# IBM Aptiva recovery CD will not start



## JCross (Apr 2, 2004)

Hi everyone. I have an older IBM Aptiva that came with its own recovery cd from IBM. I recently added a larger hard drive. Normally when the pc restarts and the cd in the drive it starts up the recovery process. But now it's wont start up at all. I don't know why. I am using the original IBM, no changes have been made to by mobo, or bios chip. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve this issue.

Thanks
Jim


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## storage_man (Nov 6, 2003)

JCross

You need to do a couple of things. 1) - Make sure that you have all of the connectors hooked up (power etc.). 2) - Don't know what kind of hard drive you installed but make sure the jumpers are set correctly. 3) - Use the installation software that came with your new Harddrive. Partition/Format it. They usually are supplied on a CD or are downloadable from the MFG website. Last but not least if the drive doesn't spin up when you power it on, it maybe broke - RMA it for a new one.

Storage_man


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## JCross (Apr 2, 2004)

Storage_man

I don't that the hard drive is the problem, because I can install windows 98 from the install cd and works fine, but I wanted to used the recovery cd becuase it has all the drivers for the IBM Aptiva. For some reason the system dosen't want to start up the recovery cd. Any ideas what could cause the pc not to reconize the cd?

Thanks


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Look here.

http://members.aol.com/don5408/aptiva.html

Some of the Aptiva's the recovery cd (Red CD) will not work if you changed the CD drive and by you adding another or larger drive if you change the CD from say G to H then it will not see the CD.
Now if you also have the Blue Aptive CD it has all the drivers on it and you can get them from there.


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## JCross (Apr 2, 2004)

Thanks. I didn't change the cd-rom drive, but maybe the new harddrive somehow changed the letter assigned to the cd drive. I do have both cds, so aleast I'll have the drivers to restore the other componets. I let you know how it goes.

Thanks
Jim


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

But if you had added or taken away Partitions on the hard drive it would move the CD drive letter. I think lots of the CD looked for the G drive as you CD or mine did on my old 2159-S78


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

Did it come with an Applications CD as well?

The drivers might be on there


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

They come with the RED Recovery CD and a Blue Diagnostic and Utilities CD.
Open the blue CD up and then open the Disk folder. Everything in the DISK folder is what you can install.

NOTE:
If you have changed out video, sound or other things then your need to use the drivers that came with that hardware. But what is in the IBM Blue disk folder will give you all the hardware drives for the hardware that came with the PC.

Post your model number and that will help.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/home.do?country=us


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

I recently reformatted my Aptiva too.

The Product Recovery CD replaced everything, including all original drivers.

I actually didn't need the Applications CD at all. I just remember it said it had the video/sound/modem drivers on it.

But yeah, post your model # like hewee said  
Cause you can get basically all the information you need on the IBM website simply by entering the model #. :up:


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

What your still using a Aptiva. I use the same old cordless mouse that came with my aptiva om my new PC. Had to get a new keyboard because most of the letter you could not see. But I liked that keyboard better then all the ones around today. It was a a very good keyboard. Still have it too but no letters on most of the keys after years of use.


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

LOL yeah I still have my Aptiva. Oddly enough, I kept it after I got my new computer. 

It still has all its originals. Well, except the mouse. (and modem - no dial-up anymore).

But the keyboard...there are so many letters missing. They have completely worn away. 
I agree it's a good keyboard. Sometimes the spacebar sticks but other than that it's good.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Same here but I have not used it in a long time. Very slow PC with 95a, P-200, 2MB video and the real slow EDO memory. 
I tried a upgade on the sound card that did not work right with soundblaster so took that out after uninstalling soundblaster. Went to the blue CD and installed the drivers for IBM Mwave card but I can not get the sound to work. I get the windows sounds effects bout not the others sounds. So it is still that way because I don't feel like doing a recovery just to get the sound working right. The good old MWave troubles that they were sued over. I got $100.00 from that sued too. 

But the keyboard I took all apart and cleaned. Your see wire like springs under all the bigger keys so pop them off real easy so you see where the wire part is and take it off. Maybe take the other keys off around it first so you can see better. The all had a grase or some type of lube on the wire springs too. 
But if you want to really clean it good take all the screws out of the bottom and then start popping off the keys, Taking the small keys off first. Then your see more screws under the keys.


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

Oh yeah, mine is slow too. I got it in 1997. Only 300 MHz or something. 4 gig hard drive. 

The audio always sounded pretty good though. I forget the onboard drivers, I think it was Crystal Audio.
The keyboard definitely needs a good cleaning. The letters have worn off so bad. I think I used a Sharpie Marker way back and just wrote them on lol. 

The system always ran very well. I never had one problem with it. IBM must make some very stable units. 
It ran great for years, until recently when my sister was using it. Got attacked with spyware so badly that I had to wipe the whole thing out. 

Thanks for the keyboard tips


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Wow you hhad lots of power then.  Bet you had the faster and cheaper SIMM memory too. The EDO momery cost a arm and a leg. I did the same with a sharpie pen to the keyboard. 
I had trouble all the time on mine and would format it again and again with the recovery CD.  Had a 3.1 GB drive that was 4 Partitions with the C: drive 999 MB. Then later I got a 6.4 GB 2nd drive and made 4 Partitions on it. But I always had trouble trying to keep drive C: from filling up so never installed things on it and had moved the swap file to the D: drive but it still filled up because there is always programs that install something there on the C: even if you installed the program to another drive. I never had much room on the C: to start with because even after using the recovery cd it add I think 680MB to the C: so it did not leave much.
But I was always getting error and having trouble and formating. Then I got Norton Utilities a year or so after I had the PC. It worked great and too away so much of the trouble I had and then ran it for years with a format where before I was formating 3 times a year. 

Your welcome and another thing you can do with the keyboard is pick it up and hace the keys face you. Hold it about 6" off the table top and drop it. That will knock out lots of the junk. But taking it a part to clean is best. 
What I also like about the old IBM keyboard is it was not like all the ones now that are so light weight and move around easy. Because it has a metal plate under the key pad.


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## JCross (Apr 2, 2004)

I tried using the Blue CD, but I didn't see any drivers on it, only software programs that came with the original PC. The red recovery cd, isn't being reconized. Is there anyway that I can make the recovery CD work? I am using the original mobo that came with the pc. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

What drivers are you looking for? The sound and video card drivers are on the blue CD. Now they will be listed under the sound or video cards name but they are there. 

Yes the red cd will work but your have to have the PC set up the same way it was when you got the PC so the CD drive letter is the same drive letter it was when the PC was new.

What is you make and model?


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## JCross (Apr 2, 2004)

Its an IBM Aptiva 2156. How do I set the PC back to the way is was when I bought it for the red cd to work?

Thanks


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

Would it be because of the new hard drive? 
Do you still have the old one?


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

I don't know if this will be of any help, but I got it from the IBM website:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/search...=en-US&from=tss&ics=iso-8859-1&cs=utf-8&cc=us

Once you get to #9, it has info about recovery. And #11 has info on the Product Recovery and Diagnostics CD - (Aptiva 2156)


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

It maybe Cheeseball81 that it wants to see the same size c: drive. 
I had 4 partitions on the drive and the C: drive was 999MB. with the CD as G: 
Then I added a 2nd hard drive and made 4 more partitions so that made the CD the I: drive.
Now the recovery cd still worked. But some of the things on the Blue Diagnostic and Utilities CD would not because it needed the CD to be in the G: drive.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

See this here.
http://members.aol.com/mbs1058/2nd_hd.html

http://members.aol.com/mbs1058/cd_other_than_g.html


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

It sure sounds like it hewee. 
When I reformatted mine, I took any newly added hardware out so it would be the same as when I got it.
It also loaded in the G:\ drive


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Yea I think so. Been so long I forget how I formated it last. But I may of just unpluged the 2nd hard drive and ran the recovery so it would of seen all as it was shipped. Then after the reinstall of the recovery I just pluged the other drive back in.


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

Those are very helpful links you attached. I'm gonna keep them for myself in case I ever decide to add an extra HD in my Aptiva.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Well on the first page here I posted the main page of the site. 
Site is really show know. 
Don used to have a great forum but he closef it down. Were lots of great techs from IBM that helped out.


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