I’d like to put Peppermint 3 on an old IBM Thinkpad which used to have Windows on it.
I haven’t used it in a while and when I started it up I get:
ERROR
0271
Press to setup
When I press F1 I get to the IBM BIOS Setup Utility. I can’t seem to get to Windows at all.
Can I install Peppermint from this point and if so, how - or does my laptop have some bigger problems?
Reset the time and date n the BIOS … it should then boot 
If the BIOS clock goes out at every boot, you need a new BIOS battery … This is NOT the same battery as the large one for the laptop, it’s a tiny battery inside the laptop. Similar (depending on model) to the one pictured top right here:
Usually (but not always) a “Coin Cell” CR2032 battery that either clips into a holder on the motherboard … or as with the thinkpad T41 (above link), a CR2032 that has wires and a plug soldered to it and is then shrink wrapped.
Fitting can be anything from a doddle (battery accessible through a trap door), to a nightmare (semi or total stripdown of the laptop).
That said … some older PC’s had rechargeable BIOS batteries … so try just giving it time (turned on) to charge, then see if the BIOS clock has retained its settings for a useful amount of time.
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Thanks for that. Changing the the time/date settings fixed it.
I had to change my bios battery on an IBM Thinkpad T22 was not an issue. I found that on the older models made by IBM access for users was pity good.
Not all of em 
… see the tutorial for an IBM Thinkpad T41:
It appears to be one of those laptops that has the RAM (and BIOS battery) under the keyboard … and removing the keyboard requires half the laptop to come apart
Problem is Leonbidet didn’t give an exact Thinkpad model … so I thought I’d better mention “some are easy, some aint”.
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