Thinkpads Forum

Hi,
Ive got a serious boot problem with my laptop.

When I turn it on it just says 'Invalid system disk, replace disk and press any key'

Ive tried booting from a floppy startup disk and a bootable cd rom but it says the same evertime. I cant even update the bios. The bios ive got wont allow me to change the boot order so thats OK

Has anyone come across this before?
Im posting as a last resort, the only other thing I can do is buy an adaptor to plug the HDD into an IDE lead but I dont want to pull the laptop apart cos I have never even seen the guts of one!

I will be happy if I can get into DOS, I only want one word file from the hdd.

Hope someone can help!

Rik

EDIT: It actually reads 'Disk I/O error when I try to boot from a floppy'

The BIOS should certainly let you change the boot order, and it seems as if you have.

It sounds like you have a number of problems. First, your hard drive won't boot. That's the invalid system disk error.

Next, either your floppy diskette or the diskette drive is having a problem.

What happens when you try to boot a CD?

Some old ThinkPads do a special check on startup for a BIOS update floppy (like my 750P) that ignores the boot order, so you might try making a BIOS update floppy and try to boot that.

Is this the original HD or have you upgraded since your previous post?

I didnt get to upgrade anything in the end.

Ive been having another go today with it and it wont allow me to do anything. It gives the invalid system disk with any floppy I put in it and also when its just the hdd.

None of my bootable cd-roms work, not even my linux ones

Ill just have to buy an adapter I think and hope it gets recognised on my PC. Their only £3 on ebay!

What happens when you try to boot a CD, exactly?

same thing, 'invalid system disk, replace and press any key'

though the rom drive motor doesn't sound as though its spinning.

If that's what it says, then it's not trying to boot the CD. You need to change the boot order.

rikpotts wrote:Hi,
Ive got a serious boot problem with my laptop.

When I turn it on it just says 'Invalid system disk, replace disk and press any key'

Ive tried booting from a floppy startup disk...

EDIT: It actually reads 'Disk I/O error when I try to boot from a floppy'

With a major problem like this (can't boot from a floppy) I personally wouldn't spend time at this point, trying to get it to boot from a CD. Since it's very unlikely that the floppy is completely excluded from the list of boot devices, the computer should boot from a boot floppy whether or not the CD (or even the hard drive) is OK.

Since your main interest is the one file, I would get an adapter kit (like you mentioned) which allows you to connect your notebook hard drive into a desktop computer. Then retrieve the file. On my 365X, going in there to pull out the hard drive was not that difficult. One screwdriver and like 5 minutes, and it's out.

leoblob wrote:Since your main interest is the one file

Am I missing something? I didn't see anything about trying to get a file off of the HD, but rather just trying to boot it.

@rikpotts: You might just want to go ahead and download the Hardware Maintenance Manual and try to remove and reseat the hard drive at this point. Nothing seems to be adding up, if you can't even change the boot process, or access the floppy.

rikpotts wrote:...I only want one word file from the hdd...

I almost missed this one myself... We're all so used to Word or WORD, that I think the lower case "w" made it easier to miss.

Wow, and to think that I read over it several times looking for it. I guess I should get glasses.