Installing an OS on IBM 240 without CD-ROM/FDD?

[Maliha]

Hi,

Just acquired an old IBM 240 in stellar shape, it came preinstalled with Win XP on a wee tot 6GB HDD, I have got a spare [compatible] 20GB HDD which I would like to put in it, but I don't have any accessories or access to external CD-ROM or Floppy disk drive to install an OS on it. Is it possible to install any OS on it without these two devices?

On an aside note, the speakers on this thing are far superior than any thinkpad I have ever used.

Thanks in advance!

[sb102]

Hello,

Try searching in this part of the forum ('ThinkPad Legacy Hardware') first - there are numerous threads on how to install an OS on a notebook without a CD-ROM drive. One thing is sure - it's going to be hard to put an OS on the disk without a FDD (unless you want to transplant your hard disk to another machine and install it there).

[Maliha]

Hello,

Try searching in this part of the forum ('ThinkPad Legacy Hardware') first - there are numerous threads on how to install an OS on a notebook without a CD-ROM drive. One thing is sure - it's going to be hard to put an OS on the disk without a FDD (unless you want to transplant your hard disk to another machine and install it there).

I put that 20GB drive in my T42p and installed Win 2000 on it, after putting it back in IBM 240 it gave me following message on boot:

"NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart"

Do you think Win 98 or any linux distro will do better than this?

Thanks again!

Maliha

[Neil]

Win98 and some Linux distros would likely do better in that situtation, yes. But, the best way would be to make the drive bootable in the T42 and copy only the set-up files onto the drive, but don't install. Then transfer the drive to the 240, boot and run setup or install with the drive in the 240.

You can search the web for more detailed instructions if needed. There are a lot of ways to install an OS without a CD-ROM or FDD.

[Maliha]

Thanks Neil for your post.

I installed Win 98 on T42p with that 20GB drive, and then inserted it in IBM 240, guess what Eureka!

Now, I'm going to give linux a try, and probably Win XP later on too. I will report back once I've tried them.

[Maliha]

I couldn't get linux to work, gave up after trying Fedora and Linux Mint, also neither XP worked, but guess which other OS I tried on and it worked out? Windows 7, yes that's right and surprising think is that the performance isn't as bad as I though it would be. Windows boots up more or less in 1/half minutes, with a lightweight browser k-meleon browsing is great, although I haven't tried watching any youtube or flash based videos so far, I'm sure it wouldn't be such a good idea. I had planned to sick with Win 98 but couldn't get all the drivers to work, nor my PCMCIA wifi card supported 98.

Here is a pic of it:- http://i31.tinypic.com/1zbgkew.jpg

[Maliha]

Finally, I was able to put Win XP on the bigger 20GB drive; without CD-ROM but not without floppy drive.

Here are the steps involved:-

1. Required accessories: a floppy drive for your IBM 240, a thinkpad (other than IBM 240) that takes ATA/IDE HDD, XP's installation CD.
2. Download and a make a startup boot diskette of Win 98SE, can be downloaded here: http://1gighost.com/ed/jamiephiladelphia/boot98sc.exe, this can also be done on your desktop given that it has a floppy drive. Just double click the .exe, press enter few times and you're done.
3. Put the HDD in the other thinkpad (in my case it was T42p), install XP on it. During setup, make sure to partition the drive in two halves (C:\ and D:\) and format them as FAT.
4. After installation, copy the contents of XP CD to D:\.
5. Remove the HDD and put it back in IBM 240. Attach the FDD and insert startup disk for Win 98SE.
6. Power on the system, on boot the startup disk will try to find CD-ROM Banana ( ) ending up in error and leaving you on A:\.
7. Type "smartdrv.exe" on A:\.
8. Smartdrive is included in the above startup diskette you made, it speeds up XP's copying process.
9. I'm not sure if this is required, but I formated C:\ with "format c: /s" command in order to wipe off previous install of XP.
10. Type these next:

D: (Enter)
cd i386 (Enter)
winnt.exe (Enter)

11. XP will take you to a blue colored screen where it would ask for XP's path, press enter again, if it doesn't work then just enter D:\ there.

12. XP will copy files to the drive, once done it will ask to remove the diskette from the FDD before restarting.

13. From there it's just a normal XP installation.

I hope someone finds this helpful.

[Bookworm]

> guess which other OS I tried on and it worked out? Windows 7, yes that's right and surprising
> think is that the performance isn't as bad as I though it would be.



Which is faster, XP or 7?

[Maliha]

> guess which other OS I tried on and it worked out? Windows 7, yes that's right and surprising
> think is that the performance isn't as bad as I though it would be.



Which is faster, XP or 7?

Windows XP is faster, nonetheless once 7 has finished loading it's honestly not bad taking this into consideration that IBM 240 has a decade old legacy hardware inside, even I was able to proofread some university projects seamlessly using Word and Powerpoint on it.

The battery life is pretty poor though, another downside is that there is no sound driver available for Win 7.

[ThinkRob]

Out of curiosity, what happened when you tried Fedora and Mint?

[Maliha]

Out of curiosity, what happened when you tried Fedora and Mint?

Just a blank screen after POST with no activity at all. Perhaps it was good in a way because my PCMCIA wifi card doesn't support linux, I found this out after I had bought the card.

[ThinkRob]

Just a blank screen after POST with no activity at all. Perhaps it was good in a way because my PCMCIA wifi card doesn't support linux, I found this out after I had bought the card.

That's really odd. Almost sounds like an issue with GRUB TBH. I'd be curious to see if an older version of the same worked (i.e. something using GRUB legacy instead of GRUB2).

[Maliha]

That's really odd. Almost sounds like an issue with GRUB TBH. I'd be curious to see if an older version of the same worked (i.e. something using GRUB legacy instead of GRUB2).

Could be so, but I'm not well versed with linux stuff, I only know how to do the installation, however I'm willing to try this out on the 6GB spare drive if you would guide me through it, thanks!

[ThinkRob]

Could be so, but I'm not well versed with linux stuff, I only know how to do the installation, however I'm willing to try this out on the 6GB spare drive if you would guide me through it, thanks!

Actually, I have a quick question first: does anything at all appear after POST? Anything with strings like "loading", "GRUB", or "boot"?

[Maliha]

Actually, I have a quick question first: does anything at all appear after POST? Anything with strings like "loading", "GRUB", or "boot"?

Nope, nothing, nada, nil. Just a blank screen.

[ThinkRob]

Nope, nothing, nada, nil. Just a blank screen.

Well... huh. You got me.

Without poking and prodding the machine directly it's hard to guess, but the only thing that I can think of might be to use an older distro (and thus an older version of GRUB.) My theory is that the newer distros are trying to configure the drive to use GPT and are installing GRUB2, one (or both) of which don't play nice with the 240's BIOS.

That's just a guess though. My next step would be try a range of older distros -- perhaps going back to ones made several years ago -- until you find the approximate point at which they cease to boot. That might give some insight into what the problem is.

[Maliha]

I will update you in a few days, as few projects are piling up at school with end of the term approaching.