If that is the case, the machine requires a custom Master Boot Record and utility partition, usually installed by a ‘HDD prep utility’. Repair at this point would be to zero out the drive, obtain the ‘HDD Prep utility’, get it on a bootable media, boot it in the machine and run it.
I'm pretty sure that's the case. After a deep level format on a windows machine there is still less than 80G available. Where would I find the "prep utility"?
Heh... I don't know - usually it will be among downloads for the machine at the manufacturer's site. Like I said, I am not even sure if IBM (Lenovo) ever even used such a thing - Compaq was notorious for it, and a few others...
Please provide the model number/specs.
Do you have another known good drive to prove with? If TWO drives don't work, it has to be hardware interface or BIOS. Right now, the drive you have may well check out fine, but if the first sector is damaged, it will still BE fine, but will never boot. So it still could be the drive too...
Is the drive SMART capable? Can you see if it has moved clusters with a SMART utility?
Remove the drive, put it in a test machine and load DOS on it, put it back in the box and look for joy...
Wait a minnit - You don't get boot AT ALL, from any device? That isn't a utility partition thing - boot comes from proper BIOS, or one wouldn't be able to load the utility partition... So if BIOS is not seeing ANY boot, it has to be your DVD drive, or boot order or something. OR the drive controller on the MB sh*t the bed.
Prove the portable DVD *BOOT capable* on another machine.