Member Avatar for vfexx28

I have am IBM thinkpad 365xd, It is basically my first project. the laptop came to me reformatted. BUT it did not come with a floppy drive but it did come with an internal cd-rom drive. I am tryng to install windows XP but I hve no Idea on how to boot it from the cd rom. I already went to BIOS to see if I could change the boot sequence but my cd-rom is not there. I am completly stuck, I would REALLY apreciate it if someone could HELP me.
thank you so much -ELIE :cry:

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This thread shows the right questions but a couple of practical workarounds weren’t mentioned. The ThinkPad 365XD is an older machine with PC‑Card (PCMCIA) boot support and documented compatibility with very small Linux distributions (Puppy, older Red Hat builds). Using the PCMCIA slot with a CompactFlash+PCMCIA adapter is often the simplest way to boot a live system (or a small installer) on this model when the internal CD won’t appear in setup. (thinkwiki.org)

If the goal is just “get something working” (rather than strictly XP), create a Puppy Linux or other lightweight live image on another PC, write that image to a CF card (in a PCMCIA adapter) and boot the 365XD from the card. ThinkWiki has concise notes on creating a bootable CF/PCMCIA setup for these machines; Puppy is explicitly tested on 365 models. That approach also gives a quick hardware test before trying a full OS install. (thinkwiki.org)

If Windows XP is mandatory, the more reliable path is to prepare the laptop’s hard drive on another computer: remove the 2.5" drive, connect it to a desktop or a USB‑IDE adapter, and run the XP setup (or clone an XP image) to that drive, then reinstall the drive in the ThinkPad. This avoids needing the laptop to boot from CD. Expect follow‑up work (repairing the boot sector, HAL/driver issues) because Windows ties itself to the hardware it’s installed under. (learn.microsoft.com)

Finally, beware of practicality: the 365XD’s stock CPU and memory are far below Windows XP’s usual minimums, so even a successful XP install will be slow or unusable. If keeping the machine usable is the aim, a lightweight Linux is the better, faster option for this hardware. (productindetail.com)

(Notes tied to earlier replies: // suggested BIOS/boot checks — those are still worth confirming — and ’s “try another drive” idea can help rule out a non‑bootable CD. The PCMCIA and HDD‑prep methods above are alternatives when the BIOS truly won’t boot the internal CD.)

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Member Avatar for mikerosoftin200

are you sure that the cd rom was not in the bios? You might have another menu available for booting. If you do, it's probably accessed with an F key during bootup, maybe F8? if the bootup goes by too fast, you can press the pause/break key, to pause bootup and let you look around (it's the key around the top right of your keyboard next to scroll lock).
If this doesn't work, there might be a proprietary IBM external floppy that you can boot to (ask IBM).

I hope this helps.

Member Avatar for jbennet

I have a IBM ThinkPad R30 and you can push f something to go into setup when it boots and you see the IBM logo or another F-Key to choose a boot device. Network etc... is available on my model. Under the BIOS setup on mine you can chose legaly FDD drive enable / disable. When enabled you can boot off of internal FDD when disabled off of USB FDD. How old is yours? mine is a P3 Win98.

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

There should be some sort of selection to boot from the CD-ROM, unless the computer is too old, and in that case you don't want to run XP on it anyway.

Check the BIOS again, looking for CD-ROM, or it could even be something like IDE-1

On an IDE chain,

IDE-0 is usually the Primary Master, usually a hard drive
IDE-1 is usually the Primary Slave, usually a CD-ROM
IDE-2 would be the Sec Master
IDE-3 would be the Sec Slave

It is also possible that the XP media you have is not bootable, especially if it is not legit. No, I am not accusing, it is just possible.

Christian

Member Avatar for Josh Holden

Try using another CD drive

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