guys got a problem with my laptop

[kc2gub]

i received for free an ibm thinkpad, and want to reformat, i delted the orignal partition, created a new one, and then formatted using the win 98 boot disk so thats all set. This is where the problem lies, you can't have the cd rom and floppy in at the same time, only 1 in at a time, and i need the floppy to boot to the dos prompt, and then i need the cd rom to load the win 98 setup, but simply loading to the dos prompt with the floppy and then taking out floppy drive and putting in cd rom drive and trying to run the setup doesnt work, i tried making a bootable cd rom of the win 98 boot disk, but it doesn't boot on the laptop, so maybe the cd rom isn't bootable, who knows, but i really need help here, any help at all would be great. norecovery cd came with the laptop, anywhere i could download this or something?

thanks.

 

[kc2gub]

please...............

 

[HalfCrazy]

First I would go in the bios and check the bootup order. Make sure it's floppy, then cd-rom, then C: drive.

 

[kc2gub]

been there, failed that miserably....

 

[DeschutesCore]

Using the boot disk, sys the C: with the boot floppy, then copy the contents of A: over to the C: drive. Instant boot drive.

Aside from that, you can pick up a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for around $9-$20 at most computer stores and just copy the cab files over using another system.

DC

 

[kc2gub]

ok i got an ibm thinkpad bootdisk which seems to be better, but could you explain a little more, on what you mean about the "instant bootdrive"

thanks, please....

 

[DeschutesCore]

If you have a boot disk that loads a CD-ROM driver and is complaining because the CD-ROM is not installed, you'll have to get those files over to the C: drive so you can install the CD-ROM.

If the bootdisk is remotely normal, it'll have a command called SYS. All you have to do is boot from that disk, then type A:\SYS C:

From there, it'll take a few seconds, then state SYSTEM TRANSFERED. This means COMMAND.COM has been copied to the hard drive and it now has a boot sector that loads. Once that's done, tpye COPY A:\*.* C:\ and then reboot, if the bootdisk is a normal one, you should be able to use the CD-ROM.

Sometimes bootdisk will use a path instead of just the executable name, if that happens the bootup will comaplin that it can't find A:\CDROM.SYS and A:\MSCDEX.EXE, you'll have to edit config.sys and autoexec.bat.

Let me know if this doesn't work out. I'll send you an image you can use to make a normal boot disk.

DC

 

[Shalmanese]

98 should be a bootable CDROM IIRC

 

[kc2gub]

actually that would be great if you could send me a boot disk....i had one, but it got messed up, i guess you could post it here or email to kc2gub@optonline.net

thanks.

edit- so after doing the above my cd drivers will be on the hard drive, so would i put the floppy boot disk in and load it to the dos prompt, then would i remove the floppy drive and put in the cdrom drive and win 98 cd, and then run setup, and it should work since the cd rom drivers are on the hd?

 

[DeschutesCore]

A lot of older Thinkpads didn't support El Torito bootable CD-ROMs.

 

[kc2gub]

my ibm is an older one, and i think i read it doesn't support this...but your method would still work? could you send me that boot image and answer my edit i made above, thanks man, plz be patient, lol, i really need this fixed...

 

[DeschutesCore]

Sending it over...it's 844k compressed.

The bootdisk I just sent you is from bootdisk.com.

It should work perfectly. I just tested it on a laptop here, and it worked great when copied over to a hard drive. Just make sure you run SYS C:

DC

 

[Siddhartha]

I got around this problem by gettin an external floppy drive off of ebay for less than $20 (I really don't remember how much). You can get an external USB floppy drive from CompUSA too.