Help needed restoring a couple of 600X thinkpads

[Vipersan]

Hi ..
my first post here.
My hobby is restoring retro Laptops ..and I recently aquired 2x 600X laptops .
These came with no hard drives (as expected) but luckilly the caddies were present.
The stickers on the topside indicate both were designed for NT and Win98 ...
Nowhere on either unit can I see a windows sticker ..so no keys
There are two IBM stickers which indicate one is Type 2645-7EG and the other Type 2645-850
My hope is to restore them to Factory condition...but sadly they did not come with Setup CDs
..and so far have not been successful in obtaining the discs.
Chances are I would need keys anyway ??
I do have a genuine 98SE CD and key ..and have attempted to install this operating system on a blank partitioned 40 gb IDE drive.
The Install was mostly successful .
but I do get an error which I dont understand ..
When viewing Control panel ..device manager ...
above standard busmastering IDE disc controller I get Intel82371AB/EB PCI Busmaster .. and a yellow exclamation mark ..
This device whatever it is does not install correctly ..(conflict error 15)
there are also issues during the operating system install

I'm using a genuine 98SE CD ..and key
The installation always hangs just after the Time/Date/Region setup ..requiring a reboot to continue.
This may be the hard drive going to sleep for all I know ..nonetheless I do get 98SE installed ..but on checking the hardware installed I always get the same errors .
Video and Audio I can sort out by replacing or installing missing drivers ..but there are other missing or conflicting items ..the worst of which is Intel82371AB/EB PCI Busmaster ..

Can anyone help me here ..
perhaps explaining by what the device is ..and how to correct my problem...?

It may well be that I cannot use a standard win98se cd ..and that I need proprietory IBM installation CDs ..but the chances of obtaining these is slim to none .

Thanks in advance for any help received.
rgds
VS

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the Forum.

It pays to do some searching on the forum:
Intel 82371ab/eb pci bus master IDE controller conflict

[fultontech]

If I recall correctly, the 600X WIN98 recovery media checks the BIOS for the IBM name and once found, will continue the restore process, which is mostly unzipping files onto a blank hard drive. I believe the serial/activation number for win98/NT was hard coded into the recovery image rather than the way a license is imbedded in the firmware/BIOS for WinXP on up.

[Vipersan]

My thanks for the welcome ...and the advice given.
I guess I'll have to search a little for the supplemental file..as looking at previous discussion ..the link is dead.

btw ..could someone tell me what the physical differences are regarding the 2 thinkpads I have ..
As I said already ..both are 600x but there are some physical differences.
rgds
VS

[BillP]

https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=126014 lists recovery images for sale.

https://thinkpads.com/support/Thinkpad- ... /600x.html has the Windows 98 supplement file near the bottom of the page.

Here are instructions for installing the APM file:

Both Windows 98 Gold and Windows 98 Second Edition
==================================================

II. Apply APM2APM.reg information onto Windows 98/98SE.

1. Boot the system
2. Open start menu and select "Run ..."
3. Click Run. "Run" windows is open.
4. Type C:\W98SUPP\APM2APM\APM2APM.reg and click [OK].
Following Registry Editor's windows appears.
"Are you sure you want to add the information
C:\W98SUPP\apm2apm\apm2apm.reg to the registory?"
5. Select [Yes].
Successfull windows message is displayed.
6. Select [OK] to exit the registory editor screen.

[Vipersan]

My Grateful thanks for the links Bill..
I've hopefully sent Thinkpad Maniac a PM.
maybe I will get the OEM factory CDs afterall..

[Vipersan]

The SUPP reg mod did indeed fix the busmaster error..
..but I'd still prefer an IBM factory restore .
Hopefully Thinkpad Maniac will be able to help with this in a couple of days.
rgds all
and thanks again Bill