ThinkPad A21m 2628 Hardware and Drivers Win98SE

[jisaacs1962]

I recently picked up a ThinkPad A21m 2628 G2U at the university yard sale for $50

The hard drive had been wiped and the unit came with no documentation, there is a Windows Genuine sticker with serials for Win 2000 and Win NT 4, neither of which I have.

It has:

800 Mhz CPU
256 MB RAM
20 GB HD
ATI - Mobility M1 + 4 MB VRAM
DVD-ROM
Floppy

I've installed Windows 98 Second Edition and have managed to secure drivers for everything but a few items that I can't identify:

Does anyone know who what companies were the OEM manufacturer for the Nic, Audio, and Modem?

I have PDFs of the user and repair manuals, but neither list specifics for these items.

Also, the Lenovo site is less than helpful.

Anyone else have an A21m 2628 G2U? Just a screen shot from your device manager would be much appreciated.

Edit: Added sub-model make

[Neil]

Also, the Lenovo site is less than helpful.

How so? I just now looked up your type number, and found all the driver for your machine for Win98 are there. If you don't know which driver to choose (there is only one for audio and video, but might be a couple dif ones for LAN and modem. If one doesn't work it must be the other), one way to find out is boot up a live Linux CD and see how it identifies the hardware, or do a serial number parts look-up on the Lenovo site.

[jisaacs1962]

Thanks for replying Neil

On the Lenovo site I can never get past the "choose your model" phase. The wizard never activates the "choose" button.

Both Chrome and IE state there is a missing object error in ProductSelector2.js of the wizard.

As of this morning I have gotten the audio (Crystal) and modem (Xircom Lucent) drivers downloaded and installed, but these were located on pages for similar models I found by using a Google search specifying the Lenovo support site.

As of this moment, I am still banging on the NIC. I have tried three different versions of the 3Com 10/100 Mini PCI combo driver and two versions of the Intel 100 Pro Mini PCI driver, Windows plug-n-play doesn't like any of the drivers I have found so far.

I am not an A+ certified tech or anything, just a slightly experienced end user. I'll do as you suggest. Several others offline suggested the same. I had just finished downloading the Lubuntu CD ISO before visiting the forum. Haven't tried Linux since Red Hat 4 or 5, so this is sure to be a shock to the brains.

EDIT: The Nic identifies in Linux as the IBM 10/100 EtherJet Mini-PCI Adapter - but for reasons known only to the dark gods of Microsoft Plug-n-pray, Windows isn't recognizing the driver on the Lenovo site as the right driver.

The READ ME files for the driver says: "To enable the Ethernet function of the MiniPCI Combo, another package for Ethernet driver is also required."

I cannot locate a separate driver for the Ethernet side of things. The files contained in the driver EXE seem to all relate to the modem side of the hardware.

I did locate a page with Google that seems much more helpful: Installing Windows 98 and its device drivers - ThinkPad A21m

Well, there is always the PCMCIA route if the on-board NIC won't cooperate.

[Neil]

It's been way too long since I've installed Windows on a ThinkPad of this vintage, so I'm really not much help here. But, is it this driver that isn't working for you?
Maybe if the .exe installer isn't doing the job, you could choose update driver from Device Manager, and point the installer to the directory where the combo driver inf file is located, and see if that works.

[DRobinson]

Have you considered a non-Windows OS? Linux can still run well on an old p3 era machine such as that. You may want to max the ram @512MB though. $50 sounds kinda high for a machine of that age, but the "A" machines do have a neat look to them...

Oh, I see you were looking at LUbuntu. That is a good choice for that machine. The sound card may be the only issue. Thinkwiki has a walk trough on getting it going.