ibm thinkpad t60p problem with installing xp 1

[jfdabiri]

hi,
i'm trying to re-load a thinkpad with xp due to a bad virus infection. i have fdisked the hard drive (100 gb), formatted. and am trying to install xp. when i try booting from the xp disk, it says there's no hard disk. so, i used dos method. started the pc up with win-98 cd, fdisked, formatted, and used winnt.exe to copy files to the hard drive. it seemed to work using smartdrv.exe.
the pc has biometric device on it and it's not functioning under dos (i think). all the files were copied and xp prompted to restart the pc. now, the pc is looping on thinkpad logo. and would not start. any help would be appreciated.
thanks.
what's the best way to do this?

 

[BadBigBen]

I am not quite clear on how you did this... am I right that you used the FDISK from the W98 CD? why did you not use the partitioning tool from the XP CD, it is first of all safer to use with NTFS and secondly it does not have the restrictions that FDISK (w98) has on adressing space...

also for the rebooting loop, see:

Computer Caught in Reboot Loop After Using DriveSpace

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/130018/

The computer is stuck in a restart loop after you upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me to Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318018

I would start over with the XP CD only, and take it from there...

Problem areas could also be the DRIVERS...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[jfdabiri]

thanks ben.
we tried everything from the begeinning. we tried xp disk first. it did the same thing. finally, we decided to do fdisk. but it behaves the same way with xp disk. it keeps saying there's no hard drive in the machine. but the bios shows a disk. format works. even bios own diagnostic program shows there's no problem with the disk.

 

[jfdabiri]

thanks ben.
we tried everything from the begeinning. we tried xp disk first. it did the same thing. finally, we decided to do fdisk. but it behaves the same way with xp disk. it keeps saying there's no hard drive in the machine. but the bios shows a disk. format works. even bios own diagnostic program shows there's no problem with the disk. this is a brand new machine.

 

[jfdabiri]

i talked with lenovo tech guys. they said that there's a hidden partition on the hard disk. if that is erased (caused by fdisk) nothing will reload to the disk. i even removed the backup (cmos battery) to clear everything. but it still says there's no hard drive. but everything else recognizes the hard drive. there must be a way to reload this pc. the only way is to get a recovery disk, which they will ship monday. at the mean time, if anybody knows of a way to fix this, please let me know.
thanks.

 

[BadBigBen]

The way it sounds, is that you need the SATA drivers for XP to recogize the DRIVE (F6 at the beginning of the install)...

see the install guide by IBM:

Installation instructions for Windows XP - ThinkPad T60, T60p

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-66020

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[jfdabiri]

thanks ben,
i just found out that this machine has sata drive. thanks so much. but how do i install them?

 

[jfdabiri]

ben,
thanks for the link and the info. it worked like a charm. i downloaded the sata drivers and everything worked ok.
you deserve a big star.
thanks.

 

[BadBigBen]

You are welcome, and glad that you got it up and running...

& thnx for the *...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."