T21 hard drive problem

[jem]

My friend has a problem with her hard drive which I'm trying to help solve.

On booting up her T21 displays a red box with the message "Hard drive not installed"

I've taken out my T21 hard drive and put in into hers and it works perfectly. Swapping hers into mine gives the same problem with the red box.

We took it back to the shop she got it from, who "supposedly" have tried 3 replacement drives(not new) but cannot install Windows XP onto it as it crashes. They asked if I would try it in mine.

I have just tried it and still get the same red box error - hard drive not installed. Any attempt to boot with the Windows CD just hangs at Starup is starting Windows. I suspect this is what the shop got.

I think they are trying to fob me off with faulty hard drives. Am I missing something?

[jap]

I'm getting exactly the same problem with my T21 thinkpad - ie "Hard drive not installed"

Tried the usual things such as taking out HDD and reseating, taking battery out and just using power source but no luck

I'd be very grateful if anyone has got any ideas

[jem]

It was a faulty hard drive in my case.

I eventually went to another shop and bought a brand new hard drive, put it in the laptop and it recognised it immediately. I then reinstalled Windows with no problems at all.

I phoned back the original shop who were no help at all - will not be going back there! At least the new drive comes with a 3yr warranty.