From win 98 to XP on a 240

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Wolff240 · #1 Post by **Wolff240** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:36 am

Some time ago I read a thread about installing XP on a 240. One of my machines does hove it the other should have it also. However I'm not able to find that thread again.

It is a simple 240 (2609) 300mhz and 6G of HD with 128mb (+64).
Offcourse there's no cd and I only have the external diskdrive.
Furthermore I don't have a 2,5 to 3,5 adapter for the HD and none of the what so ever known IBMrescue CD. So there's no possibility of starting up from USB, CD, PMCIA+CF or any other way.

Maybe a bit negative but complete!

Sibrand.

tim S · #2 Post by **tim S** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:32 pm

Without a PCMCIA CD and without the HD adapter your only options are by network or USB. USB can be used if you have a memory stick. pcAnywhere or a program like it should be OK to use with a network. Use another computer to copy the XP files from the UPGRADE XP CD into a directory, winxp for example. Create the same directory in you 240. Copy the files by network or USB memory stick from one to the other.
Once you have Windows 98 back and running open the winxp directory and install
A couple of things. 6 gigs is probably too small a hard drive because you'll have 98 on there already, plus whatever files you use, but you might get lucky. You'll most certainly need a 256 chip to replace the 128. It's expensive but pretty much mandatory for XP.
Tim S

Wolff240 · #3 Post by **Wolff240** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:01 am

Thanks for your reply.

It will be executed in a few days. Your point of the hD being to small is shared. I will use a bigger one. The problem with thatone is that it has no OS installed. Can I still use the USB method? Memory was alraedy updated.

Sibrand.

tim S · #4 Post by **tim S** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:28 pm

Since there is no OS on the new drive, you'll need to plug the hard drive into another computer with a CD. The adapters are very inexpensive, or you can get a usb enclosure which might be easier.
Plug the enclosure into the other computer's USB port so you can fdisk and format the new drive if you haven't already. Once that's done, make two directories. one win98 and the other winxp then copy the entire Win 98 CD into the win98 directory. Then copy the entire Win XP CD into the winxp directory.
Now replace the old 240's drive with the new one.
Get or make a Win98 start up disk and put it in your external floppy and start the 240. It will go to the floppy and after running a few things you'll end up at A:\ then type C:\ then type cd\win98 then type setup.
When Windows 98 starts to install choose Compact Installation where you can.
When Win 98 is running forget about letting it find every driver for every little thing, it's not necessary.
Once you can get to explore (right click the start button) Open up the winxp directory and click install or setup.

You'll need an original Win 98 disk, not an upgrade. If your Win XP is an original install disk and not an upgrade then forget the Win98 info, just copy then install the XP disk.
Tim S

phool@round · #5 Post by **phool@round** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:42 pm

Plug the enclosure into the other computer's USB port so you can fdisk and format the new drive......

tim S,

The new drive should be fdisk'd-partitioned in the 240 first otherwise the MBR won't be correct and won't boot once installed after your procedure.

ajkula66 · #6 Post by **ajkula66** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:20 am

I honestly don't think that you're going to like the speed of XP on a 240 with 300 processor, but go ahead if that's what you've got your heart set on...anything above W2K on these babies is a complete overkill in my opinion, and I've tried it more than once...

Good luck.

pianowizard · #7 Post by **pianowizard** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:29 am

I had a 300MHz Celeron Thinkpad 240 with 320MB RAM and it ran Windows XP reasonably well. I think it had a 4200rpm hard drive, and it would have been faster with a 5400rpm drive.

If you don't want to buy a laptop-to-desktop hard drive connector, see if you can find a parallel port Iomega Zip drive. Many people are tossing these drives now, so you might be able to get one for free, or just borrow one from a friend. On a desktop computer with both CD and Zip drives, copy Windows setup files from the installation CDs onto Zip discs. Hook up the parallel port Zip drive to the TP240 and get the laptop to recognize the drive with a DOS driver. Copy the files to the hard drive in the TP240. It's a slow process, but still faster than ordering a hard drive connector and waiting for it to arrive. And it won't cost you any money.

Wolff240 · #8 Post by **Wolff240** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:57 pm

ajkula66 wrote:I honestly don't think that you're going to like the speed of XP on a 240 with 300 processor, but go ahead if that's what you've got your heart set on...anything above W2K on these babies is a complete overkill in my opinion, and I've tried it more than once...

Good luck.

One of them has XP and it runs to my satisfaction. I'm not trying to run AUTOCAD ....

but internet and some small programs on this tiny machine will do. Batterylife is over 3,5 hrs! with the big battery. Our modern machine ends at 2 hrs ans it weighs about 4 times more.

For the future I will be looking for a worthy replacement. Is there any? X-series perhaps ...

phool@round · #9 Post by **phool@round** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:46 pm

For the future I will be looking for a worthy replacement. Is there any? X-series perhaps ...

Yep, X21 P3 700 w/xga through the X24 are the most natural progression from the 240's. That's the path I followed. I'm now up to an X41 tablet......

Another Legacy Thinkpad that gets little mention is the 570E. It is small and lightweight and uses a Media Slice like the X series. I think you'll like it. Here's the specs; http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:570E

whizkid · #10 Post by **whizkid** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:37 pm

I just got a broken 570E a couple weeks ago. 3.98 pounds, 13.3" screen, full sized keyboard, 500MHz PIII, but only 320MB RAM max. It should run XP fine.

Nope. Never said 3 pounds.

pianowizard · #11 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:06 pm

whizkid wrote:I just got a broken 570E a couple weeks ago. 3 pounds

Sorry about correcting you but it's really 4.0 pounds.

phool@round · #12 Post by **phool@round** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:10 pm

240X - 61U/62U: approximately 3.28 lbs (1.49 kg) with battery and disk.

thinkpad adrian · #13 Post by **thinkpad adrian** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:21 pm

i installed xp on my 240 very easly. you will need a ide to usb adapter (lets you use any ide device on a usb port) about $10 from
e-bay, a external thinkpad flopy drive, a set of xp flopy start up disks (they are the equivelent of a single windows 98 start up disk,
but with 6 disks, that have many more drivers for xp) the program to create them can be down-loaded from microsoft. programs are operating sys. specific. make shure you get the right one. lastly, a windows 98 start up disk. remember to max out your memory BEFORE installing xp (it afects the way xp installs, perminetly changing xp to work slower, 192 megs total is fine)
to install:
1 set bios to boot from flopy
2 start the computer with the 98 start up disk, pick NO cd support
3 erase any existing partitions, re-partition. DO NOT format, turn off
4 attach cd rom/ide adapter in usb port, with xp in cd rom,
5 boot using 6 xp start up disks
after last disk is installed, xp will detect cd rom and begin install.
use "advanced" set up options, that will allow you to format the
drive in ntfs, and copy all the systim files to computer. it makes the instalation much faster, because xp never has to look anywhere
else for the drivers, or files. when the file copying is compleate, the computer will re-boot. at re-boot, you can go into bios, and change boot order to boot from hard drive. you can also remove
the floopy and cd rom. all the install files now reside on your computer. after install is compleate, you can add any other programs, or drivers you want, through that usb ide/cd rom adapter.
good luck, adrian

beeblebrox · #14 Post by **beeblebrox** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:22 pm

thinkpad adrian wrote:i installed xp on my 240 very easly. you will need a ide to usb adapter (lets you use any ide device on a usb port) about $10 from
e-bay, a external thinkpad flopy drive, a set of xp flopy start up disks (they are the equivelent of a single windows 98 start up disk,
but with 6 disks, that have many more drivers for xp) the program to create them can be down-loaded from microsoft. programs are operating sys. specific. make shure you get the right one. lastly, a windows 98 start up disk. remember to max out your memory BEFORE installing xp (it afects the way xp installs, perminetly changing xp to work slower, 192 megs total is fine)
to install:
1 set bios to boot from flopy
2 start the computer with the 98 start up disk, pick NO cd support
3 erase any existing partitions, re-partition. DO NOT format, turn off
4 attach cd rom/ide adapter in usb port, with xp in cd rom,
5 boot using 6 xp start up disks
after last disk is installed, xp will detect cd rom and begin install.
use "advanced" set up options, that will allow you to format the
drive in ntfs, and copy all the systim files to computer. it makes the instalation much faster, because xp never has to look anywhere
else for the drivers, or files. when the file copying is compleate, the computer will re-boot. at re-boot, you can go into bios, and change boot order to boot from hard drive. you can also remove
the floopy and cd rom. all the install files now reside on your computer. after install is compleate, you can add any other programs, or drivers you want, through that usb ide/cd rom adapter.
good luck, adrian

NONSENSE!

I installed XP on my old 240x without pain and hassle.

Just make 2 partitions on the drive on any other PC/notebook.
Format the partitions in FAT. One for DOS to boot from and the other one to install XP.
The DOS partition should contain the i386 folder copied onto it, (together with a folder of the drivers) from your other working Thinkpad.
run setup/install from the i386 folder and after that enjoy XP.
Nice and easy. If you only have 320MB you better use an nLite-XP.
Excellent as a light travel notebook.

Wolff240 · #15 Post by **Wolff240** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:31 pm

Hi
I tried the floppy method, nosucces, it hangs on the last floppy. I also tried the copy i386 folder. Now it shows in the screen, cannot find the EULA ....?
As I mentioned above the USB is out of order, the PMCIA-usb cannot be recognised because of the not working floppy method.
What to do?
Oh, as we "speak" the 240 is trying to build up with the 2 partitions and seems to crash at some point. I will give it a moment untill tomorrow.

Sibrand (in severe stress)

phool@round · #16 Post by **phool@round** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:20 am

Whoa, last floppy? You only need one boot floppy for Win98......: http://files.frashii.com/~bootdisk/newj ... ot98se.exe
Don't try to install XP from the XP multi floppy method, it won't work as your finding out. As long as you formated the partitions as FAT32 you'll be able to go into the second partion (D:\i385) through the boot up floppy and type in "WINNT.EXE" and then it will start the install. Select C: as your install partition.

Dude this is way easier than you can imagine. Just follow along, we'll get you there. It's counter intuitive but it's a breeze once you get the hang of it.......I promise.

This is not a secret method; http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307848/ - describes the process.

Wolff240 · #17 Post by **Wolff240** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:10 am

HMMM,

Still the same results.
My method until now:

Made on a HD first partition 5500mb and the second 640MB. First is C: second D:. Set the active partition to c:
Formattted c: with /s/v and the d: with /v
Copied from an XP Installation CD ONLY the I386 to the d:
Put the HD into the machine and booted from c: (ther's no other option or it should be a:)
Change from a: to d: change directory to i386 and run winnt.
At first it runs well, several files are loaded, then the machine freezes. After restart I can choose from restart windows update and windows (prbably 98). I pick restart and it runs!! Untill a certain screen that says be patient.
After a few minutes it returns with the missing EULA.

What went wrong.

Sibrand.

phool@round · #18 Post by **phool@round** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:26 am

Your first partition is way way too small for XP to install itself on.

Here's how I do it.

C: should be a as large as you can make it minus 800Mb for D:

D:i386 needs to be large enough - about 660Mb to fit all the i386 in it. 800Mb is safe for D:.

Your running out of room for XP to install itself........should be nothing less that 2G's and in my case with a 80G drive I have it on a 50G C: partition and D:i386 on 20G partition.

Make sense? Increase the size of your C: partition......

whizkid · #19 Post by **whizkid** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:57 am

phool@round wrote:Your first partition is way way too small for XP to install itself on....

Your running out of room for XP to install itself........should be nothing less that 2G's

If I read the OP correctly, he already has 5500MB (5.5G) for his C partition, which should be enough to install.

thinkpad adrian · #20 Post by **thinkpad adrian** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:12 pm

sorry to hear the usb is not working. 2 ways to go, first way, take the hard drive and format/partition into two sections, would go with 1 gig on c partition, and the rest on the d partition. make the c drive active, and the d drive a logical drive (do this on the 240 thinkpad, not a different computer. use the 98 or me start up disk
to do it)
next, put the drive into a desktop computer as a slave (you'l probibly
have to move the jumpers on the drive, or put it in as a secondary
master, making the cd rom the slave.) copy EVERYTHING from 98
cd
to the d drive. put the drive back into lap top, and use 98 start up disk
to launch 98 install program (pick no cd rom support option).
at the "a" prompt, go to the "d" drive, and type "set up"
98 will then install to the c portiton of the drive. during instalation, you will have to lead
the computer to the "d" drive whenever it looks for 98 drivers.
after instatlatioin finishes, and works, delete everything from the d
portion of the drive, remove the drive from lap top, re-install
in desk computer, and copy EVERYTHING on the xp disk to
a seperate folder on the c drive. re-install in lap top, launch
98, go to the copied xp file, and launch instalation. make shure to pick full install, and NOT upgrade, also pick advanced set-up options, and tell xp you want to install on d drive, you can also
convert the fat 32 file sys. to ntfs if you want (its a option).
when finished, you willhave a "dual boot" configuration with
98 on the c drive, and xp on d drive. if you dont want 98 any more,
you can delete the files, and use for storage.

the other way to do this install is with a removable drive bay,
partition and format the drive in 1 partition, making it active. use
the pcimica removable cd rom drive bay. download the driver disk
from lenovo (the driver is for 98 only, wont work on xp,) and
it is specific to each 240 thinkpad, so get the right one.
when you use the lenovo start up disk, it assigns the cd rom as the
"x" drive. you then have to use the 98 start up disk to load 98.

1: hook up removable floopy drive to 240 with thinkpad floopy
2: hook up pcimica bay up with 98 cd rom in
3: start computer with thinkpad restore flopy. will be then at "a"
4: put in 98 start up disk in and type "autoexecute"
5: go to "x" drive (x:) type "install"
6: after 98 finishes install, install portable drive bay drivers by flopy
7: put xp in cd rom, launch install, pick upgrade, and specify advanced instalation, writing ALL files to drive during instatltion .
should work, i have used both ways to install. but does take time. good luck, adrian

phool@round · #21 Post by **phool@round** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:21 pm

Your right! (Thanks whizkid.) Dark screen facing a bright window.......sheesh.

Ok, Wolff240 are you using smartdrv.exe before loading? It helps to speed up the install from D:i386. You might be stalling and thinking it's locked up but it's just taking it sweet time. I'm getting just as stumped as you....lol.

Wolff240 · #22 Post by **Wolff240** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:30 pm

Hi

I retried the whole situation, 2 partitions made by fdisk on the target machine. Copied the i386 content, even added a few extra files in the hope that they were the eula files .... Machine responded in the same way. I also tried to run smrtdrv.exe but that program doesn't start without some himem in the config.sys.
There's a new one. I only have a bootfloppy win98, the original content is lost because of the formatting and so on.
I do have a cd that came with the 240 (09N2171) but don't know what to do with it in this matter.
The machine is now active and tries to copy (snail) the files, however I think it freezes but I also see the HD-light continiously on. (Hmmm that is some worse englisch I believe).

What can I expect when I mount the HD in the other machine with the working USB? Will XP boot or does it recognise a different MB and processor?

Suppose it is not a problem because of the both machines are similar how can I put XP on it in that situation. THINKPAD Adrian wrote earlier a MO, is that the step to be taken?

For all people how have helped so far:

Thank you VERY much.

Sibrand.

feb 5th: Overnight the 240 is at 40% of install. I guess I should have some patience, not my best issue ....
TBC

phool@round · #23 Post by **phool@round** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:34 am

Wolff240 wrote: What can I expect when I mount the HD in the other machine with the working USB? Will XP boot or does it recognise a different MB and processor?

feb 5th: Overnight the 240 is at 40% of install. I guess I should have some patience, not my best issue ....
TBC

You can expect that it will work on the other 240, it isn't drastically different.

Be patient, it's going to take a long, long time without smartdrv.exe. That's why it's suggested as a manditory application...... a few moments doing a google search on smartdrv.exe would have saved all of this waiting......lesson learned.

Wolff240 · #24 Post by **Wolff240** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:49 am

@ Phool,

Ofcourse your right it took 22 hours!

Well I am not that smart with computers so google gave me an answer that I couldn't perform with smrtdrv. Ofcourse the program should speed things up but it also needs some config.sys and autoexec.bat and himem stuff I don't understand. I'm from the tine of DOS but cleared my memory since winXP.

Main issue is the not working USB port.

IT WORKS. I made a new never before performed mistake. After ebooting without floppy it freezes at a certain point just before accepting XP as OS I thibk. So I thought it was a failure. I booted from win98 and also deleted some, in my eyes, irrelevant files. Somehow I remembered that it could be a active partition problem. And it was.
So XP boots normally, it works but for sure I plugt in my PMCIA-USB converter, attached a ide-usb-cd player and reinstalled windows XP.

AND now I'm happy ................ I do hope so.

Keep you informed!

phool@round · #25 Post by **phool@round** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:53 am

Gelukwensen bij het winnen van uw prijs!

U bent nu een deskundige!

NautTboy · #26 Post by **NautTboy** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:07 pm

I had 2 240x both 500mhz 192mb come with diskette drive and IBM USB CDROM(mini)

I'd installed Windows ME and upgrade to XP. Because ME could be install from Dos. I got DOS USB CDROM driver, diskette image from ibm.com. It installed fine.

If you dont have IBM USB CDROM, there other generic USB CDROM driver.

If you dont have diskett drive. By using notebook2desktop IDE adapter hook up to desk top and copy the diskett image to hard drive so that when it boot up the USB will be functional.

Just wanna share my experience.

Wolff240 · #27 Post by **Wolff240** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:45 pm

phool@round wrote:Gelukwensen bij het winnen van uw prijs!

U bent nu een deskundige!

Had ik dat geweten, kon het ook in het Nederlands ....

Thanks!

phool@round · #28 Post by **phool@round** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:15 pm

Uw onthaal!

From win 98 to XP on a 240

From win 98 to XP on a 240

Quick XP install on the 240x

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