How To Install Windows 95 On The ThinkPad 360/C/CS/P/PE by Mike Welch (mikw@cyberramp.net) OVERVIEW -------- A definitive reference that outlines the minimum steps required to upgrade the supported ThinkPads to run Windows 95 does not seem to exist anywhere. IBM's site has most of the support files you will need, but there is a lot of redundancy, and exactly what all is needed, especially if you have options such as the sound feature or PCMCIA devices, is unclear. This document attempts to define exactly what you need to do to install Windows 95 on your ThinkPad. The information contained herein should pertain to all IBM ThinkPad models 360/C/CS/P/PE. I also have reason to believe, albeit unverified, that this procedure will also work on models 730T/750/755C/755CS (if someone gives it a try on any of these models, please let me know how it went). Note that IBM has mentioned that Plug n Play is not supported on the 750s. I have ran through this process three times myself and know it works on my particular 360PE. The only trouble I had involved the installation of my PCMCIA "Home & Away" combo card together with Windows 95 OSR2. Evidently, Microsoft changed the way the PCMCIA drivers work between OSR0 and OSR2 and in the process broke the OS for this particular card (and perhaps others). Therefore, if you have a choice, I highly recommend you install the initial release version of Windows 95 instead of the later one. Lastly, I suppose that I should add that I'm not responsible for anything (that's what my mom always said) should something terrible happen as a result of your using these instructions. Please direct any questions, comments or corrections to mike@cyberramp.net. CREATING THE UPDATE DISKS (Disk Images) --------------------------------------- Most (but not all) of the files I mention in this document can be found on IBM's web site, http://www.ibm.com. Finding the files, though, can be a chore, especially as they appear to be moved to different locations frequently. If you cannot find these files, let me know and I'll get them to you. For an undetermined period of time, these files can also be found at ftp://206.54.186.164/Mikew. When logging on, use the following signon: Name: anonymous Password: Your email address (e.g., mike@cyberramp.net) Most of the files I discuss in this document are stored in a disk image format, while a few are stored in ZIP format. This document assumes you are familiar with compressed ZIP files. Briefly, most of the files that have an .EXE extension are disk image ("hard file") files which automatically create a disk. They will require one blank (though not necessarily formatted) 1.44MB floppy for each .EXE file. In the case of the disk image files, just type the name of the file at a command prompt, or double click the file from the File Manager. THE FILES YOU WILL NEED ----------------------- The following files are needed to create the diskettes necessary to get Windows 95 to run on your ThinkPad 360. These files are, of course, in addition to the installation diskettes/CD for Windows 95: Note: * = Optional/additional feature that may not apply to your unit UTTPG101.EXE - ThinkPad Features Diskette: machine-specific utilities WIN95SET.EXE - BIOS update for Windows Plug-n-Play and Video Drivers * AFTPS140.EXE - ThinkPad Audio Features Diskette: for those with audio * TPMEMHLP.ZIP - ThinkPad Audio Features patch file (uses less memory) * IBMPS20.EXE - IBM OEM release of Windows Pen Services 2.0 (if needed) * HAWIN95.EXE - IBM Home & Away 14.4K Fax/Ethernet combo PCMCIA card drivers WHAT YOU GET FOR "FREE" ----------------------- The ThinkPad 360PE is a "pen-based" computer and as such requires additional drivers to work under Windows 95. If your notebook does not support the pen feature and if you have no special peripherals, you may not need anything besides a plain Windows 95 install CD. Furthermore, if you only have, for example, PCMCIA and audio on your ThinkPad, and if you already have Windows 3.1 installed, you may again need nothing besides a plain Windows 95 CD. Several of the drivers that you will be using are actually the old drivers used by Windows 3.1/Windows 3.11. I do not know whether this affects performance or not. These drivers work fine, and on my machine Windows reports that it's running optimally. Update 03/20/98: Fellow 360PE owner Lucas Wagner informs me that if you have PC-DOS instead of MS-DOS installed on the machine, it might cause problems with getting Windows 95 to install properly. His solution was to install a version of MS-DOS prior to installing Windows 95. LET'S GET STARTED ----------------- Each of the diskettes you create from the disk image files will come with a README.TXT type file. Be sure to read that over before your proceed with the step. It's the right thing to do. 1. Backup your computer. If you have the original preload software SAVE IT because you may want to go back to the original operating system. 2. Create the ThinkPad Features Diskette from the UTTPG101.EXE file. You will need it later. 3. Create a diskette from the WIN95SET.EXE file if you are unsure about the version of your ThinkPad's BIOS (this diskette contains a flash/firmware update) or if you are not already loading the VESA video extensions that allow your unit to display 256 colors. Note: my 360PE has a BIOS Part # of 91G1534 and a date of 02/21/96. As this is the most recent BIOS version for my system I did not need the BIOS update. 4. Install WIN95SET. Insert the WIN95SET disk into your A: drive and reboot your computer. Just follow the instructions that appear when the system comes up. The WIN95SET disk will tell you if you need to update your BIOS or not. If so, it will also ask you for the ThinkPad Features Diskette you created previously. Once you have completed this step, you will have, among other things, the VESA video BIOS extensions that allow you to run Windows 95 in 256 colors. Note: WIN95SET completely REMOVES OS/2, so if you haven't made a backup of your system there's no turning back after this step. Note: WIN95SET backs up a few critical files: AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI to *.E95 should you need to refer to them later. 5. After verifying that you have all drivers you plan to load listed in your CONFIG.SYS file (this includes the VESA.EXE video BIOS extension, any memory managers or PCMCIA drivers), install Windows 95 (It's okay if you've already installed Windows 95). During the installation, Windows 95 asks if you would like to create a startup (emergency) diskette. IBM suggests, and I agree, that you create this disk after Windows has been completely installed. Otherwise it is possible that some of your drivers may not exist on the startup disk. Note: If you don't know which monitor to pick, IBM suggests you use the IBM 8513 monitor. I am using the generic "640x480 Laptop Display" driver instead. Note: It is my personal opinion that you install the ORIGINAL version of Windows 95 ("OSR0") instead of "OSR2". My IBM Home & Away 14.4K Modem/Fax/Ethernet combo card simply would not work under the newer revision of Windows 95. Card services must have changed between these two revisions, and the later update broke support for this PCMCIA card. Reboot however many times Windows asks you to. Once you have completed this step you should be running Windows 95 with the following support: o Video in 16 or 256 colors (Western Digital) o Full support for the Trackpoint pointing device o Basic PCMCIA support (you will need to execute the PCMCIA wizard from control panel to complete that step). Finally, if you have Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95, install that next. I have used Plus! on my ThinkPad 360PE without any problems. 6. Windows 95 should now be operating. Insert the ThinkPad Features Diskette you created in step #2. Type INSTALLW at the command prompt (or use "Run" from the Start Menu, or double click the file from the Windows Explorer). This will install the ThinkPad setup and interrogation programs, the fuel gauge utility and docking station support. Note that you can skip this step if you don't want to install these utilities. Also, there is another disk that I am not covering called the Personalization Utility Program. I found this utility useless. 7. Next, install the audio support. If your ThinkPad doesn't have the audio feature, or if the audio already appears to be working, skip this step. After creating a diskette from AFTPS140.EXE, insert the disk and type A:\WINSETUP at the DOS prompt (or start it from "Run" from the Start Menu, or double click the file from the Windows Explorer). This will install the Windows 3.1 drivers (sigh) onto your system. Although I believe these are 16-bit drivers, Windows 95 reports that my system is running optimally with them installed. Note: After the first installation of this diskette, the IBM setup program informed me that I may need to run through the whole installation process twice to enable the audio feature. I DID have to install it twice (repeat step 6) but then my audio worked fine. Another note: After completing this step, Windows kept telling me that it couldn't find the FUELWIN utility that's being loaded in WIN.INI. If you get this error, edit WIN.INI and verify the path to FUELWIN (if you installed the audio files to a directory other than the default, the IBM setup program still tells Windows to load it from the default directory. This is a bug). Either change the path or just delete the "Run = Fuelwin.exe" statement from WIN.INI and run the utility manually, or create a shortcut to it in your Startup folder. Yet another note: If you want, you can now also install the file found in TPMEMHLP.ZIP. Evidently, there were some problems with memory usage and the sound system in Windows 3.1, so IBM released this "fix" that made the audio drivers use less memory. I don't know if the updated drivers affect performance or not (my guess is that it would) and I elected not to install this update on my system. 8. If your system supports the pen feature, unpack the Microsoft Pen Services 2.0 files contained in the IBMPS20.EXE file to a floppy disk (note: this is just a self-extracting file and does not create a disk image, so be sure the diskette is formatted and empty). Once the diskette is created, go to the Start Menu and click Control Panel from the Settings menu item. Once Control Panel opens up, click the "Add/Remove Programs" icon. From the dialog, select the "Windows Setup" tab (it's the middle tab on my system). You will see the files that were installed when you loaded Windows. Click the "Have Disk" button and tell Windows to look on drive A: for your Pen Services diskette. Select "Pen Services 2.0" when it's displayed and let Windows install the files. You will have to reboot again, so do that. When Windows comes back up it will show a dialog with the supported pen computers (730T, 360P/PE, 750). Select your model. Then you get to reboot again. (I think Plug and Play should be called Plug and Reboot). The next time Windows comes up you should be able to use the pen feature. 9. If you have the IBM "Home & Away" 14.4K Modem+Fax/Network card, take the following steps to add support for this card. I am including this in my description simply because this is a popular card (I have one) and there are updated 32-bit drivers elsewhere on the net that work well with Windows 95. If you have a special card and would like to include the instructions for that along with this document, please pass your instructions along to me. Note: If you are running OSR2 (the final release of Windows 95), you will likely have difficulty getting your card to work properly. As stated above, I suggest you install the original release of Windows 95 (OSR0). * Make sure your PCMCIA card is properly installed before you begin with these steps. Steps: ----- 9.1 Create a diskette from the HAWIN95.EXE file. 9.2 With the diskette you just created left in your A: drive, shut down Windows. The Home & Away diskette is a self-booting diskette and needs to be ran outside of the Windows environment. 9.3 Restart your computer and boot to the new floppy disk. Follow the instructions you see. Check to see if the card supports Windows 95. If not, tell the program to install support for this card. When you are finished with this, remove the floppy and reboot. 9.4 Start Control Panel (from the Start Menu, select "Settings", then "Control Panel"). 9.5 Double click the icon for PCMCIA services. 9.6 A wizard will guide you through the installation of your PCMCIA card. 9.7 Near the end of the setup for PCMCIA services, a dialog will appear asking you where to find the drivers for your Home & Away card. Inserte the floppy you created above into drive A: and click "Have Disk". Direct the wizard to drive A:. Follow the prompts to complete this step. 9.8 Windows will ask you to restart your computer. When you do, your card should be functioning properly. SLOW VIDEO ---------- If your video seems terribly slow, verify that the acceleration is set to the maximum setting. Open the control panel window (from the Start menu, select "Settings", then "Control Panel). Next, click on the "System" icon (the window that comes up should be entitled "System Properties"). Next, click on the "Performance" tab. Finally, click the "Graphics" button. You should now see a window entitled "Advanced Graphics Settings". My system was set somewhere in the middle (low acceleration). Move the sliding bar all the way to "Full" and click the "OK" button. Video performance should now be acceptable. NOTES ----- Another good resource is 750_TIPS.TXT. This is just a list of technical notes about all kinds of stuff having to do with the 750P convertible. Much of it applies to the 360P/PE too. Read it if you're curious or if you have other problems. ================================================= Update: 05/13/98: I received the following feedback from a person who requested that his email be withheld. I saw your instructions. Using a similar method, I have successfully installed Win95 and IBMPS20 (Pen Services) on several 360PEs, 730TEs, and 750Ps. The only difficulty that I have is related to activating the 32 bit PCMCIA drivers on the 730TE. In each case, I've either used a new harddrive or formatted one from scratch. I start by installing IBM PC-DOS (usually 7.0, but occasionally 6.3; never MS-DOS). I've either used a CD-ROM drive in a 3545 docking station or a PCMCIA attached CD-ROM drive. I've installed a mixture of OSR0 and OSR2. If you ever hear of some success with 32 bit drivers on the 730TE, please let me know. Also, I tried Win98 (Beta 3) on the 730TE, but couldn't get it to install. It hangs during the installation process. I haven't taken any time to pursue it. Although I haven't tried it yet, there is new (Feb 98) flash code for the Home and Away 14.4 K Fax/Ethernet card on the IBM ftp site. Since the card is withdrawn, it isn't officially supported. The new code is supposed to allow the card to work with one of the versions of Win95. The filename is the same (HAWIN95.EXE). You can mention my name, but please don't post or share my e-mail address. Michael T Hollenbeck