T60 stops booting at XP logo... any suggestions?

[DavidNY]

My T60 will only boot as far as the Windows XP (Pro, SP2) logo but then stops. The hard drive light flickers rythmically as if its caught in a loop.

I've tried using an XP boot disc to recover, but it says it can't find my hard drive.

I'm looking for suggestions short of formatting and starting over.

I can access the drive OK by slaving it in an ultrabay.

Any ideas?

[ryengineer]

I've tried using an XP boot disc to recover, but it says it can't find my hard drive.

I'm looking for suggestions short of formatting and starting over.

You need to change HDD settings from SATA to Compatibility mode in the BIOS.

[DavidNY]

I'm on it. Thanks.

[DavidNY]

Well, the computer booted fine after "repairing" it.

However, all my programs in add/remove are gone, Office is missing a DLL and needs to be re-installed, the ThinkVantage menu is blank, the task bar says I don't have a battery, programs need re-registering...

I think its time to format and start over.