I have a windows XP IBM T30 laptop, and had a hard drive issue so tried a number of things to fix it. One thing was downloading a "repair" image (from a web site) burning it to CD and booting from it-- I think this CD reflashed some of my BIOS because since then it didn't boot with the same menu screens. I put the drive into an enclosure and could not read from it, got 'getdataback' and got only a small amount of (junk) back. So no biggie, I bought a new drive, formatted it NTFS (vista) and restored my backup copy of the original Hard Drive (13 CDs) onto it. All my PCs can read this new drive easily. It has 3 partions 100 Gb, 50 Gb and 89 Gb.

It still will not boot, the Intel Boot agent fails on boot. I never had an intel boot agent before burning and booting the 'repair' cd.

================================================
Intel(R) Boot Agent Version 4.1.07
Copyright (C) 1997-2002, Intel Corporation

Intel Base-Code, PXE-2.1 (Build 083)
Copyright (C) 1997-2002, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent
Operating System Not found
=================================================
I am told these are network errors- the pc is trying to boot on a network and cannot find it. I never had these before I ran that cd! (I have learned my lesson there).

As I just did a fresh recovery/ restore from CD backups to HDD, and can easily read the HDD, I think the issue is getting my BIOS back to the form it was in when this shipped, how do I do that?

If you have set up the boot sequence correctly in the cmos setup
1st = cd /dvd drive
2nd = diskette drive
3rd = hdd
4th = network

or similar - where the hdd is prior the network, then you have to consider, that a laptop
out of 2001 / 2002 has reached the end of its life ....

You could try to reset / store the cmos (its data) once again:
- change something, store cmos, restart laptop
- change cmos back to old value, store cmos, restart laptop

Sometimes there is a malfunction in cmos and above helps
It could also be a low cmos battery - its a tiny round lithium battery (like used for photo
cameras) covered by plastic on a small cable plugged onto the mainboard. IBM usually
hide them close to the big laptop battery. Take the big battery out and look for it.

If you take out the cmos battery / change it to a new one - you will have to set up all
cmos data again - date, time, boot order - the most parts beside this will be done
automatically

I personally think you should consider buying a new laptop

You could put the new harddisk into a usb case - and use it as an external drive.

+++

OK, I see the cmos battery underneath the main battery.

I'll give it a try.

I really love this laptop; I would hate to get a new one; but near the end of the road now so we shall see.