Thinkpads Forum

i just got a 600e. i put 128 mb ram and a 20gb hdd in it. any way first time it boots up i get error codes 00173, 00301, 00192, 00163. how do i fix these? thnx for your help

Numeric error code explanations are located in the Hardware Maintenance Manual:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... WIK-3SYPX2

In order:

00163: Date and time were not set
00173: Configuration data was lost
00192: Fan error
00301: Keyboard error

The first three are related to the CMOS (aka, backup) battery; you will need to replace it. It can be found inside the memory bay, which is located on the bottom of the system. The keyboard error should also have a second number as shown here:

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_600x/301_errors/

can i bypass these without a new battery and cmos battery?

You only need a new backup battery; the main battery will not cause any one of these errors. The fan error (192) and keyboard error (301) are show stoppers. Until those are corrected, you won't be able to boot the system. The date/time and configuration errors (163/173) are nuisance messages as those will permit booting after you have entered the date and time. That assumes that no other problems exist. However, once you shut down the system, those errors will be back the next time the system is turned on.

Replacing the backup battery should solve the first three errors, leaving you to figure out which key(s) is(are) stuck on the keyboard. When you get the 301 error, there should be another number to the left of the 301. Use the information on my web site to determine the key that's stuck. It may be a simple matter of slightly pulling up on the key or you may have to replace the entire keyboard.

ok so i change the cmos and all the errors went away, it booted up my xp home disc but when it finished the initial setup it doesnt see the hard drive. i know the drive does work, i blew out hdd slot too.

Do you have that HDD in a caddy? If not, you probably miss-aligned a few pins.

it didnt come with a caddy just the front face plate

You need one of these -
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-ThinkPad-600E-H ... 4aa60a2373

thanks for the links everyone

got the caddy and it still doesnt see the hdd

Maybe you could "initialize" the system in the BIOS. Sometimes that helps when changing hard drives.

it kind of worked it guess but it still gets hung up when i try to install win 2k and xp

That could be the fault of the CD drive, it is getting rather old, after all. Mine seldom, if ever anymore, will read a CD-RW disk, fails with CD-R some of the time, and even occasionally has trouble with factory disks.

yea i know it needs a new one, when i hit the eject button it makes a click sound and i have to manually pull it out. but the thing is it will only read 2000 and xp discs not 98se or ME. im startin to give up on this thinkpad

You can try burning a CD-R of Puppy Linux.
go to http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... l-puppies/ and download pup-431-k2.6.21.7-scsi-intel_modems.iso

I have it working on my TP600E. Since it is a smaller set of files, you might have better luck with it.

It doesn't install but runs as a Live CD.