I've got a lil problem here, I've got an ibm thinkpad x31 that doesn't boot, it goes thru the post and all, but I get an error SGE401 Invalid Kernel. Now from what I've been able to gather from google, is that is an error due to a program called Safeguard Easy, which is great b/c now I've been able to download the tools necessary to fix it. however, the problem is that there are no peripherials attached to or for this laptop. so the only way to do the fix is via a usb drive, however, no matter what I do in the bios, it just won't boot from the usb flash drive that I have.

anyone got any ideas?

10/12/2005 1:01:35 PM

bous or madboozer i think might have a dock for this laptop - pray that they will let you use it and don't charge you a lot

10/12/2005 1:02:58 PM

is using a dock the only way to recover from this?

10/12/2005 1:04:38 PM

i'm too lazy to care - but it would give you a cd-rom that you could boot from

10/12/2005 1:06:48 PM

ok. thanks.

anyone else got any ideas?

10/12/2005 1:08:49 PM

Will it boot from a USB CD-ROM?

10/12/2005 1:14:45 PM

maybe, but I don't have a usb cdrom

10/12/2005 1:15:41 PM

go to best buy.

buy an external usb enclosure

insert a cd/dvdrom in there

plug into laptop

boot

enjoy

take back to best buy

10/12/2005 1:33:03 PM

what about other options, such as using a desktop machine to help out in the process.

10/12/2005 2:04:28 PM

fixed it by riggin up an adapter so that the laptop harddrive could connect to my pc via ide cable.

then formatted, reinstalled, yatta yatta.

the put laptop hdd back in, repaired a few things in the eprom and ramdisk.

blammo, laptop good to go.

total cost. $0.00

its way better when you can engineer something together rather than having to go out and buy the "recommended" crap from the company and spend too much cash.

have a nice day everyone!

10/13/2005 4:07:18 PM