Thinkpads Forum

Hi

I want to re-install Windows on my old 240X.

Looking at this page, it only mentions:

"Thinkpad 240X (2609-5** and 6**) recovery via IBM USB-CD ROM (PN 33L5151)"
and
"Thinkpad 240X recovery via the IBM USB 2.0 Portable CD-RW drive (22P5297)"

Is that saying I have to use specifically an IBM Drive?
Or could I hook up any USB drive?

thanks

The solution I used:

1) Partition and format hard-drive as FAT32, DOS-bootable while installed in 240X. I did this with a plain DOS boot floppy. Proved I could boot and get a C: prompt.
2) Remove hard-drive from 240X, use a 3.5" IDE adapter to attach as a slave drive to existing desktop PC.
3) Copied I386 folder from WinXP CD to laptop-drive
4) Moved hard drive back to laptop. Booted, ran Setup program from I386 dir. From there it's a regular Windows install, except for the extra time it takes to convert the FAT32 to NTFS.

This probably sounds much more difficult than it is. With a screw-driver and a cheap IDE adapter it goes pretty quickly and cleanly.

Vincentfox's process is probably easier, but here is what I've done:

1) Format the 240's hard drive as FAT32 from a boot floppy.

2) Insert a PCMCIA LAN card into the 240 and connect to another Windows box which is sharing a folder containing the desired install files (e.g. i386 directory) via a crossover cable.

3) Boot 240 from a floppy which supports that PCMCIA card and simple Ethernet access.

4) Mount the remote directory which contains the setup files an go to town.

The hardest part was trying to find a compatible boot disk for the LAN card.

Use a Win98SE boot floppy with FAT32 file formating. XP won't install to FAT. They are very easy to find on the net. Search for boot floppy.

When fdisk'ing the drive don't forget to use two partions. A primary and an extended, C:\ and D:\ is what effectively they become in DOS and load the I386 folder onto the extended which will become D:\ in DOS mode. Make the D:\ partition about 2Gb and then you can use it as your dedicated pagefile/virual memory slice when your up and running XP. (I personally use a 1Gb flash card for my pagefile.)

Also if you have an external 3.5 USB enclosure you can install your disk drive in that and load the I386 folder. USB 2.0 is far better of course, 2 1/2 minutes and it's complete. My PC runs Linux and I loaded the XP cd into the cd drive and just did a staight copy paste of the I386 folder. Double check that all the folders are copied from the cd to your drive otherwise your going to get asked where they are during the install.

Also you *must* fdisk and format the drive in the 240 (which takes a long long time with a large drive) otherwise the Master Boot Record will be incorrect and the drive not bootable.

Another method, possibly easier, would be to copy the contents of the i386 folder to a USB stick, and install from that stick.

PanEuropean, thank you for your suggestion but if it where that simple then in all honestly it would be the defacto method and would have been clearly mentioned far sooner in the forum's existance. Your "possibility" is too modern for the BIOS. Here's the issue;

The issue was that USB sticks where not mainstream (rather puny and more of an expensive novelty) when the BIOS for the 240/240X was created and no updates have been issued from IBM to allow a more modern boot configuration. The biggest issue with the BIOS is that it must fit within a very small footprint of 256k. The allowable, bootable USB devices where embedded within the original BIOS and subsequent updates and where of course IBM coded devices. So aldaden's first post correctly states the allowable USB boot devices as far as the 240X's BIOS is concerned.

So, it may be possible to start the install from a USB stick as long as your already in a working OS. Once the laptop reboots...... and here's the sticking point, it won't find the remaining i386 folder files on your USB stick (because it is not a recognized boot device) which brings us back to why you must take the long road to do an install. Even though the 240X can function well with XP (as mine does) it is older tech methods that must be employed to overcome it's modern BIOS limitations.

In modern terms your suggestion is a sane one but on the older tech 240X it isn't a workable option. If you have accomplished a 240X OS install from a USB stick then I'd be very interested in the details. If I'm in error please, by all means correct me and I won't be offended in any way.