Hard drive to another machine?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave
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Dave

Hello,
I am troubleshooting a problem on an IBM Netvista where it appears
that something was damaged in a storm. Due to the age of the machine
and after checking the prices of parts, they are debating whether to
invest into fixing this machine or buying a new one. In the interim,
I am trying to get their disk drive recognized by another system that
they can use.

I can see the disk if I boot off another hard drive, I can see the
drive as D:. However, if I try to boot off the disk from the
Netvista, it returns an error "To start the IBM Product Recovery
program, press F11." Hitting F11 does not respond.

Is there a way to bypass the component that generates that message so
I can boot?

Thanks.
 
Dave said:
Hello,
I am troubleshooting a problem on an IBM Netvista where it appears
that something was damaged in a storm. Due to the age of the machine
and after checking the prices of parts, they are debating whether to
invest into fixing this machine or buying a new one. In the interim,
I am trying to get their disk drive recognized by another system that
they can use.

I can see the disk if I boot off another hard drive, I can see the
drive as D:. However, if I try to boot off the disk from the
Netvista, it returns an error "To start the IBM Product Recovery
program, press F11." Hitting F11 does not respond.

Is there a way to bypass the component that generates that message so
I can boot?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Put it in another Netvista.
 
CJT said:
Put it in another Netvista.
Click to expand...

I would love to...if there was one around.

So, they can see the disk information, but the only possible solution
to get the drive to boot again (without reformatting, etc.) is to find
another like machine? That seems a bit extreme.
 
Dave said:
I would love to...if there was one around.

So, they can see the disk information, but the only possible solution
to get the drive to boot again (without reformatting, etc.) is to find
another like machine? That seems a bit extreme.
Click to expand...

You can install on it a version of Windows compatible with the hardware
it's in, but you'll probably lose some settings in the process.

Or you can make it a secondary disk, as you said you did successfully,
but again you'll probably lose some settings.

Windows isn't as friendly to that kind of thing as some other OSs are,
especially when you don't plan ahead for it.
 
CJT said:
Dave wrote:

You can install on it a version of Windows compatible with the hardware
it's in, but you'll probably lose some settings in the process.

Or you can make it a secondary disk, as you said you did successfully,
but again you'll probably lose some settings.

Windows isn't as friendly to that kind of thing as some other OSs are,
especially when you don't plan ahead for it.
Click to expand...

CJT,
I appreciate the replies, but would like to ask another question or
two.

I'm not familiar with the IBM utilities, but you seem to be suggesting
that this is a Windows issue? The disk appears to hang with the
IBM-specific message prior to even getting to Windows.

Does the utility do something to the Windows boot process or the boot
sector that cannot be "turned off"? I just want to boot the
disk...I'm not concerned about utilizing the IBM "system restore," the
other "utilities" or returning the disk back to original
condition...the disk is fine (i.e., readable, formatted, etc.) I just
want to get past whatever the IBM software is doing in between.

FWIW, the alternate box installs the same version of Windows just fine
(no quirky drivers, or patches necessary to get it functioning).

Thank you,
Dave
 
Dave said:
CJT,
I appreciate the replies, but would like to ask another question or
two.

I'm not familiar with the IBM utilities, but you seem to be suggesting
that this is a Windows issue? The disk appears to hang with the
IBM-specific message prior to even getting to Windows.

Does the utility do something to the Windows boot process or the boot
sector that cannot be "turned off"? I just want to boot the
disk...I'm not concerned about utilizing the IBM "system restore," the
other "utilities" or returning the disk back to original
condition...the disk is fine (i.e., readable, formatted, etc.) I just
want to get past whatever the IBM software is doing in between.

FWIW, the alternate box installs the same version of Windows just fine
(no quirky drivers, or patches necessary to get it functioning).
Click to expand...

IBM machines often have a hidden partition containing system configuration
and recovery applications that is skipped over by the IBM BIOS, but a
non-IBM BIOS will try to boot that partition, which appears to be what is
happening in your case.
 
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