Thinkpads Forum

I don't know if this is even possible or worth it, but a local tech shop has a basket on the wall of old parts, and one was a CD-ROM drive from (I believe) a 770. Will that fit in the drive bay of a 365x? I'd really like to do something with this, since it turns on and posts, but I'd need to get a HDD (easy), battery (optional but nice), its own power supply, and a CD-ROM drive OR a copy of W95 on floppys (wasn't that about 9 disks?).
- It's not like it's an urgent matter. I picked up two at Goodwill for for 5 bucks each, so it's not like it's a sentimental thing. It's just a side project, since it's funny to me that it, stock, was a better machine that the first computer I owned, which was a pain to relocated, while this would fit in my wife's purse!
-Thanks.

I have WIN95 on floppies, and there's 29 of them

I believe WIN3.1 was on 6 floppies.

Let me look into the CD ROM issue a bit. I may (or may not) have enough documentation to figure out if that drive from the 770 will work in the 365X...

One tool I find incredibly useful for these older Thinkpads without built-in CD ROM drives is a parallel port CD ROM. You can load drivers from a bootable DOS floppy... you don't even need an O/S on your hard drive to use it.

Thank you, I appreciate that. It's not an urgent thing, though, just whenever you happen to have it. It's certainly not a critical machine. (Was that too self-depricating?)
Actually, right in the same bin were two eternal drives like you mentioned, one CD and one floppy, but they are for the older Toshiba I'm currently selling. I would have to dig out the 365Xs and look for ports to see if it's the same. Since I've seen a lot about Toshiba brand components being compatible (one DIMM in my 390X is Toshiba), I'm not ready to discount it out of hand, but, since I'm not keeping the Toshiba computer, I'm not rushing out to get it.
The supreme act of willpower is not running over to the state surplus warehouse and snatching up that Transnote that they have for $50! I'd gut my beloved, trusty 390X to keep one of those running!

If that external CD ROM has a standard parallel ("printer") port, then it will work with your Thinkpad - or probably any computer with that standard port

Thanks. Next time, I'll find one with a USB port, so I won't have this problem.

OK, hopefully my Linksys PCMCIA doesn't crap out on me, again. I'm working that one on my own...

I've picked up another 365, as evidenced in my sig line. I'm trying the swap, but before I get all the way there, I wanted to try to put a HDD in the 365X. I picked up a used IBM 2gig drive that's too thick. I think it's about 15mil, but my wife's measuring tape isn't real precise. Obviously, that one's not going to fit. I also got a 1.44gig SeaGate that's about 12.5mil, which fits, but I get a Disk I/O error. That's all it really says is "Disk I/O error Replace disk and press any key."

I've downloaded the "latest" BIOS, v1.10, but when I put the floppy in the FDD and boot up, I get a non-system disk error. Now, is the FDD error because I have a bad battery? Is the Disk I/O error because I have yet to update the BIOS? I'm a little stuck, so any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Aaron

Just some thoughts...

Does your computer boot from a WIN98 or DOS boot floppy?

If you go into the BIOS ("EZ set-up") does it show that any devices (such as the hard drive) are no good?

Are you sure the Seagate drive is OK?

I don't think a bad battery is a problem, since my 365x has had a bad one for a very long time, and as long as it's plugged in I haven't had a single issue.

OK, there are some areas I haven't looked. I don't really know if the drive is good, except that it's good enough to boot up in the newer computer. I have several drives like that in 3.5 inch, where some won't even boot up their original machine, but it will boot in a different machine, and a different drive will boot in the first machine. Right now, cobbling is all the further I've gone, as far as troubleshooting. So far, there have always been interchangeable parts, but this is the only available drive for this machine.

I haven't gotten to the point of a boot disk, yet, and I'm not sure if I need to have an external FDD along with the CD-ROM of 98, since I don't still have anything on floppy disks. I'm just not familiar with this type of setup. I almost bought a Toshiba external floppy, but I wasn't sure about the plug compatibility.

I'll put it back into the 600 or maybe the 390 and run some system utilities on it. I should be able to make a boot disk on the 390X, since it seems to be the only other computer I have that still has a FDD. I just have to find a place that still sells floppy disks. It looks like I'm gonna need a few that work.

OK, I've figured out the BIOS update disk thingy, though that discussion might have been a different thread. Now, i get an error (an "Information" window, but it's RED, so it's an error!) that says "The process does not recognize this system. The utility process has not been completed." I've assumed it has a bad battery, and the light only even comes on with the machine running, so I'm leaving it at the system disk main menu to see if it will charge, and if that takes care of the problem.

But that's not why I'm posting. On a visit "home," I was doing some troubleshooting on my mom's VAIO, and on the shelf next to the computer, where it's probably been since before her old 233MHz SeaGate (why can't I get away from that name???), were her old DOS 6 and Windows 3.1 disks! Ah-HAH! Now, maybe, I can put that on, get drivers into it, THEN swap the CD-ROM in for the FDD! I'm only fixated on the CD-ROM because all of the stuff I want this computer to run are on CD-ROM. I somehow managed to skip from 5 1/4" floppy straight to CD-ROM for all my PC games.

I did find the old H-17 dual drive FDD for my grandfather's old Heathkit, which had a surprising number of recognizable parts, like a ribbon cable that I was able to plug into my IDE laptop drive from my 390X. Haven't figured out a use for that, yet, but it's beggin' for a mini-ITX or maybe micro-ATX project. Father's Day is coming up, and the Goodwill has about a half dozen Dell OptiPlex 270's...

Just a quick note: the connecting cable from the CD-ROM drive in the 365CSD is not in any way compatible with the newer X/XD socket. The newer model uses something similar to the EIDE HDD pin count, while the CSD uses what looks like a conventional desktop IDE socket.

I've decided to scrap that aspect of the project, since the CSD has a bad display, as well. As it's a TFT display verses the dual scan the X's, I can't even use the case. (size, and therefore mounting point, differences) I'm sure there are other mounting differences, too. I'm most disappointed about the display, since the working DSTN is dimmer than the TFT I have in a Compaq that I'm pretty sure is going bad.

Anyway, since I have the 390X for a workhorse, I can stick the HDD in it to load Windows 95 and put my games on it, then transfer it back into the 365X. It's not perfect, but I'm really jonesing for those old games, for some reason.