I got a CF28! Im kinda new to this so....

I got a CF28 without
-Hardrive
-CDRW (has a floppy)
-charger
-missing 2 keys on board

..for $80 bucks. I need parts. I dont have lots of cash due to christmas shopping (urgh) so can anyone help me out? But i have a few questions:

-Whats the cheapest place ti get a CD DVD drive?
-Whats BIOS?
-Can i load windows from a XP disc for my tower?
-And do the colored(blk or wht) keyboards have anything to do with what model it is?

Thanks guys...

 

Welcome! Sounds like you got a pretty good deal. Unfortunately the stuff you DON'T have are the most expensive parts, but it sounds like you've already researched this. Somebody jump in and correct me if they know of something better but good old ebay is probably the best place to find this stuff. There's another thread on here covering how to load the OS from a desktop system. I don't know if we ever decided that it is possible or not.. I keep meaning to try it. There's no reason why you couldn't copy the install files from the XP CD to the hard drive, but whether or not they'll load and install properly is a different story.

 

Cool, thanks. I found a 30gig hdd with the caddy for $70? Does that sound like a deal? Im not worried about the keyboard. But what about the CD/DVD drive? What can i do about that?

Oh, are any parts with the CF27 or CF29 compatible?

 

just read instruction on how to install xp on a pc without cd rom drive. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=183726&page=3

Cd rom assembly of cf-27 is compatible to cf-28

 

lol, i think it might be easier to get a cd/dvd drive and boot from the disc...
But what about parts compatability from the other notebooks?

 

Hi, I'm fairly new to the bunch here as well. http://config.toughbook.com/ is a place where you can enter your model number, and find out what it left the factory with. As I found out (and others here suggested) things can still vary from that quite a bit.

Search through here, there are a lot of answers!

thx
Scott S.

 

I've said it before but never got around to it. We should compile a compatibility chart. Many parts from the CF27 work on the 28. Not sure about the 29, those are still too many $$ for me. Off the top of my head, the following interchange:

keyboard (except the EL backlit fullstroke ones)
floppy drive
CD/DVD/etc drive
AC adapter
umm.. what else.. i know there's some little things but i can;t remember offhand

 

what about the HDD and caddy? A list of compat stuff would be awsome...

 

well the drive itself is the same for just about any notebook. The caddy and ribbon cable are, unfortunately, unique to the 28

 

The caddy for the CF-27 is different than the CF-28 isn't it? I know it is for the CF-29.

 

The one for the 27 is way different... and they've actually got more than 1/4" gel padding on the 27 caddy

 

I could throw a CF28 XP image onto a notebook HD if that would help you..

 

i would assume you be better of booting from a network......
long as you have the lan port.............

 

how do you do that?

 

Well.... DJ.... Whassup??????

You can use the same WinXP install disk for your desktop but you can't use the same COA. So you'll need to buy another copy of XP or get a differernt OS. (And I don't want to hear how the OS can be hacked to do it! We can't discuss that here.) What is the COA on the bottom sticker? If it's XP you may be in luck!

You best place to get parts??? Ebay... Or forums like this if the members have stuff you need.

The keyboard colors mean nothing. They have light colored non- illuminated and dark non illuminated plus 3-4 other types of illuminated keyboards. These laptops have been around for so long that you can't use the model number to figure out exactly what is what. It WILL tell you how it was originally configured. But I have bought laptops saying it is a touchscreen only to find out that they are not as the monitors have been switched. So... Ask questions before you buy.

The BIOS is where you set up all the hardware. It's also where you setup part of the security for the laptop. You have a lot of reading to do! There are a lot of things that the BIOS does.

Keep asking questions and read, read, read. You'll get it up and running!

 

Well, i got the laptop, and more!

I paid for a notebook, just that. NOTHING ELSE was supposed to come with it.
I got a
Battery
Hard drive caddy (woot woot)!!
extra keyboard
and to boot, its a touchscreen

I need a charger, and a hard drive. my mom works for corporate staples so i think i could get them for a good deal...Im gonna paint it cause its all faded etc.. I was thinking lime green.. Something different.

 

With my CF28 and W2K, I placed a 2.5" drive in a USB external drive holder, formatted the drive, partitioned (for dual book to Linux), and copied the i386 folder from a W2K machine to the HD (or use the same folder from the install CD if you have it - just be sure the folder is called i386 on your hard drive). I forget if I booted to a DOS floppy, or installed system files on the HD (the full write-up is on yahoo groups Toughbook). Booted the laptop, ran WINNT.EXE (under DOS - WINNT32.EXE if in windows) from the i386 folder and did the setup. Used the registration key from the case and all was good. Added the cf28 specific drivers for touchscreen etc.

Later ran Debian install floppies, which recognized the network card, and installed that to dual boot the system.

Look in Google for i386 install windows for other info - I didn't think this up on my own.

 

Kalboo... can u post the link?

 

I think these are the main links I worked from, or similar. I thought there was a more specific one but couldn't find it.

http://www.overclock.net/faqs/101421-how-install-windows-xp-hard-drive.html [At "Start Here", I skipped steps 4 and 5, just booted from a dos floppy, then on C:\ ran the c:\i386\winnnt.exe program.]

http://www.easydesksoftware.com/I386.htm

http://help.lockergnome.com/windows2/install-machine-floppy-CDROM-boot-ftopict484835.html