T42 missing Windows 98SE Drivers

[Springdale]

Fellow Thinkpad users I'm in a jam and need some help. One by one I've been trying to get the hardware on my thinkpad to fully support Windows 98SE. So far Windows 98SE has all the current patches, performance tune ups, and lattest .NET Framework instaled. Everything is great and I need two more drivers to work under Windows 98SE

1. IBM 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI adapter: I've tried so many times to get this troublesome software configured to make it work. I first installed the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) which was required in order to launch the Wif card setup utility. I go ahead and fire up the EXE and it installs the wireless lan software, but not the drivers. Second attempt was showing Device Manager where the correct drivers are located, nothing. I even made attempts to see if other wireless software for the T42 would work.. Is there something I'm missing here to get the IBM wireless under Windows 98SE?

2. Lenovo Atmel TPM (Trusted Platform Module) device: Second one I found out through Drive Agent which was able to pick up a few uknown devices for me. Honestly, I have no clue to what hte TPM is for..I've done some reserach and it seems to be some type of cooling for processors? I have no idea, but I do know that the T42 does have it and the driver is not supported by 98SE. Anybody know where I could get this driver to work with 98SE?

Well, thanks for your help and hope I can get this to fully work. Heck, if all is well I will be willing to write a review on getting a 9x OS to work with the T42. I'm amazed I got some devices like the Finger Print reader reconized uner 98se.

[sojourner]

If you've not tried IBM's tpbg1unt.exegive it a shot, worked for me

[Springdale]

Tried that and I get an error message in reguards to the software is looking for a newer version of Windows (Never got that message before, weird).. May I ask Sojourner, what steps did you do in order to make the IBM wireless to work? When you did a clean installof windows 98se did you install the drives right off the bat, or did you get all your window updates first and then install the driver? Let me know, must be something wrong I'm doing .

I'm not goint to give up that easy. I've dished out a good amount for this T42 so I can have a computer that is great to use under winodws 98se. I will say, The T4x have the best keyboards and feel much better compaired to the Lenovo Thinkpads.

[zdriver]

Just out of interest, what is the reason you are running 98se, since the T41 is licensed for XP and would have much better driver support and be less problematic.

[Springdale]

Very good question that deserves a very good answer! (Your not the only one asking me this) Well, for one thing I have some old DOS based apps that work better under a real time DOS OS compaired to running on a emulated DOS under XP (Talking about emualting, I got an Amiga emulator designed for 98se). Also, I'm a basic user and don't need all the jazz of XP and a light weigh OS which Winodws 98 does best at. So far this notebook has a great performance gain with Winodws 98 (Plus the small tweaks I've done). I don't see myself upgrading anytime soon! XD

zdriver, have you taken a stab of installing the drivers for the IBM wifi under 98se? Thanks

[zdriver]

Sounds reasonable to me...
If I have time this weekend, I will load 98se on my other T41 and let you know how the wifi works out.

[sojourner]

Tried that and I get an error message in reguards to the software is looking for a newer version of Windows (Never got that message before, weird).. May I ask Sojourner, what steps did you do in order to make the IBM wireless to work? When you did a clean installof windows 98se did you install the drives right off the bat, or did you get all your window updates first and then install the driver? Let me know, must be something wrong I'm doing .

Springdale, it has been a while since the installation so I don't remember all the details but can say this, don't recall error messages from software looking for a newer version of Windows! Also, I did not run IBM's auto updater (whatever it's called). Just installed software as needed (e.g. chipset, video, sound, etc.), not real keen on all that auto update stuff.

Lastly, I have never been able to get the wired and wireless LAN to work together properly (XP and W2K were seemless, W98 was another issue). Now I use one or the other (wired for home, wireless for travel). It's a simple matter of disabling one or the other in whatever profile you are using.

I'm not goint to give up that easy. I've dished out a good amount for this T42 so I can have a computer that is great to use under winodws 98se.

There you go, I did the same thing just for SE and for the same reasons you mentioned in another post!

Hope you'll keep us posted on your progress!

[Springdale]

Sorry for the disappointment, but I had to return my ThinkPad t42 today since it was not the correct one I wanted, also I love my ThinkPad T60P, even though it's not a REAL IBM computer. Oh well, Lenovo still makes them better and rock solid.

I will point out; I also had the same heating problems with my T60 series laptop. I was brave enough to open up my ThinkPad and discover all that dirt sitting under the fan!! WOW! So I went ahead and used compressed air to spray it all out and even brushed the keyboard with all my hair and food leftovers in it. I've turn on the ThinkPad and did not hear that huge fan spin sound on startup! Nothing but cool and quiet air blowing out of my heatsink. I'm so happy and my ThinkPad is like new when I've first purchased it (especially when I use the laptop in bed and bring it everywhere). I tell ya, I will see me using this laptop 4 years down the line.

Thanks to all whom tried to help me on this issue, I really appreciate it! This is a great forum and hope I can get involved with this outstand community of ThinkPad users.