IBM Thinkpad R30 - stumped

[S Campbell]

Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows XP
installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I don't
press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the hard
disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked the
BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the Boot
order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

[mike]

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows XP
installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I don't
press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the hard
disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked the
BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the Boot
order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

First thing I'd do is check for jumpers. Most laptop drives don't have
any, but I've seen some that did.
Download the GPARTED live CD and initialize/partition/format the drive
in the laptop.
That makes sure you don't have any weird invisible OEM partitions that
confuse the boot process.
Don't forget to set the boot flag.
Try the install again.

[Rod Speed]

Post by S Campbell
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows
XP installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I
don't press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the
hard disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking
cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked
the BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the
Boot order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

You can get a result like that when the bios has a
setting that doesn’t allow the MBR etc to be changed.
The obvious fix for that is to reset that in the bios.

Some anti viruses can replace the MBR with one that
produces that result when its changed too. The fix for
that is to write zeros thru the first few tracks of the
hard drive so the MBR is overwritten and start the
XP install again.

Have you checked the IBM site on the R30 to
see if its a known problem with a known fix ?

[Tom Cole]

You stated that you initialised the partition on another computer.
With many IBM Thinkpads you need to initialise the HD using the
computer you intend to use the HD on. You need to wipe the partition
and set it up afresh on your R30. The XP CD should do this for you
when you boot it initially.

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows XP
installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I don't
press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the hard
disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked the
BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the Boot
order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

[Damian]

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows
XP installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I
don't press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the
hard disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking
cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked
the BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the
Boot order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

Did you do the whole xp installation on the laptop? or did you do parts of
it in another computer?

[Parko]

Hi friends Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't
boot up from a tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first
stage of Windows XP installation.

Bugger WinXP, it's old. I'd have a go at getting Puppy Linux going on it.
http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

IIRC, based on my distant memory of sticking Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 on an
IBM R30, the graphics chipset was problematic causing the thing to boot
into single user mode (ie: a blinking bloody cursor) until I could sort
out Xfree86. The drivers are still available for it if you want to
persist with the now unsupported XP.
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-40213
You need to load them when prompted by the XP installer.

[Happy Oyster]

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows XP
installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I don't
press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the hard
disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked the
BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the Boot
order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

Hi, I read you descrption and I read the answers. I admit that I do
frown about some answers.

Okay, so I will give it a try.

Key problem might be the HDD. It has several areas. One area is for the
data. But one totally different area is for booting, where the MBR is.
Some HDDs are reported fine, but the MBR space can not be correctly
written to. These HDDs one can only use for data, but one cannot boot
from them. From time to time such HDDs are sold at eBay's. So one has to
watch out NOT to buy such one if one wants to USE the computer with that
HDD, booting from it.

During installation the Win XP wrote onto HDD. So writing in the data
area of the HDD seems to work.

A strange problem might be HOW the HDD is access ("LBA") or other stuff.
I you prepared the HDD in an other computer, THAT VERY SETTING of the
OTHER computer is used for addressing on HDD. Might be that there are
differences in the parameters of both BIOSes. You ought to check them.

About some MBR write-to preventions I have no clue. If a BIOS would have
such a parameter, I would not enable it. Also, the question is how the
installer of Win XP would react to such a write-barrier.

That some Thinkpads would REQUIRE the HDD to be prepared on THAT VERY
THINKPAD where the HDD then is to be used I consider wrong. I guess that
in those cases some addressing was not done correctly.

An easy mistake to make is to install the OS completely correct, but
spoil addressing of drive 1 and drive 2. You ought to check the jumpers
on the HDD and look at time of boot into the BIOS and see how the HDD is
recognized, as drive 1 or drive 2 - or simple "have none".


One test to make is to prepare the HDD on an other computer AND THERE
install Win XP and see if it boots there.

One more test, quite simple and easy: install an other OS. Check it THAT
is able to boot on the HDD.

Win XP is rather stupid. Before installing it, the partitioning should
be done correctly and the "active" partition for booting must have the
marker set in the partition table.

One more pothole is how the boot actually is done. You ought to check
the sequence for booting. Might be that the boot gets stuck by accessing
some other device? The XP installs I had were prone for messing up with
a) partitioning and b) sequence of devices.


So, you have some days of work ahead... ;O)

[Petzl]

Post by Happy Oyster
Hi, I read you descrption and I read the answers. I admit that I do
frown about some answers.
Okay, so I will give it a try.
Key problem might be the HDD. It has several areas. One area is for the
data. But one totally different area is for booting, where the MBR is.
Some HDDs are reported fine, but the MBR space can not be correctly
written to. These HDDs one can only use for data, but one cannot boot
from them. From time to time such HDDs are sold at eBay's. So one has to
watch out NOT to buy such one if one wants to USE the computer with that
HDD, booting from it.
During installation the Win XP wrote onto HDD. So writing in the data
area of the HDD seems to work.
A strange problem might be HOW the HDD is access ("LBA") or other stuff.
I you prepared the HDD in an other computer, THAT VERY SETTING of the
OTHER computer is used for addressing on HDD. Might be that there are
differences in the parameters of both BIOSes. You ought to check them.
About some MBR write-to preventions I have no clue. If a BIOS would have
such a parameter, I would not enable it. Also, the question is how the
installer of Win XP would react to such a write-barrier.
That some Thinkpads would REQUIRE the HDD to be prepared on THAT VERY
THINKPAD where the HDD then is to be used I consider wrong. I guess that
in those cases some addressing was not done correctly.
An easy mistake to make is to install the OS completely correct, but
spoil addressing of drive 1 and drive 2. You ought to check the jumpers
on the HDD and look at time of boot into the BIOS and see how the HDD is
recognized, as drive 1 or drive 2 - or simple "have none".
One test to make is to prepare the HDD on an other computer AND THERE
install Win XP and see if it boots there.
One more test, quite simple and easy: install an other OS. Check it THAT
is able to boot on the HDD.
Win XP is rather stupid. Before installing it, the partitioning should
be done correctly and the "active" partition for booting must have the
marker set in the partition table.
One more pothole is how the boot actually is done. You ought to check
the sequence for booting. Might be that the boot gets stuck by accessing
some other device? The XP installs I had were prone for messing up with
a) partitioning and b) sequence of devices.
So, you have some days of work ahead... ;O)

Really when one needs a new Windows computer one needs a new computer
Get the catalogue Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, Dick Smith, or whoever
Desktop Windows 8 touchscreens with 22 inch touch screens are
basically Desktop computers are now just a screen with a keyboard
smaller than a Laptop. Ebay search but check local from catalogue
http://tinyurl.com/c4npytl
For a car you can buy cheap inverters to power them from any 12 volt
supply Ebay search but get a pure Sine wave one for desktop cheaper
are OK for Laptop/Tablet as its just recharging battery
http://tinyurl.com/cyvqbld

[Happy Oyster]

Post by Petzl

Post by Happy Oyster
Hi, I read you descrption and I read the answers. I admit that I do
frown about some answers.
Okay, so I will give it a try.
Key problem might be the HDD. It has several areas. One area is for the
data. But one totally different area is for booting, where the MBR is.
Some HDDs are reported fine, but the MBR space can not be correctly
written to. These HDDs one can only use for data, but one cannot boot
from them. From time to time such HDDs are sold at eBay's. So one has to
watch out NOT to buy such one if one wants to USE the computer with that
HDD, booting from it.
During installation the Win XP wrote onto HDD. So writing in the data
area of the HDD seems to work.
A strange problem might be HOW the HDD is access ("LBA") or other stuff.
I you prepared the HDD in an other computer, THAT VERY SETTING of the
OTHER computer is used for addressing on HDD. Might be that there are
differences in the parameters of both BIOSes. You ought to check them.
About some MBR write-to preventions I have no clue. If a BIOS would have
such a parameter, I would not enable it. Also, the question is how the
installer of Win XP would react to such a write-barrier.
That some Thinkpads would REQUIRE the HDD to be prepared on THAT VERY
THINKPAD where the HDD then is to be used I consider wrong. I guess that
in those cases some addressing was not done correctly.
An easy mistake to make is to install the OS completely correct, but
spoil addressing of drive 1 and drive 2. You ought to check the jumpers
on the HDD and look at time of boot into the BIOS and see how the HDD is
recognized, as drive 1 or drive 2 - or simple "have none".
One test to make is to prepare the HDD on an other computer AND THERE
install Win XP and see if it boots there.
One more test, quite simple and easy: install an other OS. Check it THAT
is able to boot on the HDD.
Win XP is rather stupid. Before installing it, the partitioning should
be done correctly and the "active" partition for booting must have the
marker set in the partition table.
One more pothole is how the boot actually is done. You ought to check
the sequence for booting. Might be that the boot gets stuck by accessing
some other device? The XP installs I had were prone for messing up with
a) partitioning and b) sequence of devices.
So, you have some days of work ahead... ;O)

Really when one needs a new Windows computer one needs a new computer

No.

[Petzl]

Post by Petzl

Post by Happy Oyster
Hi, I read you descrption and I read the answers. I admit that I do
frown about some answers.
Okay, so I will give it a try.
Key problem might be the HDD. It has several areas. One area is for the
data. But one totally different area is for booting, where the MBR is.
Some HDDs are reported fine, but the MBR space can not be correctly
written to. These HDDs one can only use for data, but one cannot boot
from them. From time to time such HDDs are sold at eBay's. So one has to
watch out NOT to buy such one if one wants to USE the computer with that
HDD, booting from it.
During installation the Win XP wrote onto HDD. So writing in the data
area of the HDD seems to work.
A strange problem might be HOW the HDD is access ("LBA") or other stuff.
I you prepared the HDD in an other computer, THAT VERY SETTING of the
OTHER computer is used for addressing on HDD. Might be that there are
differences in the parameters of both BIOSes. You ought to check them.
About some MBR write-to preventions I have no clue. If a BIOS would have
such a parameter, I would not enable it. Also, the question is how the
installer of Win XP would react to such a write-barrier.
That some Thinkpads would REQUIRE the HDD to be prepared on THAT VERY
THINKPAD where the HDD then is to be used I consider wrong. I guess that
in those cases some addressing was not done correctly.
An easy mistake to make is to install the OS completely correct, but
spoil addressing of drive 1 and drive 2. You ought to check the jumpers
on the HDD and look at time of boot into the BIOS and see how the HDD is
recognized, as drive 1 or drive 2 - or simple "have none".
One test to make is to prepare the HDD on an other computer AND THERE
install Win XP and see if it boots there.
One more test, quite simple and easy: install an other OS. Check it THAT
is able to boot on the HDD.
Win XP is rather stupid. Before installing it, the partitioning should
be done correctly and the "active" partition for booting must have the
marker set in the partition table.
One more pothole is how the boot actually is done. You ought to check
the sequence for booting. Might be that the boot gets stuck by accessing
some other device? The XP installs I had were prone for messing up with
a) partitioning and b) sequence of devices.
So, you have some days of work ahead... ;O)

Really when one needs a new Windows computer one needs a new computer

No.

You still run a SX386?
Why you don't
Worked fine with WIN3.11

My WIN7 32 bit laptop I bought five years ago and now getting too slow
Windows with their "updates" make it even slower.
The "upgrade" to WIN8 touch screen is what everyone faces doing

Really when one needs a new Windows computer one needs a new computer
Get the catalogue Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, Dick Smith, or whoever
Desktop Windows 8 touchscreens with 22 inch touch screens are
basically Desktop computers are now just a screen with a keyboard
smaller than a Laptop. Ebay search but check local from catalogue
http://tinyurl.com/c4npytl
For a car you can buy cheap inverters to power them from any 12 volt
supply Ebay search but get a pure Sine wave one for desktop cheaper
are OK for Laptop/Tablet as its just recharging battery
http://tinyurl.com/cyvqbld

[Bob Milutinovic]

Post by Happy Oyster

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows XP
installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I don't
press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the hard
disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked the
BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the Boot
order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

Hi, I read you descrption and I read the answers. I admit that I do
frown about some answers.

<snip remaining crappage>

What a brilliant way to spam the buggery out of the newsgroup with your
links whilst offering advice more relevant for Windows 98 than anything that
came after it.

[Happy Oyster]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:20:22 +1100, "Bob Milutinovic"

Post by Bob Milutinovic

Post by Happy Oyster

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows XP
installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I don't
press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the hard
disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked the
BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the Boot
order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

Hi, I read you descrption and I read the answers. I admit that I do
frown about some answers.

<snip remaining crappage>
What a brilliant way to spam the buggery out of the newsgroup with your
links whilst offering advice more relevant for Windows 98 than anything that
came after it.

Windows 8 is crap. YXour inability to realize this is impressive.

[Bob Milutinovic]

Post by Happy Oyster
On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:20:22 +1100, "Bob Milutinovic"

Post by Bob Milutinovic

Post by Happy Oyster

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of
Windows
XP
installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I don't
press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the hard
disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS.
The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked the
BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the Boot
order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

Hi, I read you descrption and I read the answers. I admit that I do
frown about some answers.

<snip remaining crappage>
What a brilliant way to spam the buggery out of the newsgroup with your
links whilst offering advice more relevant for Windows 98 than anything that
came after it.

Windows 8 is crap. YXour inability to realize this is impressive.

My inability to realise this? I was one of the first, if not _the_ first, to
openly criticise it and vehemently advise against it - on this very
newsgroup.

But then, why am I bothering to explain something like this to a spammer who
still has the fresh stench of nappy rash cream?

[S Campbell]

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows
XP installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I
don't press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the
hard disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking
cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked
the BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the
Boot order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

Thanks to all who helped with this. The solution for this was:
1. connect the hard disk to a working Windows XP computer using a IDE to USB
adaptor
2. delete all partitions on that disk and recreate partitions/dynamic disk
3. re-install hard disk in the laptop
4. change R30's BIOS power management to Maximum Performance i.e. no power
management
5. boot up from Win XP CD (can use F5 to select power management type if you
want)
6. allow the Windows XP installer to remove and recreate the partition
(couldn't do this before until I did steps 1 and 2) May have been something
dodgy on the MBR/hard disk...
7. finish installation of Windows
8. on first boot, change ACPI power management under Device management to
Standard computer.

--> Computer runs fine

So much info I had to gather to make it work...

[Happy Oyster]

Post by S Campbell

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows
XP installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I
don't press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the
hard disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking
cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked
the BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the
Boot order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

1. connect the hard disk to a working Windows XP computer using a IDE to USB
adaptor
2. delete all partitions on that disk and recreate partitions/dynamic disk
3. re-install hard disk in the laptop
4. change R30's BIOS power management to Maximum Performance i.e. no power
management
5. boot up from Win XP CD (can use F5 to select power management type if you
want)
6. allow the Windows XP installer to remove and recreate the partition
(couldn't do this before until I did steps 1 and 2) May have been something
dodgy on the MBR/hard disk...
7. finish installation of Windows
8. on first boot, change ACPI power management under Device management to
Standard computer.
--> Computer runs fine
So much info I had to gather to make it work...

If you had a dual boot OR if you could boot from an USA stick (I think)
it would not have been necessary to take the HDD out.

ALSO an idea is to boot from CD and use the gparted and with that to the
partitioning work.

The advantage would be: no taking out the HDD ==> no possible damage to
the hardware. AND: being lazy sometimes has its advantages. ;O)

[Happy Oyster]

Post by Happy Oyster

Post by S Campbell

Post by S Campbell
Hi friends
Have an IBM Thinkpad R30 and need to find out why it won't boot up from a
tested and formatted 20 Gb Toshiba drive after the first stage of Windows
XP installation.
So I installed Windows XP sp2 from a good CD I've used for years and first
stage of Windows XP installation goes OK without a glitch. The computer
resets OK at this first stage.
When the computer reboots it says "press a key to boot from CD" and I
don't press a key. After it times out the Windows XP installation won't
continue - the cursor just blinks on the screen.
If I take out the CD and reboot, the computer still won't boot from the
hard disk (after BIOS checks it goes to blank screen with a blinking
cursor).
I have tested the hard disk and it appears OK. I had connected it to
another XP computer, deleted the partition and formatted it as NTFS. The
Windows XP installation on the laptop accepts the format.
So the problem I am trying to figure out is why the laptop won't boot off
that hard drive when it has Win XP installation to continue? I checked
the BIOS and it finds the HD okay. I have also made it at the top of the
Boot order (and it is not disabled with '!' as these Thinkpads do)
So where on earth do I go from here?!
Thanks for any solutions to the above problem.

1. connect the hard disk to a working Windows XP computer using a IDE to USB
adaptor
2. delete all partitions on that disk and recreate partitions/dynamic disk
3. re-install hard disk in the laptop
4. change R30's BIOS power management to Maximum Performance i.e. no power
management
5. boot up from Win XP CD (can use F5 to select power management type if you
want)
6. allow the Windows XP installer to remove and recreate the partition
(couldn't do this before until I did steps 1 and 2) May have been something
dodgy on the MBR/hard disk...
7. finish installation of Windows
8. on first boot, change ACPI power management under Device management to
Standard computer.
--> Computer runs fine
So much info I had to gather to make it work...

If you had a dual boot OR if you could boot from an USA stick (I think)

*********

Post by Happy Oyster
it would not have been necessary to take the HDD out.
ALSO an idea is to boot from CD and use the gparted and with that to the
partitioning work.
The advantage would be: no taking out the HDD ==> no possible damage to
the hardware. AND: being lazy sometimes has its advantages. ;O)

Better make that an USB stick. ;O)

[dg1261]

Post by S Campbell
So much info I had to gather to make it work...

You made it much harder than it needed to be. I didn't bother weighing in
on this earlier because Tom Cole gave you the precisely correct answer
long ago. The key is all partitioning work *must* be done in the
laptop--and a few other people also pointed to that as the possible
source of the problem.

This is a well known idiosyncracy of IBM/Lenovo laptops (and HP/Compaq
laptops, BTW). The drive "geometry" for setting up partitions is
determined by the machine's bios, so any given hard drive will appear to
have one geometry (specifically, 240 heads) in a HP/Compaq/IBM/Lenovo
laptop yet have a different geometry in a desktop or other laptops (255
heads). Note this has nothing to do with the brand of hard drive, it's a
bios problem and happens with all drives. When you removed the hard
drive and partitioned it in another machine, you created partitions as
though the drive had 255 heads, yet Windows was trying to install on a
hard drive that the Thinkpad bios insisted had 240 heads.

The solution is to make sure you do all partitioning with the hard drive
in the Thinkpad, not removed to elsewhere. As Tom said, the XP install
CD would have created proper partitions on a blank hard drive, so there
was no need to jump through any other hoops.

Once you messed it up by improperly partitioning the drive, the easiest
remedy would have been to delete all existing partitions, then restart
with the XP CD and let XP handle it as a new, blank drive. As others
suggested, a bootable CD with gparted or any similar standalone
partitioner could have been used for that.

[S Campbell]

Thanks for the reply.

Post by dg1261

Post by S Campbell
So much info I had to gather to make it work...

You made it much harder than it needed to be.

Actually, no. The first time I turned on the computer, booted with XP and
tried to install, the installer refused to accept the hard drive until I
reset it in another computer.

I thought it was faster to just plug the HD into another PC via USB and
delete the old partitions (most likely corrupted), and restart the installer
in the Thinkpad than go through the Gparted route, not knowing if the PC
would boot from a CD-R, take more time, etc. As I mentioned there was
something strange with this particular hard disk which the xp installer
would refuse to accept until I quickly and easily fixed on another pc.

But I certainly understand that the thinkpads need the xp installer to
accept/configure the drive, but as I said, it couldn't initially.

Post by dg1261
I didn't bother weighing in
on this earlier because Tom Cole gave you the precisely correct answer
long ago. The key is all partitioning work *must* be done in the
laptop--and a few other people also pointed to that as the possible
source of the problem.
This is a well known idiosyncracy of IBM/Lenovo laptops (and HP/Compaq
laptops, BTW). The drive "geometry" for setting up partitions is
determined by the machine's bios, so any given hard drive will appear to
have one geometry (specifically, 240 heads) in a HP/Compaq/IBM/Lenovo
laptop yet have a different geometry in a desktop or other laptops (255
heads). Note this has nothing to do with the brand of hard drive, it's a
bios problem and happens with all drives. When you removed the hard
drive and partitioned it in another machine, you created partitions as
though the drive had 255 heads, yet Windows was trying to install on a
hard drive that the Thinkpad bios insisted had 240 heads.
The solution is to make sure you do all partitioning with the hard drive
in the Thinkpad, not removed to elsewhere. As Tom said, the XP install
CD would have created proper partitions on a blank hard drive, so there
was no need to jump through any other hoops.
Once you messed it up by improperly partitioning the drive, the easiest
remedy would have been to delete all existing partitions, then restart
with the XP CD and let XP handle it as a new, blank drive. As others
suggested, a bootable CD with gparted or any similar standalone
partitioner could have been used for that.

[dg1261]

Post by S Campbell

Post by dg1261
You made it much harder than it needed to be.

Actually, no. The first time I turned on the computer, booted with XP
and tried to install, the installer refused to accept the hard drive
until I reset it in another computer.
I thought it was faster to just plug the HD into another PC via USB
and delete the old partitions (most likely corrupted), and restart the
installer in the Thinkpad than go through the Gparted route, not
knowing if the PC would boot from a CD-R, take more time, etc. As I
mentioned there was something strange with this particular hard disk
which the xp installer would refuse to accept until I quickly and
easily fixed on another pc.

I've worked on many of those old R30s and R40s, and as I said, it's a
long known issue. Like you, I personally find it easier to pull the
drive and use another machine to reset it, but that only involves about 5
seconds with a disk editor (like Roadkil's SecEdit) to zero the first
sector, then return it to Thinkpad. If someone isn't comfortable with
that technique, then the gparted route is a sufficiently simple option
for a similar result. All that rigamarole with making it a dynamic disk
and then deleting it qualifies, IMO, as making things harder than it
needed to be.

[S Campbell]

also I think ACPI was causing a problem and 'maximum performance' in the
bios solved the booting problem. then it was changing the acpi driver in xp
to make the computer reliable.

Post by dg1261

Post by S Campbell
So much info I had to gather to make it work...

You made it much harder than it needed to be. I didn't bother weighing in
on this earlier because Tom Cole gave you the precisely correct answer
long ago. The key is all partitioning work *must* be done in the
laptop--and a few other people also pointed to that as the possible
source of the problem.
This is a well known idiosyncracy of IBM/Lenovo laptops (and HP/Compaq
laptops, BTW). The drive "geometry" for setting up partitions is
determined by the machine's bios, so any given hard drive will appear to
have one geometry (specifically, 240 heads) in a HP/Compaq/IBM/Lenovo
laptop yet have a different geometry in a desktop or other laptops (255
heads). Note this has nothing to do with the brand of hard drive, it's a
bios problem and happens with all drives. When you removed the hard
drive and partitioned it in another machine, you created partitions as
though the drive had 255 heads, yet Windows was trying to install on a
hard drive that the Thinkpad bios insisted had 240 heads.
The solution is to make sure you do all partitioning with the hard drive
in the Thinkpad, not removed to elsewhere. As Tom said, the XP install
CD would have created proper partitions on a blank hard drive, so there
was no need to jump through any other hoops.
Once you messed it up by improperly partitioning the drive, the easiest
remedy would have been to delete all existing partitions, then restart
with the XP CD and let XP handle it as a new, blank drive. As others
suggested, a bootable CD with gparted or any similar standalone
partitioner could have been used for that.

[Bob_Villa]

There are always dozens of ways to solve the same problem...and a 1st or 100th attempt isn't necessarily the shortest. That is how we learn and remember. Good going...as long as you solved it!