Thinkpads Forum

Maybe everyone else knows this, but I haven't found any references on this forum, so perhaps someone will find it useful.

There turns out to be a way to start up a bootable CD on a ThinkPad 760XL and presumably on other 760 models. Start by downloading and installing (on a floppy disk) Smart BootManager 3.7 from here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr

(go to the Download link, then download and run sbminst.exe to find out how to instlal the boot manager to a floppy disk).

Look around the web for a guide to using the Smart BootManager.

Attach a floppy drive AND a CD drive to the ThinkPad; insert a bootable CD in the CD drive; I use a Dock I for the CD, but presumably you could put the CD in the ThinkPad itself and attach an external floppy to the floppy connector.

Boot from the Smart BootManager floppy. Highlight the entry CD drive, press Tab to bring up the menu, and choose Boot. When prompted to save changes, probably it's best to say No. The machine will now reboot from the CD. You can install Smart Bootmanager to the boot sector of the ThinkPad's hard drive and set it up to boot from the CD if you want, but I haven't tried this.

This definitely works in my Dock I setup. One warning: if you create the SBM floppy on a system with a 1.44MB floppy drive and try to start up the ThinkPad with the same floppy in a 2.88MB floppy drive, it won't boot. If your floppy drive has 2.88 on the front, you'll need a 1.44 drive instead. They cost a few cents each on eBay.

HOW? Where are the instructions?

After all this time, I've forgotten where I found the program (and everything else about it except that it works), but I found instructions through Google, and probably anyone else can find them the same way. Also, even after reading everything I could find, I had to experiment once I got the thing installed.

EDIT: OK, I remember one detail: run SBMINST.EXE at a DOS prompt, and the output is a list of switches that you have to add when running the program. Put a floppy in the drive, run SBMINST.EXE with the switches that you choose, and you're done.

http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/download.html

works good on our 760el; note that you need an
external floppy drive

Needs either:

TP alone and external floppy

or

TP attached to a dock; floppy in the TP; CD installed in the dock.

An old Dock I does the trick, is convenient, and can sometimes be bought for about five dollars on eBay.

theres also mad boot
which does xp ,however that did take a while to load
i'm pretty sure i upgraded from w98 to 2k with only a cd.
long time ago.

I don't think the TP760 can boot from ANY CD (including MadBoot) unless you use the Smart BootManager.

Probably you upgraded from 98 to Win2K by starting the installer in 98 or by booting from a floppy. The standard Windows2000 CD installer CD doesn't boot from the CD, only from a floppy.

Are you saying that you BOOTED the 760 from a CD without Smart BootManager? I think that's literally impossible...!