[bdlt]

the bios issue will need to be addressed at some point. the laptop is booting to floppy, but not to the hard drive. the hard drive is either not in the boot sequence or is not formatted properly.

to check the hard drive status, boot from the floppy, then type dir c: at the a> prompt. there should be only one file listed - command.com. this won't help with the bios or cdrom issues, but it will tell if the hard drive needs to be reformatted.

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when I type dir c: at the a> prompt, I only get this message -

Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 3662-14D2
Directory of C:\

File not found
343,744,512 bytes free

(then below that the a> prompt appears again)

[finn209]

when I type dir c: at the a> prompt, I only get this message -

Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 3662-14D2
Directory of C:\

File not found
343,744,512 bytes free

(then below that the a> prompt appears again)

[bdlt]

to make this a bootable drive it will need to be reformatted.

format c:/s

the /s makes it bootable

again, this won't solve the bios and cdrom issues. if you decide to reformat, the laptop might then boot to the c: drive. if it does boot to c:, then the hard drive is in the boot sequence, otherwise it is not in the boot sequence. after formatting, enter dir c: and verify that command.com is listed.

[finn209]

thanks........I was formatting it without the /s.........so I formatted it again with that.............now when I type dir c: I get this message -

Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 3662-14D2
Directory of C:\

COMMAND COM 93,890 04-23-99 10:22p
1 file(s) 93,890 bytes
0 dir(s) 343,334,912 bytes free

[bdlt]

if you want to test the boot sequence, boot without the floppy. if successful, you will boot to the c> prompt.

the hard drive is now ready for setup. you might check with your friends about borrowing a cdrom. as for the bios - we need a bios expert to step in.

[finn209]

wow! at least it was successful in booting to the c> prompt.............so, do you think my cdrom is bad?..........I still have the floppy disk from IBM that says it has the cdrom drivers on it...........but I guess the win98 startup disk should have those drivers too......correct?

[bdlt]

the cdrom may be ok - the win 98 boot disk did not have the drivers for it.

I'm not sure what we can do here, but we can try. put the IBM disk into the floppy drive and look for a file named install or setup. or look at other .exe files that might be an install file. then type in the filename(.exe does not need to be typed). win98 may need to be installed, but we can try anyway.

look at .bat files, too.

[bdlt]

if we're real lucky, the label on the IBM disk may include the 'setup' command.

[finn209]

it looks like it has 3 exe files in it............here are their names -

IBMCDPLY

MSCDEX

PLAYCD

.........so........do I need to put this floppy in the laptop after booting it up..........and type in one of these at the a> prompt?

[bdlt]

nothing on the IBM disk label?

if not, my 1st choice would be MSCDEX

let's see what that does

[finn209]

you ain't gonna believe this! Windows 98 is installing right now......there may be a mistake or two.....but it's installing, so I'm happy for now........this command we talked about didn't work.....none of those 3 worked.......but you gave me an idea......I had another floppy for the thinkpad......it had an exe file on it called UINSTALL........I used that to install it........then used the UINSTALL on the cdrom floppy too......and I think it worked......or at least allowed me to boot up to the cdrom disk with the 98 cd in it......so I think I have it loading.....may be more mistakes in the near future, but definite progress has been made..........THANK YOU!

[bdlt]

thank you for being smarter than the thinkpad(among others)

please post your installation results, positive or negative

[finn209]

my installation results are positive!

Windows 98 is working fine on it.

I checked the c-drive and it shows 218 MB used.........and 109 MB free.........so I've used up 2/3 of it by installing 98 on it.........but at least it does run fine............thank you much!...........couldn't have done it without you!

[bdlt]

yhat's great news! good job on your end. have fun with your new toy.

[farewell]

I have the same problem here with my IBM365X Thinkpad

I cannot use "UINSTALL.EXE" .

After starting uinstall and finish installation error messages appear in the starting of Win(98) -Those error messages are --> Drive Not Found / TDPC001 NOT Found-

Please Help Me