Re: [Thinkpad] 5K80/New Firmware - Ongoing Saga Continues

And you've over simplified a situation, rendering it inaccurate.

The firmware was released to help support the AHP that was crashing on my
system. To stop it from crashing, I turned it off. That hardly qualifies
as "ain't broke", considering that that was one of the major selling points
of the T41 product line.

Further, I initially read the page and saw "60GB HD", which is why I went to
download it in the first place. When I saw it was the T41 but only the
7200rpm, I took a look at the read me and that that showed support for my
drive; I then called the tech support line to verify that this was for my
drive as well and was told that it wouldn't install if it wasn't.

So, if the readme had the model listed and the tech that I called said it
was OK and the software itself recognized the drive AND it said that it
supported the upgrade *AND* it was released to fix a problem that you had on
your machine, you would have downloaded it. It would be silly NOT to
download it, given that something wasn't working. Besides, if I remember
correctly, someone else did the exact same thing with an "unsupported" 40GB
drive and had the same results... haven't heard from someone with the
60GB/7200 drive, but they might have a problem too. Basically, their
firmware install and readme (and tech) were wrong in this and my drive got
wanked by them.

Sorry, but I followed the "correct" path for this from day 1. Called
support to see if this drive was supported and was told yes; now I'm told
no. Been treated to my first blue screens in years (on both HD's) and had
to sift through dozens of drivers and support files just to get them to
stop. In spite of it, I'm still digging this notebook, And I'm not even
complaining about being cheated out of 6GB or stuck with a drive that has no
warrantee, according to the manufacturer... I'm sharing this debacle to
stop other people from making the same mistake I have, because unless they
change the readme and the install, this same issue will happen again.

Cheers.

>From: "Bruce Markowitz" <scosgt@worldnet.att.net>
>To: "Starfire CT" <starfirect@hotmail.com>,<thinkpad@stderr.org>
>Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] 5K80/New Firmware - Ongoing Saga Continues
>Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 19:34:46 -0500
>
>But you broke the golden rule - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
>AND you applied a firmware upgrade to a drive it was not "meant" for -
>indeed, you were told not to do it, and it is not supported. So, what did
>you expect?
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Starfire CT" <starfirect@hotmail.com>
>To: <thinkpad@stderr.org>
>Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 6:18 PM
>Subject: [Thinkpad] 5K80/New Firmware - Ongoing Saga Continues
>
>
> > Past: Got a Hitachi 5K80, 60GB/5400rpm HD for a T41. Saw an upgrade for
>the
> > firmware on IBM's site to go from version A55A to version A5BA; hoped it
> > would help with Active HD Protection crashes. After it was installed,
>the
> > data was fine but I discovered that:
> > a) it "lost" the predesktop partition (F11 does nothing on a reboot)
> > b) broke the automated "restore" process of the IBM Disc's
> > c) made the predesktop partition unrecoverable (meaning that the 60GB
>drive
> > is currently 53.25)
> >
> > Present (update):
> > Sent an email to Hitachi about getting the original firmware, version
>A55A.
> > They told me that this is an IBM problem because they released the
>firmware.
> > Now, this is interesting, since Hitachi sends the firmware to IBM, but
> > that's OK.
> >
> > Sent an email to IBM that led to four phone calls. Basically, they keep
> > telling me that the firmware was for the 60/7200 ONLY. I keep telling
>them
> > that I called IBM Support and they said that if it wasn't supported by
>the
> > current drive then it would fail on the install; I also point out that
> > there's a readme that says that this drive is supported. They then told
>me
> > that it wasn't their problem because there wasn't an FRU on this
>particular
> > drive.
> >
> > After much ranting - after all, I DID call IBM about the drive I bought
> > before I bought it, as I was concerned about the AHP; they told me it
>would
> > be fine - they suggested that I run the Erase Disk utility on the
>Fitness
> > Test. I did this. In the utility, the Predesktop Partition is marked
>as
> > "Frozen" - the disk is marked at 57GB. Erase disk did erase the disk,
>but
> > it ended with a technology error, meaning to me that I should follow up
>with
> > Hitachi.
> >
> > Hitachi's web site tells me "That's an OEM serial, so contact the people
> > that sold it to you."
> >
> > Moral of the story is... I don't think I have one! I did everything by
>the
> > rules, this time, and still somehow got screwed.
> >
> > So it looks like I have the only 54GB/T41 in the world, unless I opt to
>sell
> > off the "54GB drive" on eBay and go 60GB/7200rpm.
> >
> > And don't be surprsied if the firmware readme and install changes to
>only
> > support the 60/7200 drive only - at least no one else will be effected
>by
> > this problem!
> >
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>

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Received on Mon Mar 1 19:50:57 2004