ThinkPad 755CX upgrade issues

[tonydelano]

Hi folks,

I'm new to this forum, and have read all the FAQs, searched the forums, but haven't found this topic, so forgive me if this is repetitious.

I'm attempting to upgrade this IBM ThinkPad 755CX for a colleague, but am having no end of difficulty just getting the machine to recognize an external CDROM that I bought today (PCMCIA, Type 1). When I try to install the drivers for the drive from a disk that came with it, I get a "Disk Error" message, just prior to the setup terminating. Also, whenever I insert a DOS bootup disk, Drive C (HDD) is not recognized as a valid drive specification; only the Windows 98 startup disk recognizes the Drive C (HDD), but when I try to install the DOS Configuration Utility or the PC Card Director utilities that I downloaded from IBM's FTP site, I get the message stating there was an error when attempting to access Drive C. Using the Windows 98 startup disk's FDISK utility, I was able to set up a primary DOS partition for the drive; the Hard Drive is present and tests as OK in the system setup utility that I access by pressing F1 at startup. However, when I boot up with your average MS-DOS v6.22 disk, and try to switch to Drive C, I get the message saying 'Invalid media type reading drive C.' I can't understand why no drivers will install so that I can move ahead with the Windows 98 installation from this external CD ROM drive. Am I missing something? (I don't have an IBM Dock I for this machine at present). Please help!

[Neil1]

Try transferring the system files (type SYS:C at the A prompt) from your windows 98 startup disk.

Regards
Neil

[whizkid]

You also have to format the drive after running fdisk.

[tfflivemb2]

What size is the hard drive?

If the drive is too large for the BIOS, it won't recognize it. You might need to update the BIOS.

[whizkid]

It sounds like drive C is FAT32. DOS will not recognize a FAT32 partition, but a Win98 floppy will.