T43p no longer booting up after Access Connection upgrade

[tokjdm]

My T43p WinXPsp3 is still going strong.
I decided to upgrade the Access Connection software to access WPA2 security on a USB wireless adapter but after the upgrade T43p refuses to reboot: it is stuck with the IBM screen and the hard disk does not start.
I managed to get it started once after taking the battery out but this does not seem to be working any more.
Any ideas would be welcome.

[ajkula66]

Remove the hard drive and turn the machine on.

Does it still get stuck at IBM splash screen?

[tokjdm]

Thank you for your help.
I run all the hardware tests and no problems were found.
I removed the main hard drive (I replaced the CD drive by a second hard drive but there is only data on it, no operating system).
This time it went beyond the IBM Thinkpad initial screen. It opened the Broadcom UNDI PXE, then the Broadcom Base Code PXE and exited with the message: "no operating system"

I assume that this means that the base sector of the hard drive is dead?

[tokjdm]

I managed to boot.
Is there a way to transfer the OS from one hard disk to the other without deleting what's on the target hard disk?

[ajkula66]

Try running PC Doctor for DOS tests on your HDD, "linear verify" first and foremost, and report back.

At this point we don't know whether the HDD is the culprit.

Good luck.

[tokjdm]

I run all the tests once again and made sure that the linear verify run on both hard disks. All tests passed.

[thinktwice]

Is there a way to transfer the OS from one hard disk to the other without deleting what's on the target hard disk?

Yes, by creating partitions that will split your target disk into several logical parts. You can create one partition large enough to host your transfered OS. This may involve moving data on the target hard disk in order to create the new "OS" partition and this can be considered a risky operation. In all cases I would clone the target hard disk before. This also mean having some knowledge of what the MBR is.

Having the CD of the operating system would be a great help to avoid complications.

I provide such service if you need.

As your problem seem due to hardware, first check that the small button battery inside your laptop delivers around 3V. If 2,9 or 2,8 no problem; just make sure that this battery is not totally flat, especially in case of wrong CMOS checksum.

Start your laptop with its battery plugged in and charged.
It does not guarantee things working, but eliminates one source of potential issue.

Also, check that your RAM sticks are correctly plugged. Before doing this, discharge your static electricity by touching a large piece of metal, like a table leg.

Hope this helps.

[thinktwice]

I would try what follows :

1) Press F1 during boot to access the BIOS
2) There is normaly a menu named "Startup" or something so. Make sure that your IDE drive is listed first. Use F6 to move it upward if necessary.
(You may have forgotten some CD and the laptop trying to boot from the CD, or trying to mount the partition from a USB key that was unmounted.
3) Use F10 to save and reboot the laptop.

What happens ?

In every case, don't waste the hard disk even if your OS does not boot.
It is almost possible to restore corrupted systems and the data.