Thinkpads Forum

Soon, I will have my ThinkPad 240! When I get it, I will probably have to install my own OS, if not, I will try hard not to crash it, but just in case, where do I stick the CD?

I have a Windows 98 boot floppy, and I can format a hard drive and make it bootable with that, and I have Windows 95 on floppies (a lot of them). So plan A is to install a BIOS upgrade first, then the '98 DOS to the biggest hard drive I can afford (and that looks like it's going to be a 320!) then put '95 on it. Then, if I can get it to work, I'll use Direct Cable Connection to install ME and 2k or XP (How slow is it?) from another ThinkPad's CD drive.

How bad is this idea?

Do you have a better one? (Please have a better one. I have a really bad feeling about this one.)

I haven't owned a 240 unit in a long time, but from my recollection the only way to install an OS is from an IBM PCMCIA CD drive, which has a code 1968 or 1969...

you can pull the HDD, pop it in another laptop make it bootable and put the OS directory on it. You can make a PCMCIA CD or HDD work with a boot disk too. Not sure where my 240X is but if the 240's had USB that's easy to make work too.

What TTA said is the way to go. If you are installing ME, then make a directory with all the CAB files in it. If 2K or XP just copy the whole i386 directory to the hard drive. Make the HDD bootable before putting it in the 240, then boot from the HDD and run the install from there.

Another thing that I sometimes do is create a directory for drivers before installing the OS. Download everything you think you will need on another computer and put it all in the drivers directory. That way after you install the OS, you will have all the drivers and apps you want already on the HDD and ready to install. No messin' around with CDs, floppies, USB, network or other stuff

How do I make the hard drive bootable in another ThinkPad? Do I really need to if I have a floppy Drive?

Using a WIN 98 start up disk in the floppy, format the drive with fdisk which should also make the hard drive bootable. Remove the drive and attach it as a slave to a desktop computer. Make a directory called Win98 (must be the full disk not an upgrade) and copy the whole Windows 98 CD to that directory. Forget '95 and ME, 2k is alright. While you're at it, make another directory called WIN XP and copy either the full or upgrade WINXP CD into it.
Reinstall the drive into the 240. Using the WIN98 start up disk wait for the A:\ to appear. Then type C:\ then cd
\win98 then type start up. WIN 98 will now install. Once it's up and running you can install XP from it's directory.
As I've said many times the 240 series is a pain unless you have a pcmcia CD, and you can't boot from the USB.
Don't forget to max out the ram (320MB, 256 + 64 onboard).
Tim S