Problems installing an Operating System on a TP 600!

[BigWarpGuy]

I tried to install FreeDOS onto a Thinkpad 600. When that did not work, I tried to install ReactOS. When that did not work, I tried installing eCS 1.1 . They all get to a certain point then goes no farther. With eCS, it is at when the hard drive/controller is detected. With FreeDOS, it stops when it tires to install FreeDOS. ReactOS does not go farther than the others. I booted to FreeDOS and was able to fdisk the hard drive. It was - at first - partitioned into two DOS16 partitions then one DOS32 partition. No os will install. It has a 233 mhz Pentium and a 5 gig hard drive and 163 meg of ram. Any help will be appreciated. The test in cmos says the hard drive is okay.

[Ted_E]

[quote="BigWarpGuy"]I tried to install FreeDOS onto a Thinkpad 600. When that did not work, I tried to install ReactOS. When that did not work, I tried installing eCS 1.1 .

Do you have DFSee? That is the partitoning tool of choice. Is there any OS on the machine at present? Are you interested in upgrading to eCS 1.2? It's US$69 from 1.1.

Do you wish to have more than one OS on it? If so, which?

I've been 'round the block with a 385XD and now a T23 but not a 600. However I'm expecting a good friend to arrive this evening for a visit. He has a 600 and is very knowledgeable about the low lebvel stuff. We will need answers to the above questions to suggest much.

Meanwhile, download DFSee. You will probably need it.

[BigWarpGuy]

I was able to boot to FreeDOS and use fdisk.exe that comes with it. I was able to partition it. It shows one partition with the full amount of the hard drive. It is set as fat32. I was able to format it using FreeDOS. I rebooted but it says it is not bootable. I tried installing eCS 1.1 but it did not get very far.

I do not have DFSee but I think I can get it. I can download it and give it a try.

I am just trying to get eCS 1.1 to install onto it. I tried the other os's to see if they will work (thinking if they all fail, it might be something other than the os).

I tried going to IBM to get the bios software for this model. I was not able to download it (something about an app not loading). I will try again, later.

The help is appreciated. Thanks.

[Ted_E]

I do not have DFSee but I think I can get it. I can download it and give it a try.

http://www.dfsee.com/

I am just trying to get eCS 1.1 to install onto it. I tried the other os's to see if they will work (thinking if they all fail, it might be something other than the os).

One of the major improvements in eCS 1.2 over 1.1 was easier installation. You might want to consider an upgrade.

Are you wanting to have any other OS besides eCS on that machine? It makes a difference as to how you should partition it.

Ted

[BigWarpGuy]

I only wish to have eCS on the TP600. I have downloaded the DFSee from http://www.dfsee.com and will be giving it a try.

To get the eCS 1.2 upgrade, would this not mean that one was able to install eCS 1.1? To install eCS 1.2 as a new OS, one would have to buy the full eCS 1.2 instead of the upgrade?

[Ted_E]

I only wish to have eCS on the TP600. I have downloaded the DFSee from http://www.dfsee.com and will be giving it a try.

To get the eCS 1.2 upgrade, would this not mean that one was able to install eCS 1.1? To install eCS 1.2 as a new OS, one would have to buy the full eCS 1.2 instead of the upgrade?

No. The upgrade is a full system only the price is reduced. Buy 1.2 from

http://shop.mensys.nl/cgi-bin/db2www/mn ... ComStation

for digital delivery with credit card and you will have two .ISO files to burn to CD in a very short time. In my case it was minutes.

Ted

[BigWarpGuy]

eCS 1.2 has not been bought yet but it is on my 'to do' list.

I can not seem to boot anything on the TP600. I have tried FreeDOS. It has to be in 'safe mode' before it boots. I have tried installing FreeDOS but it stops at scanning the hard drive (even though fdisk and format seem to work ; fdisk supports fat32 but format /s does not work even though it does format it). I have tried ReactOS from http://www.reactos.com but it does not get very far before it stops. I have tried eCS 1.1 but it stops at the eCS logo. I have tried booting to FreeDOS safemode and install the bios update via an external diskette drive (internal cd drive) but it just reads the diskette continually (the diskette drive light goes not and does not go off till either the notebook computer is turned off or the external diskette drive is disconnected). I tried booting the bios update but stops at boot and does nothing. Sometimes it would reboot but the screen would be blank. I can only reboot it after disconnecting the power cord and taking out the battery. I am beginning to see why it was up for bids at eBay.com. I have tried the memory it came with and the memory I have (the former is about 97 meg and the latter is 163 meg). I will keep trying.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Ted_E]

[quote="BigWarpGuy"]eCS 1.2 has not been bought yet but it is on my 'to do' list.

I can not seem to boot anything on the TP600. I have tried FreeDOS. It has to be in 'safe mode' before it boots.

What do you mean by 'safe mode'? Does it boot at all?

Have you got DFSee? Jan has a floppy image based on FreeDOS that would let you get at partition tables etc. Since you are posting her, I assume you have another machine with at least a floppy drive. If you buy DFSee (~US$50), Jan will help you sort out problems if he can which he usually can. DFsee has the facilities to see what is going on on that hard drive.

Three things come to mind:
A major hardware problem. We'll hope it's not that.
A password that the seller forgot to give you. Can you contact him/her?
A hard drive with something weird on it. DFSee can probably fix that.

[BigWarpGuy]

I have created the DOS and OS/2 diskette versions of DFSee. I have created the CD version of DFSee. It tries to boot but does not get very far (it goes to the diskette drive and the light stays on but nothing happens; this happens if I put the internal diskette drive in the bay or use an external diskette drive). I do have another computer with a diskette drive. It is how I created the diskettes for DFSee and the bios driver diskette for the TP600.

I was able to get to the install FreeDOS screen where 'safe mode' is one of the choices. I was able to use fdisk on the hard drive. I did a format c: /s but it did not transfer any files. It only formatted the hard drive. The TP600 could not boot from it.
http://www.freedos.org

[BigWarpGuy]

I was able to install ReactOS on the Thinkpad 600. I will be trying eCS 1.1. (update on my progress to get eCS 1.1 to install).

[BigWarpGuy]

I tried eCS 1.1 but not success. I did get a little farther using the setting for 'oldcdrom' instead of the default setting. I will try the jscdrom next. It went as far as showing the drive details. I will alos try to partition the hard drive into two parts (2.5 gig each instead of using the full 5 gig as a whole).

[BigWarpGuy]

I am trying different variations of drivers (Dani and IBM hard drive and cd drive drivers). I have not installed eCS 1.1 onto it. When I get the cd for 1.2, I will give it a try on it.

[BigWarpGuy]

"cdfs.ifs
\ibmcdrom.dmd
z:\hpfs.ifs
\locatecd.sys
\ecs\boot\unicode.sys
z:\jfs.ifs
z:/testcfg.sys
\ecs\boot\dos.sys
\ecs\boot\pmdd.sys
\ecs\boot\pointdd.sys
\ecs\boot\mouse.sys
\ecs\boot\usbkbd.sys
\ecs\boot\usbmouse.sys
\ecs\boot\usbresmg.sys
z:\erasefil.sys"
This is what shows when I chose a different hard drive driver and cdrom driver (alt-f2 when booting).

Since I have the T21, I have have - more or less -given up on the 600. I was able to get eCS 1.1 installed on the T21 after chosing the IBM drivers.

[BigWarpGuy]

I have given up trying to install any operating system on the 600. Nothing installs (freedos sort of installed but it would not boot). I will use the hard drive in one of my mini-itx projects.

http://tomleem.homestead.com/myminiitxprojects.html