Thinkpads Forum

Hi everyone! I've recently picked up a 365X off eBay with a built-in CD-ROM drive. The external floppy drive was DOA so now I have no way of doing a fresh install of an OS. I've been looking for an exact replacement floppy drive with the same proprietary connector that was on the original but haven't found one.

I got a drive for the 600 series but the connector is slightly different and doesn't fit on the 365X. So I'm really only left with the PCMCIA port as an option for booting from a disk. I don't have much experience with those ports and from the testing I was able to do at home with my spare parts, it seems not all PCMCIA cards are the same (cards from one of my other computers didn't fit in the Thinkpad's port).

My question is, is there a PCMCIA external floppy drive that is known to work with this model Thinkpad? I don't want to get another drive where the connector doesn't fit. I see some Toshiba and Compaq drives available on eBay but I'm hoping some of you guys can tell me whether they'll work with my model or not. Thanks in advance!

welcome to the forum.

what is the part number on the floppy? i've got an ibm ultrabay floppy and parallel port cable adapter, also ibm, that might work for you.

Hmm, I was dumb and threw away the broken drive without writing down the exact part number because I thought it would be easy to replace. But, I looked through my browser search history from around that time when I was looking for info on it and I think it is 41H8228. The connector on the back is about 3/4 of an inch wide (The drive I have for the 600 series is the same shape but not as wide).

If the one you have is an ultrabay that means I would have to replace the CD-ROM drive right? That wouldn't really work for me since I wanted to boot from a floppy then install the OS from a CD.

Interesting that there's a parallel port adapter though. Is there such a cable that would adapt my 600 series floppy drive to the parallel port?

Some Googling around yields an FRU of 10H4056. It also found a link that I posted here a couple of years ago and a page that I set up at that time:

http://www.rkawakami.net/ibm_600x/365xd ... onnectors/

ref: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=42814

Thank you for the links! The 05K8973 looks promising. There's no difference in the ports between the 365X and the 365XD correct? I'm guess the only difference between those two models is one came with a built-in CD-ROM drive?

If you have an internal floppy and internal CD... you can install SBM (Smart boot manager) to the hard drives mbr... It will then allow you to put the CD in and boot from it assuming Linux, Win98 or other bootable CD. You usually have to hit enter on the CD line in SBM a couple of times for it to reconize, but i use that method all the time on my 760ies

Argh, I'm have the worst time getting a working floppy drive for this thing! Got a 05K8973 from eBay but the cable doesn't fit the 365x port. It's the same smaller, trapezoid-shaped connecter as the drive for the 600 series that I got. 365x port seems a bit wider. Anyone out there with a 365x know the correct cable number? Or would it be easier to find a random PCMCIA floppy drive?

I think I have one, will dig around tomorrow and look up the part number.

Internal Floppy (From Hardware Maintenance Manual Volume 3 - March 97): http://www.thinkpad-parts.com/69H7926-ThinkPad.html
Internal 1.44MB: http://www.impactcomputers.com/10h4055.html
External 2.88MB Floppy (365X/XD): http://www.thinkpad-parts.com/10H4075-ThinkPad.html

External Floppy (Claims 365X, 560, 560X, & 560Z): http://www.impactcomputers.com/10h4056.html --- Requires cable: http://www.impactcomputers.com/74h0219.html

The only one i would go with is the internal... 69H7926 from IBM's own manual... then boot from SBM as i described above, install SBM to hard drive, power off, put internal CD in, boot from hard disk, choose BOOT FROM CDROM win!

Later you can go with the 10H4056 & 74H0219 if you really want/need an external floppy... just my 3 cents

P.S. Wrote a howto with image url's and links to software for Smart BootManager: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=95490

Thanks for the help so far guys! Really appreciate it.
I'm gonna go for this drive I found on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

The seller says it's a 10H4056 with a 74H0219 cable so, fingers crossed!

Well, hopefully even it it aint the right cable, the external drive is just a case for an internal floppy as it is on my 760's...

I was able to buy a case with made on cable for them without a drive, and my internal fit right in it

So, if it dont attach, see if it will fit internally and use SBM.

Woooooot! The 10H4056 with the 74H0219 cable worked! Now to format this baby.

Thanks again for your help guys!

Ain't it sad though on ebay how we pay $3.94 for somthing... then pay $8.00 shipping

People who bulk list on ebay tend to use USPS flat rate boxes since they are free, not that many small sizes so you end up paying more then you would think for shipping.

I get very happy when people list things with low shipping or use USPS Media Mail for software (saves me a ton of money).

Yea, I just got a 760XL in one of those boxes... had about an inch left on either end... only one layer of bubble wrap and it survived nicely