Laptop problem

Pck21 · 06-24-2006, 10:43 PM

A friend of mine at work gave me a laptop to fix for him. Now here's the problem. He said that the thing would only boot to the bios. Well when I turn it on it goes to the load screen for IBM and says "press F1 to enter IBM bios." Well I do and nothing happens. I've pressed every button on the thing to get it to boot to the bios but nothing. Is there ANYTHING I can do? By the way it's an old old old ThinkPad. I have no idea what year or what OS.

Thanks in advance!

Dave

jp198780 · 06-25-2006, 05:18 AM

i have a similar problem with a HD, that came from a IBM desktop, im just going 2 reload windows on it, maybe your HD's shot?

foschia · 06-25-2006, 08:05 AM

check and see if there are any bios upgrades from IBM

**The_Other_One** · 06-25-2006, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foschia

check and see if there are any bios upgrades from IBM

And how does that help if he can't get past POST?

My first thought is a bad drive of some sort. I've heard of similar problems on a forum about my laptop if/when the CD-ROM dies. If you can get into it, try to remove the drives and see if it'll give you any POST errors that way.

Also, a little test I do to see how "locked up" a computer is... During post, press one of the lock keys and see if the light comes on for it. If they still work, then we know the machine's not totally locked up.

Hairy_Lee · 06-25-2006, 02:21 PM

I would pull both the optical drive and the hard drive. If that doesn't work swap the RAM around. If you have more than one stick leave the machine running for a bit and then shut it down and feel the ramsticks to see which is warmer and take the warmer one out. It sounds odd but i've used this to eliminate ram problems.
If you can then get into the bios try putting either the optical drive or the hard disk back in. If you can still get into the bios its more than likely a ram problem. However, its also worth looking at the drive information in the bios as odd characters in the device information area will mean that the drive is shot.
I've seen some really wierd problems in notebooks that are caused by something that seems unrelated. Its worth trying everything.

Pck21 · 06-25-2006, 10:23 PM

Wow guys thanks for all the replies!! Sorry for replying so slowly but I've been putting together my parents new comp for them. I will do EVERYTHING everyone suggested and get back on here and post my results. Thanks so much again!

Pck21 · 06-26-2006, 03:48 PM

Ok well I switched the ram around first and nothing changed. However when I changed them back to their original spots, now it doesn't even boot to the screen I had before. I have no idea where to find the hard drive on this thing and the cd drive doesn't seem to want to come out. I think it's a bad hd but I'm going to try some other things.

Does anyone else have any ideas? Or where to pull the hd? Thanks!!

06-24-2006, 10:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
Pck21 Platinum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 853	Laptop problem A friend of mine at work gave me a laptop to fix for him. Now here's the problem. He said that the thing would only boot to the bios. Well when I turn it on it goes to the load screen for IBM and says "press F1 to enter IBM bios." Well I do and nothing happens. I've pressed every button on the thing to get it to boot to the bios but nothing. Is there ANYTHING I can do? By the way it's an old old old ThinkPad. I have no idea what year or what OS. Thanks in advance! Dave __________________ Current Build Case: Antec 900 Mobo: ASUS P6T socket 1366 CPU: Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz HDD: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black Ram: 6GB OCZ Intel XMP Series DDR3 1600 GPU: 2x EVGA 9800GTX+ in SLI Monitor: 22'' Acer H213H 1080p LCD PSU: PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W

06-25-2006, 05:18 AM	#2 (permalink)
jp198780 Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Deptford, New Jersey Age: 19 Posts: 4,115	i have a similar problem with a HD, that came from a IBM desktop, im just going 2 reload windows on it, maybe your HD's shot? __________________ My computer:Amd x2 4400+@2.30ghz 2gb ram 160gb 7200rpm hard drive EVGA 9600gt ssc(740/1000) xp pro

06-25-2006, 08:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
foschia Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: the universe Posts: 45	check and see if there are any bios upgrades from IBM __________________ sweet desktop specs P4 3.0 HT 2 gb ram 160gb hdd cd-dvd burner 256mb graphics card windows xp pro sp2

06-25-2006, 02:21 PM	#5 (permalink)
Hairy_Lee VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Plymouth, UK Age: 26 Posts: 2,553	I would pull both the optical drive and the hard drive. If that doesn't work swap the RAM around. If you have more than one stick leave the machine running for a bit and then shut it down and feel the ramsticks to see which is warmer and take the warmer one out. It sounds odd but i've used this to eliminate ram problems. If you can then get into the bios try putting either the optical drive or the hard disk back in. If you can still get into the bios its more than likely a ram problem. However, its also worth looking at the drive information in the bios as odd characters in the device information area will mean that the drive is shot. I've seen some really wierd problems in notebooks that are caused by something that seems unrelated. Its worth trying everything. __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 EVGA nForce 650i Ultra mainboard EVGA 7950 GT KO SC 512Mb w/ Zalman VF-900Cu 2Gb of OCZ GOLD XTC SPECIAL OPS Eition Notebook - Acer Aspire 9300 - Turion TL-60/ 2 Gb RAM/ Geforce Go 7600 128 Dedicated (400 Mb turbocache)

06-25-2006, 10:23 PM	#6 (permalink)
Pck21 Platinum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 853	Wow guys thanks for all the replies!! Sorry for replying so slowly but I've been putting together my parents new comp for them. I will do EVERYTHING everyone suggested and get back on here and post my results. Thanks so much again! __________________ Current Build Case: Antec 900 Mobo: ASUS P6T socket 1366 CPU: Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz HDD: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black Ram: 6GB OCZ Intel XMP Series DDR3 1600 GPU: 2x EVGA 9800GTX+ in SLI Monitor: 22'' Acer H213H 1080p LCD PSU: PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W

06-26-2006, 03:48 PM	#7 (permalink)
Pck21 Platinum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 853	Ok well I switched the ram around first and nothing changed. However when I changed them back to their original spots, now it doesn't even boot to the screen I had before. I have no idea where to find the hard drive on this thing and the cd drive doesn't seem to want to come out. I think it's a bad hd but I'm going to try some other things. Does anyone else have any ideas? Or where to pull the hd? Thanks!! __________________ Current Build Case: Antec 900 Mobo: ASUS P6T socket 1366 CPU: Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz HDD: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black Ram: 6GB OCZ Intel XMP Series DDR3 1600 GPU: 2x EVGA 9800GTX+ in SLI Monitor: 22'' Acer H213H 1080p LCD PSU: PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W

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