CF-28 HDD took the big crap. No CD or Floppy

Well, unfortunately, my CF-28 hdd took the big crap. I replaced the drive, but now how in the hell am I going to install an OS on it?

The problem is this: The Floppu or the CDrom drives in the media slot have never worked. I don't know what could cause it, but I obviously need to find out at this point. The CDrom when plugged in causes the slow boot problem, even though it's a factory Cdrom drive. I have tried a couple, thinking something was wrong with the drive, but it wasn't. the bios (latest) won't see it.
The floppy drive does nothing, and isn't even seen.

Unfortunately, someone at panny decided it would be a good idea to NOT let this thing boot from USB, so that option is out.

I doubt a PCMCIA Cdrom drive would boot either, but who knows.

Any idea how to get this thing back running?

Thanks!

 

I'm going to try THIS WINNER (Windows Is Not Necessary for Everyone's RIS)

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

The slow boot most of the time is caused by a non OEM cd-rom in the media caddy. You say its a factory cd-rom like this Panasonic Toughbook CF-28 CF-29 CD ROM Drive with Caddy | eBay but is the cd in the case a factory one, it sounds to me like it's not. Your cd-rom should be a Teac...maybe this model CD-224E . You can check the bios for the model #
Check this out too http://www.toughbooktalk.com/public_downloads/HDD%20%26%20CDD%20swap/CF-28%20CD%20to%20DVD%20Swap.htm

 

Thanks Blair, I will verify it. I have read up on the mod, but assumed that all the drives in caddys I had were factory.

 

I have a CF-28 and before I had the mod done it would take a good 2-3 minutes to start up...felt like a hour

 

Give a shout if things don't work out. Thanks to member Toughbook I have many CF-28 parts. We can try pre-loading the OS to disk here then send it to you ...

 

Matsua drive, (CD) in the caddy, supposedly factory. Did the mod, still won't see the CDrom drive. Still working on the network boot.

 

If you have a Matsua cd-rom in your media bay then it's not OEM . I know panasonic makes this drive but they used the TEAC cd-rom in there caddy. I have had over a dozen of these drives and they all have been TEAC. If you did the mod and it's still not working then you may have other problems. You said you had a floppy? does this show up in your bios?

 

Ok, I'm back up and running! I'll definitely have to use the "Winner" solution again, it's great for automated deployment of most anything. Thank God the Toughbook supported PXE boot, or I'd be screwed.