T400 boot time takes long time & has issue with restart [ Edited ]

[vegidio]

Hey folks,

I had exactly the same problem. Apparently my hard drive's master boot record (MBR) and the file allocation table (FAT) got corrupted but I managed to fix everything using Ubuntu Linux Live CD/USB:

1. Download Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download) and follow the instructions to create a bootable CD or a bootable USB stick
   
   
2. Reboot your computer using the Live CD/USB. After Ubuntu Linux loads follow the next steps to install the packages ms-sys (to fix the MBR) and testdrive (to fix the FAT - if necessary). You need a internet connection to download these packages.
3. Go to menu System > Administration > Software Sources
   
4. In the tab "Ubuntu Software": 1. mark the second checkbox Community-maintained Open Source software (universe)
   
5. In the tab "Other Software": 1. click on the button "Add..."; 2. enter the following text in the new window: deb http://cz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper main universe and click on "Add Source"; 3. click on the buttons "Close" and then "Reload".
   
6. Open a terminal and enter: sudo apt-get install ms-sys
   
7. Now enter: sudo fdisk -l to list the existing partitions installed in your computer. You will see something similar to this:
   
   Each partition starts with /dev/sdXY where X is a letter that represents the drive (a = master drive, b = slave drive, etc) and Y a number that represents the partition number. For example /dev/sda1 means that I have one partition available in the master hard drive.
   You basically need to look for the drive where Windows was installed in your computer; probably  it's the drive with System = HPFS/NTFS (if you use a NTFS file system) and Boot = * (it means the MBR is installed there). In the screenshot above Windows is installed in the partition /dev/sda1 so the drive is /dev/sda
8. Now enter: sudo ms-sys -m /dev/sdX (Attention: replace X for the appropriate drive letter where Windows is installed in your computer, without the partition number). If everything works fine until now then the MBR will be restored.

Reboot your computer now without the Ubuntu Linux Live CD/USB and check if your computer boots properly. If you see the error message Invalid Partition Table it means that we need to fix the allocation table as well. In order to do that please follow the extra steps below:

1. Repeat the steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 above.
2. Open a terminal and enter: sudo apt-get install testdisk
   
3. Select [ Create ]
   
4. Highlight the drive where Windows is installed (the same drive that you selected before when we fixed the MBR: /dev/sdX) then select [ Proceed ]
   
5. Select [ Intel ]
   
6. Select [ Analyse ]
   
7. Select [ Quick Search ]
   
8. Answer Y
   
9. Press Enter
   
10. Select [ Write ]
    

Now reboot your computer one more time without the Live CD/USB and hopefully your computer will boot properly this time (fingers crossed!). Good luck.

[heberje]

I have a similar issue except a bit different. Does your laptop ever boot? If it does boot eventually like mine does try to run the PC Dr. diags on your T400. PC Dr. is a part of the Lenovo Toolbox. See if anything gets flagged.

[heberje]

Hi Mark,

 Was there ever a resolution for this problem? I have the same issue with my T400, the 10 minute boot, I tried everything even reloaded everthing from scratch manually looped PC doctor for hours ran msconfig checked boot order and firmware. After 10 minutes my laptop boots to Windows and runs like a top until I have to power down and up again, This is very annoying and the fact that we are not seeing any hard errors adds to the frustration.

I don't think I could ever sell or recommend the T400 to any of my customers.

Regards

Jeff Hebert

www.jeskell.com

Moderator note; e-mail address removed to stop the spambots getting it

[vegidio]

---

heberje wrote:

I have a similar issue except a bit different. Does your laptop ever boot? If it does boot eventually like mine does try to run the PC Dr. diags on your T400. PC Dr. is a part of the Lenovo Toolbox. See if anything gets flagged.

---

Hi Jeff,

No, my laptop never boot. All I could see was the blinking cursor at the top left side of the screen for several minutes. Fortunately the Ubuntu Live CD guide that I posted before fixed the problem and everything is fine so far.

Regards,

Vini

[K_D_B]

Dear Sir,

If you have not found a solution to your problem, you may be interested in searching this forum for the solution adoped by "X200 takes forever to boot", another contributor. I just solved a "10 minute time to post screen" from cold starts, restarts, resume from hibernation, on my w700 2757cto by reverting my bios to the bios provided around the time I purchased the machine.  I had to flash the bios - the F9 default key didn't do it. I had the problem for almost 2 years and tried every solution I could think find, including the one involving ubuntu described above. Let me know if you need more information about what I did. Best.

[oconradsenn]

Hi I have a  Lenovo T400 too,  it is very slow in booting, 10 minutes before it get to the point where I type in the  Hard disk / system password.

I suspect the reason is that I have more than 4 GB memory,  ¤GB is the MAX supported config according to product information, however I have 6 GB in 2  Blocks.

I have set the bios to quick boot and disable mem test. But still it takes 10 minutes to get to the point where I type the HW password.

Then it boot as a dream, both LINUX and Win, the  Linux is a 64 BIT and recognize all 6GB where Win XP only see the 4 GB due to WIN limitations.

I will update this entry when I find time to un-plug one mem chip and verify that this is the issue :-)

until then I'd be happy to hear solutions on this issue :-)

[ColonelONeill]

The T400 should support 8GB.

Check to see if your BIOS is outdated. Maybe resetting the BIOS to default options will help?

[hubertlam]

It's not due to the hard disk: I've swapped the factory installed HDD with a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB recently and it still does this!

This blinking cursor does not appear when you are booting into Windows after installation (more specifically, the OOBE screens).

The occrrrence is strange: my T400 has AMT, enabled, and it occurs. My sister's T400, has AMT enabled; does not occur. My manager's T400 has no AMT, occurs!!!!

So it really cannot be AMT.

One possibility though: would it be Turbo Memory? My T400 and my managers T400 both have Turbo memory...

[ColonelONeill]

When I have turbo memory installed in mine, I have a ~12 second delay at boot. Try pulling the module or uninstalling the Turbo Memory driver in Windows (this gets rid of the 12 second delay but Windows no longer recognizes the Turbo Memory module).

[hubertlam]

Is there a real performance hit with Turbo Memory removed though?

I now have a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB installed in the T400 with turbo memory. Perhaps that now makes Turbo Memory redundant?