Issues with 3rd Party HDD in Z60m?

[don.johnson]

Does anyone know of configuration or operation issues with 3rd-party HDD in the Z60m?

I bought a Seagate 120GB Momentus 5400.2, and installed XPP along with my usual programs cleanly. I upgraded all OS and ThinkCenter patches so the machine was current, and all ran fine for a few weeks. Then I started to have to run chkdsk every startup - no errors - and ultimately I would get to the login page and the system would freeze at "loading user settings" for more than an hour until I powered it off.

Even after reimaging, the system froze at this point and I could not start up. I swapped the disk at Seagate, thinking the disk was bad, but now found the second disk is acting up the same way.

Seagate identifies no issues with their drives in the Z60m. The first IBM/Lenovo tech I spoke to said I needed to change a setting in the BIOS - but I couldn't find one to change. The second tech said they could not help me because it was a 3rd party hardware issue, and I needed to pay for support.

Has anyone else had this issue, or can someone give me direction here?

Thanks in advance!

[Harryc]

There's some tips in this thread on setting compatibility mode.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... patibility

[ryengineer]

snip........Even after reimaging, the system froze at this point and I could not start up. I swapped the disk at Seagate, thinking the disk was bad, but now found the second disk is acting up the same way.......snip

Sir, freezing can also happen due to other hardware problems with a machine such as bad memory.

I suggest you thoroughly go through this document. You'll also find info. about firmware update for HDD over there.

[don.johnson]

Thank you for your suggestions.

I have looked into my BIOS, and have the latest updates available for the Z60m (2531-RAU). I also checked, and there doesn't appear to be any way to change the settings within the BIOS to compatibility mode (unless I missed something).

Regarding the system component failure, the laptop ran fine with the original 60GB HD for several months, until I filled it and tried the replacement Seagate. I managed to get the original disk back so I can do further diagnostics with Support.

I'm pretty frustrated with this, and although it seems that many people have installed 3rdParty drives in their TP, I cannot...

Here are my specs. I would welcome advice on diagnostics or procedures I can use to make my ST9120821AS drive work.

Thanks again!

Don

TP Z60m
2531-RAU
CPU: Centrino Mobile - 1600MHz
BIOS: IBM (Phoenix) 77ET64WW (1.24) 2/27/07
Mem: 2GB
Video: ATI Mobility Radeon X300 (128MB)

[andyP]

It may be possible that you don't have a hdd problem. Have a look at this thread:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48881

This may of course be a totally different issue, but the symptoms are very similar. The victims I know of were: my T43, 1x X40, 1x Z60m and 2x T42.

[don.johnson]

Yes, the symptoms seem identical in terms of where and how the "lockup" takes place. I was also running Symantec with Live Update.

I am in the process of rebuilding my system again, and I will install everything except SAV - I may try Kaspersky or AVG - to see waht happens.

Thanks for the tip - I hope this gets it, so I can get back to life!

Don

[andyP]

Don't forget it could also be "tvt scheduler"

good luck.

[ryengineer]

Moreover you can go into BIOS and run a diagnostic test on the HDD, if in case lenovo supplied drive fails the test you can request lenovo for a replacement as long as you're good on warranty by calling IBM at 1-800-426-7378 (24/7)!.

You can find a tool from Seagate for Windows here to test the other drive.

However it could also be a software issue as another member suggested. To clarify things out, you can download a Live CD of any linux distro and boot from it to draw a line between software/hardware issue.