X61 BIOS upgrade problem

[Michau]

Looking for a lighter replacement to my T61, I bought a X61 on Ebay. It came with Windows 7 installed, which I much preferred over Vista. However, the computer exhibited one problem: it did not reboot. When I ordered a reboot from Win7 menu, the system shut down, the screen went blank, but then it hung instead of rebooting. Reinstalling all Lenovo power drivers etc. did not help.

I looked at the BIOS update site, and saw that one of the latest version included a fix for "Windows 7 compatibility". So I thought that maybe I need a BIOS update so that the computer would start to reboot.

I downloaded the 2.21 BIOS update, burned the bootable disk and started the update. It was going on quite well, but then the computer hung again just the same way as if rebooting from Win7. It sat there for a long time, then I decided to switch it off because obviously it would not reboot.

After switching on, the computer now emits eight beeps (in groups: one beep, then three, then three, then one), then shows a normal startup screen. But pressing the blue ThinkVantage button does not bring a BIOS menu now. The computer continues to start and I enter a hard disk password. Then it displays an error that "No memory installed in slot 0, press <Esc> to continue". After pressing Esc, Windows 7 boots as if nothing happened. Perhaps some BIOS settings wre wrong, but I cannot enter BIOS to correct anything. And of course, the computer still is unable to reboot, and the BIOS upgrade disk says it will not upgrade again because it claims the BIOS is already up to date.

I am clueless on what to do now with this situation. I would appreciate any help.

[EOMtp]

... pressing the blue ThinkVantage button does not bring a BIOS menu ... Then it displays an error that "No memory installed in slot 0 ...

Two items:
1) To enter the BIOS press F1 -- not the blue ThinkVantage button.
2) Remove the cover to the memory ("door" on bottom of machine), and re-seat (remove and put back) the memory. If there is only one memory stick, then move it to the other memory slot.

Good luck!

[Monck]

Download MEMtest and try test your ram. Maybe 1 stick not working correctly.