cf28 - Problem booting past bios, powers on ok.

Hi, I have a cf28 1Ghx laptop which I bought 2ndhand. It has worked fine until a month or two ago since when it will not boot to an os.
The machine is configured to dual boot linux and rarely windows. When this problem first started, I had booted into xp to check the look of a web page in ie. Part way through my work, windows hung, not a surprise really, but ctrl-alt-del would not force a reboot and I needed to do a hard power off.
Subsequently, the laptop powers on and I can access the bios with f2 and see the hard disk info, but if I allow it boot normally the Panasonic splash screen comes on, the f2 bios prompt is displayed and goes off and the Panasonic logo remains on. No further action is possible. ctrl-alt-del will not reboot and the laptop requires a power cycle from the power switch until the long beep is heard.
I have tried the original 2.5 disk in another laptop and it works fine, conversly a new (known good) drive in the cf28 produces the boot failure. The bios in both cases shows the disk type and size, 30GB on the original disk and 80 GB for the new one.

I am a bit stuck now, none of the forum posts I have found seem to describe this problem. If it is the motherboard faulty I would not expect the laptop to power on at all, likewise with the CPU.

I have removed memory, cdrom, wireless cards etc, but with no difference.

Regards,
Andrew.

 

Have you tried to replace the MBR using mbr.exe? If your machine was setup with XP as the primary OS and linux as the secondary, then any corruption to your MBR would cause this issue. It's an easy fix; one worth at least trying out.

 

My first guess would be a faulty HDD ribbon cable or connectors. Look very carefully around the connector ends for damaged conductor traces, and look for tiny tears, especially where it turns at right angles. Remember too that the MB end of the ribbon can be finicky; it will press in another 1/16" or so after the HD cage is in place.

Doobi-
He did say the HD works in another machine, so I'm inclined to think hardware, not software on this one...

mnem
How hard is YOUR drive?

 

But the fact that he can't duplicate the problem with a known working drive, and CAN duplicate the problem in a different machine using the "bad" drive points to a software problem to me. And since the MBR is stored in the boot record of the drive.....

 

Doobi-

Read the post again; he said that known good drive did NOT work...



I've seen exactly this kind of behavior more than once on a PC with a damaged ribbon connector; it reads the drive info in BIOS, but can't find the boot sector.

mnem
Why can't I stop typing with my thumbs?

 

I would still try to reimage a known working hard drive and reload the OS. Who know what is on the other drive... I would also reset the BIOS back to default configuration and start over...

 

Ok, first, although it pains me to admit it, Mnem is right. I did misread your post.... Man, that hurt.

Second, I did some googling of your problem and the consensus is thus:

1. Your CMOS battery can, in fact, cause your 28 to not recognize the HD and not allow it to boot to it. (this would, of course, be duplicated when putting a known working HD in your 28).
2. Your cables can be kinked/cracked/broken (again duplicating the problem when installing a known working HD)
3. The HD could have failed (But since you state it works in another laptop, I would say this isn't your problem)
4. The HD controller on the MB could have failed (again duplicating the problem when installing another drive)

To continue your troubleshooting, I would suggest replacing the CMOS battery and see if that works. If it does not, then you would be looking for a bad cable. If all that checks out, then replace the MB.

 

Just one thing to add to this is to make sure that you push the hard drive connecter on the caddy in firmly to the m/b
It's not good enough just to lock the caddy in place


Alex

 

Doobi -

You're absolutely right, the CMOS batt can cause the HD to not be recognized in BIOS, tho Andrew DID state that it DOES identify in BIOS...Mmhmmmmm...

Andrew -

Does your ToughBook keep the correct date & time in BIOS?

Alex -

I did mention the MB end of the cable as well, tho I suppose I could have gone into more detail. My first ToughBook gave me fits for the better half of a morning before I figured that one out.

mnem
What is that smell?

 

Thanks all for the volume of replies!
I'll try to reply to all the comments:-
No I have not tried mbr.exe. The machine is set up with windows as the first partition and linux as the second. Windows is almost never used. Lilo is used to handle booting, running mbr.exe if I could actually boot from a cdrom or disk would overwrite lilo's mbr. Lilio is not as forgiving as grub so I'd rather not overwrite the mbr.
Anyway, the hd works fine in another laptop so I guess the HD is ok.

I have checked the hd connector on the motherboard, it is firmly in place. I cannot see any signs of damage on the caddy connector. Anyway it was working fine and went wrong during normal operation.

Bios clock seems to keep time ok, I have reloaded the bios defaults but with no difference. I cannot see any signs of a bios battery, everything else seems easy to get to. Is it well hidden?

I have checked the hd connector is pushed down firmly.
One other point, not sure if it is connected. I have a new battery (3rd party off ebay) fitted, it doesn't seem to charge now, so I have had to do all the tests on mains. The old battery had minimal life, the new one seemed fine whilst the TB was working.

Dooby suggests changing the Motherboard. As I don't have one to hand :-} I have looked on ebay, the 800MHZ ones are there from time to time, but I have not seen a 1GHz one. Are there any UK based suppliers or repairers (If I get a new board and the same fault, it is a bit of a waste.) It may be better to get it looked at by an expert. I want (if it gets going) a new gsm/gprs antenna to replace the RIM module one, so a few suppliers would be good to know.

Regards,
Andrew