Problem with new harddrive and IBM A30.

[Kamao]

I get this message when i try to install XP: Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Bla bla and so on.

I have tried this on 3 different laptops, and i get the same message. I have the IBM A30. Can someone tell me how i can see in BIOS if the harddrive is detected? The harddrive is brand new. Got in on friday.

[storage_man]

Don't know about the A30, but on my R31, You press F1 to get into BIOS. Check your IBM Service and Trouble shooting guide for how to do this on your system. But If your BIOS is not recognizing the drive, its probably because of one or two reasons: 1) You didn't say how large the new drive is. Maybe your BIOS doesn't support it 2) or the drive is DOA (Dead on Arrivial). You may need to got to the IBM support site to find out what the maximum drive size supported by that system is or there may be a BIOS update available which would allow it to recognize the larger drive. You would have to search for it at the IBM web site.

Storage_man

[Kamao]

The harddrive is only 40GB. The original harddrive was 30GB.

[JHEM]

Are you positive the drive is installed correctly?

When you insert it into the HD bay you should feel it "snick" into place when it's fully seated.

Have you eyeballed the connecter to ensure there are no bent pins?

Master/Slave pins set for Master?

Can you hear the HD spin up when you start the system?

What's the make and model of the HD?

FWIW, I have a 7K60 in my A30p, so there shouldn't be any problem with the A30 series seeing the HD due to size.

Regards,

James

[slagmi]

yea for some reason on ThinkPads it's soooo easy to insert the hard disk and be high or low by one row of pins when you plug it in. It's very likely that is what is happening here. When you insert the hard drive, holding the notebook side-up or even upside down may help. Another possibility is the 40GB drive is completly dead. If there is a jumper on the drive remove it.

[h2]

yea for some reason on ThinkPads it's soooo easy to insert the hard disk and be high or low by one row of pins when you plug it in. It's very likely that is what is happening here.

I want to confirm this issue, I had exactly the same problem, thought I'd blown mobo or something, but this is the fix that worked, thanks slagmi, now I'm on my way again.

This is on an ibm/lenova T 41

also had a problem with another drive caddy thing I'd bought, couldn't get new seagate 80 gig drives to fit until I used the original caddy, probably because it's a micrometer too big or something and pushed the pins into the wrong alignment.