IBM Thinkpad HDD error?

Lord_Gardener

Have been given my DN laptop to look at. It's a IBM Thinkpad 600E. Was running on Win XP but stopped loading giving unmountable boot error! Will not perform repair instalation, fresh install, delete or format partition (just says unrecognisable partition!) Tried recovery consol but will not chkdsk, fixboot or format - can't find drive! Have reseated HDD but no change. Advanced test gave Error DEV 017, ERR 22, FRU 6010 which recommended replacing HDD in HDD bay. I suspect the HDD is toast unless someone knows different! The Thinkpad doesn't have a floppy drive. Any thoughts or should I break the news to my niece?

bingo_bango

Any rattling coming from it? Mine packed in last month, and a gentle shake confirms that the drive seems to have jumped the spindle or similar.

Can be replaced for ~£30 with a 20Gb Travelstar or similar from eBay.

Lord_Gardener

bingo_bango wrote:

Any rattling coming from it? Mine packed in last month, and a gentle shake confirms that the drive seems to have jumped the spindle or similar.

Can be replaced for ~£30 with a 20Gb Travelstar or similar from eBay.

Yes, a sort of loud grating noise! Did you get the same error message? Don't think original HDD had a large capacity (6.5G?) can it take a 20GB ok or does it need updated BIOS - it's on original from '99!

bingo_bango

Loud grating noise would indicate that it has disintegrated. It's not worth trying to repair, and the official replacements (6-10Gb from IBM) are £136 and over :eek:
Mine had a 10Gb originally. I've been asking quite a bit about replacements, and it seems that you can put the 20Gb drive in without flashing the BIOS.

Off the top of my head I think the error codes were 036, and 093. There's a list of them on the IBM website, hidden away in support somewhere.
I haven't actually replaced my drive yet. Trying to talk OH into letting me buy her a new lappie. For her own use of course....cough, cough.