T42p and R51, HDD not recognized

[colin1212]

I have 3 T42p' IBM laptops, they had no drives when I received, the drives I have are generic, IDE,
can't get BIOS to see them, is there a partition tool that will allow me to see the drives?

thanks for any assistance.

[Cigarguy]

There's nothing special about the IDE drive interface on a T42. If BIOS is not seeing it, there's no software that can access the drive. When you plug in a HDD, BIOS should automatically detect it. If it doesn't, either all 3 T42 are defective (very unlucky) or the HDD is defective (most likely).

[ajkula66]

Or the drive is not inserted properly...face down, secured by all four screws in the caddy and pushed in all the way by the cover

[colin1212]

thanks for replies,
I am having trouble, realizing that all 3 laptops, have the same issue, not recognizing hd"s, I have tested the hd"s I have, all good.
they are inserted properly.
I thought that I read somewhere,,, that IBM drives, have a partition on their drives (propriety) formatted 240 cyl heads instead of 512 normal ?

thanks again for any assistance
Colin

[colin1212]

I replaced, from a working t42p ,windows 7, ide 40 gig, placed in t42p, drive not recognized,

pxe-E61: media test failure, check cable
pxe-M0F: exiting intel boot agent.
operating system not found

anyone any idea what the issue with other 3 t42p's can be?

thanks in advance
Colin

[dr_st]

Again, it's possible (however improbable) that all 3 laptops are defective.

Did you actually go into the BIOS to see if the drive is listed or not? Maybe it's just excluded from boot order for some reason.

[colin1212]

I have checked the bios, it is rather a simple bios, I don't see how to check if hd is llisted or search for hd ?, no way to enable boot from usb either, that I can see

any one have a guess as to the issue/solution for the 3, t42p thinkpads, not able to see any hd

thanks again
Colin

[ajkula66]

Is the screen size the same between the laptop that donated the HDD and the new ones?

14" and 15" T4x models use different HDD covers...

[Johan]

No way to enable boot from USB either, that I can see

Try play around (completely safely!) in a T42p BIOS here--> BIOS simulator - ThinkPad T42/p with fingerprint reader. In Config --> USB you e.g. have the option to disable booting from an USB-diskette. In Startup --> Boot none of your 2.5" PATA HDD's are seen? (are these HDD's, by the way, partitioned and formatted with FAT32 or NTFS?)

NB: You have to use the mouse in the simulator (to "press" F3 and Esc etc); pressing the F1, F3, Esc keys on your physical keyboard won't work... use the mouse to "press" them in the simulator-image/window.

If you wish to test RAM, and/or test the T42p HW, and/or try boot from a CD-ROM, then I suggest you see this post for various options.

You mention that you swapped a known-good ("Windows 7") HDD from a working T42p into (one or all?) of the three weird T42p. Question: What version EC (embedded controller) and what version BIOS, did the "known good" T42p and the three "weird" T42p's have, respectively? Also: Did you carefully verify (step-by-step!) that *all* of the BIOS-settings in the three "weird" T42p's were exactly as in the known-good T42p?

Google'ing after "pxe-E61" T42 site:forum.thinkpads.com reveal quite a few interesting hits, such as e.g. T42: Nothing but the IBM Splash Screen etc. - check for yourself!

Johan

[colin1212]

bios, in non working t42p is....3.21,(1RETDPWW) YEAR 2006-06-02,

checked all bios setting, no hd inf0 or place to manually enter hd info
btw found setting to enable booting from usb hd...

appreciate all assistance
Colin

[colin1212]

bios in the working t42p,
3.15 (1RETDJWW), 2005-03-29
EMBEDDED CONTROLLER...3.04
IDE HDDO: FUJITSU MHT2040AH PL-PM
OLDER BIOS T42P, WORKING FINE

[colin1212]

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-58298

HERE SHOWS 2004 bios

[ajkula66]

Let's get one thing straight here:

Your problem is NOT in BIOS.

You're either looking at a drive that is defective or improperly inserted, or a failed SouthBridge chip on all three machines.

My bet is on the former option.

[colin1212]

I hate to admit it, but sounds like the 3 T42p's are for parts machines, any one need parts?
colin

[ajkula66]

Before you strip them for parts, let's re-visit this question:

Is the screen size the same between the laptop that donated the HDD and the new ones?

14" and 15" T4x models use different HDD covers...

[colin1212]

correction 2 machines are t42p 1 is r51 - all are 15"
hope this gives much needed info

I was looking for answers, and found this

I also found an article that states only certain drives are compatible with the ThinkPad "out of the box". Others require a firmware upgrade. See here.

I am not using caddies, yet, But I feel the HDD's seating properly

[ajkula66]

correction 2 machines are t42p 1 is r51 - all are 15"

I also found an article that states only certain drives are compatible with the ThinkPad "out of the box". Others require a firmware upgrade. See here

Hogwash.

The only machines that were picky about the hard drives were T43/p, R52 and X41 and even they just threw a boot error at a non-compatible drive, but worked regardless.

I am not using caddies, yet, But I feel the HDD's seating properly

You can't rely on the "feel". Period.

[Neil]

I am not using caddies...

Well, there is your problem right there. Sorry I didn't notice this sooner. You wouldn't think it would make any difference, but it does. Just wait until you get a caddy and four screws on that HDD...you'll see.