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Hi everyone,
I was given an old laptop during a clear out of the IT department at my previous employer about a year ago which I have just re-discovered.
It appears that the hard drive has been completely wiped (it loads to say 'No operating system'), but I was given a copy of Windows 2000 on CD with the machine. However, there is no CD drive to install it...
I have looked over these forums as well as searching for various things through Google, and it seems that my options are:
1.) Take out HD, put in another laptop and install.
2.) Install over a network.I know a bit about computers but I'd rather not attempt either of these options, is there a simpler way? (I've had a look at getting a Dell CD drive but would rather not have to spend £50 for unit and cable...)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks,
RossSystem Spec:
Dell Latitude L400
700mhz CPU
10 GB HD
128MB RAM
You can get a USB CD-ROM that you just plug into a USB port, put the XP CD in it and set the BIOS to boot to the CD-ROM first (might have to opt for "boot to removable drive" first).
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Hi Curt, thanks for the response. Buying a CD drive is my last option really (the dell one looks as if it would cost about £50) and i'm not sure if the 1 usb slot it has actually works....
Is there any other (cheap!) options?
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Not that I know of. BUT, here's a thought......
Call some local computer stores and ask them what they would charge to do the install for you. Chances are they'll all have USB CD-ROM's and it shouldn't take more than one hour to do the actual install so you shouldn't have to pay for more than one hour of labour.
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The best option
Make an MS-DOS bootdisk, go to www.bootdisk.com and download the one entitled 'Windows 98 Custom bootdisk'.
Take out HD and connect to a desktop with a CD and floppy drive with an IDE to Laptop IDE converter. Disconnect your normal HD, and ensure the Laptop HD is the primary C: drive
Boot your MS-DOS floppy
It should load CD-ROM drivers
use fdisk to create a new partition (you want to create an MS-DOS primary partition). Then use format C: command to format the new partition.
Load smartdrive by typing smartdrv
change to the CD-ROM drive letter, and change to the I386 directory, e.g. D:\I386
Run WINNT.exe
When that stage has been completed, turn off the computer, and put the Laptop HD back in the laptop, and boot, and setup should start =]
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If you're going to use another box you may as well copy the install files to HD:
xcopy r:\i386 c:\i386\ /s/r/h/c
Then with the HD back in place:
i386\winnt
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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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Many thanks for the responses, I think I know what i'm doing now. This is the IDE cable I found, sounds right?
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx...
Unfortunately I've recently disposed of all my old desktop PC bits and pieces, but I shall see if I can get an old one off somebody to give it a go!
Many thanks for your help,
Ross
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Before you get commited to doing without a CD drive, think about how you're going to install other software.
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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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Hhhmmm very good point, I suppose a CD drive off eBay may be a better option in the long run. Would it definately be detected when plugged in if there is nothing running on the machine? Would it have to be the Dell one (with the dedicated connector on back of machine) or would a standard USB one work?
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See if the BIOS supports boot from USB.
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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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Boot options are listed as:
1. Removable Devices
2. Internal Hard Drive
3. Atapi CD-ROM Drive
4. Network Boot
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Doesn't sound promising for a USB CD.
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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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For CD-ROM support, why not use a shared CD-ROM drive on another computer over the network?
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Hi Joseph,
How would I go about doing that? As there is nothing on the laptop I assumed it would not be set up to connect to a netwok?
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From a 2001 review of your laptop:
"The notebook is a single-spindle design, with a standard 6GB hard drive. Included with the ultraportable is an external media bay that uses the same modules as the Latitude C series, so you can swap drives between systems."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,281...
In other words, you'll need an optical drive, external media bay, & external media bay cable:
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