Thinkpads Forum

Hi,


I want my TP 390E to boot from an CF Card that is connected
via CF/IDE-Adapter. It is a Sandisk Card with a capacity of 1GB.

The adapter I use is according to its descripton bootable and
jumpered as master.

Unfortunately the Card is not recognized correctly in BIOS (which
is updated to the latest version from IBM).

When I have a look at the BIOS settings the CF Card is recognized
as "!Primary Master" within the boot devices and booting ends with
the message "Operating System not found".

When looking at the BIOS with a common 2,5 inch harddrive I can
see the correct name of the drive (e.g. IBMxxx) within the boot device
list and booting is no problem.

When I use the CF/IDE-Adapter with the same CF-Card (no changes
concerning the installation of the OS) in a T40 Thinkpad, it boots
without any problems.



So I think it is an issue with the 390E hardware. Those models have
a special adapter to connect a common 44/43-pin hard disk to the
IDE connector. Could this be the problem?



Any ideas?


Thanks,
Michael

Hello Michael,

did you FDISK the CF card in the TP 390E or not?

Seems like the same problem with my TP 240X.
If I FDISK the HD in the 240X and then do an installation (in the 240X or in another computer, such as my A31) everything is fine and the 240X boots up.
If I do not FDISK the HD in the 240X, install an OS and then put back the HD in the 240X, the 240X will not boot.

Thus:
- install CF/IDE adapter in your 390E
- boot from a Windows 98 diskette and FDISK the CF/IDE
- then install whatever you want to install, bewaring that you don't change partition info anymore!

Should work (I guess). Can't be sure as I don't own a 390E.

emeu1 wrote:
Thus:
- install CF/IDE adapter in your 390E
- boot from a Windows 98 diskette and FDISK the CF/IDE
- then install whatever you want to install, bewaring that you don't change partition info anymore!

Hi,

unfortunately that doesn't work...

When I boot my 390E from a Win98 diskette with the CF-card installed, no
extended memory can be created by the diskette. With the common 2,5" HD
and the same disk there is no problem.
Also a Win98 installation CD detects no hard drive to install.

I tested the CD-card with the same CF/IDE-adapter in a Compaq Armada E500
that needs also an additional IDE adapter from the manufacturer. Also problems

In a T40 I can use the CF-card without any problems. It also needs no additional
IDE-adapter to connect an IDE hard drive.

Greetz,
Michael

Hi,

I assume your are using an CF/IDE adapter that you connect in the same way as a HDD.

Based on the xperience with 240 and 240x, no problems with the 240x CF is recognised and you can fdisk, format and install your OS, but in the case of the 240 that has a different cpu and chipset, I did not manage to get the CF/IDE adapter detected.

You can find what chipsets are in 240 and 240x ( I can not remember ), and compare with your 390E, and probably give you an answer.

Please have a look at: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=55309

Cheers