Don't know if I'm on the right board but... PLEASE HELP!!!!

[bozieman]

So here is my problem:
I have a IBM thinkpad 600x with windows 2000 profesional.
I also have a docking station.
I have installed a western digital hard drive into the docking station for use as extra storage. (I want to use it for my music)
I set the jumper pins on the hard drive to "master" which is what the IBM book says to do. (When I set them to "Slave" the drive isn't reconized by my computer at all)
I know the drive works because my parents used to have it in their desktop and it worked fine when they removed it.
When I have everything set up like I listed above and enable the IDE device in the thinkpad configuration menu, I can find the drive using the device manager and the hardware (intall/troubleshoot) wizard but not in explorer.
-I have tried to uninstall/reinstall the hardware as well as the driver.
I need to know how to access this drive by assigning it a letter so that I can find it in explorer.
According to IBM, the hardware installer would indicate "new hardware found" as soon as I hooked everything up and turned my computer on but never displays that message. It just installs it ...Somewhere.
I was going to try to mess with the IRQ (which I really don't know anything about other than the IRQ is set at 11 and 15 which the IBM book says not to have them set at. I can not even change them because they are "blocked" out.
-Any help and/or suggestions would be greatly apreciated since I am getting frustrated.
-Thanks

[Laptop_wizard]

I once had a simaler problem with A cdrw-DVD drive, I pluged it in but it woulden't work, and "my computer" did not show the drive, Because i installed that stupid "easy cd creator 4" It had conflicts, so to enable it, I had to unplug it, restart, and while windows was fully booted up, I had to plug it back in, then it reconized it, and installed it, this however for some reason worked, try plugging in the hardrive while the machine is on,
also. go to the bios by holding F1 at startup, go to start-up, and enter a second hardrive as a bootup option, if that dosen't work email me 2 Joelmc@outdrs.net

[pkiff]

A couple corrections/comments on the advice above:

try plugging in the hardrive while the machine is on

DO NOT DO THIS!! A hard drive should NEVER be plugged into a ThinkPad 600/770 or into one of their docking stations while the ThinkPad is on. I made this mistake once with a 770E in SelectaDock III by accidentally trying to replace the drive in the UltraBay II slot that was in the dock while the ThinkPad was still on and it damaged the ISA/board/hardware in the dock and made the entire dock unusable without servicing. Also, you will find that it is probably impossible to plug in the hard drive while the ThinkPad is sitting on the dock, since you need to have the dock open to access the drive plugs for the standard size IDE device slot in most ThinkPad docks.

To Laptop_wizard: A hard drive is not a DVD drive and should not be treated as one.

go to the bios by holding F1 at startup, go to start-up, and enter a second hardrive as a bootup option

I don't know why this would have any effect on your symptoms, and I would not recommend trying to boot from a drive installed in your dock unless you had special reasons for doing so. Having said that, it might be worth looking to see if your BIOS actually recognizes the drive properly (and hence see if it will let you select it as part of your boot sequence).

Phil.

[Bob Collins]

Bozieman, have you tried the Disk Manager utility to assign a drive letter to the drive? Sometimes Win 2000 and XP see the drive but do not assign a letter until you run the disk manager utility.

[pkiff]

bozieman:

Which dock do you have?

Regardless, here are a couple things to get you started looking at.

I can find the drive using the device manager and the hardware (intall/troubleshoot) wizard but not in explorer

1. This can happen I think if the drive is not properly partitioned or formatted. Or if the drive is formatted in a way which is not recognized by the Operating System you are using.

2. On a long shot, you might also try turning the white power plug the other way around on the hard drive (if that makes any sense). I recall trying to install a Maxtor 30 GB destop drive in a SelectaDock III and having difficulties with it getting recognized until I realized that I had put one of the plugs in upside down. I know it seems unlikely, but it is worth a try. The IDE plug of course only goes in one way.

...which is what the IBM book says to do

None of the docking stations compatible with the 600X were designed for Windows 2000 or XP, and if you are reading instructions from the manual that came with your dock, then you should take all those instructions as nothing more than a rough guide. If you found instructions specific to Windows 2000 and the 600 series, however, then by all means follow those.

I set the jumper pins on the hard drive to "master" which is what the IBM book says to do.

I'm not sure about this "master" business, and if nothing else works, then I would try setting them to "cable select". I seem to recall that some docking stations overide whatever settings you use and attempt to force the drives in cable select mode anyways, in order to be able to adjust the configuration through the IBM configuration utility software. It will depend on which dock you have, but again, I would take whatever the manual says with a grain of salt.

[Added Later:]Here is a copy of instructions from the SelectaDock III manual where they recommend cable select mode:

When installing an IDE device:

An IDE device has three modes: master, slave, and cable select.
Select the cable select mode before installing the IDE device into the SelectaDock III system. See the instructions in the manual accompanying your IDE device. If you cannot select the cable select mode, do one of the following:

If no hard disk is installed in the UltraBay II tray, set the mode to master mode.

If a hard disk is installed in the UltraBay II tray, set the mode to slave mode.

I was going to try to mess with the IRQ (which I really don't know anything about other than the IRQ is set at 11 and 15 which the IBM book says not to have them set at. I can not even change them because they are "blocked" out.

First, make absolutely sure that you have enabled the "Second IDE Device" in the Dock section of your ThinkPad Configuration utility. Next, try fiddling with your "Hot/Warm Swap" setting and turing it on then rebooting and test for the drive and then turn it off and reboot and test for the drive. The reason for this is that although I'm not 100% sure that the following info applies to your OS or dock, it nevertheless suggests a hardware connection between the "Hot/Warm Swap" function and your Second IDE device. I have had some success getting around problems enabling various IDE devices by playing with these settings. I've also done extensive playing with specific IRQ assignments, but my impression is that under Windows 2000 that should not be necessary (or even possible in the same way as it is under Windows 98SE).

I have somewhat limited experience with Windows 2000 and XP, but I vaguely had the impression that they both assign IRQs differently than earlier Windows OSes, including Windows 95/98/98SE/ME. Here is IBM's handy chart to help understand how the IRQs should be assigned in different configurations of docks "with any supported operating system" (whatever that means!), IBM Document MIGR-4LXPPU:
SelectaDock drive controller IRQ assignments - ThinkPad 600, 770
As I say, this may not apply to Windows 2000, but I include it here for your reference.

Phil.

[bozieman]

First thankyou guys very much for your help and suggestions.
Well, In windows 2000 I can find no Disk Manager utility. When I go to computer managment from the adminitrative tools icon in the control panel I can still only find the drive through the device manager and I cannot assign the drive a letter from there. The only thing I can find out from the device manager is that :the drive is working properly".
I have checked and re-checked to make sure that the IDE device is enabled through the docking station button in thinkpad configuration.
-I think I will try messing with the hot/warm swap as suggested but I don't know if I really understand how that would keep the drive from being assinged a letter.
-I will also try turning the power conector upside down (if possible) but I think it also only goes one way. Plus as I said the drive is detected in the device manager and listed as working properly.
I have the same manual that talks about setting the drive to cable select mode but I don't know where to put the jumper to set it to that mode. That same manual states "IUf no hard disk is installed in the ultrabayII tray, set the mode to master mode".
I Don't know how to check if the bios are reconizing the drive properly or what to look for... The drive is kind of reconized.
Finally I think I have the Selectadock III.
One thing that I didn't do was run the formatting and partition disk that came with the drive. I was told that I probabally didn't need it because the drive was older and the disk is for use with a computer that can't reconize a hard disk of this size (20gig) which I'm told mine does.
The Hard drive still has an old operating system on it and I'm woundering if that has to do with my problem.
-The manual that goes with the disk tells me that if the drive is to be used as a secondary drive (not the ones that runs my system) than I need to set the jumper to slave mode but the selecta dock book says preferably cable select otherwise master...WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THAT?????????????
-Thanks again for everyones help. I look foward to getting more suggestions.

[pkiff]

I think I have the Selectadock III

Good. I'm sure we can get everything running fine then. Your dock should have a part number on the left front side that reads: 3547-003. The "-003" indicates SelecatDock III.

One thing that I didn't do was run the formatting and partition disk that came with the drive....The Hard drive still has an old operating system on it and I'm woundering if that has to do with my problem.

The first step in your troubleshooting should be to partition and reformat the disk. I would not use the disk that came with the drive to do this, but rather use whatever utilities come with your Windows 2000 software instead. You didn't tell us what OS has been installed on the drive, but if it is not a compatible file system it could easily be the reason that your drive doesn't show up under Windows 2000. If you do not need to preserve any of the data from the drive, then I would recommend deleting all current partitions and then creating a new single partition that is the size of the whole disk. I don't know the best way to do this under Windows 2000. You will need to choose NTFS or FAT32 as the file system to use when you format the drive. Before you format, the drive should be visible in Windows 2000 if it has been "mounted" and partitioned properly, then you can format it from within Windows Exporer or My Computer or whatever. I have no recommendation about which file system to use. Maybe someone else can give you advice on those things.

The rest of the suggestions I gave in my earlier post should not be attempted until you have partioned and formatted the drive, as you may end up "breaking" something that was working fine and just needed to be partitioned properly.

-I think I will try messing with the hot/warm swap as suggested but I don't know if I really understand how that would keep the drive from being assinged a letter.

The reason it might affect it is that your drive may be all plugged in and formatted correctly, but the system cannot send data to it because it does not have an "IRQ" properly assigned to the "channel" being used by the hard drive. The reason that this is connected to the hot/warm swap function has to do with how that function makes use of "channels".

I will also try turning the power conector upside down (if possible) but I think it also only goes one way.

Maybe you are right, but on my system (almost identical to yours) it could be plugged in either way and turning it the other way around made my hard drive visible.

I have the same manual that talks about setting the drive to cable select mode but I don't know where to put the jumper to set it to that mode.

Many drives have a little diagram that displays this information right on the drive. Assuming yours doesn't, you should be able to find this info on the web from the drive manufacturer. Even if you can't find your exact drive, most manufacturers have a standard pin setup that is the same for all their drives.

The manual that goes with the disk tells me that if the drive is to be used as a secondary drive (not the ones that runs my system) than I need to set the jumper to slave mode but the selecta dock book says preferably cable select otherwise master...WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THAT?????????????

Ignore the hard drive manual in this case. Your hard drive manual was not written with docking stations in mind. The information in the SelectaDock manual is correct for your case.

But before doing anything esle, repartition and reformat, then let us know how things go.

Phil.

[Bob Collins]

First thankyou guys very much for your help and suggestions.
Well, In windows 2000 I can find no Disk Manager utility. When I go to computer managment from the adminitrative tools icon in the control panel

It will be under Administrative tools | Computer management | Storage | Disk management.

In here you should see the drives and partitions.

I do not think you can flip the power cable, as it should be 6-sided and only fit one way... Usually however the red cables go closest to the IDE cable.

[bozieman]

I ended up finding the disk managment last night. The problem is that in Disk managment I can select drives and partitions but The drive is not listed there only my other drives and devices.
It is a selecta dock III and the new drive I'm tring to install should still have windows 95 on it (I'm running 2000profesional as my OS). I also found the correct jumper setting for cable selest mode.
The biggest problem I'm having now is that again since I can only find the drive using the device manager (I'm not really "finding" it, just seeing that it exists and is working) I don't know how I would go about re-partioning and formatting it.
I don't need to keep any data from the drive at all. I don't have any utilities in windows 2000 that can find and re-partion that drive.
I know you said not to use the disk that comes with the drive but,Do you think I do infact need to run the disskette that came with it?
It's labeled EZ-Drive quick install
The instructions with it show what each screen in the process will look like and have a basic run down as follows:
1) Main menu states select fully automatic install to have EZ drive set up the hard drive.

The options at the menu are fully auto, advanced options, veiw help file, or exit.

2) lists the identified drives and asks you to select a drive to set up.
"click yes to set up selected drive no to select a different drive"

3)" this screen only displays if you are installing a slave drive and your system BIOS does not support the full capacity of the new drive"
-asks if you want to install EZBIOS or cancel.

4) "Select copy system files to make the new drive bootable. Or select copy drive... if you are replacing the existing master drive (drive1) (-I DON"T THINK I WANT THAT ONE DO I?-) It is a fast, safe way to transfer operating systems or software and data to the new drive"
It also says selecting copy system files will copy the system files from an existing hard drive or floppy disk making it bootable.
Selecting copy drive... will copy an exact image of another drive's data onto the selected drive.

5) The next screen talks about partions and says to accept the default partions click yes or select new partion sizes to create custom size partions

6) click contine setup to have EZ drive set up the hard drive

7) Remove disk and hit ESC to reboot. Follow prompts to install an OS if necessary.

-So do you think I should try it or are there any other Ideas first? I will mess with the hot/warm swap first. Another question is if you do think I should use the disk, should I uninstall the drive (an option I have through device manager) and/or the driver first?[/quote]

[bozieman]

I'm reading the help section of the thinkpad configuration and it talks about installing IDE devices such as hard drives into the docking station. It talks about hardware conflicts and adjusting the IRQ.
-When I go to thinkpad configuration and select the docking station button I get a conflict message and when I click on disable conflicting hardware the light on the device bay button turns off and the docking station one turns on. This works both ways but still no 2nd drive being found and I can't get both lit at the same time.
The help section talks about using the device manager to reset the IRQ but I'm lost.
If I have to disable somthing else I don't know what it would be. About the only thing I'm not using in the thinkpad configuration is the internal modem...

[MadeInJapan]

I've done what you are trying to do several times in the past and have never used a jumper to assign the drive in the slimbay or select-a-dock as master or slave. Your problem could be as simple as this. Take off whatever jumper you were using and GO BARE! Hmmm, I like that! Well, kidding asside. Try this and see what happens. After this you want to right click on the drive in My Computer, and select "format" and format it to whatever specs you want. If you are already running NTFS on your C drive, that's what I'd use. Once you do all of this you'll be able to load up the music you want and your drive should be responding quite well...well, at least one would hope!

[bozieman]

The drive isn't found in my computer at all.

[pkiff]

I do not think you can flip the power cable, as it should be 6-sided and only fit one way... Usually however the red cables go closest to the IDE cable.

I doublechecked this with the hard drive currently installed in my SelectaDock III and Bob is right on both counts here. I guess I misremembered my experience with the power cable. In any case, you can check yours simply by ensuring that the red wire on the power connector is closest to the IDE cable as Bob says.

I know you said not to use the disk that comes with the drive but,Do you think I do infact need to run the disskette that came with it?

Well, maybe that disk has fdisk on it, or it has the necessary programs built into its "EZ-Drive" scripts, I don't know. EZ-Drive is some kind of backup/file transfer system that I've heard positive things about but I don't know if it is appropriate to use in your case. My inclination would be to use a Windows 98 startup floppy and run fdisk from the A: prompt to delete and recreate the partitioning and then to format the disk from within Windows 2000, but there must be a better way in Windows 2000. You'll have to get your disk recognized first, though, so that should be your first priority.

When I go to thinkpad configuration and select the docking station button I get a conflict message and when I click on disable conflicting hardware the light on the device bay button turns off and the docking station one turns on. This works both ways but still no 2nd drive being found and I can't get both lit at the same time.

This appears to me to be the set of symptoms most closely linked to your problem. I don't quite understand what is happening though. What is the conflict message you get? You didn't mention that before. If you are getting an IRQ conflict, then that is what you should work on fixing. When you talk about the "light on the device bay button", you don't mean there is a light anywhere going on and off on your hardware, but just that the button is either enabled or disabled in the ThinkPad Configuration utility, right?

If I have to disable somthing else I don't know what it would be. About the only thing I'm not using in the thinkpad configuration is the internal modem...

Could you maybe give us a run down of what devices you have installed in your ThinkPad's UltraSlimBay, in the dock's UltraBay II slot (on the left), in all four PCMCIA slots, and in any PCI slots, as well as a list of any other external devices that you've got plugged in? I doubt that you need to permanently disable any device, but it is possible that you may need to remove some external devices or disable some internal ones until your hard drive is installed and working correctly, then you should be able to install/enable them all back again.

Phil.

[pkiff]

bozieman,

According to the following IBM page, your problem looks like a known issue with Windows 2000. They offer a solution, that sounds similar to what you have tried on your own, but it is worth trying it again step-by-step. Quote comes from IBM Document MIGR-4GXL5N: Installing Windows 2000 onto a blank hard disk drive - ThinkPad 600X:

An IDE device installed on the docking station is not detected under Windows 2000

Models: All ThinkPad 600 Series models
Issue: An IDE device installed on the docking station is not detected when your ThinkPad computer is docked to a SelectaDock-III.
Cause: Configuration problem set by the system BIOS.
Resolution: To enable an IDE device on a SelectaDock-III docking station, follow these instructions below:

Enabling an IDE device in the SelectaDock-III
1. Turn on your computer, and then logon to Windows 2000 Professional with an Administrator user account.
2. Install the ThinkPad Configuration Utility for Windows 2000.
3. After the installation completes and you restart you computer, open the ThinkPad Configuration Utility for Windows 2000.
4. Click Docking Station button to view docking station properties.
5. Click the IDE Device tab. Set the IDE device in docking station option to Enable.
6. Click Apply. A warning message will next appear on your screen indicating that the bay device is already using the desired resource. Click Disable Device(s). (Note that the device located in the swappable bay will still function afterwards.)
7. Click Yes to automatically restart your computer in order for new setting to take effect. The computer will then ask you to power off and on your computer. The next time you restart your computer in a docked configuration with an IDE device installed in the docking bay, the IDE device will be detected and function as expected under Windows 2000.

Phil.

[bozieman]

I'll check the power cable when I get home from work just to make sure...
The conflicting message I get is the one mentioned in the IBM instructions that you listed above. and by "light going on or off" I do mean enabled or disabled.
As far as those instructions go, I did exactly that last night and still have nothing showing up. So like I said I'll check the power coard tonight and get back with you.
...Thanks so much for all of your help.

[bozieman]

I checked the power cord and everything is good. I followed those intructions to the letter and still cannot see the drive in expoler or My Computer. I can only see it when I go to the Device Manager....
-I'm offically frusturated.

[pkiff]

I'm offically frusturated.

Yeah, I can understand that. I'd be frustrated too. It shouldn't be this hard. Sorry we haven't been able to get it working for you. And what's worse, I'm starting to run into the limit of what I know about Windows 2000 and how it works with the SelectaDock III.

So, if I understand correctly, the key symptoms now are:
1) Your second hard drive in the dock shows up under Device Manager when you are docked and in there it says "This device is working properly" when you click Properties and look at Device status.
2) But this same drive does not show up under "Disk Management" at all.

You've checked the cables, the jumpers on the second drive are set to cable select mode, the drive was working before you put it in the dock, your ThinkPad works properly when undocked, you've enabled the Second IDE Device in the ThinkPad Configuration utility, youve tried the instructions provided by IBM, and presumably, you've also randomly modified various settings here or there to see if they might have any effect, and nothing seems to work.

I have to admit, I don't know why this problem is occurring and am running out of ideas.

One more thing to try is to adjust the IRQ that is reserved for "PCI Steering". This is something you asked about in your original post and as you pointed out, it is mentioned in the user guide for the SelectaDock III.

I was going to try to mess with the IRQ (which I really don't know anything about other than the IRQ is set at 11 and 15 which the IBM book says not to have them set at. I can not even change them because they are "blocked" out.

I'm not sure what screen you mean when you say they are "blocked" out, but you should be able to change which IRQ is reserved for "PCI Steering".

First, I would turn off the IDE Device setting so it is no longer enabled: ThinkPad Configuration -> Docking Station -> IDE Device -> "Disable" (this first step is probably not necessary, but this is how I would do it).

Next, change the IRQ Holder for PCI Steering. You can find this setting in ThinkPad Configuration -> Docking Station -> IRQ Holder for PCI Steering. It looks to me like Windows 2000 will by default set IRQ 11 as the 1st IRQ. Change this to something else - I would recommend IRQ 9 or 10. Click OK, close out, and reboot.

Finally, return to the Docking Station settings and re-enable the IDE Device in the docking station setting. From here, follow steps 6 and 7 from the instructions provided by IBM and copied in my earlier post above. Reboot, and see if you can find that darn drive in "Disk Management" now.

Warning: by changing around your IRQs, it is possible that one or another of your peripherals may have new problems that it didn't before -- for e.g. if you have a PCMCIA network card and a PCI sound card and you've got your infrared enabled and a couple other stray items here or there, then one of them might now have a new conflict. This shouldn't happen, as Windows is supposed to reexamine your system when you reboot and figure out a new set of IRQ assignments for all your items, but if you have manually played with any of your other devices, then you may run into troubles. In my experience, you can always reverse this process by going back in and changing the IRQ Reserved for PCI Steering back to 11, and everything should go back to the way it was...but at this point, I can't make no guarantees.

Phil.

[bozieman]

Yes you understand my key symptoms perfectly...
Now the problem is that I cannot access PCI steering.
When I say that it's blocked out, I mean greyed out. In others words I cannot click on the dropdown box which lists the IRQs or selesct any of the check boxes next to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th IRQs. This is like that both before and after enableing the docking station IDE device (weather it's enabled or not).
I kkep enableing and disableing both the IDE device for the docking station as well as the device bay. Nothing seems to make a difference.

[bozieman]

Should I try taking the jumper pin out completly as suggested by made in japan?

[pkiff]

Should I try taking the jumper pin out completly as suggested by made in japan?

Since nothing else is working, I would try it and see if it makes any difference. Incorrectly set jumper pins could I think lead to a drive not being given a drive letter, even though it is identified in Device Manager.

Now the problem is that I cannot access PCI steering.
When I say that it's blocked out, I mean greyed out. In others words I cannot click on the dropdown box which lists the IRQs or selesct any of the check boxes next to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th IRQs.

Mmmm...it looks like that is what happens on my 770Z using Windows 2000 SP4 also. Maybe that is how it is supposed to be in Windows 2000, though I don't have mine attached to a docking station. I have Hot/Warm Swapping disabled, so try that and then check your list of drives in Disk Management again.

...running out of ideas.

Do you have the latest BIOS?
BIOS Update 1.11 (ITET55WW)

Does your Device Manager match the default install listing?
Default Device Manager devices by type for Windows 2000 - ThinkPad 600X
Check especially the IDE/ATAPI Controllers.

Does your IRQ listing match the default install setup?
Default system resources for Windows 2000 - ThinkPad 600X
Check the IRQ list.

Do you have any devices listed on IRQ 11?
You can check all your IRQs by using the "Allocated Resources View" and clicking the IRQ tab. The "Allocated Resources View" is available through the ThinkPad Configuration utility by clicking on the weird two-layered-squares-with-a-tiny-CD-in-front icon beside the help icon in the top right of the main window.

Do you have any other devices installed in your dock?

In a worst case scenario, you might try undocking and entirely deleting the docked hardware profile you've got and recreate it from scratch. This time, when creating it, start off docking your ThinkPad in an empty SelectaDock, with no peripherals at all, and with your hard drive not plugged in. Then turn off, pull out your ThinkPad, plug in the cables to your hard drive, put the ThinkPad back in, and turn it on. See if you can find the drive under "Disk Management" then.

Warning: This is starting to get to be more serious modifications of your setup and following this advice might lead you to new, unexpected problems that did not exist in your previous setup. There may be a simple solution that we are overlooking, and that I just don't know about.

I don't know what else to suggest.

Phil.

[MadeInJapan]

Try replacing the internal HDD with the one you have in the slim bay, then boot up with a win98 boot floppy disc, format in FAT32 and then it will be recognized in Win2000. After this, you can format it over again, this time in NTSF. Long way around but worth a try. Sorry, I am too tired from hours and hours of work today to read all the posts here...if this was already mentioned.

[pkiff]

Yes, MadeInJapan makes a good suggestion that has not been tried yet. In your case, you should be able to do this by booting from a Win98 boot floppy while docked. Then you can use fdisk to wipe the partition(s) from the drive in the dock. You have to be very careful when you do this not to accidentally wipe the drive that is installed in your ThinkPad instead. Ideally, you would actually remove your ThinkPad hard drive and put in a junk drive in its place, so that there is no chance of deleting anything off your ThinkPad drive (if you pull the drive out and don't put a "junk" drive in its place, you may not be able to boot up at all).

Phil.

[bozieman]

I don't have any other devices in the docking station.
It looks as though IRQ 11 is for whatever is in the docking station. When I clicked the link a couple of posts up, the image I got looks exactly like what I see in my allocated resources veiw.
I tried to unplug power from the new hard drive, start up my computer, turn it off, pull it, plug everything back in and start it back up. Still the same...
I didn't unplug my external drives and stuff. Should I?
I also pulled the jumper completely out and still the same thing, I see it in device manager but not in disk managment.
I don't have a junk drive that I could put into my computer or a copy of windows98 (although that I could probabally find).
So right now I'm gonna shut down, undock and update my system bios using the link posted earlier.
...Wish me luck. I'll write soon supposing nothing goes wrong.

[bozieman]

I can't update my BIOS because you need to havea fully charged battery and mine dosn't hold a charge...
I messed around by unpluging my burner, sandisk, external drives etc. Starting over without the new hard drive pluged in. Hot/warm on, off, enabling, disabling, and now I can't find the drive at all not even in device manager.
I've been at this for several hours today alone and am not going to take a long break.

[pkiff]

I have a 770Z running Windows 2000 that I was planning on setting up this week with a SelectaDock III, including installing a hard drive in the dock bay. I'll let you know what happens in my case and you might be able to narrow down your problem.

Phil

[bozieman]

Please let me know how it goes because I'm at my wits end here.

[pkiff]

Okay, I just installed the hard drive in the device bay of my SelectaDock III and booted up my 770Z and everything was recognized fine. In fact, there was no "new hardware found" message or anything: just a new drive showed up in My Computer and in Explorer with no fanfare. The new drive is fully accessible in all programs as one would expect.

This helps narrow down our range of problems considerably.

I'm running Windows 2000 SP4. This is a clean install of the Windows with no other programs installed yet other than the IBM downloads and utilities. I don't have any additional devices or peripherals installed -- though my machine includes the DEVA (DVD and Enhanced Video Adapter) card.

The drive I installed in the SelectaDock was a Maxtor 30GB EIDE drive. It had already been partitioned and formatted by a 770E running Windows 98SE in a SelectaDock III. It is fomatted in FAT32, with one single partition covering the whole disk.

My first guess now is that the drive cannot be formatted or recognized in Windows 2000 due to the way it has been formatted. Maybe there is some kind of hibernation file or security or whatever on the drive, regardless, the solution to this problem is to wipe the drive completely, so that Windows 2000 will see a completely blank disk or a disk that has been re-formatted in FAT32.

My second guess if that fails is that you've got a cable problem -- a wrong cable attached to the wrong spot somehow, or a faulty cable.

We'll start by assuming my first guess is right (this is the same point that MadeInJapan was trying to address and I don't think you've managed to address it yet).

Do you have access to a floppy drive for your ThinkPad 770Z?

Do you have access to a Windows 98 boot disk with fdisk on it?

Phil.