Desperately need Help

[Andersonjoe711]

The T23 in my sig is on it's last leg. It hasn't been running for quite a while and I don't know if it is the Hard Drive, or something else. I have tried 4 different Hard Drives and I have 2 sets of Recovery Disks that I have used.

I also have a Dos Boot Up Floppy that I have made, which has on it The format application, FDisk application, MbrFix, MODE application, and KeyB application.

Each Time I've tried to get this thing to work. I first format the drive with the floppy, and then delete all partitions on the disk. I then start the Disc 1 product recovery CD, and it goes through the entire process, Disc 2 and all. But then it tells me that there was an error with the recovery process., or some error happens. I also have an XP Pro Upgrade Disk, and I have not tried that yet, I'm working on finding my Win98 Cd somewhere.

Anyways, I don't want to give up, but I'm running out of ideas. Is anyone out there near Bristol Ct?

Would anyone out there be willing to look at his old beast for me?

Any Ideas or help would be awsome!

[phool@round]

Run PC Doctor for DOS. Here's the direct link for the T23; http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4YZM3F

Run all of the tests.


I'd love to look at it.....it's my hobby.

Edit: I was reading your previous post, girlfriends T23. I'm available. Send me a PM if interested.

[Robbyrobot]

I first format the drive with the floppy, and then delete all partitions on the disk. I then start the Disc 1 product recovery CD, and it goes through the entire process, Disc 2 and all. But then it tells me that there was an error with the recovery process., or some error happens.

It's a little hard to understand exactly what you're trying to do, but if I'm reading correctly, you want to bring the HDD back to the original configuration with the recovery CDs.

In that case, you first have to consider whether your HDD is the original size that came with the computer. If it's smaller, you might run into space problems.

Then I wonder why you first format the HDD and then delete the partitions. Presumably neither is necessary for a recovery, and you would simply lose all the data on the HDD in the recovery process. Possibly the recovery setup can't properly deal with an unpartitioned HDD. I think I'd try the recovery with a normally partitioned drive, with or without formatting.

Another question is whether the recovery discs are OK. If they are damaged (scratches) that might be the reason for errors in the procedure. The same thing applies if your drive has problems reading the discs.

Unfortunately, I'm a little far from you (maybe like 8,000 miles ) and thus can't come by for a cup of coffee, but maybe this will help a little.

[RealBlackStuff]

You have to first use FDISK to delete the existing partition(s), then create new partition(s).
Next, you use FORMAT for the HD partition(s).
NOT the other way around!

[andyP]

Whenever I have recovered my T23 with cds, or any other TP come to that, I start with a "clean" hard drive. I found out some time ago that fdisk and tools like s0kill weren't always enough. I use IBM SDD at it's lowest level and have never had a problem with the following recovery.

[Islandguy]

I see the IBM SDD is for floppies. Is there anyway to create a CD instead. I do not have a floppy drive.
Regards,
Jim

[Andersonjoe711]

You have to first use FDISK to delete the existing partition(s), then create new partition(s).
Next, you use FORMAT for the HD partition(s).
NOT the other way around!

Ah, I see.....

So, When I create my new partitions, which type should I create?

[Andersonjoe711]

Whenever I have recovered my T23 with cds, or any other TP come to that, I start with a "clean" hard drive. I found out some time ago that fdisk and tools like s0kill weren't always enough. I use IBM SDD at it's lowest level and have never had a problem with the following recovery.

I downloaded it and Created a floppy. I'm trying the Department of Defense one

Will this make a new partition or anything, or will I have to do that afterwards?

[gator]

You need to create FAT32 partitions ...

[Andersonjoe711]

I first format the drive with the floppy, and then delete all partitions on the disk. I then start the Disc 1 product recovery CD, and it goes through the entire process, Disc 2 and all. But then it tells me that there was an error with the recovery process., or some error happens.

It's a little hard to understand exactly what you're trying to do, but if I'm reading correctly, you want to bring the HDD back to the original configuration with the recovery CDs.

In that case, you first have to consider whether your HDD is the original size that came with the computer. If it's smaller, you might run into space problems.

Then I wonder why you first format the HDD and then delete the partitions. Presumably neither is necessary for a recovery, and you would simply lose all the data on the HDD in the recovery process. Possibly the recovery setup can't properly deal with an unpartitioned HDD. I think I'd try the recovery with a normally partitioned drive, with or without formatting.

Another question is whether the recovery discs are OK. If they are damaged (scratches) that might be the reason for errors in the procedure. The same thing applies if your drive has problems reading the discs.

Unfortunately, I'm a little far from you (maybe like 8,000 miles ) and thus can't come by for a cup of coffee, but maybe this will help a little.

I'm using a blank HDD, and yes, I want to bring it back to factory state

My New HDD is a 60 GB, hopefully it doesn't cause a problem....hmm, should I try another 30?

The Discs don't seem to have very many significant scratches on them, but they are no worse than some of my music CD's

I wouldn't mind being 8000 miles away from this laptop at times....

[Andersonjoe711]

You need to create FAT32 partitions ...

well I know that....but there's DOS, and Extended DOS, and Non-Dos..... so many types.....

[Andersonjoe711]

Run PC Doctor for DOS. Here's the direct link for the T23; http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4YZM3F

Run all of the tests.


I'd love to look at it.....it's my hobby.

Edit: I was reading your previous post, girlfriends T23. I'm available. Send me a PM if interested.

I created the PC Doctor Floppies, and as soon as the Secure Data Disposal Utility is finished, I will run all the tests.

If I can't get this to work after a few more trys, you might be getting a PM, otherwise I may just end up selling it along with all of the accessories and such, hopefully I don't have to, but I could use the extra money....

[phool@round]

Hang in there, with all this help you'll get it up and running. If things go south for whatever reason you'll have an out.

[rkawakami]

I have tried 4 different Hard Drives and I have 2 sets of Recovery Disks that I have used.

This seems to tell me that your problem is not with your hard drives or recovery disks. As it's not clear to me exactly what kind of error(s) you are getting, this leaves me to assume some things and arrive with the three most probable issues:

- CD/DVD drive is defective
- motherboard
- MiniPCI modem

I'd go with pulling the modem out and see if you can then run the recovery process without any errors. I've had a couple of T23s freeze up during a system restore because of bum modem cards.

If that doesn't work, then load a completely full CDROM into the drive and run PC Doctor's Interactive Tests/CD-ROM/DVD test/Linear Scan diagnostic. You should be able to use the recovery disk(s) for this test. What you want to use is a disk that is mostly full so that the diagnostic will check all of the sectors out to the outermost edge of the disk. If the drive stutters or returns errors, then you will need to use a different optical drive.

[tfflivemb2]

I have tried 4 different Hard Drives and I have 2 sets of Recovery Disks that I have used.

This seems to tell me that your problem is not with your hard drives or recovery disks. As it's not clear to me exactly what kind of error(s) you are getting, this leaves me to assume some things and arrive with the three most probable issues:

- CD/DVD drive is defective
- motherboard
- MiniPCI modem

I would agree with Ray for the most part, but since you were formatting and THEN deleting partitions, it would fail on every hard drive that you put in there.

The 60GB should work just fine. As for the "type"...just use the DOS partition for the 100%, unless you want a second partition. Also, if you add secondary partitions, make sure that the primary one is "active".

[RealBlackStuff]

To get it in a nutshell (and in sequence):
- use SDD to wipe the disk
- use FDISK to create 1 large DOS partition, using 100% of the available space
- while still in FDISK, make this partition 'active'
- use FORMAT to format (what else?) the disk in FAT32
- use Restore disks
- enjoy

[Andersonjoe711]

O.K. PC Doctor Came Back with no Errors. This is good news!

Edit: Oops. Didn't see that.....Memory Failed......

[Andersonjoe711]

Well, I swapped the memory spots, and everything looks fine! XP Pro installed and it's working perfectly fine. Thank you to everyone who helped me out with this!