IBM ThinkPad 390X

[kurosh]

Hi,

I am working on trying to restore a friend's laptop (IBM ThinkPad 390X) back to functionality.  It recently crashed, and wouldn't boot up past the Windows logo screen (Windows 98).  I tried to update the BIOS and installed Windows XP several times, each without success.  Every time it gets to the Windows logo screen (after installation and restart), it hangs.  I downloaded the PC Doctor for DOS utility from the IBM / Lenovo website for this laptop, and the normal test came up without errors.  Ran a full diagnostic on the RAM, and that's fine.  I then started a full diagnostic on the hard drive.  After approx. 24 hours of it still "testing", I checked with IBM tech support, and they suggested the drive is failing -- that it should only take 2 hours for this test.  It's a 12 GB hard drive, on an 8 year-old laptop.  Does their assessment sound right?  Should the test be much quicker?  If so, that makes diagnosis easy enough... just have to replace the drive.

Best Wishes,
Kurosh

[jano]

Hi Kurosh,

I haven't seen this particular model but generally speaking it sounds like there is a problem with the drive. The tests shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to complete. I have a couple of questions, though. Did you boot the system from the CD and ran the tests from there? Also, do you know which test that never completed?

Thanks,
Jano

[bender]

I've seen some issues in both Windows XP and Windows 98 where their boot code hangs when accessing IDE disks which are being addressed in a mode other than LBA.  Try going into the BIOS and setting the "Disk Access Mode" or "Disk Addressing Mode" to "LBA" versus "Large" or "CHS" ...

If this solves your issue, please post some feedback and let me know!