IBM Thinkpad

Hello,
I just got my grandpas old laptop and i want to use it for some of my, design programs so i needed to update it to Windows XP, so i figured just format all drives and start over! Well after I did that It only loads up to a screen that says not a valid system disk, insert new disk and hit any button. I assume it lost its motherboard drivers,or its bios was wiped away somehow. so its compleatly usless at the moment and everyone keeps telling my to download this and that to it but the thing is it cant start up it cant go online!!! I have both a floppy for it and cd drive so im pretty open for business but i need to solve this problem.
Heres its stats:
BIOS version, Date: INET24WW, 05/24/99
System-Unit serial numbers: 26454AU 78BHFA2
System board serial number: J1Y26GD2528
Microprocessor: Pentium II Processor 366MHz
UUID: f88a3c01-3b4c-11c6-afe0-cd21a3987300

plz if anyone can shine some light on the subject id'e appreciate it.
Thank You