Hard disk incompatibility?

[hengar]

I recently tried to install a 40GB HD (FRU P/N 92P6432 pulled from a T30) on my A21m. When I booted up the process starts smoothly but a few seconds after the Windows 2000 startup logo comes on, the blue screen of death (BSOD) shows up with the message "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE" (and a whole bunch of numbers after), requiring me to power down.

I upgraded the HD firmware thinking that would solve the problem but still get the BSOD. I went to the Lenovo/IBM support site and found that they do not list this HD (FRU 92P6342) as a compatible device for the A21m (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4PKPPU)

My question is: Is there a way around this issue? Why won't a hard drive that works fine in my T30 won't work on my A21m. Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks.

[tfflivemb2]

There shouldn't be a compatibility issue.

I am unclear of one thing though....are you doing a fresh install of Win2K on the A21m, or are you pulling the drive directly from the T30 and putting it in the A21m?

[hengar]

I am pulling this HD directly from the T30, where it worked fine. Win 2k is the OS that the T30 had.

I didn't think there would be a problem either but then why doesn't the website list it as a compatible drive? Could it be that the HD controller on the A21m is not compatible with the new drive?

[JHEM]

I didn't think there would be a problem either but then why doesn't the website list it as a compatible drive? Could it be that the HD controller on the A21m is not compatible with the new drive?

The HD is compatible with older model Thinkpads, so is presumed compatible with newer ones.

IBM/Lenovo doesn't test every HD in every model.

This isn't a hardware problem, it's a problem with the W2K install from your T30 being unhappy with something in your A21m.

Regards,

James

[tfflivemb2]

No, if the drive wasn't compatible, it wouldn't boot at all. If you are getting to the Win2K screen, then you are most likely running into a driver issue. The OS is confused because it thinks that it is still in a T30. A lot of times you have the ability to switch within the same model types, but in this case you are crossing between the A-series and the T-series.

If you have the ability to perform a reinstall on the A21m, it should eliminate the problem.

EDIT: James beat me to it.

[hengar]

Well, I threw in the towel and did a new install of the OS, mostly because I wanted to use WinXP Pro anyway. This solved whatever problem the old OS had in working with my A21m and recognizing the new HD, it is working fine now. Thanks guys for being ready, willing and able to offer your valuable advice!

[FRiC]

For future reference, you can NOT take an existing Windows 2K/XP install and boot it in another computer if the IDE chipset is significantly different. There are ways to work around this, but re-installing Windows is the easiest way.