T43 Harddrive Replacement

[N0BHC]

I know for some of you reading the subjectg this will probably be "Here we go again" but I hope you experienced folks can help.

I have a T43 Type 1871 that had a harddrive failure. (I researched the PXE-E61 and PXE-M0F errors.)

I searched and could not find the exact replacement drive. I purchased a Seagate drive, ST980815A as a replacement thinking this would be a plug and play task similar to a tower PC.

Boy oh boy am I ever in deep water! I installed the new drive and see the same errors, PXE-E61 and PXE-M0F. I searched on the Lenovo site and found a Harddrive firmware upgrade (fwhd56.150). I set the system to boot from the CD with the upgrade iso cd.

No cigar. I still see the same errors, PXE-E61 and PXE-M0F. It appears the new drive isn't been seen by the computer.

I don't understand all I know about this level of PC operation so please forgive any bonehead descriptions.

I'm stumped and don't know what to try next. I really appreciate any help anyone can provide.

Thanks, Bob

[poshgeordie]

Hi Bob and welcome to the forums.

Have a look at this post, where the drive (on a T23) was seated incorrectly.

Also this post where the ST980815A was installed the wrong way - note that it has to be fitted upside down.

If this doesn't work do further searches on pxe and ST980815A for more solutions and suggestions.

[killer]

NOBCH,

Another welcome to the forum. I use a T43 1871 and had a HDD failure under warranty in 2008. IBM sent me a straight replacement drive, Fujitsu 80GB, and it works a treat. My advice is to use a straight replacement unless you are an expert.

I hope this helps.

[Dark Helmet]

what did IBM/Lenovo charge you for the replacement?

[killer]

They didn't charge a penny ... it was a warranty replacement.

[N0BHC]

The warranty suggestion: I purchased the laptop as a 'refurbished' unit. The harddrive started acting up after one year plus one day. I really don't think I should expect Lenovo to offer any warranty help.

I followed up on the suggestion about turning the drive over. I had the drive installed with the label down and the drive select jumper pins toward the keyboard.

I checked the socket in the drive bay and it appears there is space on the keyboard end of the connector to accomodate the drive select pins. This would match with the 'label down' orientation of the drive.

The harddrive does not spin up when the laptop is turned on.

I interrupted the boot up (ACCESS key) and changed the drive to the CD. The Harddrive Firmawre update was inserted into the CD. The system seemed to ignore the CD and the iso file and returned the "Operating System not found" error. The CD did spin up during the boot.

I hope this makes sense to you guys.

Thanks for your suggestions. Does anyone have an idea on what to try next?
Bob

[sjthinkpader]

You need to load the ISO file into the CD writer software such as burn-image-to-disk and not just write the ISO file on the CD.

[N0BHC]

sjthinkpader, thanks for the advice.

I started from the beginning and downloaded the FWHD53.iso file, on another machine, and saved it to HD. I used Roxio to write the FWHD53 downloaded file to a CD as a data (iso) file. I checked the file on the CD to make sure it is FWHD53.iso

Next I changed the BIOS Boot Priority Order on the T43 as described in the readme file associated with the FWHD53.iso on the Lenovo site. (I did see that the new HD was listed as a boot option on the Boot Priority Order screen.)

I saved the new Boot Order and powered off the laptop.

I started the T43, with the FWHD53.iso file in the CD.

The CD spins up and the Broadcom UNDI and Broadcom Base Code PXE-2.1 v1.0.1 copyright screens are shown.

Next I get the now familiar errors: PXE-E62 and PXE-M0F and Operating System Not Found.

It seems as though the CD is not reading the iso file. Do you think there is a chance I could have multiple problems? The CD drive has never given me any problems in the past.

I'm stuck on where to go next. I sure appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks,
Bob

[N0BHC]

sjthinkpader,

I don't think I was clear in the post above about writing the iso CD. I used the "Burn Image" function in Roxio to create the CD. I didn't simply copy the downloaded file to CD. That probably wasn't clear.

Thanks again.
Bob