How do you install XP on a laptop with no cdrom and no floppy?

[trend]

I have an olldd p3 600mhrtz sony viao (PCG-3102) laptop.. I need to install XP on there.. but there is no floppy/cdrom.. andwhen I hookup an usb external hd, i cannot boot from it..
Any ideas on how to install windows XP?

I have thought about taking out the hd and putting it in anotehr computer.. but then how would I install XP on that?

thanks
Lee

 

[inhotep]

umm check your BIOS to see if there is an option to boot from USB or external drive

 

[inhotep]

xp don't work like that. If you took the HD out and install it on another system with different chipsets, once u put it back in that sony, it will not load windows and u have to do a repair. But you still need to boot off of the CD.
Good luck

 

[MrBaseball]

It might work if you install XP with the hd in the other computer, then uninstall everything out of the device manager before switching the hd back to the laptop. Ive done this a few times with desktops without any problems.

 

[trend]

Just got finished installing XP on it while the hd was in my main rig.. Yeah, it appears the XP install isn't working in the new laptop.

There is no usb option to boot from cdrom drive in the bios :/

Man.. what a crazy perdicument..

 

[trend]

I did a safe mode boot. .and it looks like it is getting hung on an agp**** driver or something (well.. that is the last one to show up.. so maybe it is getting hung on the one after that)

I wonder if I would have the same problem if I loaded win98 on the sucker.

 

[deathwalker]

Perhaps you can skin this cat in a different way. Try this and see if it works.
1. Reconnect the HD to your main system again
2. Format the drive with system files to make it bootable
3. Copy the i386 directory from your cd to the drive
4. Install the drive back into the laptop
5. Hopefully the system will now recognize the drive and you will get a prompt
6. If so..change directories to the i386 directory that you copied to it
7. Run setup from that directory and see what she does.

 

[beyoku]

1 - see if you can run a generic DOS on the drive and have the i386 folder on as well. it may not let you run the setup from dos though - OR
2 - Install win98 and upgrade to XP running the setup files right off the drive. - OR
3 - Install win98 and run a tool such as daemon tools to run a virtual drive or your winxp image - set the program to run the image at boot. Xp should copy all the files to the HD. and you should be fine.

 

[Funyuns101]

use an external pcmcia cd-rom to boot off of ?

 

[trend]

How do you make the disk bootable?

format E: /s doesn't work...

I am going to try to copy over a bootdisk to E: and see if that will boot..

Will copying over i386 to E: be all the files I need to install XP/2k/98? will this work with all the for mentioned OS?

thanks!

 

[CrispyFried]

e: is the notebook drive when its in your desktop? If so use an Win98 or Me boot diskette (maybe an xp boot disk will work too, dunno) and boot with it, then sys the e: drive while logged onto the a: drive (MAKE SURE e: is really e: (the notebook hd), drive letters may change under dos). Then copy the i386 folder from XP CD to the drive, then put it all back in the notebook. Boot, switch to the i386 dir and run setup.

 

[trend]

why not just copy i386 from cdrom drive to notebook hd within windows?

And why is this going to boot now? doesn't there have to be an autoexec.bat file or something in ther for it to boot?

(man this is crazy...)

 

[Mike01]

I did this on one of those teeny sony's with no drive.

It's simple. Network it...interconnect cable, wireless card, whatever.

Share another PCs CD drive, and install it from there. Setup copies all the files it needs before it reboots.

So simple, it hurts (if you've wasted any time doing it another way, that is ).

 

[trend]

Hmm.. i copied over just the i386 folder to the hd.. and when i try to boot freom it I get that it is missing \systems32\hal.dll file or osmething like that.

Maybe i need to clear out the mbr of the hd or something?

I am still confused on how to make this thing bootable :/ hmmmmmmmmmmmmm do floppies have a mbr?

if so, that is why those work.. and when I copy the conttents over to the hd.. the hd deosn't work (isn't bootable)

 

[trend]

Originally posted by: Mike01
I did this on one of those teeny sony's with no drive.

It's simple. Network it...interconnect cable, wireless card, whatever.

Share another PCs CD drive, and install it from there. Setup copies all the files it needs before it reboots.

So simple, it hurts (if you've wasted any time doing it another way, that is ).

How do I network a computer from a floppy disk? (this laptop doesn't have an ethernet port.. it does have a pc card port)

 

[CrispyFried]

Ok, do this:

1. put the notebook drive in the desktop

2. get a win98 boot disk with FDISK and FORMAT (dl one from bootdisk.com)

3. boot the desktop with the bootdisk.

4. FDISK and delete and recreate the primary partition on the notebook drive (MAKE SURE YOU FDISK THE RIGHT DRIVE!!) FDISK should automatically set it as Active. BE AWARE that you will lose any data on the notebook drive at this point, copy off anything you want to save. ** You MAY be able to skip this step if youre sure that the notebook is formatted FAT32 **

5. reboot with the boot disk again.

6. from the a: drive, format the notebook drive with "FORMAT x: /S" (AGAIN MAKE SURE x: IS THE NOTEBOOK DRIVE) Dont assume the notebook drive is e: or whatever.

7. -> now the notebook drive is bootable. <- copy the i386 dir from CD over to x:\i386 on the notebook drive

8. put the drive back into the notebook and boot. switch to \i386 and run setup.

9. done

sorry for caps but MAKE SURE you fdisk and format the notebook HD, not your desktops. Dont assume that drive letters will be the same or HDs will be listed in any particular order, use FDISK option 5 (display partitions) to confirm you have the right drive selected. If you fdisk or format the wrong drive you will be sorry indeed. double and triple check when you fdisk and format to make sure its the notebook drive.

**** --> To be safe your best bet when doing this is DISCONNECT your destop drive so the ONLY HD in it is the notebooks HD. That way you cant screw up your desktops HD. <-- ****

This way does work; Ive done it. The only snag you may hit is if the windows install is an upgrade version, not a full install. If its an upgrade it will stall when it looks for a previous version of windows and you cant feed it a CD of the previous window version. So make sure you use a FULL version of whatver you choose.

 

[Mike01]

How do I network a computer from a floppy disk? (this laptop doesn't have an ethernet port.. it does have a pc card port)

Go to best buy and get a pc card network card and an interconnect cable (a network cable designed to link two pcs directly), unless you have a hub or a router, then just get a regular network cable. If you have a wireless router, you can get a wireless card (only if you have xp, otherwise you'll need to install drivers).

Presto. It's networked.

If you installed XP on another machine, you'll need to reinstall it to get it to work. XP doesn't run if something big changes. So just network it and run the install off the shared drive.

 

[trend]

Originally posted by: CrispyFried
Ok, do this:

8. put the drive back into the notebook and boot. switch to \i386 and run setup.

There is no setup.exe in \i386. only an setup.ex_ and I am scared to try to rename that and try to run it.

(above is for XP SP1/SP2 disks)

for 98 SE cdrom in D:\win98 there is a setup.exe

I really don't want to install 98 however.

how did you get around this?

thanks!

 

[trend]

I copied the cdromdrive\setup.exe to the laptop hd.. tried to run setup.exe from the laptop hd (when the laptop hd was in the laptop), and I got "This program cannot be run in DOS mode" :/

Do I have to use win98/me? (Because didn't that allow setup.exe running from dos?)

thanks!

 

[inhotep]

easier way: w2k

 

[trend]

what you mean easier? (this excites me)

will copying i386 > laptop hd + copy setup.exe > laptop hd?

 

[inhotep]

install windows 2000.

You can get free theme that will make it look like xp, longhorn or even mac os.

 

[trend]

my Q is.. can 2k be installed from dos?

thanks!

 

[CrispyFried]

Oops, my bad, XP needs to boot from the CD or have the i386 folder copied to an already running win98/me comp. Wont work on a blank notebook with no cdrom support.

Win98/me can be installed as per my and the others above posts. Then if you want XP copy i386 folder and the setup.exe from the root of the XP cd and run setup.exe from the root. Or use an external CDROM that win98/me supports to run setup from the external cdrom.

Sorry for the confusion

 

[inhotep]

you can install win2k on another system then put it back