Thinkpads Forum

Just got finished moving all my data onto my new hard drive (EK760), and put it into my 600 (2645-45u).

Unfortunately, the laptop won't spin it up, and won't recognize the presence of it in the system. I had the drive installed in my desktop with a 2.5-3.5 inch drive mounting kit, so I know it works.

I have tried entering easy-setup and running the initialize function, but it hasn't helped. I also put the outgoing drive back in, and it doesn't spin up either. The outgoing drive also works in the desktop - I had it hooked up for moving the data off it to the new drive, by way of a holding area on the desktop's drive.

I didn't get any warning. The last time I had the laptop up, it seemed fine. Today, after being off for two days and the hard drive out for a few hours, nothing.

Needless to say, this isn't exactly giving me a good feelilng. Anyone here have any thoughts?

Thanks,

Rob

Rob Mayercik wrote:Just got finished moving all my data onto my new hard drive (EK760), and put it into my 600 (2645-45u).

Unfortunately, the laptop won't spin it up, and won't recognize the presence of it in the system. I had the drive installed in my desktop with a 2.5-3.5 inch drive mounting kit, so I know it works.

Rob, please tell me exactly what you did with the new HD while it was connected to your desktop.

I beg you to tell me that you didn't FDISK and FORMAT it while it was connected to the desktop!

Although why it's not spinning up at all is a deep mystery, unless you have it installed upside down.

Regards,

James

I don't think it's in upside down. The caddy bracket only seems to go on one way, and once that's installed, it only seems to go in the laptop one way.

Here's the total sequence of events:

1. Connected the drive to the Desktop via USB link and partitioned it with FDISK (1 primary DOS partition, 20,000MB and one Ext DOS partition, also 20,000MB. I'm saving the other space for experimenting with Fedora Core 2. If that doesn't work out, I was going to use a partition resizer to add the extra space to the Extended partition)

2. Installed into desktop as Secondary master with 2.5-3.5 adapter, formatted the partitions.

3. Removed the new drive, connected up the one from the laptop. Used XXCOPY (got it off of the "Ultimate Boot CD") to copy everything off the old drive's partitions to holding directories on my desktop's drive.

4. Reconnected new drive, used XXCOPY to copy from the holding area to the new drive's first partition.

5. Installed new drive into laptop, tried to power up. Booted off a floppy disk, tried to run FDISK there to set its primary partition active and init the MBR (per XXCOPY's drive cloning procedure). FDISK reported no fixed drives present. I heard no sound of the drive spinning, and Easy Setup didn't see it either. I reconnected it to the desktop, and it did spin up. I put it back into the laptop and got no response. Initializing in Easy Setup didn't help, so I tried putting the old drive back in. That won't spin up in the laptop either now.

The Desktop is a P4 machine running 98SE, and the laptop was running 98SE as well.

What is the concern with using the desktop to FDISK/FORMAT?

Rob

P.S. Since I have the Ultimate BootCD, I do have the IBM/Hitachi Feature Tool. Am I going to need it?

For the record, in the 600 series the bracket goes on the visible PC board side of the HD and the drive is inserted with the label facing up and the bracket down.

One should never FDISK and FORMAT a laptop HD in a desktop computer. Desktops and laptops see a HD's C/H/S counts competely differently and you will rarely, if ever, succeed in getting the HD working correctly when it's back in the laptop. You should always FDISK and FORMAT the HD while it's installed in the laptop in which it will eventually reside. Then it can be taken out, mounted in a desktop and a drive image copied or cloned.

In this instance, are you certain the drive is completely seated when you install it in the bay? You should feel it "click" slightly as the IDE connectors mate.

Regards,

James

JHEM wrote:For the record, in the 600 series the bracket goes on the visible PC board side of the HD and the drive is inserted with the label facing up and the bracket down.

That is how it's installed.

JHEM wrote:One should never FDISK and FORMAT a laptop HD in a desktop computer. Desktops and laptops see a HD's C/H/S counts competely differently and you will rarely, if ever, succeed in getting the HD working correctly when it's back in the laptop. You should always FDISK and FORMAT the HD while it's installed in the laptop in which it will eventually reside. Then it can be taken out, mounted in a desktop and a drive image copied or cloned.

Ok, that's news to me - this 600 is my first laptop. If you think it will help, I can certainly hook it back up to the desktop, wipe out the partition table, and then attempt to use the laptop to do up the partitioning and formatting. I'll try that next.

The only thing that bothers me is that the old drive won't spin up in the laptop either right now. Easy Setup also isn't letting me run the HDD-1 diagnostic, though the motherboard seems to check out ok.

JHEM wrote:In this instance, are you certain the drive is completely seated when you install it in the bay? You should feel it "click" slightly as the IDE connectors mate.

It went in far enough for me to install the little screw that holds the drive in - I'm guessing that means it's fully seated.

Again, I appreciate the help.

Rob

More bad news now - I tried to reconnect it to the desktop so I could wipe the partition table, and it didn't spin up for the desktop either.

I even tried the USB enclosure - no go there either.

I don't know what to think now. Guess I'll let it go until morning.

Rob

Rob,

Given the fact that neither the new E7K60 nor the old HD will spinup now in the 600 I have to tell you I fear the worst.

First, what's the BIOS release installed on your 600? If it's not the most recent, update it. You'll need a floppy drive and a working battery.

Pull the CMOS battery from under the memory access cover on the bottom of the unit. Check it with a DVM or MultiMeter and if it's not reading a minimum of 3V, replace it.

Report back.

Regards,

James

JHEM wrote:Given the fact that neither the new E7K60 nor the old HD will spinup now in the 600 I have to tell you I fear the worst.

First, what's the BIOS release installed on your 600? If it's not the most recent, update it. You'll need a floppy drive and a working battery.

Pull the CMOS battery from under the memory access cover on the bottom of the unit. Check it with a DVM or MultiMeter and if it's not reading a minimum of 3V, replace it.

Report back.

Well, I have a little good news to report:

First thing this morning, I decided to try a more methodical approach. The laptop drives I have in the stable currenly are:

IBM Travelstar 4.8GB (came with laptop)
Hitachi DK23AA-12 12GB (the one that's been giving me bad sectors of late)
Hitachi Travelstar EK760 60GB (the one that isn't working)

I'm pleased (and very relieved) to report that the thinkpad will boot off of both the 4.8GB and 12GB drives, although the 12GB drive causes Windows to complain about bad sectors (which is why I bought the E7K60). I guess I didn't do something right last night when I tried the 12GB drive.

Additionally, the 12GB also comes up and is recognized by the Desktop, once I repaired the 2.5-3.5 adapter (it appears I broke the trace carrying the +5V). So it looks like the adapter is okay now as well. I haven't tried the 4.8GB drive in the desktop, but I'm not too concerned about doing so - full function in the TP is sufficient for me to call it good.

Unfortunately, the E7K60 is still not working in either machine. Just like last night, I hear nothing from the unit at all - no spin up sounds, no sense of vibration if I hold it on my palm, no BIOS recognition.

Oh, and since you asked: The 600 has the latest BIOS IBM's site shows for the model (IBET54WW), and the I replaced the CMOS battery a few months ago.

Rob

That's a major relief as it shows that the 600's IDE hasn't gone to lunch.

WRT the E7K60, you could send it down here and I'd be happy to try to get it going in my testbed 600X or via USB connection to one of my other systems (you're in Hunterdon County IIRC?), but at this point I'd consider sending it back to the seller as a DOA for replacement under warranty.

The drive is dead after all, as it won't spinup in either the desktop or the laptop. Whether this is a case of suicide or homicide is a grey area!

Regards,

James

JHEM wrote:That's a major relief as it shows that the 600's IDE hasn't gone to lunch.

WRT the E7K60, you could send it down here and I'd be happy to try to get it going in my testbed 600X or via USB connection to one of my other systems (you're in Hunterdon County IIRC?), but at this point I'd consider sending it back to the seller as a DOA for replacement under warranty.

The drive is dead after all, as it won't spinup in either the desktop or the laptop. Whether this is a case of suicide or homicide is a grey area!

Regards,

James

Your thoughts on contacting the seller mirror my own - I think I'll be getting in touch with ZipZoomfly on my lunch hour tomorrow. Considering that I've only had it a couple of days, that's probably the best route on which to start. If this was a used drive (or out of warranty), I'd probably take you up on your offer. (and yes, you remember correctly that I'm in Hunterdon)

In the mean time, I can at least put the 4.8GB drive back in if I need the laptop, since the 12GB one seems to be continually spitting up bad sectors.

Fortunately, I copied all the data instead of moving it - even with the DOA E7K60 and the 12GB drive seeming to be dying (hmm, maybe I'll dissect it and see what I can see), I haven't lost anything.

Once again, thanks for the help - having the forum to turn to helped a lot.

If you like, I can keep you posted on how things work out.

Rob

Rob,

Please keep us posted on how you do overall, particularly with zipzoom. You shouldn't have any problems with them, but we'd all like to hear either way.

You can head off any possible difficulties at the pass by simply going to: http://www.hitachigst.com and clicking on Support> Warranty/RMA. Put your serial number in the indicated field and click Check. Then generate an RMA for the unit direct from Hitachi.

Regards,

James

JHEM wrote:Rob,

Please keep us posted on how you do overall, particularly with zipzoom. You shouldn't have any problems with them, but we'd all like to hear either way.

You can head off any possible difficulties at the pass by simply going to: http://www.hitachigst.com and clicking on Support> Warranty/RMA. Put your serial number in the indicated field and click Check. Then generate an RMA for the unit direct from Hitachi.

Regards,

James

Kinda wish I had checked here last night - I could have brought the serial number with me to work to try that link at Hitachi. Oh well, one thing at a time.

Thanks for the link - I'll try to look into it tonight when I am home to look at the drive.

Rob