New Old laptop

hello
:D

I've just purchased a "New, Old" IBM Thinkpad 760L Laptop online.
It says that it does not come with an operating system instaled and it has no CD drive.

What is my best option for getting one of the windows flavors (preferably 98) instaled?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

C-

Simply- Buy yourself an external Cd-rom/ writer.

dont quote me on this but i doubt that laptop has the appropiate external drivers for the cd-rom

imho-maybe a dos boot disk w/ network drivers ... a patch cable (if you have a lan jack) and a machine w/ a shared cdrom or a os disk copied onto its hdd

Yea, I thought of the external CD drive.
However, I'd rather not spend any more $$ on this thing than absolutely necessary.

Running_on_Wheel: It doesn't have a network card. What about the possibility of networking it to my desktop via the parallel port. I think I've heard of that being possible. Is that correct?
Would I need some sort of special cable? And how does one go about doing this sort of networking?

I'm looking for the Cheap alternative here.

Thanks for the replies
C-

oh, and where does one find a dos boot disk with network drivers?

So,

How do I get an OS on this poor little OSless laptop?
Anyone?
...

http://www.clonesuk.com/760l.jpg

:) C-

If you have a boot diskette or an old version of DOS, you could use the DOS Interlink program to transfer the Windows files from a CD-ROM drive on another PC to the hard drive. Try a search of these forums for 'Interlink' or 'interlnk' for posts on how to do this.

okay, thanks JDC.
I will search VDR for "Interlink"

thanks for the point in the right direction.

:)

Cheapest way to install the installation files is to purchase a 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" drive converter and put it in your desktop computer as a slave drive whilst you load the windows install files
[Cost you about £7 plus the extra licence of course].
Put it back in the laptop and run the install from the harddrive.

7 pounds?
...Well that's not very heavy at all.
I could lift that with one hand! :D

Just having a bit of fun with ya, 104456.
Thanks for the reply.
I'll look into a drive converter at my local PC store.

I also found the VDR topics that jdc2000 was refering to.

Thanks for the help all.
I let you know how it goes.

C-

EDIT:
I just found a drive converter from www.cablesnmor.com for $12.95
It may be a little heavier than that 7 pound one, but I got it anyway. :D :D :D

Thanks for all the help
VDR is the coolest!

Christopher

Quote:

---

12.95 USD United States Dollars = 8.09272 GBP United Kingdom Pounds

1 USD = 0.624920 GBP 1 GBP = 1.60020 USD

---

I was only £1.09 pence out :p :D

You could also look on ebay they usually appear in the computer hardware section on a regular basis.

Best wishes to you and yours for the forthcoming festivities.:D :D :D

Thanks for the assist!

And absolutely all the best to you and yours as well, my British friend.
:)

C-

If you have not done already, I would suggest that you visit the IBM support site for thinkpads and get the various drivers for that model. Some of them are not contained in Windows 98. Also they have downloadable information on parts, etc.

TP driver matrix

Hey, thanks Opovet2 for the point in the right direction.

Well, the laptop arrived, I am still awaiting the HD adapter so I can attach the HD to my desktop to transfer files.

I followed the link that that Opovet provided and downloaded the newest BIOS file, "sytpf130". I tried to instal it but when I get to the point where it asks for a blank floppy it appears to write to it for a couple seconds and then gives me the message "image file has been corrupted". I nearly $hat myself when that happened, but the machine still boots up normally. (whew). I tried another blank floppy and still get the same "corrupted image file message. hmmm. I need that updated bios to be able to run win 98.
-Anyone know how I can check to see what BIOS I am curently running? I don't get any info at POST other than a 40,000K memory ok message. And what I can try to be able to update my bios.
I ran all of the Thinkpad's internal testing sequences, and while taking a loooong time (20 min or so) they all came back okay.

Thanks for all the help

Christopher

Oh yea, I spent some time searching for an online version of the manual for this machine; without any luck. Does anyone know of where I might find such a thing?
Thanks!

ok, I figured out what i did wrong with the BIOS update.
didn't read instrutcions completely...duh.
:)

any pointers toward an online manual for this machine would be greatly appreciated.
I looked again this morning and just can't seem to find one.

thanks!

I am not sure if there is a single user manual online there are a number of selections available:
1. try www.ibm.com/
2. select "support & downloads"
3. select "thinkpad"
4. select "notebook & PC companion"
5. select 760L family
6. select machine type "all"


When screen loads on left side will show a pick list. You will need to explore those to find online and downloadable info such as user guide, parts manuals, FAQ's, hardware info, issuses with installing windows 98, etc. Plenty of info to digest.
:rolleyes:

Ok, thanks Opovet. I will have a look.

Well, HD adapter arrived, but unfortunately it is not compatible with the thinkpad HD. Female to female connetors. boooo. :(
So, I will try the DOS Interlink program once I get the appropriate cable.

I'll letcha know how it goes...

Thanks for all the help.

Christopher
:)

The adapater should have male pins on one side for the 40 pin IDE cable and the other side should be female plug for the hard drive to plug in. Was your hard drive inside a can? If so you need to take it out.

If the pins are not clearly marked on the adapter, be very careful about pin #1 location.

found this hope it pastes correctly.

Installing your Laptop HDD Adapter

This unit will allow you to connect a laptop (2.5") Hard disk to a Desktop computer internally. For installation follow these steps.

On the Desktop Side:

Plug the IDE Ribbon with the red end towards the "1" inscription on the HDD adapter. This is opposite from the power plug.
Plug the power plug in the regular Desktop plug. Goes only one way.

On the Laptop side:

Plug the 2.5" (Laptop) HDD with the side with the label seeing the same side of the adapter that has "2.5" HDD Adapter" inscription.
On the other side there is a "Key" marking. This should correspond with the missing pin on your laptop HDD. All laptop HDD have 1 missing pin in the middle.

Note: Many HDD’s have a manufacturer specific connector on the pins of the HDD. If it seems that your connection does not match, remove that connector! All HDD’s have male pins on two rows.
Back

Cool, thanks Opovet!

I will look into removing the HD from its housing (or removing IBM's adapter) once I get home tonight.

Thanks again!
Christopher
:)

Once you get the top off look at the bottom of the can for any mounting screws might be four of them. I believe IBM used the cans to protect the harddrives as the IDE pins on the drive are not made strong enough fot repeated connecting. On some models the lappers have the bay where the exrta hd or battery can be plugged into the lapper.

If at some point you want to upgrade to hard drive make sure it will first fit inside the can. There are three basic thickness of the 2.5 hd's. Then you need to find out the bios limits on that model.

I believe I have seen 4 gigs installed with no problems.

cool okay, thanks for the tips.
Where, do you think, I may find such info?

"make sure it will first fit inside the can. There are three basic thickness of the 2.5 hd's. Then you need to find out the bios limits on that model."

Thanks again for all the help.
I will let you know how it goes.

C-

Hey all,

Well, I got the HD out of the "can" got it hooked up to my desktop via the HD adapter. Got Win 98 transfered and installed to laptop. So, that all went very smoothly. :)

All seems well other than I can't set my screen resolution any greater than 640x480. I do get 16 or 24-bit color. But it seems from all that I've read that I should be able to get 800x600. I installed the video adapter drivers from IBMs site. (Its got a whopping 1 meg video card. think I can play Quake? :D ) But those didn't seem to do the trick. Interestingly, before I installed the new video adapter drivers I could set resolution to 800x600 but only at 256 colors max.

Any thoughts about this conundrum?

Thanks for all the help!

C-

I`d check your default monitor setting you might have the incorrect type selected even though its the correct driver.

So,
here's a kinda funny addition. after getting my laptop appetite whetted by this old clunker I ran right out to Best Buy this weekend and got me a brand spankin new Compaq Presario 2100. Whoopie!!

AMD 1800+
512 MB DDR ram
40 gig HD
DVD/CD burner

Not a bad price either.

So let this be a lesson to everyone,....
uh... not sure what that would be, but I sure do like my new toy!


:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D