I received an IBM THINKPAD 240 from my sister, which she got from her friend.
The laptop was not being used ever since she got it, and now she pass to me to check whether it can still be used.

The laptop came with Win 98. When I turn it on, it first gives a warning (after BIOS) that NAV Auto-Protect is unable to determine the location of the configuration file.

After click "OK", it continues to run to the user login, but then there it pops up an Explorer error:

This program has performed an illegal operation and will shut down.
If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.


The problem persists after restarts. Same situations.

What can I do about it?

Thanks.See if your friend has all the disks that came with it...format it...and do a clean install.  It has all of her info on it anyway...which is useless to you if you're going to use it.

If you don't have a Windows 98 CD...see if you can get one from a friend with a valid license.

Of course you'll have to manually find the drivers, but that shouldn't be too difficult...you already know the make and model.That is the SOLUTION I can think of.
But the problem is that the laptop doesn't have a CD-ROM drive, and I don't have the cable that connects to an external one.
The connector is not serial or PARALLEL. Cannot get one from any shop. Have you tried the IBM website?The old part is expensive.

Do a google search for-->IBM -1969010 External 20x CD-ROM Drive

I think you would PROBABLY be better off to use a desktop with an
item like this---->ClickHere to copy a win98 install to.

You may also consider purchasing a copy of windows 95 on floppy
disks.

That's all I can think of friend.Can you boot to safe mode or to DOS?