CF-29 New Install XP on 80 Gb IDE HDD

Hello,

Bit of a noob to toughbooks, First one I have and I love it, well I will when I get it up and running !

Its a CF-29ETKGHKE with BIOS V2.00L16
This reports the Master as 80 GB Hard Drive
and Slave as the DVD/CD

It has been wiped before I bought it and has a 80Gb IDE HDD
I have a USB floppy and it has a DVD/CD drive,

When I try to install XP PRO
It doesn't see the hard drive

I guess it needs a SCSI / RAID driver installed when you press F6.
I've looked around, but it's hard to find which file I need to do this.

I've tried f6fd_74_3_d070637.exe to make a floppy to add drivers, but it didn't work.

Incidentally when I press any key after it doesn't find the drive it goes to BSOD.

Can anyone help, I'd very much appreciate some experienced knowledge ?

Best regards

Steve

 

If the BIOS see's the 80GB hdd you should be set to go. You need no drivers for it. Something you should look into is the restore disks for it. it has an image of the harddrive when it was shipped from the factory....no drivers to load and in about 25 minutes you are done .

 

Thanks for the reply toughasnails,

The bios see's the 80 Gb HDD alright.

XP installs so far but when it comes to the install on which drive stage of the process, a box appears with...

"76317 MB Disk 0 at id 0 on bus 0 on atapi
(setup cannot access this disk)"

then if I press ENTER it goes to BSOD at setupp.sys

I have only tried with the drivers for a CF-30F as I have none for mine!

I guess my question is which files similar to f6fd_74_3_d070637.exe in the case of a CF-30F (mk2) do I need for my CF-29E(mk2)
and which driver to choose ?

or

Do you thnk it could possible be the bios and it needs updating, If so where do i get updates ?

Many thanks

Steve

 

Why does it see the CD DVD as Slave? Mine all need the optical drive to be Master. Mk2/Mk3's
SWAG is that may be the problem.

 

Sorry not slave dohhh

it say's

Primary Master 80 GB
Secondary Master CD/DVD Drive

also when I boot from a xpbootdisk, It can't see a C: drive, it's as if no drive is installed.

I am also told if the HDD is a IDE drive then I don't need to install any third party SCSI driver to see it, it should just work ! (I wish)

Which has me thinking now its something to do with the BIOS not reporting the correct credentials for the HDD ??

Where's the hammer Argghhh !!

Cheers

Steve

 

hi Steve,
greetings from the yorkshire dales.

Just wondered if you were reformatting the HDD during the install.
i had a similar problem on a 28 that would not install XP untill I reformated.

More usefull advice to come from other members who know what they are doing i'm sure.

 

Hi Dentsmithy Greetings from the rainy north east

I'd like to format it but I can't even see it

I just tried booting with a win98 bootdisk and doing FDISK but it comes back with
"Error reading fixed disk"

So I'm thnking now the HDD is broken, so my next step is to try another, but I haven't got one lying around, so might be a while.

I must say the support on here is excellent, so fast and friendly, nice, thanks to all.

Cheers

Steve

 

You may wish to contact the seller. I vote that the drive is going bad or is already dead.

 

Do I understand that you are trying to use a CF-30 restore disk on a CF-29? Please clarify, what source are you using for XP? Your CF-29 requires no "drivers" to install Windows XP, OEM, retail, or restore disks. If you don't have a restore disk you can download the required drivers for your specific machine from any of the sources listed in the "stickies" at the top of the first page of the forum, the ones that ask you to please read before posting.
CAP

 

I had lots of problems installing XP on an 80Gb IDE drive, The BIOS see's the drive, but XP won't, or a bootdisk or anything else apart from the BIOS, So my guess is the HDD is "Knackered", I did try installing some SCSI drivers (CF-30 as I could only find that) with the F6 option on XP install, but of course that didn't fix anything as it was an IDE drive anyway.

I've got all the CF-29 Drivers, the problem is getting XP on the HDD

I understand now XP should go straight on an IDE drive without loading any drivers.

Next step is to get another HDD and try it.

Cheers All for the advice and help

Anybody know where to get a cheap IDE HDD for this ? (UK)

 

My experience with cheap used laptop hdd's is don't bother. You end up buying 3 and still have junk. Buy a new one for 45 to 60 US dollars. You can find smaller new ones on fleabay. Watch the prices though. Sellers want $60 US for an 80gb when a 160gb is $52 US

 

UK sellers have 160gb samsungs for £45 new. Might as well have something a bit bigger while you are at it.

 

ya i would think the hard drive is bad or going bad. if it is acting up now, its not wise to keep it EVEN i you get it working. hard drives when failing or just best to throw them away.

i would go for the 160gb samsung, its faster quieter and way better in every way. if you want the 80gb i think i have i could send you for paying shipping, although i imagine it would be $30 from usa. for a bit more you can get the sammy so do that.

plus mine is used, so it might die in a mth who knows

 

Something you could do is if you had a external hard drive case is try the drive in it and see if it works or not....try formatting the drive that way....just a thought

 

go for the samsung 160gb drive, get the panasonic restore disc for your laptop you can get them from the moderators here or go on fleabay and look for mark hawkins and for 35 us he should have a new set for you, all you need to let him know is the completemodel number if a touchscreen and all the drivers will be on it with win xpsp2 then do you updates, seems so much easier this way....... I've purchased several from him and all worked perfect....Driller

 

JoeBloggs PM SENT.

 

why even use the restore disk, i have installed fresh copies of win xp or win 7 on all my TBs?

i assume just to make it easier for install?

 

Thanks all for the recommendations and thanks for the offer of your 80 GB HDD xboxhaxorz, I'm getting a Samsung spinpoint 160GB from "teh old fleabay" as well as a recovery disk (just in case).

I did try the drive with a USB adapter on my desktop and it's dead (RIP), Can't wait to get it up and running, I love the look and feel of it ( yes, it's getting a bit perverted now!)

Nice one lads.. Thanks

Best wishes

Steve

 

Sounds like your addicted like the rest of us. You will probably own 6 within a year.

 

Yes, I'm hooked already and haven't even got a working setup.

I'm ordering mods and things already

My wife's gonna kill me !!

 

.............only if you tell her

 

God no!! , I value my balls !!

 

1) A lot easier than using Mickeysoft's disk, then having to search for, download and install all the correct Toughbook-specific drivers and utilities;
2) Easier and saves time (see #1 ↑above ↑); and,
3) You get the nifty Panasonic logo and Panasonic [ Support Information ] info, as well as the OEM Serial Number in the Windows Control Panel's [System] utility.

Good enough reason(s)?

 

Not really. Absent the infamous CF-18 I'll bet I can load the OS off an OEM disk and install the drivers just as fast as you can load off restore disks or near enough that IDM (a long, long time ago I had a friend who was one of the first to get a midi program to work, yes before Kurzweil. The name of his company was IDM. When asked what that meant he would respond, "it doesn't matter". Kind of like "who's on first").
CAP

 

Hi CAP,

I see you have a CF-29 MK4 with XP SP3, yet everywhere I look teh drivers only seem to be up to SP2, Did you find any problems with SP3 ?

Cheers

Steve

 

Steve...a little follow up from your PM
This is what you are looking for Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 Recovery CD - Restore CD - eBay (item 170614995256 end time Mar-19-11 18:04:52 PDT)
and this is what we tell members NOT to buy PANASONIC ToughBook CF-29 DRIVERS RECOVERY RESTORE CD - eBay (item 320588161309 end time Apr-07-11 10:32:36 PDT) because all the drivers are free here Toughbook Support and this can all be found here http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/241106-cf-29-f-q-read-me-before-posting.html plus a lot more things

 

Yes, your right, I've fallen in to the trap laid out by these pundits

I'll know better next time

I have all the drivers anyway !! from the panasonic sites mentioned in the stickies.

Cheers

Steve

 

The Panasonic drivers don't know SP3 from SP2, no problems there. I don't have anything against restore disks, its just that doing it yourself is not that difficult, teaches you valuable skills for managing your computer and increases your general knowledge of how your machine works. It wasn't that long ago that most of us here had rarely if ever used a restore disk. When I wrote the drivers resource section for the stickies the most frequently asked question from newbies was "where do I find the drivers for...". Now when they ask someone immediately posts a link to an eBay seller who has disks. It just bugs me to see a post "got my new CF-whatever, waiting on the restore disk...". IT REALLY ISN'T THAT HARD PEOPLE!
CAP
Done venting for the moment.

 

Thanks CAP, I'm used to installing OS, drivers and software etc. so I will install everything from scratch, I like to see drivers going on so I can learn about the hardware, then I'll just take a ghost and that's my restore disk !

I only got the CF-29 software disk in case it had something on to fix the HDD problem I had, but as it's the HDD itself being broken, I guess not !

Cheers

Steve

 

you're right Cap, I know that the day will come when I put my big boy pants on and do it this way because learning ALL the software skills is the best way. Patience, I'll get there some day soon....Driller

 

I agree. I don't own a restore disk for anything. I use a XP pro w/sp3 disk.
BTW are the restore disks sp2 or sp3? Panny installed sp2 as far as I know. If the sp3 update is needed to be installed, then the xp sp3 disk may be a faster install than using the restore disk.

 

Even the restore disks for the MK3 CF-30, Win7 downgraded to XP, come with SP2. You are right, it takes a long time to update XP.
CAP

 

One must remember that by using the genuine Panasonic Toughbook Recovery CD Set you get the FACTORY-installed disk image; i.e.: no Windows Bloatware™; with all the Toughbook-specific drivers and settings already installed.

Feel free to screw it up from there.

 

I know I'm just a noob here, but isn't it better to get it just the way you want it (XP Pro + SP3 + Programs and drivers etc.) and then take an image with Ghost or Chronos and there is the backup copy on DVD or external HDD or network of the drive, that's what we do to all our machines in Automotive Industry.
Or is there something special about the panasonic backup discs ?

Peace

Steve

 

When I got my first Toughbook I too used a dull disk and downloaded all the drivers and spent hours getting them installed right then a Moderator by the name Toughbook (rick) said that I should get the restore disk...that was almost 2 years ago, I have not used a XP disk since. I find the panny disks only install the panny programs and drivers but xp installs a lot of crap you don't want or need. All I can say is try the restore some time and tell us what you think. I bet 25% of the problems posted here could of been fixed if they used the restore disk in the first place....that's my feeling and I am sticking to it :laugh:
edit: start to finish...25 minutes and I let it update to SP2 and SP3 overnight,

 

Not everyone in the Automotive Industry.

The genuine Panasonic Toughbook Recovery CD Set isn't teally a "back-up": it is a disk image of the original factory loading of the operating system, with all the Toughbook-speciific drivers and utilities.

 

Some here advocate not using XP Pro Service Pack 3 (SP3), for various reasons,

That notwithstanding, all my Toughbooks are SP3-updated.