IBM Thinkpad R32 Series Laptop Problems

[r32owner]

Me again.  I did notice something recently. My IBM BIOS Setup Utility says:

Network

IBM Security Chip

Serial port

Infrared

Parallel port

PCI

USB

Floppy Drives*

Keyboard/Mouse

Display

Power

Alarm

Memory

*There is no floppy drive in the original configuration of the machine. Today, there is still not a floppy drive present in the machine, ONLY a dvd-rom drive.

In the BIOS Setup, I was hoping to change the settings from floppy disk to cd-rom/dvd-rom, but no dice. It says Legacy Floppy Drive (enable/disable) and SuperDisk Boot (enable/disable). When I "enable" floppy disk, the floppy drive controller is enabled in Device Manager. Since I do not have such a device onboard, I went ahead and disabled both of them.

In BIOS Setup, why am I seeing Floppy Drives when none is connected to the machine?

[ajkula66 Guru · Accepted solution]

Although there is no floppy physically present, option of booting from floppy must be present in BIOS "just in case" one would have no other option available.

[r32owner]

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ajkula66 wrote:

Depending on your needs, you may want to get a USB media drive, or get rid of the R32 altogether and purchase a newer machine.

Good luck and let us know. 

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I took your advice and, last night, I placed an order with Dell and ordered a new $1200.00 widescreen laptop. After my problems with this machine, I just couldn't purchase another IBM computer anymore, nor would I ever recommend one. That's just how I feel about the situation. However, I do thank you for all your efforts and everyone else's effort in this regard.

[ajkula66 Guru]

@r32owner:

I'm sorry it has come down to you ordering a Dell...

Every manufacturer of any goods has its less-than-stellar moments, and R32 was one of IBM's, likely because its production was subcontracted to Acer...

I sincerely hope that you've done your research before ordering a new laptop.

Good luck.

[r32owner]

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ajkula66 wrote:

@r32owner:

I sincerely hope that you've done your research before ordering a new laptop.

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I currently own a Dell Dimension 4300 desktop which I have owned since October 2002 and I have had excellent performance from it and I have also received first-class customer service from Dell. When I started having this problem with the laptop, Dell became an obvious choice should I had to choose a replacement, as I don't have any experience with any other. I do recall having one issue with the desktop - the cd-rom icon went missing a few years ago. I used the Microsoft Knowledge Base fix for restoring the cd-rom icon and it worked like a charm - that's the fix with removing the upper and lower filters in the registry via regedit. However, that fix did not work on this laptop as there were no upper and lower filters in the registry - strange. Maybe there should be. I have reformatted many times and the registry entry remained the same. I used to tap on the laptop and the dvd-rom drive would be recognized, then it would disappear. With a few more taps, it would reappear, stay for a while and then disappear again. That fix used to work a year ago, but not anymore. I still like the R32, though, a very rugged machine. I still plan on using the R32. However, when I travel on the plane and want to watch movies, the replacement will do that job instead of toting around the external dvd-rom which I bought for the R32.

[miso25]

Hello to all,

I have a problem. I got IBM ThinkPad R32 , 2658 MNG, Windows XP Pro.

My battery is not charging. First I thought that my battery is dead because it's 5-6 years old, I order a new one but it's the same. With old one sometimes starts charging then in next couple of days it's working normaly and then it's again dead. The PC recognize when I'm on AC power (but still not charging the battery) and when on battery.

How can I fix this problem and could I work on my PC when connected on AC power without a battery?

Thanks.