how to load a o/s without a cd drive

skunkmonk · 12-14-2006, 04:59 PM

Hi guys
i hope some one can help me i have an ibm thinkpad 240 lovely machine and its ideal as i am away from home a lot
it used to work fine until someone kindly wiped the hard drive for me.
I have an external floppy drive that works fine
i also have pcmia cd drive but without an o/s system on the lap top the cd isnt being recognised i was given the cd drive and just got the drivers from the net
any sugestions on how to reload the o/s i have various systems here just cant seem to load the bloody things
any help would be gratefully recieved

95five-0 · 12-15-2006, 06:46 AM

One options I can think of is, if you remove the hard drive from the machine. Then they sell these cable where you can plug any hard drive into a USB port. Example here:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1517&CatId=470

You can pick these up at places like micro center and fry's. Then plug the hard drive into another machine, create a folder (not named windows) and copy the entire contents of the cd to the hard drive. Then install it back into the laptop and boot from a windows 98 boot disk and this will get you into DOS. Then just navigate to the folder with the CD contents and run setup. This is the best I can think of. Someone else might have a better idea.

crazijoe · 12-15-2006, 06:51 AM

Thinkpad 240 is quite an old machine. What OS do you plan on loading? You may need to get floppy version of Win98.

**hwm54112** · 12-15-2006, 08:26 AM

If you're installing XP, i think the floppy disks downloadable from MS will load the neccessary drivers for the rom drive, then hand off the install to the cd version

Rebellion88 · 12-15-2006, 07:08 PM

Could always try Linux

12-14-2006, 04:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
skunkmonk Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 1 OS: xp/98/2000	how to load a o/s without a cd drive Hi guys i hope some one can help me i have an ibm thinkpad 240 lovely machine and its ideal as i am away from home a lot it used to work fine until someone kindly wiped the hard drive for me. I have an external floppy drive that works fine i also have pcmia cd drive but without an o/s system on the lap top the cd isnt being recognised i was given the cd drive and just got the drivers from the net any sugestions on how to reload the o/s i have various systems here just cant seem to load the bloody things any help would be gratefully recieved

12-15-2006, 06:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
95five-0 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Corinth, TX Posts: 1,339 OS: 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008	One options I can think of is, if you remove the hard drive from the machine. Then they sell these cable where you can plug any hard drive into a USB port. Example here: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1517&CatId=470 You can pick these up at places like micro center and fry's. Then plug the hard drive into another machine, create a folder (not named windows) and copy the entire contents of the cd to the hard drive. Then install it back into the laptop and boot from a windows 98 boot disk and this will get you into DOS. Then just navigate to the folder with the CD contents and run setup. This is the best I can think of. Someone else might have a better idea. __________________ "If it's really a supercomputer, how come the bullets don't bounce off when I shoot it ?" <<PC Pitstop>><< AVG Free>><<Spybot>><<Everest 2.0>><<Trend Micro House Call>><<HijackThis How-to>>

12-15-2006, 06:51 AM	#3 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	Thinkpad 240 is quite an old machine. What OS do you plan on loading? You may need to get floppy version of Win98. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

12-15-2006, 08:26 AM	#4 (permalink)
hwm54112 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 2,233 OS: WINXP	If you're installing XP, i think the floppy disks downloadable from MS will load the neccessary drivers for the rom drive, then hand off the install to the cd version

12-15-2006, 07:08 PM	#5 (permalink)
Rebellion88 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: London, UK Posts: 442 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit My System	Could always try Linux