Thinkpads Forum

I have a Thinkpad 600 E, when i boot up, i see a black screen, the IBM logo appears at the top right, at the top left: 294336 KB OK & the Thin kpad logo appears on the bottom left, but absolutely no response.

mayo367 wrote:I have a Thinkpad 600 E, when i boot up, i see a black screen, the IBM logo appears at the top right, at the top left: 294336 KB OK & the Thin kpad logo appears on the bottom left, but absolutely no response.

Remove all hardware, CDROM, RAM(especially RAM), HDD, etc., and try booting...

i followed your instructions, I saw error code: 00163 & was taken to a another screen & made adjustment on time, date, hour, etc... I heard some beeping noise, then taken to a black screen again, now i see an image of a floppy disk with flashing arrows pointing to the floppy drive & the F1 key, F key numbers 1 through 12 appear along the bottom.

I have floppy disks numbered 1 - 4, I believe I used these on this Thinkpad a number of years ago. A person who helped me with a similar problem told me the importance of keeping these for future reference. What step do i take next?

The first step is to clear that error. My memory is a little fuzzy, but my first step would be to put in a new CMOS battery.

The image with the floppy disk means there is no operating system on the hard drive, or it can't be found (or you don't have a hard drive installed).

See how it goes with a new CMOS battery, then add memory and see if it locks up, if not, put back in the drives and try again.

Keep us posted.

Yes, 163 error means your CMOS battery is dead... You need a new one, BUT that shouldn't stop the machine from booting.

HDD and etc. should be OK...My bets are that one of you RAM sticks has gone bad...

So anyway one at a time replace your hardware and try booting..

To get by your 163 error. When it takes you to the time screen enter the correct date and time... Then click on the reset button.. You will get that error again and a picture of a book, I think... Then push F1 and if your HDD is inserted , and NOT the problem you should boot to the OS...

The error code 00163 no longer appears after i made the proper adjustments of time, date, etc.. & the bios battery is a new one that was installed. Where is the reset button you speak of Bill?

mayo367 wrote:The error code 00163 no longer appears after i made the proper adjustments of time, date, etc.. & the bios battery is a new one that was installed. Where is the reset button you speak of Bill?

Sorry..I should have been clearer... It's on the screen the time/date is on...Or on the following screen..

But if you're not getting that error anymore then it should boot right to your HDD/OS...

The black screen with the logos still appear but no response & without
the error code BillD.

mayo367 wrote:The black screen with the logos still appear but no response & without
the error code BillD.

Back to that huh? And the hardware is still removed? Including the main battery?

Maybe it's the built-in RAM...

Can you get to the BIOS?

If you can there is a hack to disable the built in RAM.. I forgot it offhand, but the instructions are on this forum...

The black screen with the logos, no error code & no reply appears when hardware is installed

& the screen with an image of a floppy disk & flashing arrows with the F key numbers appears only when the hardware is removed.

I cannot get to the bios at all, can you find those instructions on this forum on how to disable the built in RAM BillD? I'm not very tech savvy, so it's hard for me to begin where to look.

mayo367 wrote:The black screen with the logos, no error code & no reply appears when hardware is installed

& the screen with an image of a floppy disk & flashing arrows with the F key numbers appears only when the hardware is removed.

I cannot get to the bios at all, can you find those instructions on this forum on how to disable the built in RAM BillD? I'm not very tech savvy, so it's hard for me to begin where to look.

Yes, I am heading out right now so I'll get them for you when I get back..Or someone else will point to to them..

But unless you can get to the BIOS those instructions wouldn't do you any good.. You need a fully charged main battery to get into the BIOS..If you have one when you first turn the machine on, push and hold down the F1 key.

The floppy drive pix and arrows just mean you have no HDD, or OS..Or the machine isn't seeing the HDD..

Did you try putting the hardware back in one at a time? Since you are getting to the floppy screen W/O the hardware installed it sounds like one of your removable hardware pieces is causing the machine to hang... If it was the built-in RAM that should stop the booting even when the hardware is removed. Try putting the CDROM in then boot.. If it gets to the floppy screen then that means the CDROM is OK..Then put in one of your RAM sticks, then boot, etc.. When the machine stops booting the last piece of hardware is probably the problem...

Actually, you can get into the BIOS without a battery. When you power on, hold in F1 until you get to the BIOS. If you get an error message, just press F1/Esc to get past it. If it asks you to set the time, set it, restart and try to get into the BIOS again.

This is what you need to do to disable the onboard RAM. After you've made it to the BIOS, go to config, and then press Ctrl+D. This will bring up a hidden hex editor where you need to change the correct byte. Using this photo as a reference, change byte 2B from 80 to 81. After this, press F2 to save and then use the power switch to shut the computer off.

Make sure you have a stick of RAM in the laptop now that the onboard RAM is disabled. The RAM will remain disabled until the motherboard loses power (by having the AC adapter, battery, and CMOS battery disconnected at the same time).

Other than that, I would follow BillD's instructions for troubleshooting.

Thanks Jam for the BIOS hack help...


BTW I threw in the 'need a main battery for BIOS' bit in there because right now I am working on 2 600e's that I can NOT, in no way get into their BIOS unless they have a fully charged battery in..

Makes no sense to me either.. I've worked on probably 18-20 600's and never ran into this battery needed for BIOS business until the past month or so with these 2 600e's...So I thought I'd throw that in there just in case..

So Mayo..Any luck?

When i put the hardware back in one at a time, the floppy disk & F key numbers appeared only when i put in the CDROM & the memory stick in one of the slots, but ironically not on the other slot.

mayo367 wrote:When i put the hardware back in one at a time, the floppy disk & F key numbers appeared only when i put in the CDROM & the memory stick in one of the slots, but ironically not on the other slot.

Maybe a bad memory slot then...It happens..

Put all your hardeare back in, except leave the questionable memory slot empty and see what happens...

So, it otherwise doesn't get past the logo screen?

The second slot may only be dirty, you can try cleaning it. First, disconnect the main battery and the AC adapter. Then you can use a q-tip and a small amount of rubbing alcohol to clean the contacts of the RAM slot. Allow this to dry thoroughly before testing it. If this doesn't work, you can take some very fine sandpaper (400-600 grit) and lightly rub the contacts with it. Use some compressed air to blow out any dust from the sanding, and then test it.

So in other words, a bad memory slot could be causing my problem?
I'll take your advice, will get alcohol & sand paper tomorrow.

I booted without a memory stick in the questionable slot & the black
screen with logos appear & of course no response.

jamiphar wrote:

Actually, you can get into the BIOS without a battery. When you power on, hold in F1 until you get to the BIOS. If you get an error message, just press F1/Esc to get past it. If it asks you to set the time, set it, restart and try to get into the BIOS again.

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i performed this procedure without the battery & still the black screen with logos appear & i also noticed that when it boots up, i hear a static type sound that originates from where the HDD is located?
a bad HDD perhaps?

@mayo367: Try this... with the system off and all "extra" hardware removed (Ultrabay, hard drive, both memory modules), press and hold the "A" key while turning the power on. Continue to hold the "A" key while the laptop goes through POST. You should see the IBM logo (upper right), the Thinkpad logo (lower left) and the memory count (upper left). Under the memory count should be "1C 301". Correct? The system should then proceed to a large "ERROR" screen with "00301" displayed.

If so, that tells me that the keyboard is at least partially connected to the motherboard. If you don't get the 301 error, then your keyboard is bad or disconnected, there's a problem with the Sub Card or some other problem on the motherboard.

rkawakami, I performed this procedure & do see the error code: 00301, but i also made certain that when i connected the keyboard to the motherboard the last time that all connections were secure.
Replacing the motherboard is a good idea you think? or perhaps the keyboard 1st?

rkawakami.....

I almost forgot, I now see a test screen in response to the error code: 00301, i see that the PCMCIA image is highlighted, along with DSP & USB-1, what should i do next?

Sorry for the delay... I had to go grab a 600E out of the stable; had used a 600X to get the keyboard error code. That sounds like you have accessed the diagnostic menu. Use the arrow keys to select each particular piece of hardware and then press the Enter key to run the diagnostic on that part. Test the Systemboard and Memory for now.

rkawakami...

I went to your website http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_600x/301errors/
& made a notation of the number or letters to the left of error code: 301, the value is 1C. how should i proceed?

I tested PCMCIA, DSP, USB-1, memory, system board & all checked OK.

I'd say the next step is to power off, plug the hard drive back in and see if you can boot. Did the hard drive ever boot before or is this a new drive/system?

Ray...

the problem continues..... when all hardware is removed & only the HDD is installed, the image of the floppy drive & disk appears.

When all hardware is installed & boots up, the black screen with the logos appear & no response. It was several years ago that i booted up on this pc, what i do recall is that at some point the pc did not boot up normally & the error codes began to appear & i just assumed that my HDD was bad, it's not a new HDD, it's still the old one.

Then I'd say that the HD is toast. If you can get back into the Diagnostic menu, then run the HDD1 test.

The next thing to try is to get a bootable CD and see if the CDROM/DVD can boot it. Disks such as a Windows OS, a "live" Linux CD or one that you have burned yourself, like a memtest86+ diagnostic. You could also run the CDROM test in the Diagnostic menu.

You should go back into BIOS and access the "Start up" menu, then the "Power-on" option and verify the boot order. Icons 1-4 indicate which drive is searched for a bootable system. Select the Reset button to clear the list and then click each drive icon in order. Recommended list is FDD, CDROM, HDD-1.

edit: On reflection, you may not have a physical problem with your HD just a logical one. In other words, if the boot track has been corrupted, then the drive simply won't boot. You could correct this with some archaic DOS command to re-write the master boot record (which I forget at the moment) but this would require that you have a floppy drive on which to boot a minimal DOS system. Or if you don't care about any of the data that's on the drive, then you could simply install whatever OS you want on the drive. However, I'd still recommend running some disk diagnostic to tell you if the drive is performing adequately.

If it helps, you can download the Ubuntu 7.10 Live ISO that I've uploaded here. It has memtest86+ built into it, too.

I tested HDD1 & it's OK, it was making these grunting noises like a failing HDD, i've heard them before, is that an indication that the HDD may be bad even though the test was positive?