I bought an off-the-shelf 80 GB 5400 RPM Fujitsu HDD (MHT2080AH) for my T43 (2668-ES1) and also got the 2010 error. I later downloaded the firmware update from here:

http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... hd3318.exe

I was able to update the firmware without problems. No need to fiddle with .PRO or .DAT files here. I'm running the latest BIOS 1YET57WW (1.22) and I'm not getting the error message anymore.

Just wanted to give a heads up to others wanting to upgrade their hard drives.

I also posted this message in the Hitachi 7k60 thread. Thought some of you might be interested.

i have a toshiba 1032GAX and bios 1.22 but the 2010 error msg is still here...

I have a 20Gig hd leftover from a retired ThinkPad T21 named Hitachi DJSA-220 which also cannot be upgraded with the current firmware release and therefor produces the 2010 error.

An upgrade bought for the above mentioned T21 a Hitachi HTS726060M9AT00 also cannot be upgraded and produces the 2010 error.

World wide issue it seems.

Kim
2K-Design
Copenhagen, Denmark

I just posted that on lenovo's site...

EDIT : I recieved an answer :

It seems he is avoiding to answer my question by throwing me a standard answer isn't he ?

I got T43P(2668-G3U) last week and replaced 7K60 with Seagate ST9120821A(120GB/5400RPM) yesterday. It does not occur 2010 err msg!!
Bios is 1.22(1YET57WW) 7/20/2005.

Wow, seems like this whole situation has turned sour since I hacked up the firmware utility to flash my drive. I got a PM concerning this, and I thought I'd check back in...

I have had *no* problems with my 7k60 or the T43 in general since the update. The latest laptop bios is still okay with it. As long as they don't get around to checking that fifth hex value, I see no reason why it would change.

I would also note that for issues like Ojisan, IIRC, the checksum should be reported by the back-end flash utility as "actual". The essence of what I did was to copy what it reported as actual into the plain-text file that gives the utility the "expected" value to begin with, giving it only one option: flash the drive. So, for any future attempts that don't seem to be working, just look at the value it gives you, then feed it right back to the program via the configuration file. Also note the switches available. You can run the utility with -h or something to get a list if you want to play around.

Anyway, I don't have much more than that. The laptop has been fantastic for law school this far; the 7200rpm didn't really affect the battery life at all while it did pick up the performance. Good luck to everyone...

This thread is getting quite long, I am lost whether there is a way to get the HDD I want to use in my T43p to work without the error message.

Hitachi IC25N080ATMR04-0 80gb 4200rpm 2mb cache 2.5"

I have no FDD, so I don't think I can update the firmware anyway ..

It's totally annoying and I got the machine in Germany where you can't buy it directly from IBM, the dealer would never take it back.

I will call IBM and complain, they have to advertise that they use proprietary HDDs, I have a T42p and might as well stick with that where I can use whatever HDDs I wish.

I agree with you goodgirl, I'm losing track also. From what I've read it seems that only egnatius and NJ_IT are the only 2 that have been able to buy off-the-shelf HD and have it work in a T43 w/o the 2010. Others have bought HD that should have worked with the flash bios but did not.

Because I've just placed an order for a T43 w/40GB, I'm really interested in this thread.

Egnatius and NJ_IT, you specified the model# and bios you have, can you both also please specify where you bought the HD (ex. newegg, compusa?).

I bought Seagate ST9120821A(120GB/5400RPM) in Newegg web two weeks ago. Very quiet , fast enough and not so hot!

May I ask you again to double check: the seagate drive you got from Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822146231
is working "as is" (without fw upgrade) on your T43 as the main disk drive ?
You are not using the ultrabay as a secondary drive ?
No error 2010 at boot ? No data corrcuption ? ...
Do you know what is different between your drive and my same Seagate drive
but the 100GB version, which is NOT working on my T43 laptop ?
I would like to avoid buying an other hdd that I cannot use in that poorly designed T43 !
Thank You and Best Regards, Gilles

I am using exact the same drive (ST9120821A)as you indicate(but price is little reduced than at that time I purchased !!!)
This harddrive has been fully operational and NO 2010 msg as a main drive without firmware update in my T43P.
Regarding 100G/5400rpm(ST9100823A),I used for T43(not P) ,but 2010 err msg happened.
BTW I just found Seagate ST910021A(100GB/7200rpm $337) in newegg web.

Thank you for your response.
I would like to understand if the problem of the T43 has been now solved by IBM on the new models and/or the T43P ? Or if the new Seagte 120GB/5400 wil just work as is on all (old) T43 models ? Would it be possible for you to try your new Seagate 120GB/5400 drive on your old T43 (not p) and tell us if you see the 2010 error message ? Thanks a lot, Gilles

I have just replaced the previous harddrive(Seagate 100GB/5400 )which occurs 2010 err msg in my old T43(2668-46U,Bios 1.22 1YET57WW 7/20/2005) by Seagate New 120GB/5400 which keeping T43P driver images and used as a main harddrive of my new T43P (with NO 2010 msg).
Result; 2010 msg was NOT detected in T43(not P) and looks like fully operational.
Maybe this new harddrive has new firmware fitted to IBM harddriver criteria.
Does someone try to fit the newest Seagate 100GB/7200rpm harddrive to T43/P?

i get the 2010 error with a new 100gig 7200RPM travelstar on my new T43p 2668Q2U..

It is strange.
Are you talking about 100GB/7200rpm travelstar which already equipped in 2668Q2U as a original main harddrive ?

Edward, I don't know if you'll find this helpful, but I bought the hard drive at a local computer store in Monterrey, Mexico called PC City.

For what it's worth, I browsed newegg and found that while they don't carry the exact model I'm using, they do have anoher line of Fujitsu HDDs that are listed in the IBM firmware update page.

Those models are MHT2060AT and MHT2080AT which have 60GB and 80GB capacities.

You can check out the hard drive update page for yourself at:
http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... yout=print

Good luck!

OK, I hope this information helps some of you.

As far as updating the firmware on Hitachi drives NOT purchased from IBM, this is likely a dead-end.

Here is why:
I had a 7K60 60GB 7200rpm Hitachi drive that I had purchased from a vendor on the web.
After IBM released the firmware updater program, I tried to update the 7K60 firmware.
I would get a message that the firmware had been successfully updated, but when I rebooted the notebook and went into device manager, the drive showed the old firmware revision. I repeated this several times, and still saw the old firmware revision.

So...I called Hitachi....and HERE is why it didn't work...

Hitachi manufactures the drives for IBM with an EEPROM chip (eraseable, re-programmable) for the firmware.

Hitachi manufactures most other drives with a PROM chip for the firmware (programmable ONCE).

The drives manufactured with PROM's can NOT be flashed. No how, NO WAY. Doesn't matter how many times you try, won't work, because a PROM can only be written to once.

This is like the difference between a CD-R and a CD-RW.

Why do they use a PROM instead of an EEPROM for most drives?
Simple...it saves them a few pennies per drive because the PROM costs less!!!

They figure that 99+ % of people won't need to flash their drive firmware.

IBM drives have EEPROM's because IBM spec'd the drives from Hitachi with EEPROM's.

Anyhow, this was on a T42, so I was not dealing with the 2010 error. I was simply trying to update my 7K60 firmware.

I confirmed this with Hitachi technical support.

Anyhow, hope this helps.

I didn't read this entire thread, so I didn't know if this had been covered.

Andrew
Austin, TX

Thank you for information,but still I have a question.
Any type(EPROM or PROM) of 7k100 are the very latest HDD,so Firmware maybe same in both HDD(I guess).If so , it must be same symptom on 2010 error message.
But reality is.......
I heard that 7K100 performance is much greater than old 7k60.
Should I buy 7K100 or not? It's a problem!

BTW, I expect New Seagate 100GB/7200rpm does not bring 2010 err msg,because NO 2010 err msg on the New Seagate 120GB/5400rpm HDD (I verified)
Does someone try to buy and check Seagate 100GB/7200rpm HDD?

I would not assume for a minute that the firmware would be the same in a 7K100 from a web-vendor vs a 7K100 that would come in a T43/p Thinkpad from IBM/Lenovo.

It is very likely that there is some different data in the firmware between Hitachi drives manufactured specifically for IBM/Lenovo and drives sold to everyone else.

Keep in mind that IBM/Lenovo is a huge customer and can easily get their drives manufactured to their specs. A Hitachi drive made for IBM/Lenovo is NOT going to get a 2010. That much is guaranteed. Keep in mind that Hitachi drives used to be a division of IBM.

As for Hitachi drives that you buy somewhere on the web:
There is NO TELLING if it is going to work without the 2010 or not without trying it. Chances are good that you will get the error.

7K100 has better performance than the 7K60 on paper. What difference you will see "real world" I am not sure. The 7K60's are virtually gone at this point. The 7K60's performed so much better than any other notebook drive that the only good reason to go to a 7K100 is to get the 80GB or 100GB size. And, at this point, we don't know that they can be made to work without the error.

The bottom line is:
If you have a working drive in a Thinkpad, I would think long and hard before dropping in ANY drive that can not be returned for a refund.

Andrew
Austin, TX

OK, I have given in

Can anyone tell me where I can get an official IBM 7200rpm drive from in the UK. I dont care how much it costs anymore, I just want better performance from my T43

I kinda find it hard to believe Hitachi would cheap out and use PROM on their HD's...

if there is a defect, and a firmware update *is* needed... they would have to do a recall, or face a class action lawsuit like IBM did with the faulty Deskstar 75GXP (there have been others, but don't remember them specifically).

It seems unusual that they would assume so much liability over a few cents.

The brilliance of firmware is that you can update your defective products after they ship, and prevent recalls, lawsuits, etc.

I understand why IBM wants flashable drives They aren't stupid.

Call their tech support number and ask them. Maybe they gave me bad information, who knows? But, the explanation did explain why the drive would not update.

Andrew
Austin, TX

I don't doubt what they told you. Though I wonder how much tech support knows about engineering (typically nothing).

It just strikes me as strange that they would be so confident in their firmware. As anyone with a computer knows: firmware has had it's share of issues over the years.

Well, I have swapped back with the original HDD that came with my Thinkpad which is 5400RPM 80GB. I was getting error 2010 with Hitachi 60gb 7200rpm. and not only that, I was always having difficulty to resume from suspend. Many times when I tried to resume, it was not reliable. Basically I was getting a blank black screen, and at the end I had to reboot again from fresh. Or resume could take me over a minute with non original harddrive. It's funny that non proprietary harddrive could make a difference. I don't know if it happens the same thing with you guys.
So it was very annoying.

I am using Seagate 5400.2 100GB right out of the box on my T41p.
I did not do a BIOS upgrade since everything is working fine w/o the upgrade. Perhaps all these problems are specific to T43/p but here is my basic philosophy.

"If ain't broken don't fix it" My current BIOS is working fine so I am going to leave it as it is unless I am forced to do so due some software upgrade necessary.

We've already determined that it's T43/p (and R52 - same chipset) specific, daeojkim...

It's actually related to the interface chip that the T43/p uses for the IDE HDDs, which is apparently incompatible with most drives, except for ones with custom IBM firmware.

You're perfectly safe to update your BIOS. You may want to find out what version you've got, and what changes the newer versions have, to see whether you actually want to upgrade, as there are things that work fine, but work better with a BIOS upgrade.

Is this specific to the T43p? Or is it the entire T43 series?

Entire T43 - that's why I put T43/p, and not T43p.

Actually, it's "specific" to all IBM i915-based laptops, except for the Z series.

That's the T43/p, the R52, and the X41/T.

Nobody's seen it in the X41, though, because third-party drives are nearly impossible to find, and Toshiba's aren't at all compatible, so 60GB is the biggest, and IBM sells that.

So we are sure the Z series do not have this problem? I was thinking of getting one anyway, this could swing it in the event of not being able to get 7200 for my T43

The Z series uses a SATA HDD, so it doesn't have the convertor chip that's causing these problems.

So, it'll need a new drive - no moving drives from older ThinkPads, as the older drives are all PATA, and totally incompatible.

However, if you were going to get a new drive ANYWAY, the cheaper 7K100s are all SATA