower left will pull out and you can see the hard drive.

The hard drive should show a little blue tab to pull it out. That tab is part of a frame on which it rests called a "caddy". The hard drive is attached by 2 or 4 screws. Earlier Thinkpads had the hard drive encased in a housing, which is where the name derived.

I guess I misunderstood your first post; I thought you already knew that.

If there is no blue tab to pull, the hard drive was installed without the caddy, and you may need some technical help.

Hope this helps.

Dear Bruce,

Thanks for your help and explanation. I will check for the caddy today else will revert back to you.

Incidentally, neither IBM India, Canada or US could pull out the HDD. They say the motherboard might get spoilt. But I will look for the caddy.

Regards,