My brand new X61 has one of those funny red things!

In fact it is ALL it has for a mouse - that's one of the reasons I bought it as Lenovo are (some of) the only ones still do - I prefer it to a touchpad.

I should have said X20 - was the one that came with Windows 98 (my X40 had XP). The X20 now runs Linux.

If F1, ESC or anyone of the function keys doesn't bring up the BIOS then it sounds like the BIOS is shot on the computer. The fact that F12 gave you a list of devices to boot from is a start but if you couldn't boot from the CD then the CD is either not bootable or the drive could be faulty.

The X20 doesn't have a CD-ROM drive and it hails from the days when USB drives (and USB in general) were not common. To boot from CD I had to use a media base.

You didn't say what model the Thinkpad was. I have a CD drive from an A21e that is sitting around gathering dust! Another Win98 relic - I haven't the heart to throw it away.

You say that F12 made it go through a test - I seem to remember blue IBM screens with birds flying around????? Those sort of diagnostic screens were nomally a sign that the pc was amost exired - sorry

You should get an IBM screen when the pc is first powered on - if you don't get that, maybe with options at the bottom, then it is quite probable that the computer is fried.
Good Luck - Martin

ps you may be able to find drivers on the Lenovo website. My Thinkpad of this vintage runs Ubuntu Linux from the Live CD without any extra drivers. You can download the CD image from the Ubuntu website.