cannot boot a21m from a CD

[keynotes_88]

Hi,

I am trying to revive a ThinkPad a21m/2628PRU. It works now with Win 2000, but I want to wipe the drive, reformat and do a fresh install of XP.

As is with Win 2000, it won't boot from a known bootable CD. Also I haven't figured out how to successfully burn a CD either, although it reads CDs and DVDs OK. Nero 6 is installed. I flashed the bios to the latest version and the boot order is correct. The CD/DVD drive is a Matshita dvd-ram uj-815. That drive is not supported by any updates I found on the IBM site.

I could boot from a set of floppies, but I'm worried that the CD won't be recognized and I'll end up with a wiped drive without being able to install the OS.

I guess there's a major difference between a DVD ram drive and DVD rom drive which I don't understand.

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm running out of ideas to try.

thanks,
keynotes

[jdhurst]

The Windows XP setup disks do a very good job of recognizing CD Drives - I have used them, and they have not failed to continue on with the XP CD after booting from diskette. That said, I have not done this one your machine.

Now I note from the equipment specs for your machine that it came with Windows 2000, so you should be able to get back to a Windows 2000 setup if you blow up the hard drive. You may not have the media, though.

So the only way to actually guarantee results is to try the XP load with diskettes and a spare hard drive (get a cheap 10Gb drive off eBay if need be).

Back to XP diskettes, there are two sets - one for XP with no Service Pack and one for XP with SP1 integrated. If XP sells now with SP2 integrated, there well may be a third set of diskettes. So if you decide on this route, make sure you get the correct set.
... JD Hurst

[keynotes_88]

JD,

Thanks for your reply.

Since I posted and before I read your reply, I actually went through the whole process. Yes I downloaded the file from Microsoft that creates the setup CDs for XP with SP1, and they didn't work with my disk because it doesn't have SP1, so I had to download the other file and create setup disks for XP without SP1.

The install went fine. I did the updates including SP2. And after installing Nero 6 the drive will burn CDs now, which it didn't before. My guess is that it will also burn DVDs, but I don't have any media so I'll find out about that later.

I don't know why I can't boot from the CD drive, but I guess I don't need to worry about it now.

Now I have another problem of freeing up space on the hard drive, but that's another post.

many thanks,
keynotes