T42P not seeing hard drive

[Thomcat]

I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed next.

I just bought a used Thinkpad T42p via auction. It boots up fine, but will not see the hard drive. It will boot from CD just fine as well as attempt to boot from the network, but again will not see the hard drive.

I took the hard drive out of the sled/bracket and put it in a friend's Dell D410 laptop and it installed WindowsXP just fine. I tried my friend's hard drive from his Dell in my Thinkpad T42p and it would not be recognized either.

Note that upon receiving the unit, I noticed the hard drive bracket did not fully fit correctly into the unit. The T42p is a 15" UXGA model and the hard drive bracket has squared off corners, but the space had rounded off corners. I shaved and shaped some of the plastic so it now fits fairly well, but I'm wondering if it is the wrong bracket for the model and it is keeping the IDE pins from touching the interface.

What should I do next?

1. How do I confirm if the IDE interface is working?

2. I am tempted to use the hard drive without the bracket in order to be able to push the drive as deep into the hard drive area as possible. This way I can be sure that it is not the bracket that is keeping the drive pins from physically connecting to the ide connecter. However, I'd have a lot of trouble pulling the drive out afterwards.

3. I read that some Thinkpads can only take some hard drive models. I can't tell the make or model of the 40gb hard drive as it has a sticker that covers the top of it.
- Is there a program I can load up on it while I have it in the Dell D410 to get this info?
- If it turns out that the drive is incompatible, is there a hack to get around this?

Thanks,
Thomas

[Harryc]

Try #2. Get some very sticky tape and make a tab with 2 pieces, one stuck to the top of the drive, and one to the bottom. Make it long enough so that it sticks out of the drive cage when inserted. To remove the drive, pull the tape.

[Thomcat]

I've been mulling that option over but was reluctant due to personal inertia and personal doubts (it's gotta be something bigger and more complicated right?).

Your suggestion got me out of my funk...and it works! I am installing WinXP on the T42p as I type this on my current system. I'll reach out to the seller to send me the correct fitting bracket.

Thanks again Harry.

Thomas

[boris]

I'm guessing you bought the other T42P on ebay from globalpcparts.com?

Anyhow mine came with tabs (on the caddy cover) that are too short. If you remove them, you can push the drive in just fine. The problem is that they have a different length on the T42 and the T42P. If you do this without getting the right caddy cover, it will be a little paint ot get it back out...and will need some sort of hook to pull it out. Maybe try some 10-20l