Cf-18 Help!!!

Glad you '18 techs are out there!
So I bought a mint 18, # CF-18BHAZXKM, minus the caddy, drive & battery. Trying to find out which caddy I need, & where to get it. Is the unit drive specific? Which restore disk do I need for this unit, & where to get it?
Any & all help is GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks!

 

I would say to try ebay for the best price... But also you might want to email or go to www.heartlandsi.com. I am in the process of getting pricing from them for a bunch of parts. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

I'll get you the number for the hard drive cage tomorrow. That particular model came factory with a 40GB hard drive. I assume you want something larger. I'll get you a list of compatible hard drives.

Any other questions on that model, don't hesitate to ask. You could say I have worked on a few of them

As for a restore disk, I usually take a windows xp professional w/sp2 disk and use nLite to slipstream all of the drivers to that particular installation. There are quite a few guides available that will walk you through the process and nLite is freeware - the only thing you will need is the windows disk and the drivers. This is just what I personally use for my own computers.

 

OK, the hard drive mounting kit is part number DFWV99A0068. That comes with everything you need (- the hard drive) -- Cage + heater + cabling/connector...

Still working on a compatibility list for the CF-18's. Most of the factory units we see have Hitachi or Toshiba 5400RPM 40/60/80GB ATA-6 drives. I have seen quite a few with larger hard drives and will work on a list of drives that are known to be compatible.

The Battery you need is CF-VZSU30BU.

 

TBtech,

I just purchased a CF-18 also. Although I have a 80GBHDD, I was wondering if the WD Scorpio: WD1200BEVE or the Seagate: ST9120821A-RK would be acceptable.

tia,

...screamer

 

Thanks for the help!
So now, with drive in caddy, when unit is booted following error is displayed: PXE-E61 Media Test Failure, Check Cable
That one isn't in the code list in the manual! What do you think?
New drive is in new caddy. The drive is a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 HTS721010G9AT00 100GB 7200 RPM. Got the Caddy from HEARTLAND (THANKS TOUGHBOOK!!! THAT PLACE IS GREAT!!!) I can tell you that the O/S on the drive may be in question. Would that cause that error?
Thanks Guys!!!

 

I got this from a Toshiba forum, hope it helps:

Your problem is quite straightforward and can be summarised as follows.

1. You bought a notebook without a hard drive and presumably installed a new hard drive.
2. You then tried to boot the system from the new hard drive.

The problem here is that there is not yet an operating system installed on the hard drive and as a result the BIOS will try to find an operating system in other places, such as your CD drive, your floppy drive (if you have one), and finally a network connection to a local LAN. If none of these are successful you will receive the error message that you reported.

The obvious solution here would be to install an operating system on your hard drive and you can choose either an original Toshiba recovery disc (obtainable from your local Authorised Service Partner) or you can opt to buy an original Microsoft XP disc in which case you will need to download and install the Toshiba utilities and drivers from the Toshiba web site. My preference would be to get a recovery CD from Toshiba since this will install a guaranteed system with all the necessary utilities and drivers.

Your BIOS will normally be set to search for an operating system on your FDD/CD-ROM, then your HDD and finally on a network lan connection. Once you obtain a recovery CD just load it into your CD-ROM and power on your notebook. The system should find it and then start the installation process. Just follow the on-screen instructions and you should have a valid operating system on your hard drive in about 20-30 minutes.

------------------------------

There appears to be several causes for the error: PXE-E61 Media Test Failure, Check Cableanything from an improperly seated HDD to a faulty drive. If you have no luck here, try a Google search for that error.

If you don't have the three disc recovery set from Panasonic, they're available on ebay ~$45.00.

...screamer

 

yes, the pxe error you are getting, is that your cf-18 is trying to boot to the lan.

have you tried going into the bios (hit F2 at the panasonic logo screen) and does the bios see the drive?

if so try to install windows on the new hard drive,

if windows doesnt see the drive, pull it out, tear the caddy apart, and reinstall it, making sure that the 4 pins by their self, have no jumper and are not plugged into the cable.

then put the caddy back into the unit and try again.


tbtech may chime in here soon to give you some better advice.

 

You pretty much hit the nail on the head TB29.

This could be caused by the boot order being set with the hard drive disabled or the HD just isn't bootable because of no OS.

Check the boot order and make sure everything is set correctly. If the toughbook doesn't have anything to boot from (OS not on Hard Drive) you will get this error.

Get that hard drive formatted and Windows loaded, that should solve your problems.

 

TBtech,

Have you come across a list of compatible drives for the CF-18?

Is it as simple as using a 2.5" ata-6 drive? In other words, are they universal?

I was wondering if the WD Scorpio: WD1200BEVE or the Seagate: ST9120821A-RK would be acceptable, or perhaps even a 100-120GB Fujitsu??

 

For OEM Supported Drives, it is pretty much left to Toshiba, Hitachi, and Fujitsu ata-6. I was unable to find much in the way of other drives that may work in the CF-18's.

Where I work, we are limited to only installing OEM parts so our experience with non-OEM stuff is usually pretty slim. We do get quite a few botebooks in with non-OEM parts, but it is usually the non-OEM part that is causing the trouble. I have seen non-OEM HD's and RAM work just fine though.

 

OK, Thanks!

1) Is it safe to assume I can use any size drive? i.e. the largest one made that's ATA-6, 5400RPM.

2) Which manufacturer would "you" use if you were me?

3) Can I just use a USB to IDE cable to format then transfer the OS & apps onto the new drive, or would I be better served using Acronis ATI to clone the new HDD?

tia,

...screamer

oh yeah, quick question: When I purchased this unit, I received a copy of Win XP Pro and three re-install discs from Panasonic. My CF-18 has Win XP Tablet on it. Will the re-install discs convert Win XP Pro to Tablet Edition?
If not... How would I ever get Tablet Edition installed again?

 

Which model number do you have screamer? CF-18xxxxxxx ?

 

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