Thinkpads Forum

Okay, I installed Ubuntu Linux on my T20 a couple of weeks ago to test it out and make sure my ThinkPad just had a bad install of Windows. (I had just bought it on eBay and it was getting the blue screen and it didn't come with the restore disc) So today, my friend brought his Windows 2000 disc over (it should be legal for me to use it, since I have the Product Key on the bottom of my ThinkPad) and we tried to get it to boot from the CD to install Windows. Well, I went into the BIOS and set it up to boot from CD. After I exit the BIOS, it just goes straight into loading Linux, instead of booting from the CD. It also doesn't boot from the CD when I hit F12 to select a temporary boot device.

What do you guys think I should do? I'd like to be able to format my drive, then just install Windows 2000 on it. I don't wanna mess around with Linux anymore. (It's definitely not the most user-friendly OS and the reason I bought the ThinkPad was to run Windows, not Linux)

I have a Restore CD coming in the mail from a member on here, so once I get this straightened out, I plan on using that and restoring it to the factory settings. I was just wanting to go ahead and get Windows on it , so that I'll be able to start using it.

Anyway, if anyone can help me, I'd definitely appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

First of all, try another bootable CD. Your CD reader may not work with that CD. I have run into this problem before. I think that older CD readers don't always work with CD's that were burned with newer burners.

Is your friend's CD a pressed CD, originally from Microsoft? If it is, I believe it should work unless it is damaged. If it is a copied CD, you may not be able to get it to work with your existing CD reader.

A related example. On an older desktop PC, I have an old CD 4X reader, and a newer CD burner. I made a copy of a program CD then tried to install it from the 4X reader. The 4X reader only saw one big supposed MP3 file on the CD, but the newer CD burner could see all the files. However if I put the original pressed CD in the 4X reader, it read all the files just fine.

GomJabbar wrote:First of all, try another bootable CD. Your CD reader may not work with that CD. I have run into this problem before. I think that older CD readers don't always work with CD's that were burned with newer burners.

Is your friend's CD a pressed CD, originally from Microsoft? If it is, I believe it should work unless it is damaged. If it is a copied CD, you may not be able to get it to work with your existing CD reader.

A related example. On an older desktop PC, I have an old CD 4X reader, and a newer CD burner. I made a copy of a program CD then tried to install it from the 4X reader. The 4X reader only saw one big supposed MP3 file on the CD, but the newer CD burner could see all the files. However if I put the original pressed CD in the 4X reader, it read all the files just fine.

Wow, I didn't even think that the problem could be the fact that it's a copied CD. That's most likely what the problem is. The only other bootable CDs that I have that I know of are the Restore discs for my Mac and the OS X Tiger disc. I doubt it'd do me any good to try and boot from those. I'll probably just wait until I receive the restore disc for my ThinkPad in the mail. Hold up, though, the guy is just making me a copy of it, so that probably won't work, either. Hmm.