# Win2000 Thinkpad laptop won't boot to CD



## S&W (May 28, 2007)

Wasn't sure which forum to post this to... I have a IBM Thinkpad 1452 that is about 7 years old. I made the mistake of loading Win2000 Pro on it (an upgrade from the original Windows98) and now I want to go back to Win98 because the Win2000 is too slow on it. I only have a Celeron CPU with 64MB RAM, so that's obviously why. 

Anyway, when I place any one of my bootable CDs (all Knoppix) which I know are good in the laptop, Win2000 just cruises right by them and won't recognize to boot from it. The CD spins for a couple of seconds upon boot-up, but never starts. The boot order in BIOS is CD, Floppy, Hard drive (it won't let me disable the hard drive entirely) so that is already set correctly. I was going to use Knoppix to "wipe" the drive clean so I know everything is fresh for the reload using the Thinkpad's recovery CD.

I should have the CD drivers already, since I had an upgraded version of Win2000 on the laptop and never experienced issues before.

What is the deal? The laptop won't even recognize the Thinkpad Recovery CD upon start-up either which I was planning on using to reload the original Win98 OS. It appears Win2000 has entirely hijacked my laptop CD drive.

Please tell me how to fix this so I can go back to Win98. The best Windows OS ever! ;-)

Thank you,
Andrew


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## gadgtman (May 7, 2007)

Sounds like your CDROM drive is not well. Win2000 can't hijack your drive until after it boots. Is there a bios update or 2 or 3 for your machine? I'd try that keeping in mind that if you update your bios wrong (follow directions provided exactly) you will have a big square paper weight. If you don't think it is bios problem then maybe there is a tiny cable that has finally come loose.


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## S&W (May 28, 2007)

Hi. Thanks. The CD player/drive works fine. I can boot up Win2000 and access it good. Like I said, it starts to spin-up upon boot (with the boot CD in it) but quickly stops and Win2000 takes over and continues to load.

I'm wondering if Win2000 has has a setting to prevent a CD O/S to boot?

Also, could the fact that the laptop hard drive is NTFS be causing problems? I've used the boot CDs in XP, 2000, and NT machines and never caused a problem before however.

Any other ideas? How about if I boot to a command prompt and reformat the drive to FAT32? How would I do that though? Can you list the step by step stuff? I already have the drive backed-up, and don't need the data on it before restoring it to the original Win98 that it came it.

thanks,
Andrew


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## gadgtman (May 7, 2007)

Win98 disk should do all this for you. Pop in Win98 floppy boot disk along with 98 CD and all should be a go. If you don't have original floppy you can download it from bootdisk.com or some such website.


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## S&W (May 28, 2007)

I downloaded a 98 boot disk from bootdisk.com and removed the NTFS and FAT32 partitions that were on the laptop, and then I reformatted the whole drive as a single FAT32 drive. So now I have a blank FAT32 drive with no OS. I hoped this would have fixed the Win2000 issue of not allowing the auto-boot CDs to start, but it did not. 

The CD drive is not dead, because it spins up upon boot but just won't initiate any recovery programs or auto execute programs (such as on my Helix or Knoppix CDs). Also, I can do a directory of the CD drive in DOS and see all contents, so I'm pretty sure the CD drive has the needed drivers and it's working in general.

How do I make the Thinkpad Recovery CD or one of my auto-boot CDs (Helix or Knoppix) initiate though? I don't know DOS well enough to manipulate the commands to get the files to run, hoping to get one the CDs to begin their automated process.

thanks,
Andrew


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## S&W (May 28, 2007)

All the CDs actually work, and work in my other computer. Below is what I did last evening and results thus far, some progress, but still not good-to-go.

1. Went to IBM site and downloaded newest BIOS version and loaded to laptop. Returned all settings to factory settings as website suggested. Apparently when I loaded Win2000, it corrupted my BIOS to some degree but it wasn't evident until trying to revert back to Win98. Strange and scary at the same time isn't it?

2. Also dowloaded the PC Doctor utility and completed complete diagnostic on system, all checked OK.

3. Loaded the Knoppix CD and wiped the drive and repartioned and formatted to FAT32. All sectors tested good.

4. Put "Recovery" CD in and reboot, it initialized successfully and seemed to complete the "recovery" process, right down to the last success sign of saying, "your computer has been successfully recovered, please reboot after removing the Recovery CD." 

5. Reboot machine w/ all CDs removed and now I get an "I/O error" that prevents Win98 from completing to load.

I read on the IBM site that for older laptops that have "recovery" issues with the CD (which I thought I overcame with step 4) that the hard drive may have to be reformatted in FAT16 prior to running the Recovery CD. The note is vague though and seems to apply to hosts that won't start the Recovery process at all, not ones with my "I/O error" after going thru the whole process.

The default Recovery settings splits the hard drive into two halves, and loads the OS onto one partion, and leaves the other logical partition for personal files/storage. I tried it twice thus far, allowing it to do that, and making it use the single FAT32 partition I create as well (it gives the option). Both give me the same result with the "I/O error" upon reboot after recovery.

I'm game for trying to format my hard drive to FAT16 to see if this is the final fix for the Recovery process, but don't know how to do this. Does anyone know if FAT16 reformatting is available from the 3.5" floppy Win98 boot disk?

Any other suggestions I'll do as well, just name them.

thanks, Andrew


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## gadgtman (May 7, 2007)

Load your Knoppix CD again and make sure OS partition is marked active, primary and bootable. Win98 boot disk I believe will give partition attributes as well.


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## dmapper (Dec 31, 2008)

Has anyone figured this problem out yet? I'm trying to install a light version of linux from a bootable CD on my thinkpad r31 but it doesn't want to boot from anything but the hard disk. I have the same experience as S&W - the CD spins, but it just breezes right past that and starts loading windows.

I also tried to boot from a flash drive, since the boot device list shows removable devices as an option. But that doesn't work either. I really want to salvage something from the r31, I just need to be able to boot from the CD or other device.


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## dmapper (Dec 31, 2008)

Nevermind - success

Shortly after posting that I realized I was a n00b and I had burned the ISO incorrectly. A quick new burn of the image and i was on my way.

Used this guide for my light Ubuntu install - http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal


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## duane66 (Jan 28, 2009)

i ahve the same problem on my think pad,,, it will play dvds but wont recognize a cd with software on it,, whats up,, i have opened everyfile i could think of to open the cd but to no avail,,, put a dvd in it and bang it auto plays,,,,,,,,, someplace i can go for help? it has windows xp on it


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## fishphood (Feb 5, 2009)

if the cd can be read in other xp machines then..
since xp protects its system files its hard to replace them IN OS.
to know which .sys files are linked to the functionality of your cdrom, go to device manager and lookup your cdrom, then drivers, etc. you should get a list of sys files like cdrom.sys and some others related to xp cd buring from roxio (os native). boot to a PE (like bartpe) replace those sys files in your system root folder as well as your possible default protected driver directory ie /i386 ..files should read ex : cdrom.sy_ or the like

good luck. (suspect worm or virus, and yes 0 day doesnt mean its unkown for only a day..)


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## blah789 (Aug 25, 2008)

duane66 said:


> i ahve the same problem on my think pad,,, it will play dvds but wont recognize a cd with software on it,, whats up,, i have opened everyfile i could think of to open the cd but to no avail,,, put a dvd in it and bang it auto plays,,,,,,,,, someplace i can go for help? it has windows xp on it


This post suggests CD and DVD use different lasers (at least for burning). I'd try a CD/DVD lens cleaning kit first.
It could also be a media brand issue. I recall some of maxell CD-R's I burned on a Lite-On drive were unreadable (even on the lite-on drive itself!) yet they were perfectly readable on my LG drives (which I relied on in the future for burns). Not pinpointing a culprit - it could have been either the media, the drive, or just incompatibility between the two. And you'd think since the introduction of CD-R's a decade ago, they'd have ironed out the incompatibilities problems, but no!


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## duane66 (Jan 28, 2009)

hoeeeeeeeeee,,, i think you just went right over my proble,,,, i can put a dvd movie in the drive and it auto loads it perfectly and you can watch a movie,, BUT BUT BUT if i put a cd in it say like the peter rabbit game,, which is software i imagine to be downloaded to the thinkpads hardrive,,, the little green lite on the side starts blinking and i think the disc starts spinning and after about 10 secs nothing happend,, no message on the screen no anything,,,it is a xp operating system! i simple cant get the drive to do anything after it finds out its a cd,,,,, doesnt even show up in my computer and it stricktly doesnt auto load,, to my knowledge i cant find a program on it to burn a cd I dont see any roxio or anything,,thats my delema,,,, any answeres would surely be appreciated by this old man,, even thought of a big american made hammer,,,, thanks guys


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## blah789 (Aug 25, 2008)

Well what I was suggesting (and I'm not sure about it) was that the laser for DVD is different from the one for CD, and that perhaps the one for CD was dirty (obstructed), and perhaps a CD/DVD lens cleaning kit could cleanse it.
I should have been clearer and said "read the link" when I posted it
Does this affect just one CD-ROM, or all of them? What happens when you insert the Windows XP CD (if you have one) or an audio CD? If they all work except for the once CD, then perhaps the CD itself is scratched (or if it's a CD-R, it's bad media).


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