T43p can't find hard drive

[SteveS]

I am having a problem installing a used HGST 100 GB 7200 RPM HD (model HTS721010G9AT00) in my second T43p. I had already done this once in my other T43p using a new drive of the same part number, and successfully flashed the FW using the procedure from this forum to avoid the infamous 2010 error. But I can’t even get that far with this drive. It acts like the jumper is installed to make it a slave drive, although it is not.

I cloned the smaller working drive to the 100 GB one using the Ghost command line, with the option flags –ib, -fni to get the root sector to copy. Cloning was done within the ultraslim bay, booting from a Lenovo bootable flash drive. I have used this procedure successfully many times. If I boot before swapping drives, all of the files appear to be on the cloned drive. I can also access files through windows. But if I put the drive in the main drive bay, the BIOS halts with a “Operating system not found” error.

I attempted to run the Lenovo flash routine booted from CD, but it never gets that far. PC DOS starts and stalls right after loading the CD-ROM driver. The last line reads:
“Device Name . . . . . IBMCD001” and the cursor flashes at the end of this line, not the next.

To me, this looks like the drive is contending with the IDE bus. (Does the ultraslim bay use the same IDE port, or another?)

If the drive were bad, I don’t think I could write and read files with Ghost, or in Windows when it is the ultraslim bay. No jumpers are installed on the connector pins.

Any suggestions?

[richk]

Sounds like the drive isn't seated. I assume you know that when the drive is in correctly, the electronics are pointing up. The easiest way to get it seated correctly is to open the lid and hold it updide down (open screen pointing down). Then slide the drive in.

[bill bolton]

If I boot before swapping drives, all of the files appear to be on the cloned drive.

Did you try booting from the drive when it was in the Ultrabay, by selecting it as the boot device from the F12 key boot menu?

If so, did it boot correctly?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[SteveS]

I found the problem – incorrect screws on an aftermarket drive caddy. The front screw heads are too short, which allows misalignment in the drive bay. I had to swap drives in the caddies to find this!

Warning to others – some of these aftermarket caddies come with 2 types of screws – one with a very thin flat head, and another pair with a thicker head, intended for the back end where the drive cover ears grab it. It looks like the design requires all four screws have the thicker head.

Thanks to richk and bill bolton for the suggestions.