CF-29 will Not Boot From CD/DVD ROM

Hello,

I recently purchased a Toughbook CF-29 (mk 2). I have installed a new HDD. It came with a Panasonic DVD/CD ROM. I have the original COA for Windows XP.

Here are the stats on my Toughbook:

Model: CF 29ETPGZKM
Bios: v2.00L12
COA: Windows XP Pro
The Bios is not password protected

The Bios shows that the computer recognizes both the new HDD and the CD/DVD Drive. I set the bios to have the computer recognize the CD/DVD drive on boot up.

I am not able to get the computer to install Windows XP.
The bios recognizes the new HDD (a Samsung 100 GB ide drive, unformatted) and the CD/DVD ROM (Original Panasonic product). I have the CD ROM listed first in boot order.

When I boot up with the Windows XP Pro CD, the computer either reports an invalid command.com or the screen will say "set-up is inspecting your computer's hardware," at which point the computer locks up.

I have consulted the CF-29 FAQ page and could not find any posts in reference to my questions.

Questions:

1. Is it possible to boot from a USB flash drive or CD/DVD drive?

2. Have I missed a step in the OS installation process?

3. Any other suggestions?

I appreciate your assistance.

Regards,

David Richer

 

welcome to the toughbook forum. Your best bet is to get yourself the restore disks (3). it takes about 30 minutes to load XP. to load all the drivers can be.a real pain in the a$$. .

 

1.I don't think boot from usb was available until MK3. If it ain't listed in the bios as a boot option, then NO.
2. NO
3. Try a different install disk? Also, try an Ubuntu/Lubuntu live disk. If it boots and runs, then your XP disk might be damaged or inadequate.

Yes, get your hands on the OEM install disks.


Welcome, to the madhouse....

 

Personally I think you need to reinstall (Eject and then push it back in) the CD/DVD Rom. (Maybe clean the contacts!) Look to see if it is an OEM DVD. If not (and there are A LOT of bad ones out there!) then everything could be correct with the exception of your DVD Rom. A LOT of people swapped out the older CD Rom with a newer DVD Rom without making the correct mods. I can't tell you how many CF-28s & CF-29s I have bought where someone did that and it either wasn't recognized by the BIOS or was recognized but still didn't work with the OS.

Food for thought.

 

I had to put the disc in the tray, set defaults in bios and then exclude everything else except the DVD/CD drive from the boot order. Then I shut down, closed the tray and restarted with the disc in. Mine's a Mk.5 and I loaded XP SP3 from a Dell disc on that one because the Panasonic restore discs for my other Mk.5 wouldn't work.
Still took about 3 attempts though with changes to partitions etc. so there could have been something else going on that I was oblivious to...

 

Do you have another harddrive to try out? Some of the newer Samsung harddrive have been giving us fits lately. You did say it was new.

If you want to try to boot from usb you will need a boot manager like PLOP and remove the cd/dvd drive and install a floppy drive.

 

I want to thank everyone for the helpful responses. Unfortunately I am still unable to load XP. I have replaced HDDs in laptops and installed Windows OS before. However, this Toughbook is really living up to its name.

I created a boot disk (MS DOS). When I booted up the computer, it would not automatically read the boot disk in the CD Drive. I had to hold the F1 key down to get the computer to read the disk. A menu would appear; however, when made a selection I would get an "invalid command.com" response I tried a few DOS commands but always got the same response.

Another problem is that when the computer does not consistently boot to set up when I hold the F2 key down upon boot up. When I do gain access to the Bios, everything checks out fine.

So,

1. Do I have a bad/incorrect CD/DVD Drive (Panasonic DVD-ROM & CD-R/RW Drive Pack, Model # CF-VDR282) and/or do I have some other more serious problem (e.g. bad mother board)?

2. Is there some other component problem that I am missing?

Again thank you for all of your help.

DR

 

Do you know what the model number of the cd drive is that is inside the drive pack ? It makes me wonder if its been replaced by the last owner. Mine is a Teac CD-224E

 

It appears to be a single drive. I don't understand why it's labeled as a drive pack.

 

Yes it is a single drive but what I would like to know is what is the model of the cd-rom inside it...this is mine .

 

It sounds to me like the drive is not set up as Master. Even if the drive itself is a Panasonic, the drive may be cable select or slave.
The drive is inside a caddy. That whole assembly is called the drive pack.

CD master

Can you put the hard drive in a different laptop or external case?
Make the hard drive DOS bootable.
If you can, then copy the entire xp cd to a folder on the hard drive.
Reinstall the hard drive in the Toughbook.
Boot to DOS from the hard drive.
Run xp setup from the hard drive.

 

Now I understand what you mean. The actual drive is a Panasonic Model UJDA750.

Thanks for helping me.

 

You are correct. The CD drive show up as the slave drive. I reviewed the CD Master fix as I have the cd Drive out, I think that it would be easier for me to do the fix. I understand that will make the computer see the cd drive as the master drive.


Wow you toughbook folks are awesome!

 

You are correct. The CD drive show up as the slave drive. I reviewed the CD Master fix as I have the cd Drive out, I think that it would be easier for me to do the fix. I understand that will make the computer see the cd drive as the master drive.


Wow you toughbook folks are awesome!

Edit: Can I use the existing drive (Panasonic Model UJDA750) with the modification?

 

Yes you can use the existing drive.

 

Thats great. If you follow the link that Shawn posted http://forum.notebookreview.com/pan...-swap-tutorial-lots-pictures.html#post2391442 you should be able to do it. Rick has a a tutorial with lots of pictures...good luck.

 

I am back. It has been a few weeks and I am still trying to my CF 29 to work. At this time, I still can not get the CF 29 to boot to an operating system. I am also still unable to load any software through the CD/DVD ROM (this drive now shows as a "secondary master" in the Bios).

Here is a summary of what I have attempted to date:

--Confirmed that the Toshiba 100 GB. IDE hard drive works. I was able to load UBuntu 11.X, Windows 7 and Windows XP Pro. I did this by installing the Toshiba HDD on my old Dell Inspiron as the primary drive (Note: I re-formatted the HDD prior to installing each OS). All three operating systems loaded and ran on the Dell. With Ubuntu, the CF 29 would only boot(from F1) to the Grub menu. Windows XP, nothing happened. And finally, with Windows 7 the CF 29 would get stuck at installing preferences.

-- I borrowed a set of CF-29 recovery disks, my computer does not read them. (I need my own set. My CF 29 has a WIN XP PRO COA).

--The DVD/CD ROM Drive now reads as a "secondary master" in the bios.

--Is there any other method I can use to load an operating system on my CF 29 (e.g. I have USP flash drives and an USB DVD/CD RW Drive)?

I am not sure what else to do. Could I be looking at device/hardware problem? A bios problem? or motherboard problem?

Any and all suggestions/advice is greatly appreciated!

David

 

Seems you have the same problem, i had a while ago, with installing Windows XP on an CF-M34 without cd-rom.

Best way to fix your problem is : insert your harddrive in the Dell Inspiron. FOrmat your harddrive with Windows 98SE or so. make it bootable to the dos prompt. Copy the whole XP cd-rom on the harddrive, in a directory like WinXPSET or so... Re-install the harddrive in the CF-29. Boot into DOS. Go to the winxpset directory and start setup or so. Can be that i forgot some things, but you can read my instructions in the CF-m34 topic i made some months ago on this forum.

Much succes !