Thinkpad Easy-setup Gone, Can't Boot

[pcgal]

thinkpad easy-setup gone!
My thinkpad 600e (2645-a5u) would not boot. Error I9990305, no bootable device. Ran easy setup and tested all. Hard drive was not accessible so determined that part was bad. Replaced hard drive. On first boot it required a power on password and I could not get back into easy setup. I did not know password as I got this laptop used. Disconnected the cmos battery for a few seconds to clear password. Did not work. Found, duh, in the manual how to short BitX and successfully cleared the password requirement. Now when I turn it on I get the password screen which I clear by pressing enter; then it starts processing but I get error 173 and message 'configuration data lost. Then the screen shows a box with a stop hand message and repeats the errors 173, 163. At the bottom I can click OK or Cancel. However clicking either one just stops all activity. I have tried to boot using the F1 key to get into Easy Setup Bios but it does not work. Easy setup appears to just be completely gone. I had thought it would boot similiar to a desktop and allow me to reenter the needed data and load my new hard drive but it won't.

Surely there must be a way to reload easy setup or get into the basis bios of this machine and set it up but I can not find out how and I have searched the internet extensively, including the IBM sites. I am hopeful that someone on this site can assist me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, PCGal