The 3 Lenovo/IBM laptops were all of the same model and from
the same lot. The first one started by randomly dropping the
2nd drive, then it started dropping either the 1st or 2nd drive,
then while trying to find the problem there was a popping sound
and the smell of the magic smoke that makes chips work. Opening
the case showed the drive controller chip cracked in half. IBM
replaced the whole mobo, problem went away

Two days later the next one came in with a description that the
second drive would spin up during boot, but wasn't visible from
windows. (Or the linux CD I tried). I pulled the drive and stuck it in
a cradle and it showed up fine. So I pulled the primary drive out of
the laptop and swapped places (making the primary secondary, and
the secondary the primary). Booted with linux CD, and could only see
the secondary drive that was set up as primary. Opened the laptop
case to see if the secondary drive header was loose, broken, etc. and
noticed that the controller chip color was distorted and then stupid
me touched it and burned my fingertip. IBM replaced the MOBO,
problem went away.

Computer number 3 came in about a week with a report of the primary
drive 1 spinning up, but not booting. Checked the drive in another computer
and it was fine. Booted the laptop off a linux CD and it booted fine. Opened the
laptop case and the board around the drive controller chip had turned brown
from overheat.  IBM replaced the MOBO, problem went away.

My guess was that IBM/Lenovo just got a bad batch of drive chips and I got the
misfortune of getting the bad ones. They replaced the mobos without any fuss.

My suggestion would be to open your laptop case and check the drive controller
chip for cracks, discoloration, or heat damage on the board.  The chip is usually
right behind drive bay and is not normally over 110 degrees Fahrenheit ;-)


_______________________________________________________________________________
Cris Wilson
Information Resource Consultant
College of Architecture, Arts, & Humanities
Clemson University
Report computer problems to aah_computers@clemson.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Dr Skip
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 4:25 PM
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: Re: [EE] debugging/disk help needed

Ouch! It's an Acer - the world's worst for support. Was it exactly the same, or
did they drop out at other times/ways? I wouldn't even send it to them to look
at - my past discussions with them left me feeling like they knew less than the
average user...

Was it the chip itself - newer firmware or failure? Or was it a mobo connection
perhaps? Did you ever find out if it was a power or signal issue?



On 3/30/2010 4:12 PM, William Wilson wrote:
> I've had something similar happen on 3 lenovo/IBM laptops and every time
> it was the drive controller chip on the mobo. Replacing the mobo fixed the
> problems with the drives dropping out.
> 
> It may be worth checking 
> 
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