usb floppy

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tokoe · #1 Post by **tokoe** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:39 pm

Hello,

Just got me a x20 and I really like it's size and weight, but can you boot it from a usb floppy or are you being forced to use the pcmcia floppy from ibm? This is so I can boot from dos and make my hdd bootable.

Thank you, Timothy

G-Man · #2 Post by **G-Man** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:55 pm

If it's an IBM USB Floppy Drive, then you can definitely boot from it. Just make sure you have the latest BIOS and Embedded Controller Program installed (1st update the ECP then the BIOS). You also need to change the boot sequence in the BIOS. Other brands' USB floppy drives might also work, but it's not 100%.

Regards,
G-Man

tokoe · #3 Post by **tokoe** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:27 pm

thanks, not so sure about the bios upgrade yet, because at the moment I don't have a floppy- to flash from, but I'll have a look at the bios to see wich version I have.

Thanks again,

Timothy

akeskira · #4 Post by **akeskira** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:32 pm

tokoe wrote:Hello,

Just got me a x20 and I really like it's size and weight, but can you boot it from a usb floppy or are you being forced to use the pcmcia floppy from ibm? This is so I can boot from dos and make my hdd bootable.

Thank you, Timothy

I have a generic SmartDisk (www.smartdisk.com) USB floppy drive, and all Thinkpads so far have booted fine with it, including X20. It's small, USB powered and has served me well; I wouldn't bother buying an expensive IBM branded drive.

Antti

akeskira · #5 Post by **akeskira** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:34 pm

tokoe wrote:thanks, not so sure about the bios upgrade yet, because at the moment I don't have a floppy- to flash from, but I'll have a look at the bios to see wich version I have.

Thanks again,

Timothy

The latest TP BIOSes don't need a floppy to boot from. At least the one for my X30 installs itself on the hard drive, boots the machine using a "virtual" floppy or something, and that's it.

Antti

G-Man · #6 Post by **G-Man** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 9:45 pm

Timothy,

The BIOS and Embedded Controller Program are both available in diskette and non-diskette versions.

Regards,
G-Man

tokoe · #7 Post by **tokoe** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:06 am

The problem is that the hdd I can't boot from is the only hdd I have and to connect it by using a usb "caddy" to my other computer worls fine, but I can't install windows on it because it doesn't work in dos (very weird: You can boot form usb, but you can't access it from dos

). To make matters worse the bios version on the x20 doesn't support usb booting yet and to upgrad4 the bios I need a bootable floppy drive of a bootable hdd. After a bad night sleep I came up with the idea to buy a 2.5" to 3.5" ide convertor, so I can access to drive in dos, put windows on it and shove it back in to the x20. Is that a good idea or am I talking rubbish again?

Thanks, Timothy

akeskira · #8 Post by **akeskira** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 11:56 am

If you have a USB CD drive, and are a little linux-savvy, this is the ultimate way to go: http://www.sysresccd.org/. You'll never need a dos boot floppy again, not to mention expensive ghost etc utils...

Antti

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