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General discussion

can't get laptop to boot from cd-rom

Sep 27, 2004 1:00PM PDT

i have an IBM Thinkpad. in the bios, i set it to boot from cd. then i reformatted c: drive. restarted the machine, the cd drive blinks a couple times, then all i get is a blank screen with a flashing cursor (underscore) on it. i'm trying to install win 98. it's a full bootable version. also tried a bootable cd that i made with roxio easy cd creator. both do the same thing. how can i get the installation to start. thanks in advance for any help with this.

Discussion is locked

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Re: can't get laptop to boot from cd-rom
Oct 3, 2004 5:56AM PDT

i forgot to mention, it doesn't have a floppy drive.
can somebody help me? please! thanks

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Re: can't get laptop to boot from cd-rom
Oct 3, 2004 9:21AM PDT

Over at compgeeks.com is a DVDCDRW drive for 79 bucks. A cheap fix. If not, you have to extract the hard disk and load it as best you can. I don't care to offer any hand holding on this rather expert workaround, but will share that it is possible to preload the hard disk with Windows 98 and then install it while on the machine.


BIG DOWNSIDE is that without a CDROM or floppy, getting drivers onto the machine is again something you do while the drive is in the desktop.

Bob

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Re: can't get laptop to boot from cd-rom
Oct 17, 2004 9:08AM PDT

Hi rsbagby,if you have acess to another system running windows 98 create a start-up disk.Reset your bios to boot from a floppy disk and then reboot using the start-up disk.Choose option 2 and allow driver installation,at completion you should be able to type 'fdisk' follow the instrucions to create a new patition. (BEWARE THIS WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON THE HDD).After this exit fdisk, restart your computer with the floppy,you will need to format your HDD,at a:type'format c:'.On completion reboot, choose option 1 start computer with CD rom support follow the on-screen instructions to install Win 98.
Hope this helps,Regards Tinkerman.

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Re: can't get laptop to boot from cd-rom
Oct 18, 2004 5:00AM PDT

you're awesome, tinkerman!
the prob i was having was no
access to a floppy. make a long
story short...i got a portable one,
followed your instructions, and it
worked. thanks dude, you rock!

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Re: can't get laptop to boot from cd-rom
Oct 18, 2004 8:41AM PDT

Hi rsbagby,glad to have been of assistance,although Iam English my dog Sam is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and he supports ,John Kerry for President.

Kind regards(Eric)tinkerman.