[Nottingham] IBM Thinkpad hard drives (OT)

[John]

A bit OT, I know, but....


I've got an IBM Thinkpad R31 here, which is a decent spec. I was using 
it for VectorLinux, but the hard disk has gone for a Burton. I had a 
spare 10Gb laptop hard drive kicking around, but after fitting it to 
test, it won't get past the BIOS splash screen. I've done some 
searching, and I think that IBM put some nastiness in the firmware of 
the replacement Hitachi drives so that you are tied into buying a proper 
part, which works out at £150 instead of about £40. Googling for a way 
around this hasn't revealed a solution as yet.

Dos anyone have any experience with the above problem?

TIA

John