witch Posted March 27, 2011 Report Posted March 27, 2011 I was handed this as it has started not booting properly - it doesnt get past the windows screen. I cant get it into safe mode as the same thing happens. I put the hard drive into my identical machine and it does the same so it is definitely a hard drive problem. The oddest thing is though, I took out the hard drive and hung it off my desktop, intending to check the disk etc as I have done many times before, and it just tries to autoplay the disk (?) and will not get any further. Why would it try and autoplay a hard drive? Any ideas as to what is wrong and how I can get round it?
Brpilot99 Posted March 27, 2011 Report Posted March 27, 2011 Morning !! nice to see you working on a Sunday !! Is the disc Sata or IDE?
SYNACK Posted March 27, 2011 Report Posted March 27, 2011 Chuck it back in the laptop then boot off a windows 2000 or above install cd, get into recovery console and run chkdsk from there. Sounds like the tandard unmountable boot volume problem.
mac_shinobi Posted March 27, 2011 Report Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) Try option 3 first , then if need be option 1 and 2 etc 1. Lenovo Diagnostics ( pressing I think either enter / return key or F12 until you get the option of bootable items and one should be diagnostic at the bottom ) obviously using up / down arrow keys to select relevant option and press enter / return to select item and it should run a few checks one on the chipset / motherboard and one on the drive itself 2. You can after option 1 has finished use a windows disc to boot into recovery console and run a chkdsk /r which will take an hour or two if it manages to finish 3. If you can get to the boot menu by pressing F8 repeatedly you can choose the option "To disable automatic reboot on system failure", if you get a bsod relating to the MBR or unmountable boot volume or something to that effect then as BRPilot99 suggested you can go into the bios and configure --> sata --> ensure compatabilty mode is selected or try the different options one at a time - one of them should work. 4. If it looks like its fine at post and goes blank or just goes blank but you can see the power buttons etc either powered on or flashing then I would A - Hold down the power button for 10 or more seconds and let go and give it a few seconds and power it back on B - disconnect mains cord / cable , take battery out, check manual for how to take the screws out for taking the front facia off as though you were going to replace the keyboard ( putting the screws on the table in the same position you took them out as they are different lengths ) and disconnect the CMOS battery for at least 30 seconds or so. Reseat said bios / cmos battery and put it all back together and power it back on. Option A should achieve the same as option B but obviously option B is a bit more involved. I normally do chkdsk in recovery console on the said laptop as it uses the relevant port type IDE / SATA which is faster then externally attached via USB cable kit / Docking bay / station If it is option 3 then I know with the Lenovos ( at least some of them ) this is a common issue with it reverting back to the wrong setting for SATA and keeps causing the same / similar BSOD. So far we have not come up with a permanent solution for this. I think there is a way to install the AHCI SATA drivers and set it in the bios to AHCI but we have not had time to do this Edited March 27, 2011 by mac_shinobi
witch Posted March 27, 2011 Author Report Posted March 27, 2011 It's a SATA. Tried the diagnostics - no go. Can't get to F8 or anything at all so can't disable automatic reboot - but it isnt rebooting, it is just stopping on the Windows XP screen, the little loader at the bottom just keeps on going - it doesn't stutter or fail or anything. Just keeps on rolling along. I can't get into the BIOS I can't get into anything
mac_shinobi Posted March 27, 2011 Report Posted March 27, 2011 What about option 2,4, a or and b and is there any data that needs recovering? If so I'd do that ASAP If u use a different hdd is it the same or does it work??
chrbb Posted March 27, 2011 Report Posted March 27, 2011 Ubunto disk - boot using cd get data off. Then format hard drive and start again with it.
witch Posted March 27, 2011 Author Report Posted March 27, 2011 Havent got a disk handy to try and repair it. Can't get in to change the boot order to get it to boot off the disk!! Done A - no go My good disk works fine in that machine
SYNACK Posted March 27, 2011 Report Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) Could be an actual hardware fault with the hd, have had simmilar, all be it temporary hangs like that when the drive is reporting invalid values back to the BIOS. Its not a maxtor drive is it (had two die like this in the past week)? At any rate if this is the case, which it does sound like the drive is toast and short of data recovery is gone for good. You may well need a new drive. I would test this by listening to the drive carefully, hook it up to a caddy or something and listen to it carefully when it powers up. You want to check if it spins up propperly and clicks prpoperly indicating the heads are moving right. Many times you can hear a wirr - - - click - - - wirr - - - click or nothing at all indicating rather seriousissues with the drive. I have had the onboard electronics go on a few but that is comparitivly very rare. Edited March 27, 2011 by SYNACK
witch Posted March 27, 2011 Author Report Posted March 27, 2011 Right - eventually got machine to boot off cd - got to recovery console and lo and behold - no disk! So as you say, the disk is toast. Will try and recover data off it. Shame, not a very old T60 from ICT direct - I know that these things happen, but will the boss?? The disk sounds fine though, exactly the same as the good one
DAZZD88 Posted March 28, 2011 Report Posted March 28, 2011 Was about to suggest listening to the HDD but read that Synack got there first. If you listen for the click in a noisy room you may not hear it properly. It's not that common of a problem (at least it hasn't been for me within the last few years) so I can't actually remember whether it's very loud or not.
witch Posted March 28, 2011 Author Report Posted March 28, 2011 The HD sounds fine but I shall replace it tomorrow and see if all is well then
DAZZD88 Posted March 29, 2011 Report Posted March 29, 2011 Just a side thought, I 'fixed' a mates laptop where it wouldn't boot. I'm not sure but I think it had a similar problem to yours, turns out the L2 cache on the CPU had failed. SO to get him working, I just disabled it in the BIOS and that allowed him to get working...although a fair bit slower.
mac_shinobi Posted March 29, 2011 Report Posted March 29, 2011 dos bootable pc doctor : Lenovo Support - PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD - ThinkPad Might point you in the right direction if its not the hard drive ? 1
AgentBithell Posted March 29, 2011 Report Posted March 29, 2011 all i can suggest is running chkdsk from a live disk or try booting into something like ubuntu live and running disk management...also do you have any dos boot diagnostic tools that can repair any bad boot sectors?
mac_shinobi Posted March 29, 2011 Report Posted March 29, 2011 Last resort but may be worth while if its available for the T60 is to burn a bootable disc to upgrade the bios ( I would read the read me ) to see what fixes the bios update does. Might be worth a shot as a last resort
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