Thinkpads Forum

Hi all,

I'm the proud owner of a Thinkpad 600. I use another Thinkpad all day for work and thought I'd get myself a doer upper. I have built and fiddled with PC's before but I have found my nemesis.

The Hdd is recognised by tools of the UtilCd I have and by the BIOS but when I got into XP setup it shows the HDD as unpartitioned but when I got to create the partition it just kicks me back out without doing anything. When I run XP recovery it doesn't recognise the HDD to format or chkdsk. Also when running other tools off the UtilCD I have it allows me to forat and partition but then when I go into the setup we are back to square one again.

Hoping one of you clever people can help me out.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum!!

Can you go into the EZ Setup in the beginning (pressing F1 at boot), and tell us what version your BIOS is? I believe with the original 600 series, I had to update the BIOS before being able to install XP.

Hello,

I believe with the original 600 series, I had to update the BIOS before being able to install XP

Absolutely true.

I had the same problem the first time I installed a 20 GB HDD in my 600 to replace the 3.2 GB one.

I updated the BIOS, and everything went fine.

W.

Hi thanks for the warm welcome and such quick response,

BIOS is IBET39WW, 26/3/99

If I need to update the bios could somebody let me know how to with just a cdrom and write it as if I'm a child!!

Cheers

This may help.

Very helpfull thank you.
Upgraded Bios to the latest.
Problem still persists.
c: drive is not recognised in xp but is in programs on utilcd??

I have 2 20gb hdd and a 6gb that came with the machine that is u/s.
When I install the 6gb one the easysetup doesnt see it (u/s) but it does see the 20gb ones?

Hello,

Are there jumpers to configure your drives (Master or Slave) ?

I'd have a look at that.

I'd install Windows with a CD including the SP2, too.

Can you test your HDD with the diagnostic utilities like DriveFitness, Seatools, HUtil and so on ?

W.

There are no jumpers on the drives.

I've used Norton Disk Doctor and other utilities and they all pass the hard drive.

Teettering on the edge now!!!!

Are you able to get into EZ Setup? Have you tested the optical drive and HDD with the tools in EZ Setup? I have had a similar problem with a 600e, that would BSOD after XP copies files to HDD. My only solution was to load the HDD on another 600e and place drive in problematic 600e. Ran perfect after that and is in daily use now.

petek1st wrote:The Hdd is recognised by tools of the UtilCd I have

What is this UtilCd? Can you try just using an old DOS/Win98 version of fdisk? Or is that what is on your UtilCD?

petek1st wrote:There are no jumpers on the drives.

By "jumpers", what is meant are special additional pins that look just like the rest of the IDE pins at the back, but that are not actually used on the IDE connector. Typically, in IBM drives of the 20GB era, you will find 4 extra pins, and you slide jumpers onto two of them in order to configure the drive as master, slave or cable select. You can see the four pins on the left side of this pic. Maybe you already know that, but I'm pretty sure that any 20GB IDE notebook drive that was every produced had those pins. I think that with most Thinkpads, you can just leave most drives without adding any pins and the drive will be configured by default as master or as cable-select, and then the Thinkpad BIOS will configure it as master or slave depending on where you have it installed, so I doubt that your problem is related to that...

No solution for you, then, but just a question and some info.

Phil.

What is this UtilCd? Can you try just using an old DOS/Win98 version of fdisk? Or is that what is on your UtilCD?

Have tried fdisk on my disc and a dos6 boot disc I made I cannot access the driver as it has not been given a drive letter.

A break through of sorts using DriveFitness I got a Disposition Code 0x72??? Although using Seatools it seems to pass???

Whats that word again..........ah thats it AAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGH!

If the DOS6 version of fdisk does not recognize the drive, then I think there's a problem somewhere. Everything from a 120MB to a 120GB notebook drive should be recognized by that version of fdisk.

The drive will not be assigned a drive letter until it has been partitioned and formatted. You can use FDISK to remove all the current partitions (regardless of where they came from), replace the MBR with a fresh one, and then create a new, clean, empty partition. Up to that point, there is nothing related to Windows involved. If you cannot get to that point, then the problem is not XP, the problem is with your drive and/or your fdisk. You might have additional problems that show up when you try to install XP, but I would recommend trying to go back to using FDISK to remove all existing partitions and then create a new one before turning to the XP install process.

To get to FDISK, are you booting from a floppy drive?

When you are working with partitions in FDISK, you will not be given drive letters to work with. If you are not 100% comfortable with FDISK, there are instructions here:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/fdisk.htm

According to Chris001 in another thread, 0x72 is a S.M.A.R.T. device error (see T42 - UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME). That would suggest you've got a hardware problem. But I would nevertheless try to clean out the drive and repartition it and see if the error is still there when you run the drive fitness test again.

My theory at the moment is that your hard drive is fine, but it has been incorrectly partitioned/configured for your Thinkpad, and until you can get it repartitioned properly, then all other problems may arise because of that one problem.

Phil.

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your suggestions unfortunately we are no further forward.
i had a new HDD arrive today. Plugged it in ran XPsetup same thing happens at the partition screen.
Ran DOS6 fdisk rebooted tried to format nothing happened.
Ran EZ setup checked disk fine passed all tests.
Ran drive fitness code 0x00 fine.
Ran a systemboard test fine
Ran memory test fine.

Losing the will to live now.

That's maddening!....sorry that we haven't been able to resolve the problem.

Is it possible that the problem is the XP install CD? (a scratched or unreadable CD can definitely cause inexplicable install failures).

I'm almost out of ideas beyond that -- especially since you've now got a brand new HDD you're working with.

I don't know why FDISK can't work the drive. I think I may be wrong about how large of a drive the DOS 6 version of FDISK can see (I think I usually use a version of FDISK from Win98SE), but it should not have had any problems with your 20GB or 6GB drives.

Phil.

We have been focusing on the HDD and with new drive so probably not that. How much memory to you have? Just for kicks... try with only one module if you have 2. XP will give you an error if you have less than (I think) 128mb. Just a thought.

pkiff wrote:That's maddening!....sorry that we haven't been able to resolve the problem.

Is it possible that the problem is the XP install CD? (a scratched or unreadable CD can definitely cause inexplicable install failures).

I'm almost out of ideas beyond that -- especially since you've now got a brand new HDD you're working with.

I don't know why FDISK can't work the drive. I think I may be wrong about how large of a drive the DOS 6 version of FDISK can see (I think I usually use a version of FDISK from Win98SE), but it should not have had any problems with your 20GB or 6GB drives.

Phil.

FDISK is seeing 19077mb of a 20gb HDD its the same an all 3. The XP cd is as clean as a whistle. I think I'm going to strip it down clean it up and start again.

vanaya wrote:We have been focusing on the HDD and with new drive so probably not that. How much memory to you have? Just for kicks... try with only one module if you have 2. XP will give you an error if you have less than (I think) 128mb. Just a thought.

I have tried that and it does give me an error when I try with less memory.
I haven't got much memory in it 1 32mb 1 x 64mb plus interal wanted to get it working before I increase that.

vanaya wrote: XP will give you an error if you have less than (I think) 128mb. Just a thought.

I believe that is correct. Mine has 192MB RAM, and I had no troubles whatsoever installing XP.

Joe

How about testing the RAM with memtest+. Or you could increase the current RAM before trying again. Memtest+ is available here.

I have just used my other Thinkpad to load a copy of XP on to a 20g hard drive.

Plugged it into problematic 600 and guess what........nothing.

Tried running memtest got a page full of 8000?

Would there be anything that would stop my 600 from seeing the hdd although in the bios it recognises it?

petek1st wrote:Tried running memtest got a page full of 8000?

That means that your pc is not booting from the memtest cd.

My 600X doesn't like it either, what i use is this.

It also has an option to run memtest.

All RAM passed memtest.

Any other ideas please???

The story so far -

HDD 20g tested - OK
RAM Tested - OK Using 128mb+64mb+internal
Systemboard Tested - OK

Used other laptop to partition and load XP onto HDD.

Installed HD in naughty Thinkpad 600 PII 300mhz.
The BIOS (update)sees the HD, runs tests on it etc.
Laptop will not boot from HD.
Laptop will boot to DOS on boot disk.
FDISK sees HD (19077mb).
Does not see partition and will not create one although HD is fine.

What might cause the laptop to not boot from hd?
Easy setup is set to boot from CD then HD and I've tried it the other way.
Sorry this is going on a bit, but its now on my last nerve!!!

petek1st wrote:Used other laptop to partition and load XP onto HDD.[....]FDISK sees HD (19077mb). Does not see partition and will not create one although HD is fine.

I know we've already been through this, but I would still guess that these items are the problem.

In order to get your Thinkpad to recognize your HD, you should format it and partition it in the Thinkpad you intend to use it in. If you partition it in another machine and then move it to your Thinkpad, the partitions may have a "drive geometry" that your Thinkpad doesn't understand, and won't recognize properly.

Regardless of how the drive has been partitioned, FDISK should enable you to delete all partitions and then to create one or more new ones. It will identify NTFS or Linux partitions as using "UNKNOWN" file systems, but it should still be able to delete them. If your FDISK does not see a partition that is on your drive then I would say there is something wrong with the drive and you should wipe all partitions, and then start again. Just because your drive passes a drive fitness test does not mean that an existing partition on it is correctly configured for your Thinkpad. You can have a wonky partition and still pass the drive fitness test.

Two other items you didn't clearly respond to:
Drive pins - Did you check to make sure those were set correctly?
Boot Disk - Are you still using this "UtilCD" , or are you using a standard DOS boot disk now?

No new ideas for you, but I wanted to restate some of the ideas and solutions already identified.

Phil.

Did you set the partition to be active when you used fdisk?
Did you use the right BIOS update for your particular motherboard....
People have been known to switch model motherboards into different cases?

Very basic things here
Boot at all - CD Floppy or HD?
Can you boot with a DOS based floppy then Fdisk & format (accept it may give you perhaps a lower capacity but you are just wanting to see if the combo works) and then boot with the now freshly formatted drive?

pkiff wrote:
Two other items you didn't clearly respond to:
Drive pins - Did you check to make sure those were set correctly?
Boot Disk - Are you still using this "UtilCD" , or are you using a standard DOS boot disk now?

No new ideas for you, but I wanted to restate some of the ideas and solutions already identified.

Phil.

The jumpers for the drive are set correctly i.e non on for master.
Boot disk I'm using a DOS6 boot disk.

Just another thing when I'm in FDISK and go to look at the partition I've just apparently created it comes up with a message saying no partitions found and I get a click?

I will when I get back to the mansion I will do the following -

1. Check the motherboard as above to make sure the BIOS update was correct.

2. Check Bios setup up correctly boot from etc,etc.

3. Run FDISK on TP600 and try the partition creator again if no joy -

4. I will use the laptop R50E work one (PS don't tell the boss) extract the drive replace with other and run FDISK in this to delete any partitions then switch and try again. FAT32 or NTFS? If no joy -

5. Switch again us FDISK to delete and partition on work laptop and try again. If no joy -

6. Sit back calmly and cry like a baby.

You guys have been great chucking different ideas about. I'm rather hoping I don't get the [censored] thing working cuz I'd miss yer all.

Hi Guys,

Throw another spanner in the works but it might mean something -

I have a PCFIXIT v8.5 disk
on said disk is a systen utility called NSSI V0.58.1
This lists all the details of the system.
Strange things are listed -
Its saying the o/s in WIN 95 but there is no o/s
Its saying the HDD! is 7560mb its a 20gb installed.
Could there be something stored in the CMOS that is giving this wrong information? If so can this be killed?

Another new thing -

DPB not available - network drive?
Call to int0x21, 0x440d 0x60, failed error 0f.

Got this after I managed to get a DOS FDISK to run a partition then went to format it?

Any ideas or am I on my own now??

What is the current/voltage rating on the drive you are using? I had a toshiba drive (that required 1.1A/5V) which was not recognized by a T22.

It is a toshiba MK2018GAS Rated at DC+5v 0.7A