Hard Drive won't boot and external USB Hard Drive enclosure/caddy/adapter for file retrieval

[E350]

So, I flashed Middleton's BIOS onto my wife's T61p after downloading the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth* card drivers, then installed the card, then rebooted twice and everything was good. Then I went into BIOS Setup and rather than going through Startup to rearrange the boot devices to put the hard drive first in order, I looked at that "Setup Defaults" option, and thought well that would be an easy way to revert the startup order back to normal.

I don't know if that caused the problem or not but ever since I have been getting a Blue Screen of Death due to a dangerous hardware change and am in the dog house with my wife...

So, I took out the card, but no change.

So, I took out the hard drive and swapped it with my T61p's hard drive. Now my T61p gets the BSD and my wife's T61p starts normally.

So, unless you guys and gals have a recommendation as to how I can fix my wife's hard drive to boot successfully, I was thinking about buying some sort of external USB Hard Drive enclosure/caddy/adapter to retrieve her files and then reformat her hard drive and reinstall the operating system Windows 7 or Windows 10 (if I can convince her) and then move her files to the reformatted hard drive.

Any thoughts on a good external USB Hard Drive enclosure/caddy/adapter for file retrieval?

Any suggestions on how to get the OS to boot on her hard drive the way it is?

* Awesome wifi card by the way. I have been running it in my T61p and in my X61 for months without issue.

[axur-delmeria]

Try changing the SATA Controller mode, I guess?

If it's currently set to "AHCI", change it to "Compatible" (or IDE), or the opposite (change to AHCI if it's currently at "Compatible").

[E350]

Holy crap axur-delmeria! How do I send beer to the Philippines? Changing the SATA controller setting in BIOS Configuration to "Compatible" did the trick!

My wife thanks you. I thank you. And the dog thanks you for getting his house back.

It "Takes a Village" to prevent me from screwing up my computers...

[RealBlackStuff]

I have a brand-new ULTRA USB2.0 HDD/SSD Enclosure, complete with USB Y-cable, manual, mini-screwdriver and carry pouch, still in original box.
Looks exactly like this: https://www.rakuten.com/prod/ultra-ult4 ... 96462.html
Yours for $10 shipped if still interested.

PS: your dog may thank you in the future...

[E350]

RBS: Pm me your paypal account and I will send you $10, thanks!

Curiously, when I installed the 7260 ac card again and restarted the T61p it said unrecognized card or some such thing so I removed it from the machine and reflashed Middleton's BIOS, then reinstalled the card and (since the drivers were already on the machine) it started up without complaint and the 7260 ac card is working fine in both 2.4GHz and 5Ghz modes.

axur-delmeria: Thank you once again for all of your help buddy!

Edit: Oh yeah, I also donated $10 USD to this forum. I don't think I saw that PayPal donation link at the top of the page before, but in almost six years of forum membership, I think it is about time.

[axur-delmeria]

E350:Happy to help.

I encounter this problem occasionally when fixing computers, usually caused by:

1. CMOS battery died; or

2. I set it to Compatible/IDE -- many stand-alone HDD diagnostics require this setting -- then forget to set it back after completing the diagnostics.