My HD problem was... eumh... IS in fact a PDB2000 Problem !!

[lowie]

For various reasons, i need to do a fresh installation on my recently purchased X60 machine. It's an X-series, so I use my Portable Drive Bay 2000 + DVD/CDRW drive (+ USB connection) to boot from optical drives.

I've already completely wiped the disk with KillDisk utility, but the below series of events keeps on happening...

1/ startup with Windows XP OEM CD in PDB2000
2/ F12 > select "boot from usb"
3/ "press a key to boot from cd"
4/ "windows installer menu"
5/ computer starts loading files/drivers
6/ BLUE SCREEN

i hate when this happens... (picture)

What is wrong? I can not start CHKDISK utility as Windows is no longer installed. Booting in safe mode with command prompt is also no longer possible.

Any tips, remarks?


UPDATE: the cause of the problems seems to be the PDB2000 drive, not the HD - see below for more info.

[GomJabbar]

From what I can see you need to set your hard drive to Compatibility Mode in the BIOS first. See following thread.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=33496

EDIT: Here is another thread you might find useful.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=22732

[lowie]

Thanks for the input GomJabbar.

However, changing the bios settings to "Compatibility" (it was set on AHCI so I changed it) did not help. I am still getting the same blue screen...

[GomJabbar]

One possibility: have you set the boot order in your BIOS so that the DVD/CDRW (USB) drive boots first?

If that is not the problem, then I am not familiar enough with your setup to know what is going on. The following method might be another option to get you going.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=12908

BTW, you can run chkdsk from the Recovery Console on the Windows CD. In Windows, go to Start > Help and Support, and search for Recovery Console to get more info on how to use it.

[lowie]

One possibility: have you set the boot order in your BIOS so that the DVD/CDRW (USB) drive boots first?

I have tried this. Still no fix. I noticed that the BSOD always comes up just after the message "Windows is starting up" in the bottom information pane.

BTW, you can run chkdsk from the Recovery Console on the Windows CD. In Windows, go to Start > Help and Support, and search for Recovery Console to get more info on how to use it.

This is not an option either, as I am not able to do any interactions with the Windows CD Rom; the blue screen appears before the first "Windows Setup" menu. Currently, no OS is installed and the IBM R&R partition is not present.

[GomJabbar]

Oh, I see. I thought you were having the problem after the first reboot.

Faulty memory could possibly be the problem. I have had memory problems in the past with installing an OS, where once the OS was installed, the memory worked fine. Another possibility; your CD may be defective. If possible, try booting up a different Windows CD. Your optical drive may not be working as expected. If possible try using a different optical drive to boot up your CD.

You can try burning these two CD's and booting them up to run diagnostics.

PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD - ThinkPad

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Alternatively, you could get a set of Lenovo Product Recovery Discs for your X60.

[lowie]

Faulty memory could possibly be the problem. I have had memory problems in the past with installing an OS, where once the OS was installed, the memory worked fine. Another possibility; your CD may be defective. If possible, try booting up a different Windows CD. Your optical drive may not be working as expected. If possible try using a different optical drive to boot up your CD.

Unfortunately, I can no test with another HD, Memory or Optical Drive. All equipment I have is too "old" (ATA/IDE HD's, non-DDR2 RAM, only 1 external optical drive)

The fault message however indicates an error at the level of the hard disk. I hope this is not the real issue, because then the cost to fix will be the highest...

You can try burning these two CD's and booting them up to run diagnostics.

PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD - ThinkPad

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Ok, i will do this and post results

EDIT: i ran both test utilities and they indicated no errors whatsoever? not on memory level, as on hard disk level.

What does this mean? Booting any other CD from the external optical drive works perfectly, only Windows XP OEM gives always that same BSOD

Alternatively, you could get a set of Lenovo Product Recovery Discs for your X60.

they're on the way. i all other tricks/tips don't work, then i guess i will have to be patient

[GomJabbar]

I just saw this information posted in the T6x forum by MrBean for installing Windows properly. It is very useful, but I do not think it is the solution to your problem.

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... im06ww.txt

I am thinking the problem must lie with the CD itself or your optical drive. Is the CD a factory pressed CD or a copy? Try to get a hold of another Windows CD.

[lowie]

I just saw this information posted in the T6x forum by MrBean for installing Windows properly. It is very useful, but I do not think it is the solution to your problem.

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... im06ww.txt

I am thinking the problem must lie with the CD itself or your optical drive. Is the CD a factory pressed CD or a copy? Try to get a hold of another Windows CD.

I tried to boot my T42 with a win xp OEM cd the same way i've been trying to boot my X60. So with my PortableDriveBay2000 + DVD/CDRW drive.

I get the exact error message (see first post in topic). So the Windows error message indicating that the HD or HD controller is erronous, is no entirely correct.

I think that when booting with the PDB2000 drive via USB, the error comes up when the installation files have been loaded from the optical device, and the HD has to "take over" the installation.

So, my problem= i don't have another external cd/dvd drive. As I don't want to spend the money, i'm looking into loading the XP setup files from a bootable USB stick, and install windows like that.
I've found some information on www.bootbisk.info

...

This will keep me going for the entire weekend, i'm afraid...