T43: Was hard drive erased?

[uberT]

I'm trying to sort out an issue with our T43 machine. My wife was traveling this past week and was in a rental house with internet access. She had been unable to connect to the wireless system and attempted to plug the "ethernet cable" directly into the T43. I believe she was plugging into a cable-based system. I'm not familiar with cable, but assume a cable modem feeds a router similar to my DSL system. Problem is, the machine no longer boots, can't boot into safe mode or any of the other options that show on the screen. Rescue and Recovery does still run and I've accessed PC Doctor thru that. It doesn't show any problems but I don't know if I'm running the appropriate tests.

Here's what worries me the most: I can run BartPE and it shows nothing in the C drive (Local Disk (C:) ). It's simply blank. I also see RAMDisk (B:) with a couple of folders (which are empty) and the BartPE (X:).

The hard drive seems to be running at a snail's pace, VERY slow to execute any command.

I'm wondering if plugging into the wrong connection on the cable internet system may have wiped the hard drive.

The C drive shows C: 0.00KB free (0.00KB total) when viewed in BartPE

Thanks for any suggestions before I go thru the Rescue & Recovery process.

[rkawakami]

Plugging an ethernet cable, whether cable or DSL based, should not have directly affected your hard drive access and/or data. About the only way that I know of which could account for a missing hard drive when network access was established would be if a virus was downloaded that was designed to mess with the hard drive. As you say that you still have access to the recovery partition, then I would have to assume that the hard drive mostly works okay.

One of the PC Doctor tests which you should verify that passes would be the Fixed Disk diagnostic. Those tests are designed to check the disk controller and all of the sectors of the hard drive. I would execute each one of the tests which show up in that Fixed Disk list individually, with the Linear Verify done last (as it takes quite a long time to run).

If none of the PC Doctor tests fail, then you are left with two things that I can think of:

- the master boot record (MBR) has been altered; this is possibly recoverable from the standpoint of getting all your data back
- the data on your C: partition has been erased

[sjthinkpader]

If you can do without the data, then just do a recovery and reinstall OS. If you do have data that you want to try recover, then I suggest the following:

1. Remove the drive and connect to a stand alone computer only loaded with OS and tools. I use a desktop with 3.5 inch to 2.5 inch IDE adapter or a Thinkpad with Ultrabay tray.
2. Use Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware and scan the drive.
3. Anti-Malware may find the malware but it won't fix your MBR or FAT. Then use Sven Olaf Mikkelsen's Findpart partition utility to recover the files.

http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm

[uberT]

Guys, thanks for the replies. It would be semi-catastrophic to lose the data and re-build the drive. A backup hasn't been completed for quite some time.

I've been out of town for a week and am getting info on this incident a little at a time; she never established connectivity with the internet. I think she plugged the cable in and the machine locked up. She says the green light was on indicating ethernet activity. The machine never booted since. I've come to learn that my daughter also plugged into the same cable with her R60e and could not get internet connectivity. The homeowner had an ethernet cable labelled as the cable to connect to.

Ray, I'll try running those extended tests and report back.

Here's a link to the BSOD I see: http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1374/woe.jpg This pops up for about 5 seconds and then the machine re-boots.

[uberT]

The FIXED DISK test is running and something has failed:

Disk 0 Linear Verify..........
217 - 260 - 000 - 20090809 - 06 Hard Disk Drive: Failed (Error verifying sectors 6449822 - 6449949)
(ECC Error)

[sjthinkpader]

It is still safer to run a malware scan. Could be just a hard disk crash. In that case Findpart can help in recovering files. How long had the HDD been in service? HD Tune is another good utility to use.

[uberT]

Can I run a malware scan from a bootable CD?

I think this machine is about 6 yrs. old. It doesn't get a lot of use. My daughter and wife are in the habit of carrying the laptops around while they're running.

Thx.

[sjthinkpader]

While the computer is off, HDD heads are retracted so it should not cause damage even when it is being bounced around. Six years is a long time for a daily driver. I have several older HDDs but they are not being used daily.

Some people like to keep the drive on all the time but I like to set an off timer, about 5-10 minutes of inactivity.

[uberT]

thanks, SJ. I went and grabbed the original documentation and the machine has been in service since 3/2006...so it really isn't that old.

I called IBM Tech support and they no longer offer paid telephone support for out of warranty machines. I'm running a Rescue and Recovery 4 diskette to see what happens. Nothing else has worked, the Recovery Console disk did nothing. In fact, I think it deleted the partition where the recovey feature sits...F11 no longer works.

[sjthinkpader]

So I think a malware scan then file recovery operation is in order.

[uberT]

SJ, I'll see if I can get a malware scan done.

I'm at the point where I'll have to order the T43 recovery discs. I feel I should be ordering a new hard drive instead of working with a drive that's got a known issue. Is ordering a new drive and getting it running a complex task? Is it PnP then run the recovery discs?

Thanks.

[uberT]

I'm looking at this drive:

Western Digital Scorpio Black WD1600BEKT 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive - OEM


I'm trying to find something that will help with my selection process, a wizard, for example. There isn't much that I can find.

I'd like a faster HD, 40GB capacity would be fine. It seems like the newer drives are all much larger. I'd really like to find something that just plugs in without a lot of fooling around.

Thanks.

[sjthinkpader]

No, you need the WD1600BEVE, WD2500BEVE or the WD3200BEVE. I just bought a WD3200BEVE for a T43p from bestbuy.com for $69.99 plus tax with a local pickup but the site seems to be offline for some reason. Yes, these larger drives are very fast.

You will get the 2010 error at boot time but without other ill effects. Older BIOS will need you to press ESC when the warning occurs but a BIOS update allows you to set the BIOS to continue after the warning.

[uberT]

I just bought a WD3200BEVE for a T43p from bestbuy.com for $69.99 plus tax with a local pickup but the site seems to be offline for some reason. Yes, these larger drives are very fast.

WOW, that's cheap! So this is an IDE drive, not SATA. Thanks for clarifying that.

I just chatted with WD and he said sometimes there is a power consumption issue with the 7200rpm drives. Glad to hear that's working for you.

Isn't there a fix for the 2010 fault?

Thx.

[sjthinkpader]

The WDxx00BEVE are 5400rpm drives.

Most Fujitsu and OEM Hitachi, Toshiba drives for IBM will not trigger the error. But new old stock availability is very limited and expensive at the moment.

If you don't need the capacity, a 32GB PATA SSD is a good choice and will be more rugged if your wife and daughter are runners.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820208445

Here is some speed comparison info:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 1&start=30

[uberT]

OK, I guess I can live with the error message.

What's the fastest way of getting the recovery discs?

Thanks.

[sjthinkpader]

Look for the recovery disc's in the Market Place.

[uberT]

SJ, I ended up ordering from IBM. I couldn't find anything on eBay or listed here. IBM doesn't inventory the discs...they have to prepare them and mail out to me.

Now, does anyone know anything about Recuva? It finds a bunch of stuff I'd like to recover, but it won't create the new file foler where the recovered files would be placed

[Wendy]

For recovering your data, you might try one of these:

http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adaptv2.php

Its one of the best investments I've made. As long as you have another machine to hook up to via usb you can read the data on just about any drive. It sounds like your boot sector failed.

Sorry for your loss...hope this help.

[uberT]

Thanks, Wendy. I'll have a look at that.

[SkiBunny]

I have a T43 in my collection and personally I won't take chances using a non-thinkpad option as my primary drive in it, such as the large WD drives (which I also own).

It appears the issue is more extensive than just being a matter of an annoying message during boot. It seems to be particularly germane to the disk Active Protection on the T43. I wouldn't want to risk and lose my primary drive data. IBM issues the error/warning for a reason.
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_w ... hard_disks

[sjthinkpader]

Good info, nevertheless it doesn't affect what I do. So I will continue to use WD in my T43/R52.

[SkiBunny]

I remember that the 80GB Hitachi thinkpad option drives (with an IBM fru#) from around 2005 also had a very high failure rate in the T43's. I witnessed them die in large numbers all around IBM after awhile.

I'd recommend the often-mentioned Fujitsu MVH2120AH drives. They're around. I use those on the T43 and they're an awesome PATA drive, fully compatible with the T43 active protection.

[uberT]

Guys, thanks for bringing up these concerns. Looks like I have some more reading to do. Problem is, I bought the WD 80GB drive yesterday and it will be here within a day or two. I guess I'm willing to take my "chances" with it given the failure rate of the OEM parts and I'm only out $51 for it.

[uberT]

Observations w/new WD HDD:

1. Very quiet drive
   
   The recovery discs from IBM seem to have very out-of-date drivers, etc. I think IE6 was installed. Very few of the OE programs re-appeared. I'm not complaining, but most of the stuff I used to seeing isn't there. It feels like I've installed 200 updates
   
   Installation of new HDD and programs went without a hitch
   
   I do get the 2010 error warning. However, there's a message displayed that says you can go into the BIOS (Startup) and alter the warning. I switched the warning from PAUSE to CONTINUE and the machine boots with a couple of beeps and then loads normally