[vanillared]

I am using: Product: ThinkPad Z60m 2529-EAU
Operating system: Windows XP

Processor: M 760(2GHz), 1GB RAM, 100GB 5400rpm HD, 15.4in 1680x1050 LCD, 128MB ATI Radeon X600, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, 6c Li-Ion, WinXP Pro

I have scoured the internet trying to find a problem similar to my own. However, I can't try any of the fixes I have seen to problems similar to mine. After the bios loads the computer stops all the whirring and spinning noises and is left with a black screen with a blinking cursor. I cannot type anything into the cursor either. The hard drive lights come on during the period before the black screen.

This problem occurred after trying to resolve an infinite restart loop using the windows cd repair console. As stupid as it sounds I couldn't remember my administrator password because of using my fingerprint reader and I guessed the three alloted times. I would then press enter to restart the computer. I did this three times trying to remember my password. After the third restart the bios loaded and then I came to the aforementioned black screen.

When the computer is starting up the IBM thinkvantage software says "Press blue thinkvantage button to interrupt normal start up". When I do this I am given 4 options. Press F1 to enter setup (bios), press F11 to diagnose hardware and system problems (thinkvantage repair console), press F12 to choose temporary boot device, and resume startup normally. I have tried changing the security setting within bios and changing bios setting back to the defaults. I have tried to tell the system to boot from CD in bios and through the F12 prompt. I done a hard reset and removed the battery. I have tried using a CD that has a separate operating system loaded into it so that I can start access files. All of the steps I have tried lead to the same black screen.

I am not sure what else I might try to fix my computer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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i am sorry i do not have an answer for you BUT......i have the EXACT same problem with one of my computers. I usually nerver shut my computer off. When I did this weekend, it would not turn back on. Now I get the bios screen and then a black screen with a blinking curser. I have tried to repair with the windows disk without much luck.

Anyone have any answers for us?

[Namflow]

i am sorry i do not have an answer for you BUT......i have the EXACT same problem with one of my computers. I usually nerver shut my computer off. When I did this weekend, it would not turn back on. Now I get the bios screen and then a black screen with a blinking curser. I have tried to repair with the windows disk without much luck.

Anyone have any answers for us?

[Namflow]

I just spoke to a friend of mie who knows computers (better than I).......he says that he thinks its the bios battery. He says to check the voltage and make sure you are getting 3 volts. If not, change the battery. He says it looks like a big watch battery and it is located on the motherboard. I am going to change mine tonight. Good luck

[Namflow]

changed the battery and nothing changed Looks like I wil need to reformat and reinstall windows. I have been searching for this problem, found a few other people that have had it and can not find a fix for it. If anyone has any ideas, please pm me. Good luck

[vanillared]

Thanks I will try that and see what happens.

[vanillared]

Sorry I had family come in to town and had to put troubleshooting to the side for a time.

So I went into bios and removed all options from the boot list. Saved and exited and got a slightly new screen saying "unable to find operating system". I then returned to bios and only unable my hard drive. This lead back to the same blank screen with the blinking cursor of mockery. So I only enabled the CD/DVD drive and was able to have the windows disk load. Now I get to the console where it asks whether you would like to install windows, recover existing system or to restart doing nothing. When I enter [R] it loads the recovery console and brings me to a screen with C:/ but doesn't continue to load anything. It says this is the command prompt recovery console or something like that.

Now I have tried some other things tp lead me to believe that the hard drive has been locked. First, the recovery console doesn't find a operating system to repair, apparent from its lack of progress. When I Have the boot list have the CD/DVD and then the hard drive listed and nothing else, the blank screen rears it ugly head. Next I have a Linux kernel on CD that has a password reset utility that I tried to use to go in and fix the earlier password issue. This CD operating system could not find any partitions with which to find windows. Even further when I try to access the think vantage rescue and recovery console from IBM with only CD/DVD in the boot list, it comes back with a blank screen saying no operating system found.

Does this sound like my hard drive is locked to anyone? Is there a way to unlock the hard drive with software from a boot CD?