Thinkpad R50 model 1829-7RG. All factory original, except for 2GB installed RAM (tested ok!). BIOS defaults loaded. Latest BIOS is installed.
Initiating a factory restore from the predesktop of the original HD (accessed with the blue "Access IBM" button at startup).
First phase (copy files) runs ok. Reboot
Second phase (unzip files) runs ok. Reboot.
Third phase (looks like some setups running in DOS mode) runs ok. Reboot
Fourth phase: System starts up in WinXP mode, then switches to a black screen with just a mouse pointer visible. Some alternating disk activities and pausing. After a while a BlueScreen shows up. It goes away very fast. The only thing I can recognize is the error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.
System then reboots into WinXP. Looks like a standard installation, but without any of the expected modifications (drivers, apps, etc. from the factory restore).
No obvious way to resume the factory restore.
Anybody having an idea what the problem is?
I removed one memory module, but the error shows up at 1GB too.
I also tried out some alternative BIOS settings (HD DMA mode, PCI IRQs, etc) that are in general known/suspected to sometimes cause problems. But that didn't help either.
I am pretty clueless how to get out of this situation. Since the R50 is a good old IBM product, I believe the factory restore was tested thoroughly and must have worked. But maybe not with the latest BIOS? Not sure that new BIOSes have been tested to work with factory restore. But currently the only reason I can think of why the restore fails is the new BIOS.
Any ideas, thoughts welcome...
