Problem with cd/dvd-rw after replacing floppy drive

Hi. I really need some help. I purchased a cf-29 with floppy drive. I ordered an original cd/dvd-rw used and installed it. I was able to install windows xp with the cd/dvd-rw drive but when I put in the panasonice recovery disc the machine comes up with an error saying the cd is not ready and I can't reload my machine with drivers. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum! First off, please look on the bottom of your CF-29XXXXXX and report back as to the complete serial number. This will tell others (and you) what Mark (1,2,3,4) You have. The Panasonic recovery media is specific to which Mark # your machine is. Also, go into Bios while machine is booting up and make sure your boot order has Hard Drive at bottom of the choices (boot order). Many others here will have some great ideas to follow. Regards

 

Ok if I got this right you installed XP then you put in the Panasonic recovery cd to load the drivers...not . I don't think you are using the OEM Panasonic recovery cd's (3 disk set). The OEM disks are an image of the harddrive when it left the factory so when you use these there is no need to load any drivers. They are all installed for you. Sounds like you bought one of them driver cd's off of ebay...just to let you know you can get all these drivers for free from panasonic.
The OEM cd's should look something like this one

 

Hi. Thanks for the quick replys! I have a Mark 2 version machine and the recovery discs were original. my company purchased this from a large enduser. I wiped the original hd with wipe drive and then added xp pro from a recovery disc of another computer and entered the coa on the toughbook for xp pro. This leads me to believe the cd/dvd-rw is working. when I put the first recovery disc in it says the cd is not ready. I have the cd first in the boot order and it shows up under device manager as not needing the drivers. Hopefully this info will help determine the problem.Thanks again for the help.

 

You don't load WinXP before using the Recovery disks -- you put Recovery Disk #1 into the CD then reboot, and it loads WinXP with all the drivers at once.

The CD does not need any special drivers.

If you were able to load WinXP from a CD, then the CD part of the drive must be working. Combo drives have different optics for the CD part and the DVD part, so if your "driver" disk is a DVD then maybe the combo drive has broken DVD elements. If the driver disk is a CD then maybe the CD media is bad.

 

Rob,

Thanks a bunch! That will save a lot of time next time I try a new HDD or SSD, or whatever other reason I might re-install instead of cloning.

 

Also I should add that when you do use the OEM restore disk it will put in the COA for you.

 

Based on the information you've given, just make sure you are connected to a/c power, pop in the restore disk and start up your ToughBook. This allows the system to boot up first via the CD drive. Your operating system will load and you will be good to go. No muss, no fuss. Now so very long ago I purchased a CF-29, the seller told me "here's your copy of XP and another with all the drivers you'll need"...The factory recovery disks make it a snap