Question about T41 not seeing Hard Drive

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PaulHappy · #1 Post by **PaulHappy** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:04 am

Hello:

I recently purchased a T40 with a bad Motherboard on eBay. I then purchased a replacement T41 Motherboard for the T40 and installed it in the T40.

Upon being powered up, the computer would run for a few minutes and then the screen would go blank. I read the thread above entitled, "t42 shuts down when i move it:" By putting pressure on the Motherboard above the Graphics chip, I've gotten to the point where the Computer will run for hours.

The problem now is that the Hard Drive is not being recognized. Doesn't show up at all in the diagnostics boot and doesn't show up in the Linux Operating system I'm running from a Live CD.

Assuming that the Hard Drive is OK, would this likely be an IDE controller issue (which I guess would be unfixable) or has anybody ever run into anything else that could cause this problem?

Thanks,

Paul

zdriver · #2 Post by **zdriver** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 2:07 am

Does the drive spin up and come ready when the thinkpad is powered on? You might have to put your ear to the right palmrest and listen carefully.
The drive is not by any chance mounted wrong side up in the carrier/caddy is it? (I hated to ask that last question)

PaulHappy · #3 Post by **PaulHappy** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:37 am

Hi:

The Hard Drive is Spinning although not in a "booting up" sort of way. The Hard Drive light on the panel come on, but then it just stays on, solid.

Thanks,

Paul

cmarti · #4 Post by **cmarti** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:06 am

The T41 motherboard came with any warranty? There lies your problem, you should have return it as soon as you notice the "loose gpu" problem.

ajkula66 · #5 Post by **ajkula66** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:29 am

Make sure that the drive is in all the way and that none of the pins are bent on the either side, that there is no physical obstruction in the way.

I would also check to see whether the HDD is enabled in BIOS.

Good luck.

zdriver · #6 Post by **zdriver** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:30 am

Paul
Is this drive a known good drive (have you seen it working before) or did it come with the ebay T40?
Sounds like it may be bad as well, or a pin problem to backplane connector as ajkula66 has suggested, but it is not going ready and therefore the motherboard will not see it.

PaulHappy · #7 Post by **PaulHappy** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:38 pm

I have tried 3 different drives in the bay; they all act the same. The drive that the computer came with was not the original one; the computer came from a corporate environment and they kept it for security reasons.

That brings to mind another question; is this particular ThinkPad model finicky about what drives it will recognize? I believe I saw a reference to that about another T4x model.Thanks,

Paul

zdriver · #8 Post by **zdriver** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 2:08 pm

No, that "feature" did not get implemented until the T43 series, even then, it still recognizes the drive, just gives an error on boot.

Any PATA 2.5" drive should work for your thinkpad.
Make sure there are no jumpers installed on the pins of the drive, none installed is usually master - drive 0.

PaulHappy · #9 Post by **PaulHappy** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:15 pm

Hi:

So I've looked at the pins, cleaned them with electrical contact cleaner, pushed on the HDD, nothing.

Earlier, I mentioned that this Motherboard was exhibiting the classic symptoms of "T4x Mobo flexing disease". Is it possible that the same thing which is causing the Video problem is also causing the Hard Drive problem? If so, is it possible that the problem could be cured by the "Reflow GPU Fix"?

Thanks,

Paul

sktn77a · #10 Post by **sktn77a** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:16 pm

Possibly, but a better cure in your instance would be the "return to seller" fix (if that's still an option)!

The problems you describe can all be caused by the graphics chip issue. You may get lucky with the reflow but you may not and it will cost you about $150 to find out.

PaulHappy · #11 Post by **PaulHappy** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:47 pm

Hi:

Yeah, I checked on the Warranty and it was guaranteed to Boot to BIOS. Well it does that.

.

The reflow thing does appeal to my sense of adventure-- I think what I'll do is run the computer from a live CD, USB Stick or USB HD until I can get my hands on a Thermometer.

Knowing about this motherboard flexing thing makes me wonder about the original Motherboard in the T40. That computer seemed to suffer from "loose memory sticks"; if you leaned on the computer while booting up, fine. Otherwise you'd get a "no memory" beep error. Now I'm thinking it could be this Mobo thing...

Thanks,

Paul

#12 Post by **richk** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:24 pm

I really think the graphics chip will not cause it not to read the hard drive.

PaulHappy · #13 Post by **PaulHappy** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:34 pm

Hi:

Well I'm not really thinking that the Graphics chip is causing the Hard Drive Problem; I'm surmising that all of these problems (Display, HDD and Memory thing on the other mobo) could be caused by Motherbord flexing and the resultant bad connections.

Paul

ajkula66 · #14 Post by **ajkula66** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:39 pm

I would very much doubt the existence of such a connection between various symptoms...

PaulHappy · #15 Post by **PaulHappy** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:57 pm

Why?

To me, if a Motherboard were to flex, what I would find surprising would be if that were to cause only one problem.

Paul

ajkula66 · #16 Post by **ajkula66** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:07 pm

I've seen many a flexed mobos on a variety of ThinkPads and have never seen one that would not recognize HDD due to flexing.

And I do get to see more ThinkPads a month than most people get to see in a lifetime.

PaulHappy · #17 Post by **PaulHappy** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:32 pm

You're likely right. Regardless, I'll report on the results of my experiment in a few days.

Paul

sktn77a · #18 Post by **sktn77a** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:24 pm

Actually, I'm having the same problems right now with my daughter's T41 - display going all wiggy, intermittent refusal to boot, etc. Think it's the graphics chip problem (had the same issue with my son's T42 last year - USB dies, video intermittent, then DOA). We've sent it off to JamiePhar on this forum to see if he can fix it.

Will report back when I hear more.

Question about T41 not seeing Hard Drive

Question about T41 not seeing Hard Drive

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