X41 won't boot after Presentation Director update

[kyle]

Hello,

I just updated the Presentation Director for an X41 thinkpad. The update (7jua02ww.exe) is version number 2.55, released on 2006/12/07, straight from IBM/Lenovo's website. The page for this update lists the X41 as supported, as well as Windows 2000 and XP (I'm running XP).

After installing the update, the computer seemed to have some problems. It wouldn't recognize a USB flash drive, some programs like Winamp stopped working, and it wasn't responding when I tried to shut it down or restart. After a while, it finally shut down, but now I can't get past the initial IBM screen with the Intel logo.

Any idea what could have gone wrong? Could the Presentation Director update have caused this problem, or is it something else? What can I do to fix this problem??? This is a huge problem, because I have a lot of data on that system, and a lot of work that I have to do!

Thanks,
Kyle

[christopher_wolf]

If you can't get past the IBM BIOS splash screen, then the problem is far more serious than anything the Presentation Director update could have caused. I really don't know what else could cause that slew of problems that would be only realted to a software update; besides a BIOS update that somehow slipped through and you approved it...still, even that would eventually boot the system if all went well and that, even then, would only occur on the first reboot.

What else happens when it hangs at the BIOS splash screen?

[kyle]

That's what I was thinking. I tried again this morning, and it looks like it's not completely stuck. It's doing something - the hard drive is still ticking, and I was able to get into the Access IBM Recovery system by holding down the Access IBM button immediately when the BIOS screen came up. I started the PC Doctor diagnostics before coming to work. Before I left home, the diagnostics had caught some "errors" when checking hard drive sectors.

Could this still be something that the Presentation Director caused? It doesn't seem likely to me, since the computer won't even get past the IBM BIOS screen.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have any backups to speak of. What other options are there, if I absolutely need to retain the information on the hard drive? Is there a way that I can restore the Windows + IBM software setup without losing the rest of my files and settings?

Also, I don't know if it's relevant, but it looks like the basic Fn keys still work - like brightness.

Thanks....

[jdhurst]

None of the software you discussed would cause this. I have it all running on my T41 with no issues. It looks like a hard drive failure as you described.

If the data is critical, turn the machine off and stop using it. Find another computer and get a Bart's PE Windows boot CD or a Linux boot CD. Make sure the CD has network drivers for your TP (so you may have to make the CD to include the proper drivers). Boot the TP from the boot CD, network to another computer, use the built-in file manager to find the files you need on the defective drive (or at least those you can read) and copy them to the other (networked) computer.

Then rebuild your TP with a new drive.

If this sound complex (it is), take the machine to an expert and pay them to recover what they can (this way, not taking the drive apart).
... JD Hurst

[kyle]

We'll see if I can boot from a CD at all. I have a bootable Partition Magic CD, which if I remember correctly, can attempt to repair bad hard disk sectors. Unless anyone has any reason not to, I'll add that to my list of things to try when I get home from work today.

If I can boot from CD, I was also planning on trying to recover the windows installation, using a Windows XP CD. That wouldn't mess with any of the ThinkVantage software, would it?

I also remember that the ThinkVantage System Update program updated itself. But that shouldn't cause any problems like this either.

Thanks for the advice!

[kyle]

Update:

After running the PC Doctor Diagnostics, it looks like the X41 is okay. I don't know what happened, but there isn't a hint of the strange problem anymore. The computer booted fine, Presentation Director seems to be working well. I'm having some trouble getting some System Updates at the moment, and System Update is crashing some times, but I'll try again later.

I tried scanning the hard drive using Windows' Error-checking feature (hard drive properties > Tools > Error-Checking). That scheduled a scan for the next boot, which found nothing.

That appears to be it. I have no idea what happened, or how it was fixed, but everything seems to be just fine, now. I'm pretty confused, but at least the computer is working now.

Thanks for the input, christopher_wolf and jdhurst!