T41 - Hard Drive Removal - Boot

[Harryc]

Is it possible (and safe) to remove the hard drive completely from a T41 then power it up to BIOS? I am trying to isolate a pulsating noise and this seems like a logical way to eliminate the HD as a suspect. I'm guessing that this machine has the pulsating fan noise that others have complained about in the past. If so, is there any fix for it besides replacing the short fan with a long fan?

[aaa]

No problem doing that.

[Harryc]

Ok thanks. It's definitely the fan making noise. I found this 'oiling' thread. Is this the recommended procedure for fixing the noise?

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=437021

[cmarti]

Is this the recommended procedure for fixing the noise?

The ideal way to fix it would be to install a new fan, but the oil thing will do.

Why not take advantage and install a long fan?

[Harryc]

Is this the recommended procedure for fixing the noise?

The ideal way to fix it would be to install a new fan, but the oil thing will do.

Why not take advantage and install a long fan?

I might do that if I can find a reasonably priced one. EBay has a couple of long fans (new OEM) starting at $45 plus shipping. That's a large percentage of what I paid for the laptop .

[findrivr]

I have a T41 [2373 RO3, WinXP] for which I want to replace the old 40gb HD w/a new Seagate Momentus ST9120822A [100GB, 5400rpm, PATA].
I've used Acronis 9.0[build 2,323] to backup to my shared network wifi drive here at home.

Now I've read here and other sites about the HPA area of the original IBM configured drives; all of that said, it seems a lot of users claim the the cloning of a new disk, HPA and all, should be easily accomplished with Acronis TI 9.
On the other hand, I read thruogh the 10 step process for cloning by creating a 5 gb partiton, creating a floppy boot disk [don't have a floppy drive anyway], etc, etc. I must have read thruohg at least 2 dozen threads of point-counterpoint on cloning a T41 HD w/or w/out the HPA, and I'm nauseous now. I bet everything on the simplest approach, AC TI 9, long ago and now, it's not up to it either.

After checking that my new drive was present, through Settings, Control Panel, Admin Tools, Computer Mangmt, Disk Mangmt, the disk profiles show:
Disk 0, IBM_Preload [C:]
33.86 GB NTFS Healthy [system]

Disk 1, Unknown
111.79 GB unallocated
not initialized (and with a red circle with a white minus sign)

Well, I tried 'CLONE DISK'anyway just a while ago and here's how it went:
Specified Automatic mode, selected source and destination, s/w specified " Operation 1 of 2 [reboot required]
copying partition
Hard disk: 1->2
Vol Size: 33.86->111.8 gb"

Operation 2 of 2
Copying MBR
Hard disk: 1->2"
"Please click proceed to start"

After a while, it brings up an XP screen with the following:

"Acronis True Image
Analyzing Partitions
{###########} 100%
Locking Partitions
{###########} 100%
Error: Partition configuration has changed
press any key to reboot computer"
This activity took about 7 to 10 minutes, then a reboot.
After reboot, the same screen pops open and specifies
"Acronis True Image complete".
Now, I shut down, load the new HD into the T41 HD bay and viola,
nothing but : OS cannot be found.
Apparently, it wrote nothing over, since when I read new HD via its USB caddy again, the Windows 'Disk Management' profile again specifies as above. 111.79 GB, unallocated, etc, etc.

There must be a problem with AC TI 9 not able to copy the HPA or ?

Reading the Seagate Momentus support doc., they specify that a free downloadable transfer utility, DiscWizard be used and then reboot with Win O/S CD or with the system startup diskette and the Win CD loaded. Nether of which I have or intend to shell out anymore $$ to acquire.
I paid for the full Acronis 9.0 when I read so many good things about it, including how great it was at cloning, etc. I feel pretty 'hosed' now with a new $100 HD upgrade and s/w that can't deal with it. Almost ready to backup data only, sell T41 and go with Fujitsu [wifes Fujitsu has had various mail-in upgrades w/no labor charge over the last 5 years, and still pulling strong] or even Toshiba at this point.

Completely Frustrated after 2.5 hours of unsuccesful effort.
Patrick