600X - "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE"

[600xer]

A few weeks ago, I upgraded my 600X (2645-3EG) from Windows 98 to XP. Everything was fine until one day, when I powered it on, it displayed a blue screen with the following message, “***STOP: 0X0000007B (0XF4063848, 0XC0000034, 0X00000000, 0X00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE”. The only way to get past this message was to boot it in safe mode. Believing my 600X might have a virus, I tried restoring it back to different states, but nothing cured the problem. Therefore, I decided to re-format its Hitachi hard drive (HTS424020M9AT00). I also checked it using the Hitachi, ‘Fitness tests' and ‘Exerciser’, which it passed. When I tried to reinstall Windows XP, the setup process halted with the message,”Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program.”

I have been unable to get my 600X past the above problem. It is now back working with Windows 98. Even trying to upgrade it to Windows 2000 encounters the same problem.

I would particularly like to know if there is some hardware fault with my 600X. But more importantly, I would also like to know how to overcome this problem so its operating system can be successfully upgraded.

[vanaya]

Welcome to the forum!

Have you removed the hdd? First recommendation would be to re-seat the drive. If that doesn't work, do you have a spare drive to test? If that also fails, I would suggest loading the drive on a separate similar machine. This happened to me http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=51260.

[600xer]

I remember I did re-seat the hard drive to fix another problem, but unfortunately it is not fixing this one. (I have tried several times.) I have loaded the hard drive onto a similar machine (600) and it does get passed the part of XP setup that causes the error. Do you think a bad contact with the hard drive might be causing this problem? If it is a bad contact, is it easily repairable?

[vanaya]

I just continued to load XP on the similar machine and never looked back. So repairable, don' think it's worth the headaches if you have already gone passed the OS re-load.

On a side note, replacing the eide connector on my R40 has proven not to be easy and have had to settle for a replacement board.

[600xer]

I believe that if I do successfully load XP onto the drive with a similar machine then I will still encounter BSOD when I boot my 600X with it. That situation caused me to revert back to 98 initially (as mentioned in my first message). I do suspect it is a connection problem with the hard drive. Though, I was hoping it was something that could be easily fixed. (I guess the connector for the hard drive is part of the system board.) I am just surprised that my 600X has no problems with 98 and also hard drive tests.