Author Topic: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9  (Read 1396 times)

Dan Eicher

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2025, 12:03:02 pm »
>BTW do you have an SSD in the T43 ? Or a disc with revolving platters ? You can install an SSD I think in T43 if you have not done so.

No workey for me. Per Thinkpad Forums.
Some people have luck with using m2>ide sleds. Maybe it depends on model of ThinkPad, maybe it's the m2 adapter, tends to be in the air.
I also tried a real transcend solid state ide drive.
Receipts: https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=137515

Also, if you very electronically talented, you can convert a T43 to run SATA, but that's above my pay grade and no one does that thing commercially.
 

Doug Bissett

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2025, 06:37:58 pm »
My T43 1871 has n IDE interface, so SSD is not possible. It wouldn't do any good anyway, because it would be limited to the bus speed.

PCMCIA is possible, but it is also slow, even if you could find suitable hardware.

I have 1.5 GB of memory, which works well. You need at least, 1 GB to avoid excessive paging. I think 2 GB is maximum, in that machine.

Bottom line is that it is an OLD machine, with many limits.

Roderick Klein

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2025, 08:16:02 pm »
>BTW do you have an SSD in the T43 ? Or a disc with revolving platters ? You can install an SSD I think in T43 if you have not done so.

No workey for me. Per Thinkpad Forums.
Some people have luck with using m2>ide sleds. Maybe it depends on model of ThinkPad, maybe it's the m2 adapter, tends to be in the air.
I also tried a real transcend solid state ide drive.
Receipts: https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=137515

Also, if you very electronically talented, you can convert a T43 to run SATA, but that's above my pay grade and no one does that thing commercially.

Or just a google search for SSD PATA

I find this brand: Transcend Industrial PSD330
They have SSD up to 256 GB.

Roderick

Dave Yeo

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #18 on: July 13, 2025, 11:50:36 pm »
Weren't some of these T4x BIOS's locked to a limited list of hard drives?

Neil Waldhauer

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #19 on: July 14, 2025, 03:28:03 pm »
The T43 is not just locked to certain drives. It uses some function that just isn't present in most IDE drives.

You can substitute a hard drive for the CD drive. That interface has fewer limitations. The T43 is SATA internally and goes through a PATA converter to support its list of IDE drives.

I used to be able to import brand new 120 GB IDE hard drives that had the function, but China ended the program that allowed it. Plus the USA is not as good about China imports as it used to be. (Not to be political. Just the facts regarding this and a few other parts for old computers.)
Expert consulting for ArcaOS, OS/2 and eComStation
http://www.blondeguy.com

Doug Clark

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #20 on: July 14, 2025, 06:30:23 pm »
Lewis has a T43 that he has installed a SSD in so it can be done.  BUT - if you consider the price of an SSD for that machine, and compare that price to a later model  Lenovo, such as a T530 - you can get an entire used T530 for less than you can get a PATA - SSD.  I just checked ebay and there is a 15" T530 for $50 or best offer.  It doesn't have a HDD but you can get a new 1 TB SATA SSD for $70 - both together are less that what you would probably pay for the PATA-SSD.

Everything except wireless on the T530 works with AOS 5.1, including seamless WIN-OS/2.  For wireless you have to use one of those adapters that plugs into the wired network socket.  The boot up time on the T530 is actually faster than the resume time on the T43p. As for which keyboard is better - I like the T530 better but I know others like the T43 keyboard better.  The T530 keyboard can be replaced with a lighted keyboard - mine cost about $25 - I don't think there is a lighted keyboard for the T43.

So while the T43 is a very nice machine, you can probably get a much later, better performing Lenovo laptop for less money than upgrading the T43 hard drive.  Just a thought.


Dan Eicher

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #21 on: July 14, 2025, 11:18:38 pm »
Ok Doug, I love to play with ThinkPads, $50 is an ok impulse buy.

Spec's say it can take 16GB, with ArcaOS be unhappy if it finds more than 4GB, or would it just ignore?

Dave Yeo

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #22 on: July 14, 2025, 11:47:05 pm »
Ok Doug, I love to play with ThinkPads, $50 is an ok impulse buy.

Spec's say it can take 16GB, with ArcaOS be unhappy if it finds more than 4GB, or would it just ignore?

ArcaOS will give you the option to use the 12.5 GB's (usual is about 3.5GB visible to the system) as a ram disk. System Setup-->Ram Disk. Otherwise, it'll ignore it.
I like using JFS on my ram disk. It is a bit tricky to set up, so ask if the default choices of FAT32 or HPFS aren't acceptable.
The ram disk isn't the fastest due to the overhead of entering and exiting PAE, but handy for a scratch disk and for tmp files

Dan Eicher

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #23 on: July 15, 2025, 03:01:16 am »
> System Setup

That came up today, in my play.

I couldn't figure out how to find that in PM, or start it on the command line.

Can I buy a vowel?

Dave Yeo

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #24 on: July 15, 2025, 04:01:42 am »
> System Setup

That came up today, in my play.

I couldn't figure out how to find that in PM, or start it on the command line.

Can I buy a vowel?

In AOS, it is in Computer (Desktop-->Computer) and a shadow in the xcentre, middle icon to the right of the CPU usage widget. Older OS/2's, it would be on the desktop.
You can't easily open it from the cmd line. The WPS keeps most of its info in Extended Attributes (xattr's) and the ini files. Do a dir /s on your desktop and you'll see mostly directories with lots of EA's and empty files.

Dave Yeo

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Re: Unable to boot Arca Installer 5.1.1 on Thinkpad T43 1871-AB9
« Reply #25 on: July 15, 2025, 06:11:15 am »
Command line to open System Setup, adjust drive letter as needed.
Code: [Select]
oo /O "W:\Desktop\Computer\System Setup" Ioo -h for usage[/code]