Installing windows XP on laptop with no CD boot, cant run FLOPPY and CD drive at same time! Qs

[LordAccord]

Qs: Running a Dell Latitude CPx with a swappable modular bay (CD / Floppy)

where are the boot floppy making program on my XP pro CD?

can I run the boot floppy and then on the first restart insert the CD drive and continue the install?

I have OS on drive, but when I do a full install from within the OS, I cant reformat on restart once within the windows setup app.

Any help appreciated. I need a way to have a fresh formatted drive for an XP install without booting from CD.

LoRdAccord

 

[CZroe]

The Windows XP setup CD is bootable, are you sure that your CDROM drive is not capable of booting to the disc? Try going into the CMOS setup program from the splash screen before the operating system loads. Configure the boot order to check the CDROM drive first.

Oh yeah, make sure the disc is in before you restart...

 

[LordAccord]

thanks, but Im pretty versed in how to make a system boot from CD...LOL. My problem is that Im locked out of this bios, appearantly the previous owner set an admin PW. So I can't boot from CD, and since I am doing this for someone else while they are out of town, I can't get ahold of them to find out where they got it from. So Im stuck with 3 options:

Boot from floppies
Boot from HDD into WindowsME
Look around the BIOS

LoRdAccord

 

[DigDug]

Microsoft has a boot makig program for XP (its like 6 disks long)

do a search "XP Boot Disk" on google.

 

[LordAccord]

Ok, there's one question down.

Now, do you know, before I waste my time, if I can do a format / initial install file copy from those boot discs and then on reboot startup with the CD drive in the modular bay and finish the install? My issue is that there is one modular bay for these 2 drives....since I can't boot from CD Im just trying to find ways around it.

LoRdAccord

 

[cleverhandle]

I doubt you'll be able to swap the bays, but you should be able to get enough networking support from the boot floppy to use the CD via another machine.

 

[LordAccord]

good call. Thanks for the insight, I kind of never thought about network install, that should be pretty easy for me to do. Let me give it a go!

CZroe, where were you man? I needed THIS kind of response about an hour ago....


LoRdAccord

 

[Abzstrak]

just blank the bios password then it shouldn't be a problem. There are various ways of doing this, with a dell the proper way to do it is to call dell and they'll give you a generic password based on your service tag.

Or, you can boot off of a dos disk with debug and do the following (I do not assume responsibility for this).

Method 1
go into debug and type the following and hit enter after every line:
-A
-MOV AX,0
-MOV AX,CX
-OUT 70,AL
-MOV AX,0
-OUT 71,AL
-INC CX
-CMP CX,100
-JB 103
-INT 20
<PRESS ENTER AGAIN>
-G
-Q

Or method 2:

-070 16
-071 16
-Q

I've only done these on desktops, and only method 1 has worked for me, but method 2 might work for U since its a laptop...

good luck

 

[LordAccord]

useful....
*bookmarks thread*

I am at a loss as to how to begin a network install...there are no options for it with the boot disks.

LoRdAccord

 

[CougarsLair]

How about using a network boot disk?

You can then format the drive, use the boot disk to connect to the cd of a networked machine, and tell setup to copy the install files onto your drive.

i did this with an old notebook which would not access its own plug in DVD no matter how we tried, and it worked a treat.

Try this site for a good network boot disk

Barts BootDisk

Hope this helps

Cheers,

Cougar

 

[mee987]

have you tried enabling cd-boot in your bios?

 

[LordAccord]

have you tried thouroughly reading a thread before you reply? Have more than 10 people on these web boards tried that? Who are you, mee987???? WHO???

LoRdAccord

 

[mee987]

perhaps you had in the office xp cd rather than windows xp? I dont believe that the office cd is bootable

 

[LordAccord]

Thats it, Im formatting my BIOS and installing Mac OS. I'm through with this so called "Award" OS. Thanks for the reply mee987, it helped me solve all my problems.

LoRdAccord

 

[mee987]

to get technical, its actually "AwardBI" OS... but yes, you should replace with mac OS or possibly Netscape

i have a feeling this thread is gonna get locked

 

[bacillus]

if you're handy with your tools then you should be able to clear the password by temporarily removing the m/board battery which should reset the bios!

 

[LordAccord]

Thanks bacillus that probably would work, but I got ahold of the guy and got him to retreive the PW from whomever he bought it from...so, problem solved. My friend and I up there were just joking about the quality of responses that we always seem to get.... not so much in this thread, but a lot of them... if you happen to know anything about ELSAs video out, then check out his thread in general HW. "my geforce2 video out sucks".

LoRdAccord

 

[evergreen96]

First of all, I haven't tried this w/ XP, but it worked for me in 98 and Nt.

Here is what you need to do.. Assuming that you don't have any data you want left on your HD... Do at your only risk.


1. Boot w/ 98 Boot disk
2. Format the drive ./................format c:/s ( switch /s transfer the OS)
3. Copy the entire contents of a: to c:
4. modify the (autoexec.bat or was it config.sys) to point mscdex to c: instead of a:


*************Make sure you get the same menu when you bootmenu see when you are boot HD as you see in the boot floppy
*************To Test follow step 3-4 be4 you format
Option:
5. start smartdrv (Smart Drive) File cache software
6. Start XP installation using winnt /b (d:\i386\) directory on cdrom drive

 

[LordAccord]

yeah, that was what we were getting ready to try whenever I got ahold of the guy, we just had made a 98 bootdisk...

LoRdAccord