From: Heinz Kreft (heinz.kreft_at_kt-engineering.de)
Date: Fri Dec 15 2000 - 16:55:22 EST
Hello Bob,
From time to time there are threads about this theme, TP600X and "partitions
problems". Due to my knowledge they all have the same reason! I run into
this problem about 6 month ago with my new NT2000 partition on a 18 GB
Travelstar hard disk. The end of that story was that I lose this partition
completely. Of course, I had backups, but the real problem was that the "IBM
TP PBUG" (my name for that phenomen) generates follow-up-bugs on the
data/registry LATER (on every start/down) on that partition!
Facts (example for a TP600X [all BIOS releases] with a DARA 21800, Feb 2000
IBM Spez. 17.01.2000)
============================================================================
=====================
This notebook harddisk had 35.433.216 User LBA´s (IBM Spec), resulting in
18,1418GB capacity. That is the true capacity. The phys. CHS mapping of the
notebook bios results in 2343 Cyl., 240 Hds and 63 Sect. This resulted into
a reachable capacity of 35.426.097 LBAs. We lost 7119 LBAs! [primary
partition, boot Sector and partition loader, Space up the a whole cyl.]
This is only true, if the harddisk was partitioned on the IBM TP notebook.
A "normal PC" has usual a different CHS mapping for that drive. My IBM
NetVista (also an IBM!) reports a CHS mapping of 2205 Cyl., 255 Heads, 63
Sects. From this calculation, you get a reachable capacity of 35.423.262
LBAs (first 63 sects needed for primary partition, boot sector and
part.,-loader). In this case, we get for our W2k partition 9954 LBA´s LESS
that avail. user LBA´s.
In both above cases, I assume that the boot sector is correct filled with
the heads numbers from the CHS mapping and the total NTFS/FAT sectors
(=LBA´s). The size in the primary partition table is always only 10 bits for
the cyl., numbers, so that is never a problem. But the Num Sects in the
partition table should be correct (= LBA´s).
Results
=======
The problem begin a that point, when the bios of a system get the CHS
mapping not out from the partition table of an already partitioned drive,
but from an extedned bios interrupt and when there is a mismatch of the CHS
mapping. Then the boot drive cannot be booted, because of never finding the
needed OS files - means cannot find the OS partition - of the booted drive.
The other more dangerous problem is, that the partition table size is not
correct - with such a drive you will have your last ride with CHKDSK and
DISKEEPER or similar tools unter w2k!!!
Problem
=======
If you don´t partitioned your drive on the later used TP system, the
possibility of getting a CHS mapping different to X:255:Y is very high! The
other way is to use tools like partition magic etc. The IBM bios seems to
replace the CHS mapping found on the HD with that what it gets from an
extended BIOS interrupt (CHS = X:240:Y). If the number of heads is identical
this the results from that, what the ibm BIOS thinks - ok, no problem else
!!!
Solution
========
It seems the exist a workaround for the TP600X:
1) Partition and use the HD on the same system (here on the IBM Thinkpad).
Usage of tools like Partition Magic is forbidden!
2) Delete any partition on the Hard drive you want to use, insert this HD
into your TP, Power on, BIOS-Setup, select & enter "INITIALIZE", go out of
BIOS setup, Power Down, Restart. This seems to be a "learning curve" for the
BIOS for that specific HD. Then put the wanted partition on that drive BY
USING THE TP YOU USED ALREADY BY BIOS-SETUP.
Hope this will help,
Heinz
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Bob Greschke [mailto:bob_at_passcal.passcal.nmt.edu]
Gesendet: Freitag, 15. Dezember 2000 21:05
An: THINKPAD_at_cs.utk.edu
Betreff: Linux 7.0 on a 600X?
It ain't going so well. I don't even LIKE Linux (that much), and my
Linux Knowledge Index is about 4 (long time user of UNIX -- but that's
about it). However, after 16 hours of downloading the CDROM images
(at work, on a REAL network) I felt compelled to give it a try. The
only reason that I messing with it is to work on work software which
is all UNIX/Linux. I've got WinME in 8GB, and Linux partitions
(created with Partition Magic 6.0, because if I just shrank the
Windows partition the Linux installer couldn't find the free space --
strange) in the remaining 3.5GB.
Anyway, I installed everything (it doesn't look like Linux will ever
quite figure out the video chipset in the 600X), but at the "LILO
boot:" prompt all I get is "L", and then it tries to read from the
floppy drive for a few seconds, then it quits. If I stick in the boot
disk and Ctrl-Alt-Del the whole boot prompt comes up -- but I'm not
interested in booting from floppy. If I type "dos" at the boot prompt
it says "No image found" (which is really going to ruin my Christmas
if I've lost everything in Windows -- disk druid still sees it as a
Win95/DOS partition, though). Entering "linux" gets it booted up, but
not without the floppy. Once I get it going it seemed to be OK, until
I tried installing Xi Graphics' Laptop Accelerated-X server, then I
lost the use of my trackpoint (poking the reset button gets you out of
Gnome without a mouse :-).
It did keep warning about the 1024 cylinder limit being exceeded...is
that it? I had 6.1/6.2 installed at one time (but later went back to
all Windows) and they didn't seem to mind. I just put BIOS 50WW on a
couple of days ago.
Any hints? Thanks!
Bob
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Thu Jan 23 2003 - 09:56:39 EST