IBM 560X won't boot from floppy drive?

[blusky]

I have a IBM Thinkpad 560X type2640-70U. It has a P233 MHZ and 96 megs of ram and windows 98 on it.. I am thinking of installing windows Xp on it.

When I try to update the Bios by booting from the floppy drive it will not boot. I set in the bios to boot first from the floppy drive. I have tried other bootable disks and it will not boot from floppy.
The floppy drive does work well once the laptop boots into windows so I know the external floppy drive does work.

Any ideas on what the problem could be or how to fix it would be greatly appreciated.

[whizkid]

It should boot from an IBM floppy connected to the floppy port or from a floppy in the media slice.

It will not boot from a USB floppy drive.

Which kind do you have?

[blusky]

It should boot from an IBM floppy connected to the floppy port or from a floppy in the media slice.

It will not boot from a USB floppy drive.

Which kind do you have?

I have the IBM floppy connected to the floppy port. Thank,

blusky

[whizkid]

If the drive works reliably after but, but not for booting... is the floppy controller somehow disabled in the BIOS?

As for the drive, if it somehow couldn't read the MBR, but could read the rest of track 0, that could explain it, but that is highly improbable. (I have a floppy drive that won't work in the internal bay of my 600X, but in that case, whole tracks don't work.)

Can you run the 560X diagnostics? PC Doctor may be available for download from Lenovo.

I don't know if the 560X has a usual BIOS interface or EZSetup, but with EZSetup, you can remove all devices from the boot order and it will still have some default order. My 600X works that way. Maybe you can give that a try.

You might try pressing F12 at startup to specifically select the floppy drive for booting.

[blusky]

If the drive works reliably after but, but not for booting... is the floppy controller somehow disabled in the BIOS?

As for the drive, if it somehow couldn't read the MBR, but could read the rest of track 0, that could explain it, but that is highly improbable. (I have a floppy drive that won't work in the internal bay of my 600X, but in that case, whole tracks don't work.)

Can you run the 560X diagnostics? PC Doctor may be available for download from Lenovo.

I don't know if the 560X has a usual BIOS interface or EZSetup, but with EZSetup, you can remove all devices from the boot order and it will still have some default order. My 600X works that way. Maybe you can give that a try.

You might try pressing F12 at startup to specifically select the floppy drive for booting.

WhizKid,
I checked the Bios and it is set to start from floppy drive first. It does use the EZSETUP Bios. I did remove all the startup options and it still did not boot from the floppy drive.

as for the F12 key it just made it start up into the bios.

I have tried the floppy drive on another thinkpad laptop 560X and it works fine. So the issue seems to be with the laptop not the floppy drive.
I searched the ibm website but they do not have a PC doctor for the 560x model.

Thanks for your help. Any other ideas on what could be causing this issue?

[whizkid]

I'm tapped, sorry. There might be an issue with the connector?

In any case, if you want to install XP, the CD should boot if you have a CD reader in the UltraBase (which I'm guessing you don't). You might consider picking one up from eBay or asking at this site's marketplace.

[blusky]

I'm tapped, sorry. There might be an issue with the connector?

In any case, if you want to install XP, the CD should boot if you have a CD reader in the UltraBase (which I'm guessing you don't). You might consider picking one up from eBay or asking at this site's marketplace.

Whizkid, thanks for all the help in troubleshooting this problem.
I do have an IBM 20X external CD rom drive that I know works because I use it on my other similar laptop.

The issue that I have with this CD rom drive is that apparently the windows 98 drivers do not work with it. I do have a drivers floppy for it but can't seem to get it to recognize the drivers. I had a similar issue with the other laptop and until I installed windows 2000 from the setup disks, which installed the Windows 2000 drivers, was I able to use the CD rom drive. I am kind of in a checkmate situation if I cannot boot from the floppy drive. Drivers are definetly my weak point.

[whizkid]

Since you seem to have another 560X available, you could move your hard drive into that machine. Then either copy the WinXP CD to the hard drive, move it back into the target machine, boot into command line mode and run the XP installer, *or* actually install XP while the drive is in the other machine, then move the drive back to the target machine.

HTH

[blusky]

Since you seem to have another 560X available, you could move your hard drive into that machine. Then either copy the WinXP CD to the hard drive, move it back into the target machine, boot into command line mode and run the XP installer, *or* actually install XP while the drive is in the other machine, then move the drive back to the target machine.

HTH

Thank Wizkid for the quick reply. That is a great idea. I have never opened up a laptop before but I assume its not that difficult. That would be a way around the issue that I am having. Thanks.

[leoblob]

If you are willing to buy a parallel port CD ROM, that might solve your problem. They are bootable when a simple set of DOS drivers has been installed.

[blusky]

If you are willing to buy a parallel port CD ROM, that might solve your problem. They are bootable when a simple set of DOS drivers has been installed.

Thanks leoblob for the help. That sounds like a good idea. I will see if I can find one on E-bay.

[salaam]

as i know, 560 series do not support booting from either USB floppy drive or export CD-ROM.

at least to my 560(2640-5JA), there's one viable method to install the operating system, that is, using the IBM-PORT floppy drive to boot， run fdisk and set the first partition "active"，, then format.
disassemble the hard disk from 560, copy whole system setup files and assemble it back. reboot 560 and setup system from the folder on hard disk.

can u check that "bootable" floppy diskette again? i wonder it could boot any other notebook or PC. or u have to looking for a well-working BOOTABLE floppy diskette.

[Mike1978]

I know this an old post I actually came looking for answers on a similar issue with an IBM Palmtop PC110 - but it maybe useful for others out there searching the forum.

Only certain external floppy drives are bootable, while others read fine within Windows. I’m uncertain if it’s by design or if certain IBM hardware were paired with specific devices..

Anyway here’s my findings with the PC110 it maybe similar for for IBM Thinkpad devices if using a drive externally:

IBM PC110 compatible Fdd’s
FDD
1. P/N 84G8663 FRU 84G8663 (boots)

FDD works under Windows / DOS
2. P/N 05k8958 FRU 05K8989 (no boot)
3. Caddy P/N 05K5907 FRU 05K6187 Drive P/N 05K8804 FRU 05K8874 (no boot)
4. P/N 10H4075 FRU 10H4055 (no boot) IBM 701/701c
5. P/N 12J0425 FRU 83H6258 (no boot) IBM 770

Cables FDD to dock
1. P/N 83H6276 FRU 12J0432
2. P/N 05K2843 FRU 05K2844

I hope this may help someone out there, the top drive may also be worth trying with other devices with this nuance.

As a closing comment there was a similar paired device for the HP Omnibook 800 and this was a particular TEAC FDD under the hood so maybe this is something similar with a hardware pairing.