Problem with hard drive removal

[thinkpad1]

AGAIN, another hardware issue! I'm not bringing it anywhere. If I bust it or break it, I'll end my ownership of Thinkpads and get another laptop but another brand! This has to be the worst design.... has to be. The only easy install/removal has been the DIMM. Even then, I could only see the one so now I have 1.5GB instead of 2GB but that's okay since I don't have the other stick yet. But, when I get it, it will be another problem.

I couldn't 'unlock' the hard drive compartment even though the useless video for it makes it look like it's a toy!

I already had an ordeal with the keyboard and got ripped off when I took the laptop in for service. Never again. So, I guess I need to read the instructions for the umpteenth time and watch the video yet again. The worst thing that happened is when Lenovo took over. I bet IBM would not have as useless instructions or maybe they are lousy so that you'd keep taking in your laptop for service.

Frustrated....

[RealBlackStuff]

All you need to do is remove one HD-cover screw from the bottom.
Open the lid 90 degrees, turn it on its side with the HD up, and with 2 fingers in the little grooves on the HD-cover gently slide it out, offsetting your thumb against the palm rest.

Maybe you should look for a Thinkpad owner/forum member in your area?

[thinkpad1]

All you need to do is remove one HD-cover screw from the bottom.
Open the lid 90 degrees, turn it on its side with the HD up, and with 2 fingers in the little grooves on the HD-cover gently slide it out, offsetting your thumb against the palm rest.

Maybe you should look for a Thinkpad owner/forum member in your area?

I figured it out but now I am unable to install the Thinkpad drivers. I created a 'Driver CD' but for whatever reason, I cannot locate the driver for the ethernet card. I think it's an Intel or IBM? Also, even though I made one of the directories, 'Wireless.' it is not installing a driver that allows me to connect via wireless. I had no idea it would be this complicated. :-/

I'm using a Linux Live CD to post this.

[thinkpad1]

Okay, I made some progress.

I have most of the drivers installed and my leftover 'yellow question marks' include the PCI Modem and an Unknown Device which I think is is Power Management? I'm not sure which file/driver to install, though. I didn't do a good job categorizing and naming my directories for the weird driver names Lenovo uses! My bad on that one!

Also, I installed Adobe Flash but maybe someone could recommend the best method for installing Flash (on Thinkpads)?

The potential problem was an error at the end of the install which stated something about something being corrupted. Maybe try to re-install Flash? It is working but the message at the end was troubling, not to mention puzzling.

It's related to this:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forum/1/509210

[poshgeordie]

PM sent.

I'd suggest leaving the directory names as they are. I expand the downloaded .exe's one at a time into the relevant c:\DRIVERS\..\..\ folder and then install it from System > Hardware Devices and the relevant device in the tree. That way I only need to remember the name of one device at a time.

Drivers: PCI Modem
Power Management ACPI

Also install Battery Maximiser.

Regarding wireless drivers, I always download them all, and expand each one in turn and try to install wireless. Eventually you will find the right one.

I've personally never had problems installing flash on TP's so not sure what the issue is there. Does the Internet Explorer version install OK? I mention this because there are issues with Firefox and Linux Ubuntu 8.10 and flash which causes Firefox to freeze all the time.

Re how difficult Thinkpads are to strip etc, if you think they're bad you should see what most other manufactures are like - TP's are actually amongst the easiest to pull apart and rebuild and have probably the best documentation too (maybe even the best in the world - sounds like an advert for a certain lager - Oops mustn't advertise products!).
I'd stick with Thinkpads since all the parts are available, documentation, and an excellent forum here (now that is permitted advertising!).

[thinkpad1]

I installed the modem driver even though I doubt I'd use it. Thanks.

I'm starting to wonder if the 'unknown device' is one of:

*Battery - is there a driver for this? edit: I have solved this? *see below
*Intel chipset - how do I know if this driver is installed
*keyboard - Thinkpad keyboards have a lot of functions and I don't see 'IBM' under keyboard in Device Manager

If any of these need to be installed, I would have a problem or more confusion. I only have the one question mark left! ????

EDIT: How about I try to make it simpler?: This is what is currently in my Drivers directory which is: C:\Drivers\Win:
Audio, DISPLAY, ETHERNET, IBMPM, INTELINF, SWMDMLUC, WLANINT and *now* BMMPM...

Is there any that shouldn't be there or any missing?

Re how difficult Thinkpads are to strip etc, if you think they're bad you should see what most other manufactures are like - TP's are actually amongst the easiest to pull apart and rebuild and have probably the best documentation too

Yes, I am sure you are right. I've seen techs or laptop techs in stores fix them fairly fast. I think it's my inexperience with them as all my hardware experience has been desktops (not barebones machines but ones with individual components to be put together). Also, I was initially frustrated with my incompetence. Once I found the 'unlocking' switch and figured out which way the drive went, it wasn't so bad.

So, mostly my mistake. Sorry for expressing my frustration!

[poshgeordie]

PM sent.

The following is if I'm not using a Recovery Disc or don't have a recovery partition.

In general I download every driver including all the versions of wilan. They are on a CD in properly labelled directories so I know what each one is for the future.

After I've installed XP but before doing any XP updates etc, I install the drivers in the following order:

1. Chipset; 2. Ethernet; 3. Video; and the rest after that.

As I install each driver, I click on the appropriate .exe from the CD, note the name of the directory that's made in C:\DRIVERS\...\...\ location, and then install from the setup.exe file in new c:\DRIVERS etc folder.

Hope that helps - it sounds a bit tedious to do but it always has worked for me and is ultimately logical and simple.

[jeffcrilly]

Hope that helps - it sounds a bit tedious to do but it always has worked for me and is ultimately logical and simple.

I also downloaded all those drivers, etc.

But then I discovered System Update.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... PDATE.html

I magically figured out what needed to be updated, did the download and install.,,, and also ran the updates.
And it appears SU would even work unattended.

[Rick Aguinaldo]

I'm starting to wonder if the 'unknown device' is one of:....
Is there any that shouldn't be there or any missing?...

If your keyboard has the fingerprint reader you need the Atmel TPM driver. Don't ask me why but on my T42 and T43 that got the fingerprint reader, the Atmel TPM (Trusted Platform Module) device driver usually clears the last "unknown device" in device manager.