CF-18: Booting from USB flash drive 4GB Windows XP

Hi there,

I bought a CF-18 Thoughbook (18DDB25ME) on e-bay, without Windows XP on it and without a CD drive.

For two days I am trying to install Windows XP on my Thoughbook by an USB flash drive, 4 GB. I used USB_Multiboot2 and WinToFlash to make my USB flash drive bootable.
It's not working out, there was just a "j" letter blinking while I was trying to boot.
I am not really sure how old this Toughbook is. Maybe it's to old to have that function to boot from an USB flash drive.

Any experiences with booting from USB flash drive?

Thanx!

 

ALL CF-18's can boot from usb. Have you checked your boot order in bios yet?

 

Yes, I checked the boot order in the BIOS by pressing F2. That's the first thing I have done.

There is the error "j" that actually means that my BIOS is trying to boot but failed.

A description of that error you can check out here:
WinToFlash.com - View topic - i only see letter j and a binking cursor

I used wintoflash to make the USB flash drive bootable but it didn't work out.
I was trying to find an upgrade for my" Notebook Pro
Phoenix cme first bios v2.00L10" on the Panasonic Thoughbook service homepage, but there was no update for my BIOS.

Another desrcription of booting with a CF-18 sad that the BIOS is not able to boot from USB:

"Boot From a USB Drive Even if your BIOS Won’t Let You:"

Boot From a USB Drive Even if your BIOS Won’t Let You - How-To Geek

So that is what I've done so far:

1. I used wintoflash to pepare my USB flash drive 4GB for booting Windows XP
(it was booting at my desktop PC but not on CF-18)

2. I tryed it with two different USB flash drives if one of it has no boot function or has an error or something

3. I searched for a BIOS upgrade on Panasonic Thoughbook service homepage and din'd find one

4. BIOS boot order was changed. Booting from USB CD/DVD Drivedrive

5. I tryed RMPrepUSB Software with no succsess

One USB flash drive was not booting. BIOS error "Operating System not found".
The second USB flash drive had the error "j". That means that the BIOS was trying to boot but failed.
After I used RMPrepUSB Software for my USB drive the error was "Missing mBR-Helper".

 

Have you tried the bootable usb pen drive in another computer to make sure it works correctly?

I am guessing you don't have a usb cd drive?

 

Yes, I have a tower PC here and I tryed to boot from the USB flash, just to try it. There were no problems to boot by USB flash drive
I don't have an external USB CD drive and I don't need one, because I want to use an externel HDD with 1TB.

 

You can put the CF-18 hard drive on a external USB adapter to another computer and load the WinXP install files on it, then put it back into the CF-18 and self-install.

Try these instructions:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/pan...g-cf-29-os-w-o-cd-dvd-floppy.html#post5799463