Installing Win98 [IBM Thinkpad 380ED] Not as easy as I thought....

romanntiko · #1 09-12-2003, 04:54 AM

I am about ready to throw in the towel on this one. Hopefully you guys can assist me on this one.

I have an old IBM Thinkpad 380ED (collegue gave it to me). I decided to wipe the partition so that I can start a super clean install. I deleted the partition and that was probably my mistake. I can no longer get the system to run properly.

1. First I check the boot order and I played w that and the results were negative. I went from Floppy, CD, HD, then CD, Floppy, HD, then tried Floppy, CD, and vise versa, lastly one individually. Negative results....

I attempted to do what I normally do which is pop in my boot disk and install CD. You can hear the system reading the disk and then the CD-ROM, but it won't continue.

When I changed the boot order to CD-ROM first, I got as far as the system prompting to select the installation support, when I clicked on number 2 the cd sounds like it going to start up the install and then it dies.

What intrigues me is that I popped in a Maxtor hard drive prep cd disk and the companion boot disk and it loads all the way until it detects that I am not running a maxtor drive.

So the CD and Floppy are working... It just won't load the 98 boot disk or CD install disk.

What I am starting to assume is that the BIOS will not let me upgrade unless I have the recovery disks or something. Is this possible?

Any suggestions?

snowmonkey · #2 09-12-2003, 11:28 AM

Don't throw the towel in Yet. I do carry about five boot disk with me when I want to look at a system. Casue sometimes one disk won't work properly in one system but it does on other (I'm puzzled with that too). Get yourself another boot disk or two and set the boot to start from floppy again and give it another shot.

Let us know

cheers

romanntiko · #3 09-12-2003, 02:36 PM

Update:

I went ahead and used Win2k boot disks, and it worked! It was willing to install the OS. However I do not want Win2k because of its size and the strain it will have on the Thinkpad.

What do you guys suggests now? I was thinking of doing the install and then separating the partition into two. Then installing 98, lastly changing the drive letter. Would this work?

R

Jane Lu · #4 03-16-2005, 05:31 PM

Try Winme Startup disk or Partition Madic disks.

Sgood1971 · #5 03-17-2005, 11:15 AM

also, you could try the Ultimate Boot Cd It's loaded with tons of utilities that could help you out. At any rate it is a good tool to have in your toolbox.

Dan Penny · #6 03-21-2005, 02:26 PM

Download this bootdisk. Place a known good floppy in your drive and then click on the downloaded file. It will then format and create a bootdisk on your floppy.

Boot the IBM with this bootdisk and when you get the A:\> prompt, type in;

fdisk

hit ENTER. Hit enter again to choose Y to large disk support if presented. Then choose option 4 - Display partition information. post back EXACTLY what it says.

romanntiko · #7 03-21-2005, 02:54 PM

Thanks a million guys! I managed to get this running via 98 SE! You guys are the best!

Thanks again!

Daniel

Dan Penny · #8 03-21-2005, 04:33 PM

You didn't mention exactly what transpired for future readers use of this topic, (hint hint) but glad you got it running.

Mike Ward · #9 04-05-2005, 12:16 AM

Daniel,

What did you do to load win 98se? I am having trouble as well. I can load win 98, but not win 98se.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

Dan Penny · #10 04-14-2005, 09:00 AM

Mike,
Sorry for being away for so long. If you haven't already, you should start a new topic as opposed to jumping into someone elses. This topic is solved and should be considered as closed.

Provide as much info as possible re; what you have for hardware/software, what bootdisks you're using if any, error messages, etc.

dory · #11 02-28-2007, 01:53 PM

hi all
i have the tank ibm 380ed but not working
when i start power on i have the first secreen error
big ERROR on the secreen before starting boot a: or c: or d:
after memory test i have this error
whats the problem please
thanks befor all

pip22 · #12 03-01-2007, 01:00 AM

Hi dory. As Dan Penny says (previous post) you should not "jump in" on someone else's thread with a problem of your own. That just causes confusion for everyone. I've been on forums where "jumping in" is rampant. You don't know who's replying to who. What a mess. Start a new thread please. This one is closed.