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Question: Ibm laptop hard drive not recognized?

(Posted by: Ryan C on 2009-12-25 08:01:45)

I just got a 20gb IBM brand hard drive for my IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop and i slid it in the correct way and the hard drive light does come on, but when I go into winodws xp setup the hard drive is not recognized, and it says make sure your hard drive is in correctly (it is) and turned on. I can't find a switch anywhere to turn it off/ on could this be the problem? Maybe a driver? How could I install this driver. It is an ATA internal hard drive by the way.

Posted by: Nick L on 2009-12-25, 08:17:39

Hi Ryan, XP should have a set of generic drivers for your hard drive at the very least. It might be helpful though to go to IBM's website and download the drivers for your particular drive. Make sure that all the wiring is connected as it should be and make sure everything is secure and then reboot your laptop. Rebooting should force Windows to look for new hardware. Also, was there an installation disk with your new drive? If so, then the drivers will be on that. If you installed the drive before running the installation disk (assuming you had one), then XP wouldn't necessarily recognize it first time. But rebooting your computer in any case should force Windows to find any new hardware and locate the drivers for it. Good luck.