T43 HDD Upgrade

[majiklantrn]

I'm wanting to upgrade the HDD in my IBM Thinkpad T43 but I remember when I did it last I had to push F1 everytime at boot up.

Has Lenovo changed this option to allow an upgrade without the annoying F1 key?

[zdriver]

I think you mean the esc key.
You just need to buy the correct drive and not just any drive to avoid the drive checking error on startup.
See Problems with non-thinkpad option drives on T43 thinkpads sticky thread....

[majiklantrn]

Ah yes, the ESC key, sorry. It has been awhile since I have tried putting a different drive in this laptop.

[richk]

If you upgrade your bios, there is an option to boot automatically after a short delay.

[Johan]

If you upgrade your bios, there is an option to boot automatically after a short delay.

... as described in:

Version 1YET59WW (1.24)

Note: This BIOS version will only work with Embedded Controller Program Version 1.03 (or higher).

* (New) A new BIOS setup option, that allows system startup without pressing the ESC key on POST 2010 warning message. Its location is 'BIOS Setup menu'->'Startup'->'Boot after message for Hard drive...'.

Note: The cause of the 2010 message is using unsupported hard drive firmware version. Please use supported version as much as you can.

BIOS update(s) can be found at Downloads and drivers (T43). Also, see the sticky here Problems with non-thinkpad option drives on T43 thinkpads where the issue of the "2010-error" is discussed.

[ajkula66]

You can also downgrade your BIOS and skip the whole ordeal altogether...there is a link to an old BIOS (I think it ends in 01 or something like that, not sure) in one of the posts regarding upgrading of hard drives on T43 units..I've done this once a while ago and it worked like a charm.