Installing XP on a CF27 MK1

Rightey ho, not too long ago, I got myself a CF-27 from ebay. Upon arrival. it was a Mk1, with the lowest specs you could ask for. No problem, all i want is word processing and wireless. After trying umpteen flavors of linux, I just couldn't get the damned thing working properly. Part of the problem was that it's got a floppy drive, and can't boot from USB, so installing ANYTHING is tricky as hell. So, I've spent the last couple of months figuring out how to get XP on this thing; it can run on next to nothing, I've got a disk for it next to me, and the drivers just work, which is more than i can say for cut-down linux distros.

So. I present to you all my guide for installing XP on a mk1 toughbook - or, anything else that can't boot from CD or USB. It'll work on anything in a similar situation, mind, but It applies to a toughbook primarily, so, here it is!

The guide makes a couple of assumptions; the laptop can't boot from USB or CD (Or doesn't have a CD-ROM Drive), but can boot from a floppy disk and you have one for said laptop. This can also apply to any desktop with the same situation.

A second PC is required to perform this installation, but the HDD will NOT be removed from the laptop at any time during this process, so you don;'t have to fiddle around inside that. It's all juggling software


Needed:

WakePup Boot disk
Windows 98/ME boot disk
Floppy Disk with smartdrv.exe & XCOPY (FreeDos version)

Windows XP install Disk
Nlite
CD Burner
Usb CD-ROM Drive


First things first; make your floppy disks. My PC Doesn't have a floppy drive, so it was a pain for me, but it could be worse. WakePup is needed to access the USB CD ROM drive outside an OS.

Now, Grab your XP install Disk and download a copy of Nlite. Go through the steps the program gives you; it's not too tricky. If you just want a normal install of XP, then skip this step. If you want to cut crap out of XP (and you should) then go ahead and strip stuff out and make a bootable ISO to install from.

Burn the aforementioned ISO to a blank CD, and boot the PC with it to make sure it works. Just to recovery console will be fine, you don't need to install anything.

Now, boot the laptop with the Windows Boot disk, and wipe the hard drive, if you haven't already done so. Obviously, back up anything you want to keep beforehand. What you'll want to do to make sure it's formatted correctly is as follows:

> Use fdisk and delete any existing partitions
> Restart, use fdisk again to make a new DOS partition
> Restart AGAIN, and use Format to format the drive in FAT32.

It's got to be done in FAT32, as the boot disks won't recognise NTFS, and, try as I might, I can't find anything that'll boot from floppy and run an exe from an NTFS drive. So, FAT32 it is.

Once format completes, reset it again. Better safe than sorry. Stick the Wakepup floppy in and boot from that, making sure the USB CD Drive is plugged in and has the modified XP disk in it.. It'll give a message about not being able to find some files and dump you to a command prompt; that's fine, as we're installing XP, not puppy linux. The CD Drive should now be mapped to Z:\


Take the wakepup disk out, and stick in the one with smartdrv.exe and XCOPY on it. XCOPY the whole of Z:\ to a folder on C:\ - basically, use the command “ XCOPY Z:\ C:\XIP_INST /S ”, without the quotes, obviously. It'll take a while, as you're copying the whole disk across. That'll copy everything in Z:\ to the C:\XP_INST folder – you can stick it wherever you want, as long as it's on the disk. Be sure to make the directory for it all first, though – I dunno how picky XCOPY is about it's desitnation existing, but it's better to be safe than have to do it again.

Once that's done, you COULD install XP now, but it'll be slow as hell, because Smartdrv isn't loaded, and it won't run under FreeDos (What the wakepup Disk boots with). So, reset the Laptop with the Windows boot disk in, trade it for the one with smartdrv on it when it's booted, and run smartdrv.exe. It should load fine. Then, navigate to the folder you copied the XP disk to, and go to the “I386” directory – again, without quotes. Don't bother listing the files in there, there's about a million of the buggers.

Run winnt.exe, and setup should start. From there, it's plain sailing to install XP.

It's the long way round, and it's not exactly the easiest thing to do, but it sure as hell beats swapping hard disks around five times trying to figure out which driver is different enough for the laptop to refuse to boot at all....


Appologies for the length of the thing - it IS a bit of a read! =D If this should be stuck anywhere else, feel free to shout at me/collar a mod and have it moved. I decided to put it here because this forum's been one hell of a good resource for me, and I wanted to give something back... =D

 

There are other ways to do it which don't involve burning your own ISOs or making special boot floppies; though I'm impressed you got all that to work. Search the Forum for "toughbook install windows without cd drive" and you'll get a bunch of hits.

Thanks for laying that process all out for us!

mnem
*Hugs his external HD encosure close*

 

I'm trying to install XP on a CF-27 MK2 but it won't boot from the DVD drive. I've done searches on here to try to find the simplest method but not found anything. I was thinking of getting a USB-IDE adaptor and run the cable from the CD drive in my PC to the USB on the toughbook; would this work?

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated !

 

I will be working on a Mk2 in the next couple days, i will let you know what i come up with

 

Ok, confirmed.. you CAN clear a CMOS password by unplugging the yellow battery and booting it up. You get a few error messages, then it goes into the BIOS. Just power down, put everything back together again, and you're good to go.

Once completed, you can add the CD drive to the boot list and then boot from the CD/DVD.

 

I've tried what u did, got the error messages but still asks for a password. What version BIOS do u have on yours? Also, what model number MK2 is your CF-27?

I've tried 'MDK_Marshal' method using a USB stick (I haven't got a USB CD-ROM) but it's painfully slow at copying the files to the HD but I suppose at least it works.

Have u installed XP on yours?

 

The one I just did it on is a CF27EB6GDAM. The firmware is 2.10.L10

I wonder if the Mk1 boards are unique in this respect?! I should have a Mk1 with a password around here, I should see what happens.

 

COULD ANY ONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO COMPLETE COMPUTER F***WIT . JUST GOT HOLD OFA CF 27 AND WOULD LIKE IT TO RUN ON xp BUT DONT HAVE THE EXPERTISE TO DO SO WITHOUT A STEP BY STEP IDIOT GUIDE PLEASE HELP THE UNEDUCATED

 

Yes you can flash the bios if you can boot to the floppy drive
Be sure to have the right Mk # bios 2000 or xp not important

I have had to do this on cf-25s,cf-72s and cf-28s

 

I'm currently trying to get XP installed on my CF27 and I can't get it to boot from the CD drive. BIOS is not password protected and is version V2.10L13B. I've changed the boot sequence to CD drive but it just comes up with 'invalid system disc' without even trying to boot from the CD drive.

Any ideas?

 

Does the cd drive spin up during boot
Or does if even try to read the drive

Alex

 

Just for info,

Windows 2000 Pro works extremely well on the CF-27 - at least from the Mk2 onward it was one of the options when originally purchased from Panasonic.

The machines generally feel far more responsive than with XP, as 2000 is much better suited to small memory & slower CPUs.

The drivers are easily available from various sites and the basic install recognises USB drives directly so no messing with floppies or burning CDs to get the drivers in place.

XP & 2000 mostly use the same drivers for add-ons (PCMCIA & USB devices) so just about anything that works with XP should also work with 2000, if the CPU is fast enough.

Robert.

 

It does not sound like the CD drive is running when booting like it's ignoring the instruction to boot from CD and using the hard drive. CD does work though, I had it running before.

 

Is this the original CDROM drive, or did you/someone else swap it out for this one?

 

Make sure the caddy is pushed in all the way
Make sure cd drive is seen in bios on the first bios screen
Manually move the laser to the center with you finger carefully

Alex

 

OK, I've now got it to try and boot from the CD but it still says 'invalid system disc'. This is a disc I've used before when installing a new hard drive on a lap top and it worked fine. The hard drive on the CF-27 has been formatted, can I boot it from an XP disc or do I need a boot disc? If so where from?

Thanks

Andy

 

Andy,
Just out of curiosity, what disk are you using and what kind of computer have you previously used it on to load XP.
CAP

 

Its a non-compatible model

The disk will have a part number on it and that will give you a clue to the mk# that it will restore
If you have the original disk post the #’s that are on the disk
You are probably trying to restore your mk2 with a different mk’s disk
They will not work as the disk checks to make sure its for the correct model before allowing reinstallation so if you have w98 on it it will not work with w2000 disks
Thats info for restore disks only
oem disks are not effected, they will always boot unless the boot order is incorrect in the bios



Alex

 

When I've used the disc before ( on both Dell and Sony laptops ) it's always been a fresh install on a new hard drive. Is this any different to trying to put it on a re-formatted hard drive?

 

It must be looking first at the hard drive
It should boot to the cd, and work

Alex

 

Its also possible that a restore disk is looking for resources that a MK1 CF-27 doesn't have. XP really is a bit much for that machine which is circa Win98 or earlier.
CAP

 

Good point Cap

I must go to the eye doctor
I see now it’s a mk-1

Btw: I had w2000 on a cf-25 166 pro / 96 mb ram
Took 5 min to boot
Put w98se on it before I sold it though



Scratch what I have said earlier

Find W98se
Load
Download drivers from the Panasonic site
Do upgrades if you can find them for the o/s
Success
And a reasonably fast computer


Alex

 

Alex and Andy,
I just shipped my last 2 CF-27 MK2 machines to a forum member. They were both loaded with W2000 SP4 and were very happy with it. They both had extended ram however.
CAP

 

Yeah, Cap'n... I'm afraid yer right.

Trying to run XP on any machine with less than 256MB RAM is just out & out masochistic. You CAN run it on 128MB; but it spends 90% of its time hashing the swapfile & about 10% doing actual work; the percentage of time decreases pretty much up to the point where you have 768MB or so, where it tends to level off and really spends most of its time operating in RAM. Save yourself some arseache and just use Win2K, which runs happily in 64MB.

mnem
Memory almost full...

 

Just a word of warning; discussion in this forum about bypassing any form of password protection is VERBOTEN - you can be booted / banned by the powers that be with extreme prejudice.

Do'ont deww itt!

mnem
Ughhh. stuck in Scottish brogue mode again...

 

It was reported to the Moderator 50 min ago
Newbie’s got the learn to read the stickys and the forum rules
It won’t be long until our posts will just look dumb as the previous post will be deleted and all that will remain are our comments that won’t make too much sense lol

Edit: See I look dumb

Alex

 

Aye;

but ye dinnae lewk half as daft as eye, spoutin' off 'n soundin liek theis to no-one-at-all...

mnem
Somebody please... reboot the Dwagon...

 

Like Anok 71, I Would Like To Have Simple Instructions On Installing Xp On One Of My Cf-27's (mk Ii's). I'm Sure All The Info So Far Is Excellent, I Just Don't Have The Computer Know How/savvy/what Am I Donig Stuff!

 

Dwight,
Don't do it! You have those set up as good as it gets, trust me on this, I was messing with those for a long time.
CAP