Windows won't install on a 770Z

[Bookworm]

I have a 770Z with the original PII 366, 192Mb, DVD-ROM, external floppy, and a 12g hard drive formated is this computer to FAT-32 using Ranish Partition Manager.

The boot devices in easy setup are HDD1, CD-ROM, and FDD.

When I try to install Windows 98, I get the usual "boot from hard disk/CD-ROM" menu, but when I select the CD, the screen clears, and I get a blinking cursor...forever.

When I try to install Windows 2000, I get the usual "Press any key to boot from CD" and it actualy tries to boot from the CD. After loading a bunch of drivers, it says setup is starting Windows, but then I get a "stop error" that says the boot device is inaccessable.

If the boot device is inaccessable, why was it so easy to partition and format?

After this error, if I try to install W2k again, it says CDBOOT: can't boot from CD Code 5

What is going on here?

[neenee]

Are the disks you are using original, or did you create/slipstream them yourself?

[Bookworm]

The Windows 98 & 2000 CD's are original Microsoft.

[Bookworm]

I just tried it again with another hard drive and it did the same thing. When Windows boots (or tries to boot) from the CD, it can't find the hard drive.

The computer does work. I put a drive from another ThinkPad and it booted. It could even access the CD!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pkiff]

You might try wiping the partitions and starting fresh, this time using fdisk from Win98/WinME. It is possible that somehow the drive geometry got messed up via Rainish.

Also, you might try using a different CD/DVD drive. Some of the drives that shipped with the 770 sereis were a bit flakey and it is possible that the problem is that the drive is not reading the CD properly.

And you might try cleaning the CD if you haven't already.

Sorry can't help more.

Phil.

[Harryc]

I had a similar problem on a 770 with the machine not recognizing the HD at all. I had to place the drive in another Thinkpad and write all zeros to it with Active Killdisk before it would work in the 770.

[Bookworm]

The problem is that it won't boot from the hard drive. It will read and write to it. The only thing it will boot from is the floppy. I booted from a Windows 98 startup disk, installed the system and copied all files to the hard drive, and tried to reboot.

Apparently, the boot order in easy setup doesn't mean anything. It might as well not be there.

It boots from the floppy unless there is a CD to boot from. It will not boot Windows from the CD, but it will start Win 2k setup from it.

I got it to boot from the hard drive once, but it had Windows 98 installed for another ThinkPad, so at least I know it's capable of booting from a hard drive.

[Neil]

I've always had the most success installing Win98 by initially booting from the floppy with CD support and using fdisk to set partitions, then format the HDD, then copy system files from the floppy to the HDD (at DOS prompt type sys c:) to make the HDD bootable. Make a directory for the Windows system files (usually windows/options/cabs) the copy the CAB files from the CD to that directory. Remove the floppy, reboot from the HDD, at the DOS prompt navigate to the directory where you put the CAB files and run setup from there.

I agree with others above, that the 770Z isn't recognizing the format on the HDD. Formatting from the Win98 boot floppy should work better. It's been a while since I installed Win98 on a 770, but seems I had some problem with booting the CD/HDD also at first. Using a boot floppy did the trick though.

[Bookworm]

I booted from the floppy, transfered the system to the hard drive, and it still wouldn't boot. So I rebooted from the floppy and started setup from the CD. Now it'd taking longer to boot than Coloradoz' 600X. I'll try reformating with FDisk next, and reinstall 98.

[Bookworm]

It's alive, Igor! It's alive!

Igor?

Igor's dead. But my 770Z is alive!

Apparently Ranish really messed up the hard drive, but Windows FDisk fixed it. Thanks Neil, I had forgotten about it completely, and didn't even know it would fit on a floppy.