Well, the maximum capacity for a floppy is 1.44mb, I think you'll find that pretty restrictive. Still, booting off floppies is a traditional experience, you can do a lot that way, and I've had a IBM PCjr and the original Macintosh that require it, so it's not the end of the world. No Windows 3.1 that way though.

If for some reason you need bootable DOS floppies or programs let me know.

The T2400 isn't as picky as some machines when it comes to hard drive configuration (some, like the Apple IIgs, do in fact require the drive to be set up on a PC before use), there's a good chance it'll recognize a drive that's just put in there. At least that's how it is on my nearest of kin, a Pentium 250CDS. We can cross that bridge when we come to it

What you could do is buy a 10GB HDD for the T2400CS. If the Floppy disk drive still works, install MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups. If the floppy drive doesn't work, I highly recommend getting the Toshiba T2100CS as that is similar in vintage to the T2400. Unlike the T2400, the T2150CDS because it has an external FDD compartment that you can attach to the computer. Once you got MS-DOS and Windows fully installed on the T2150, go ahead and download the Toshiba Satellite T2400 drivers that includes the Toshiba Utilities and Card Manager.

Another thing that I want to add is that the T2400 has the optional internal Sound Card. This means that there is an internal sound card socket under the keyboard, which also has the memory card expansion slot. Both items are hard to find. Especially the sound card. I was able to find a sound card for my Toshiba Satellite Pro T2450ct. I got the sound from a broken T2400CT along with a PCMCIA HDD. Once the sound card was installed, the BIOS will recognize it as it will appear on the upper right hand corner of the BIOS menu. After that the hard part is finding the software drivers in order for the sound card to work. If you are able to find the Toshiba T2150CDT with its original factory build software, you can make a copy from the master disk creator that will be burned on 2 floppy disks. After that, your T2400 is ready to go....

That's great information! My only problem is, I don't know how to safely take the computer apart. The plastic is pretty brittle and I don't want to risk cracking it. Would you happen to know any resources that could walk me though taking it apart?
Also, will this HDD that Caleb posted earlier work as an internal HDD?

I found some of the drivers on Toshiba's website however, it only seems to cover the Graphics driver, not the Utilities nor Card Manager. Could you direct me to a website that has those drivers you mentioned? Also, as I was looking at the names, I noticed that some said Windows 95 along with the T2400 CS model name. Could I possibly get Windows 95 on it rather than WfW?

About that memory expansion, (I assume you mean RAM?) so does this computer not accept regular SODIMM RAM? I'm not certain the max amount RAM this machine can use, but I have an old 512MB SODIMM chip I can use if it's possible.

I think this has a sound card in it, it may not be working though. Although the machine liked to angrily beep at me whenever I tried to press a key while it was loading something. Is it really a necessary to have a sound card?

Thanks for all that information! My biggest question right now is, how do I safely take apart the laptop?

I don't know. When it comes to vintage laptops, you kind of just have to use general principles and find the most logical way to take them apart. They're not designed too differently from current laptops in the way of taking them apart. You should be able to remove some screws from the bottom of the laptop near the front and remove just the palmrest - then you can access some stuff, possibly the hard drive. The hard drive you linked will work in that it's IDE; the issue you have to consider is simply whether or not it's height will fit in the space you have. It probably will, but Toshiba favored some rather thin hard drives for the time.

It looks to me, though I can't be sure, that it takes a 72-pin SO-DIMM.

If it's any consolation, the graphics driver is far and away the most important. Other software can be tough to find sometimes. Here's all I have for an odd assortment of drivers: http://archive.compgeke.com/Drivers/PC/

I wouldn't think it's necessary to have a sound card, but it can be nice. By the way, if anyone is interested I think I have a spare model somewhat like this one (not the same one) laying around I could sell. It's a Pentium, and I think it's model 225CDS.

Here is a link that will explain the removal process:

https://habr.com/post/164655/

Wow, great link! And you're in luck, thats not a whole lot of disassembly, and doesn't affect the most brittle parts around the hinge. And it looks like it has a reasonably large space for any hard drive. Since it says 3.3v only in the RAM slot, I would say it does not need anything proprietary (like the T3100 did), just a 3.3v 72-pin SO-DIMM.

With it's age, the electrolytic capacitors may be beginning to break down - if so it could manifest itself as sometimes failing to boot, randomly failing to communicate with the hard drive or floppy drive, or a distorted display. Thats a bit of a big topic though.

Ok I got the laptop again today, I removed the battery and the expansion cards on the left and right side. However, I couldn't seem to get the palm rest off though! I tried pulling forcefully towards me, I tried pulling up, and I tried towards me and up. There seems to be one clip I can't get to un-latch, It's right underneath the left and right click buttons. Since I don't know what I'm doing I didn't go any farther with how hard I was pulling. Darthfury78, how do you properly remove the palm rest with your Toshiba? The guide you linked didn't explain how to do it.

Here is the following link that will show how to safely take the T2400 apart. When you get to the site, go down to page 116, section 4.4 Keyboard. This will explain how to remove the palm rest.

http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Toshiba/Other/Toshiba%20T2400CS%20and%20T2400CT%20-%20Maintenance%20Manual.pdf

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed! I've got a screwdriver and I'll try and take it apart tomorrow.

When Toshiba first made the T2400, they made it impossible for the customer to modify it without going through the difficulty of taking it a part, which was reserve for the repairman..

This is why most collector avoid the Pre-1995 toshiba computers as they were tough to get fixed...

I have a T1200, a T3100, a T5100, and a T5200/100 and don't find them difficult to repair. They compare very favorably with other portables of the time, for example from Tandy or Compaq or HP, in terms of serviceability (the HP Portable 110 and Omnibook 5700CTX are examples of horribly difficult to work with models). The post-2000 Toshiba laptops made it much more difficult to modify the internals, aside from basic hard drive and RAM replacement.

I got it! I followed the guide and it worked like a charm! I got the drive out, turns out it's a 344MB hard drive from IBM.



My next step is to replace the drive with a modern one! The guy that owns this laptop is a super cool guy, I asked him if I could and he said "Sure, do whatever".
Maybe if there's a really good deal on data recovery somewhere I'll try and get the data off of this drive, but neither of us are willing to spend over $500 for something that may not be much at all.

Thanks for your help Darthfury78 and CalebHansberry! Now I've got to put the thing back together...

That sort of drive - its still possible that it works. Does it spin up? If not, it's possible to open the case and manually start it, then close it up again. No, it won't be reliable after that, but it is possible to get the files off. Also it can give you a clue as to whether the failing component is the HDD or the IDE controller in the laptop.

I think we mentioned earlier in the thread that it's possible the BIOS needs it's settings changed to match the hard drive, so if you see any settings pertaining to that let us know. But if not, then maybe it just won't see this drive. Any cheap 2.5" IDE drive should fit there and really is pretty cheap... but as to it actually working... we can only hope the BIOS can detect different drives besides the one it came with. Otherwise it'll work but be more complex.

A CF card is convenient in that you can plug it into a modern PC or laptop with a cheap adapter, but there's the possibility of the BIOS rejecting it if it does NOT have autodetect. If it can autodetect drives, it'll be as likely to work as an IDE drive.

Here is the correct replacement HDD that will work with the T2400. It already has MS-DOS installed:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hard-drive-Toshiba-527-MB-2-5-IDE-Tested-MS-DOS-6-22-Installed-READ/273569514132?hash=item3fb2038294:g:v-cAAOSwTc5b82QQ:rk:14:pf:0

I suggest that you get this HDD for you T2400 as it originally came with either a 250MB, 350MB, and 500MB HDD. It should work for your computer. Let us know if you are willing to buy it. I believe that the BIOS will recognize the MB HDD up to 1GB.

Did you buy the HDD I told you about as it looks like someone had got it. I hope you were the buyer...

I'm not sure the OP even had enough money for it. It's a good price for what it was, but everyone's financial situation is different.

Unfortunately, I was not the buyer, although I really appreciate that you found that drive, I could not buy it. I should've posted that earlier but it slipped my mind.
It's not essential to me that DOS is pre-installed, I can install it as long as I can get an adapter and an inexpensive drive.

Here is a link to a cheaper HDD

https://www.ebay.com/itm/540MB-2-5-17MM-IDE-Drive-IBM-DHAA-2540-Tested-Free-USA-Ship-Our-Drives-Work/253662949753?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3Ddbe54f62c1c74683a40ddac1c9c6c106%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D311944212883%26itm%3D253662949753&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

I was just about to buy that when my dad found a 64 mb drive, he got it out and it turned out to be a 60 gb drive.
Oh well, I'll still try to buy that drive you linked.

I mean, it's worth putting in and seeing what happens, if it's free. 60gb hdds are very common. Though you'd still need a DOS boot disk with FORMAT and FDISK on it to test it.