T40 won't boot

[TPuser9]

Hi everyone. I have a T40 that has been a great machine. But is now in deep trouble. I wanted to play with Linux so I installed Partition Magic and then Ubuntu. After some playing, Ubuntu was uninstalled and the T40 wouldn't boot. I attempted to access the hidden partition to reset to factory specs but that partition wasn't found. So I used the Recovery CDs. They all loaded fine. Then the machine would start to boot but after a memory check would start to reboot again. I let it go through this loop for about 8 hours hoping it would eventually boot successfully. But it never happened.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks,
Jay

[RealBlackStuff]

Linux does not play ball with Windows.
Get DBAN or Active@killdisk (both free on the web), and then wipe your hard disk.
You need to make a floppy or a CD for those programs.
Everything on the HD will be gone after the wipe.
You can interrupt the wiping after ca. 5%. and then use the recovery CDs again.
That should do it.

[TPuser9]

Thanks. When you say Linux doesn't play well with Windows do you mean on the T40 or in general?

regards,
Jay

[ajkula66]

In general, especially if one is "playing" with partitions...

[TPuser9]

Thanks. I downloaded DBAN, burned it to a CD and put it in the T40 drive. Now it starts to boot, runs through the memory test and then shows an XP screen and then the BSOD. When stating again it says Windows shut down unexpectedly.......... I tried starintg normally and in last known good config. But it just keeps running through the same loop. The CD drive is at the top of the boot list in startup. Any ideas?

[RealBlackStuff]

Did you create a self-booting CD from the ISO file, or did you just burn the file to a CD? The latter won't work.
Use a pgm like ImgBurn.

[TPuser9]

That's the problem, I did the latter. The computer that I am using is a Mac. Is there a program I can use to burn the bootable CD for the T40 using the Mac?

[RealBlackStuff]

This is an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad forum .
But ever heard of Google? http://lifehacker.com/#!251758/mac-tip- ... le-to-disc

[TPuser9]

I didn't mean to offend anyone with my last question. Yes I do understand this is an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Forum and the problem is with my Thinkpad. But my other machines are now Apples. I have heard of Google and did use it but getting the advice of people with knowledge and experience is something I value.

Thanks,
Jay

[TPuser9]

Hmmm. that is what I did. But DBAN didn't burn as a bootable disc. The DBAN instructions said not to unzip the file and I didn't but something didn't work correctly. I'll recheck the instructions in DBAN and try it again.

Regards,
Jay

[TPuser9]

Well it took a few attempts and a few wasted CDs to get it to burn a .osi image. But it worked. I'm now wiping the hard drive and will reload the original recovery CDs. I'll report progress later.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Jay

[TPuser9]

It now works! Thanks again for your advice and help.

Regards,
Jay