Supported Boot Devices

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Revision as of 09:00, 4 September 2007 by Mikev (Talk | contribs) (Numbered Series)
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The following table headings shall designate the following meanings...

  • FDD = Internal/UltraBay Diskette ("Floppy") drive (also called "Legacy FDD")
  • CD = Internal/UltraBay CD/DVD(-R/-RW/-RAM) drive
  • Network = any type of network boot support (such as PXE)
  • PCMCIA = any memory device connected via the PCMCIA/PC Card/CardBus port
  • USB HD = any hard drive/flash drive/pen drive connected via the USB port
  • USB FDD = Diskette ("Floppy") drive connected via the USB port
  • USB CD = CD/DVD(-R/-RW/-RAM) drive connected via the USB port
  • FireWire = any memory device connected via the FireWire (i.Link/IEEE 1394) port

The fields should be filled with one of the following:

  •  ? = unknown / untested
  • yes = supported (may be selected from the BIOS)
  • no = not supported (BIOS incapable of booting to this type of device)
  • part = partially working (configuration not retained on reboot/requires firmware workaround/only on some devices/USB1 only). Please add footnote/link documenting the specifics.
  • v#.## = only with BIOS versions ≥ #.##
  • N/A = not applicable

Numbered Series

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
yes2 yes2 N/A no ? ? ? N/A
yes2 yes2 N/A ? no ? ? N/A
yes yes N/A yes5 no no no N/A
yes yes N/A yes ? ? ? N/A
yes yes N/A ? ? ? ? N/A
yes ? N/A ? N/A N/A N/A N/A
yes ? N/A ? N/A N/A N/A N/A
yes ? N/A ? N/A N/A N/A N/A
yes ? N/A ? N/A N/A N/A N/A
yes yes N/A ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes N/A ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes N/A ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes N/A ? ? ? ? N/A

A Series

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
yes yes ? ? no ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? no ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? no ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
yes yes ? ? yes ? ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? ?

G Series

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
yes yes ? ? ? yes ? N/A
yes yes ? ? ? yes ? N/A

R Series

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes yes ? no yes no N/A
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
yes yes yes ? yes ? ? ?
? yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes3 yes yes ? ? yes ? N/A
? yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes3 yes yes ? ? yes ? N/A
yes3 yes yes ? yes yes ? ?
yes3 yes yes ? ? yes ? ?
n/a yes yes ? yes ? ? n/a

T Series

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
yes yes ? ? ? ? ? N/A
yes yes yes no no no no N/A
yes yes yes no ? ? ? N/A
yes yes yes no yes4 yes yes N/A
yes yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
yes3 yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
no yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
no yes yes no yes yes yes N/A
no yes yes no yes yes yes ?

X Series

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
yes2 yes2 yes no no yes yes N/A
yes2 yes2 yes no no ? yes N/A
yes2 yes2 yes ? ? yes yes N/A
yes2 yes2 yes ? ? yes yes N/A
yes2 yes2 yes ? yes ? ? N/A
yes2 yes2 yes ? part1 ? yes ?
yes2 yes2 yes ? yes yes yes ?
yes2 yes2 yes ? yes yes ? ?
N/A yes2 yes ? yes yes yes N/A
N/A yes2 yes ? yes yes yes N/A
N/A yes2 yes ? yes yes yes N/A
N/A ? yes ? yes yes yes ?
N/A ? yes ? yes ? yes ?
N/A ? yes ? yes ? yes no
N/A ? yes ? yes ? yes ?

Z Series

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
? yes ? ? yes6 ? ? N/A
? ? ? ? ? ? ? N/A
? yes yes ? yes ? ? ?

Others

Model FDD CD Network PCMCIA USB HD USB FDD USB CD FireWire HD
N/A N/A yes no ? yes yes N/A



FOOTNOTES [Δ]
  1. Choosing USB Boot and booting with a USB flash drive plugged in makes boot procedure extremely long (1m30 just to pass the IBM splash screen). However, it ends up booting the OS in the USB drive (assuming one is indeed present).
  2. Internal CD/FD means the ones in the UltraBase for X series and 570 models.
  3. Requires an external Floppy drive attached to Port Replicator or Dock
  4. Requires that the user select the drive from the disk option shown after clicking F12 on the boot sequence.
  5. Boots from a flash memory drive, i.e. CompactFlash (with PCMCIA adapter).
  6. It is working with lilo boot loader, however it failed with syslinux.