[DSP-10] Booting/loading on XP computer with CDrom

[kd7ts]

Don,

I am using Thinkpads 760,765 and 770. These are pretty old machines, but  
consistent in their design. There is still a lot of software utilities and  
support available. You need to know model and series beyond the T43  
designation. Look on the sticker on the bottom of the machine. The number  
you are looking for should be similar to ThinkPad T43 (1875-A17)

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/default.page?

The most common problem reportd from the DSP-10 community regarding this  
line up, is that the infrared ports are assigned the COM1 interrupt (IRQ4)  
as the default. This may not apply to the T43. You will need to look this  
up for your machine.

There may be a DOS utility that does this or maybe it has to be done from  
a Windows OS. However it happens, it should write the BIOS from either OS.

There is also a start up screen that might allow setting what you need to  
change. Usually available as escape or F1 during boot. Something else you  
will have find out, but there should be a prompt as the machine boots.

I have never had a Thinkpad that someone hadn't screwed up the hard drive.  
These machines had two directories as defaults, UTILITIES and CDROM. Some  
used a hidden partition that held the hibernation file. The BIOS contains  
its own OS and will do a lot of diagnostics and PNP funstions before it  
loads an OS. My machines univarsally had the hard drive formatted and no  
operating system.

The T43 may have a utility that does this, but I cannot search for it  
without more information such as model and series.

This is from the manual for an 1875,

Testing the computer
The ThinkPad computer has a test program called  PC-Doctor for DOS  
(hereafter called PC-Doctor.) You can
detect errors by running the diagnostics test included in  PC-Doctor. This  
section is an overview of the procedure.
For details that depend on model-unique functions, refer to  “Product  
overview” on page 47.
For some possible configurations of the computer,  PC-Doctor might not run  
correctly. To avoid this problem,
you need to initialize the computer setup by use of the  BIOS Setup  
Utility before you run PC-Doctor. On the BIOS
Setup Utility screen, press F9, Enter, F10, and then Enter.

Note: When you initialize the computer configuration,  some devices are  
disabled, such as the serial port.
If you test one of these devices, you will need to enable it by using  
Configuration utility for DOS. The
utility is available on the following Web site:

http://www.lenovo.com/think/support

PC-Doctor cannot be used to test a device that is in the  docking station,  
even if the computer supports the docking
station. To test a USB device, connect it to the USB connector of the  
computer.


This looks like the correct PC-Doctor for Dos

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS002454

You should confirm this. It seems to be an iso for CD.

Based on the information you have provided,and not having one of my own,  
this the best I can do.

Hope this is useful

73 Mike KD7TS