Annmarie
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| Toughbook CF 18 new HD but no other drives - longish
I am not sure if this is specifically a laptop or a hardware issue but since you all have helped me before I figured I would post here.
Also I am work until 4 so I won't be able to implement any suggestions until then but I have a lot of free time right now so ... 
A few years back I was given a Toughbook CF 18. Not that I need such a laptop but it was free and it was wireless. It came with XP Pro Tablet pre installed as well as MS Office.
I use it to sit on my patio and surf the net and check a few e mails. It's nice that if I drop it it's no big deal but I haven't dropped it.
A few weeks ago it became obvious that the HD was corrupted which I confirmed by running checkdisk /f. Lots and lots of lines informing me of corrupted files.
Programs were crashing and it took forever to boot up and FF limped along.
I did an extensive Google search, found the exact HD I needed and since this model has no floppy or CD drive I also purchased and external CD/HD drive so I could install the OS. I have the original recovery discs.
I removed and replaced the HD. That was a bit complicated so my son took pictures as I did it so I could put it back together properly. I also used this link which shows a HD casement similar to the CF 18 : »forum.notebookreview.com/showthr···t=221725
I booted it up so I could confirm the HD was install properly and since I didn't hear any unusual beep patterns or see smoke I figure I was OK. I got what I expected "no operating system found".
I plugged in the external CD drive to the USB port, powered it up, inserted the recovery Disc #1 and turned on the laptop.
ERROR: Model not supported ACK! I assumed that meant the external CD ROM was not supported. Not sure why though. Pissed me off.
According to this link and others I have found any CD drive will work and I don't see why not: »forum.notebookreview.com/archive···951.html
The BIOS is set to boot from CD (first option)
I happened to have several internal CD drives laying around and a kit that made them USB capable and so I tried those.
I get to the initial Panasonic screen and then nothing. I reboot several times, I hear the CD spinning but I never get past the initial screen to Windows XP Pro Tablet setup.
What am I doing wrong? Can I do this install from another computer in my home - somehow link the laptop to my desktop? |
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Annmarie
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edit:
June 27th, @10:13PM
| Woops ! I forgot something.
Upon boot ,after the initial blue Panasonic screen passes (if it does) I get an error message:
PXE-E61: Media test failure
Operating system not found.
Does this mean the HD is installed incorrectly? Hmmmm ....
EDIT: Nope - it's installed correctly. I removed it from it's case and re assembled it just to make sure using the pictures and it's fine.
I still get that media error though but I am wondering if that is because there is no OS on the HD.
It still will not accept either the external CD drive or the internal ones - operating system not found is the constant error.
How the heck do I get an operating system on the damn little HD?! I am ready to throw the drive out the window.
Grrrr ! |
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ChiTang
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Alhambra, CA
| reply to Annmarie
If you cannot make the toughbook to boot from CD, then it is tough.
You may take the HD out, use a converter to connect it to a regular desktop IDE controller, install the OS, copy the I386 folder from CD to HD (e.g. c:\I386). Sysprep then move the HD to toughbook.
--
I used to be indecisive, now I am not sure. |
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Annmarie
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| That must be the one gadget I don't have.  This is getting very frustrating.
It was suggested to me at another website - yes, I had to go offsite which was scary in itself - that I could install plain old Windows XP Pro and download the drivers specific to the tablet from the Panasonic website.
Does that make sense since I can't get it to boot even with it's own recovery discs?
No way to "attach" the laptop to a regular desktop and install from the desktop CD?
Lastly should I convert the 2.5 drive to a 3.5 drive and install the OS from the recovery CDs won't it "know" it's in another machine and pickup the hardware drivers from there?
All our machines are Vista. |
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ChiTang
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join:2002-08-23
Alhambra, CA
| Yes, I meant the gadget that converts a 2.5 to 3.5 IDE interface.
If you have the recovery CD, you still have hope that the recovery procedure does not insist to run on toughbook only. This way, when recovery is done, move the HD back to toughbook.
Of course, the most polically correct way is to make the external CD bootable.
--
I used to be indecisive, now I am not sure. |
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Annmarie
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| That is exactly what I had hoped to do - make the external CD bootable but I don't know what I am doing wrong since that is not happening.
Yes - thanks for the clarification - 2.5 to 3.5 IDE interface. Sorry about that.
Any chance I can try a retail XP Pro disc and use my own Panasonic TB key that is on the bottom of the laptop?
Why would a laptop ship with recovery CDs that don't work especially since the TB doesn't even have a CD drive. Grrrr ! |
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ChiTang
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join:2002-08-23
Alhambra, CA
| said by Annmarie  :Any chance I can try a retail XP Pro disc and use my own Panasonic TB key that is on the bottom of the laptop? The key is usually interchangeable within same version. You may run into activation problem etc...
I would at least try the recovery CD first cos it involves least work (if it works).
said by Annmarie :make the external CD bootable but I don't know what I am doing wrong since that is not happening. said by Annmarie :Why would a laptop ship with recovery CDs that don't work especially since the TB doesn't even have a CD drive. Grrrr ! May email tech support of manufacturer.
--
I used to be indecisive, now I am not sure. |
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Annmarie
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| I will shoot an e mail over to TB tech support in the morning and see what happens.
In the mean time I borrowed a retail XP Pro CD from my neighbor to see if I could at least boot from the CD drive. Nope.
Is there some way I can test that this laptop sees the CD drive? Maybe because it is USB there is an issue?
I want to see something other than that error message "operating system not found".
Anything ! |
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ChiTang
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join:2002-08-23
Alhambra, CA
| said by Annmarie :I will shoot an e mail over to TB tech support in the morning and see what happens. Hope you get a striaght answer.
said by Annmarie :In the mean time I borrowed a retail XP Pro CD from my neighbor to see if I could at least boot from the CD drive. Nope. If you can boot with recovery CD, I don't think you can boot from another CD. I got a feeling that may be only panasonic external CD work TB. Some says only panasonic CD-ROM is needed but I have no way to verify.
said by Annmarie :Is there some way I can test that this laptop sees the CD drive? Maybe because it is USB there is an issue? I don't know of a way to tell, may be in BIOS but I doubt it. May try to a bootable USB storage drive to verify the USB port is/isn't working.
--
I used to be indecisive, now I am not sure. |
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Annmarie
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| reply to Annmarie
I posted over on another site and am getting so much conflicting info my head hurts.
»forum.notebookreview.com/showthr···t=266402
I read in other threads of that same forum that people have booted from non Panasonic CD ROMS with no issue even though Panasonic said no way.
Too bad there is no way to put the old HD back in and simply fix it but it is beyond that now. Checkdisk /f or /r couldn't hack it.
I have a USB external HD that I uses for weekly backups of my desktop. Not sure if it bootable but I am going to attach it and see what happens.
Just a though - a USB thumb drive. Can I load something on that to boot the machine? |
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