Thinkpads Forum

I run a computer shop, and recently had a customer bring in some OLD 380D thinkpads after getting into BIOS and setting it up to boot from the CD-ROM first, I put in the WIN 95 disk and it is saying missing operating system, so I tried to install WIN 98 since it has bootable media on the CD it asks me if I want to boot from the CD_ROM or from the hard drive i choose the CD ROM and it just freezes< any ideas

Do you have a floppy for the 380s? (sounds like not).

Don't recall Win98 setup disks being bootable - I always thought you booted from a floppy and then ran the setup.

I guess if I were in your shoes I'd try to make a bootable CD from the Win98 boot floppy, use that to boot the 380, and then transfer the system files and ASPI drivers to the C: drive (you'd have to edit config sys to load the drivers right) so you could boot from the HD and then install from the CD....

Probably a lot easier to dig up a floppy drive somewhere.

If you don't have a boot floppy, go to http://www.bootdisk.com . Also, make sure the hard dirve is properly partitioned and formatted. Also, make sure the computer has at least 16mb RAM. 32 or more would work best with 98 though.

Yes, I used to have a 380...it has both a floppy and a CD drive piggy-backing each other.

When I first got my 380ED (which I use on an almost daily basis), I remember one of the first things I noticed and took immediate liking to about the machine is the fact that it has both drives built in. That and the keyboard are the two best features about that machine. The worst thing on the machine is the mediocre screen. It looks decent, but compare it to just about anyhting else and you'll see that the screen is not the brightest around.

Thank you al so much for your help, when it comes to computers I'm more of a new schol repair man, these older machines are realy throwing me of. But then again what else could i expect living in Misouri where most people are just now even hearing about computers

leroyvoyles wrote:I run a computer shop, and recently had a customer bring in some OLD 380D thinkpads after getting into BIOS and setting it up to boot from the CD-ROM first, I put in the WIN 95 disk and it is saying missing operating system, so I tried to install WIN 98 since it has bootable media on the CD it asks me if I want to boot from the CD_ROM or from the hard drive i choose the CD ROM and it just freezes< any ideas

Go into the bios, and check out the startup order. Make sure the CD-ROM is at the top of the list and enabled. When the Windows install restarts your computer after it's initial setup, turn the computer off and back on. Enter the BIOS and change the order so that the HD is the first item on startup. Then restart and let Windows setup boot off the HD to complete the install.