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Loading windows without a CD drive

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Name: aeagleaaron
Date: December 6, 2005 at 12:02:39 Pacific
OS: Windows
CPU/Ram: pentium III
Comment:

I have a gateway and my hard drive crashed on it. Before this happened I also lost my cdrom drive...I think the adapter on the motherboard is faulty..because the drive just doesnt read right (i have tried new drives but same problem)...well I got a new hard drive and need to know if i can load windows without using a cd rom drive..or if i can use a USB cdrom drive...please help!



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Response Number 1
Name: plainandsimple
Date: December 6, 2005 at 12:12:12 Pacific
Reply:

"I think the adapter on the motherboard is faulty..because the drive just doesnt read right (i have tried new drives but same problem)..."

If drives are not recognised how can you install to a non recognized drive ??


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Response Number 2
Name: aeagleaaron
Date: December 6, 2005 at 12:34:57 Pacific
Reply:

My hard drive is recognized...my floppy drive is too...well even my cd drive is recognized...just the cd drive doesnt work properly..i think because of the connection on the motherboard.


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Response Number 3
Name: plainandsimple
Date: December 6, 2005 at 12:43:27 Pacific
Reply:

USB CD Boot Disk, no guarauntees though:

http://83.67.55.228/USBDOS.exe

....it is a self-extracting WinImage


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Response Number 4
Name: ham30
Date: December 6, 2005 at 12:46:02 Pacific
Reply:

I think your Gateway recovery software probably requires a CD drive. If you are planning on installing a fresh Microsoft windows, you could install the new drive as a slave on another system and copy the win9X folder from the Microsoft CD to it. You can then run the install from the win9X folder on the hard drive.


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Response Number 5
Name: aeagleaaron
Date: December 6, 2005 at 12:47:13 Pacific
Reply:

Thanks...this might seem dumb...but how do i load that?...do i copy it to a floppy then stick it in the drive?...then what?
thanks...sorry im not the smartest when it comes to computers.


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Response Number 6
Name: aeagleaaron
Date: December 6, 2005 at 13:00:17 Pacific
Reply:

wont installing on another computer cause all my drivers and everything to be wrong?


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Response Number 7
Name: plainandsimple
Date: December 6, 2005 at 13:26:16 Pacific
Reply:

The WinImage File you double click the file and it extracts to a floppy on a Windows NT4/9x or later PC.

You only copy the install files to a folder when you slave the drive to another PC, therefore booting the PC with a Boot Floppy will allow one to navigate to the folder on the hard drive you have returned to is own PC.

This has been discussed, digested etcetc may times thats why the top of the forum has a SEARCH feature...........


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Response Number 8
Name: ham30
Date: December 6, 2005 at 14:32:51 Pacific
Reply:

Don't install windows on the other system. Just copy the win9X folder from the MS CD to the hard drive. Then reinstall the hard drive on the original system and do the install from the win9X folder.


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Response Number 9
Name: aeagleaaron
Date: December 6, 2005 at 14:46:23 Pacific
Reply:

im trying the USB winimage...i have a question about that though..when i load it onto dos...it says "cannot run smartdrv because himem.sys is not loaded. check config.sys for device=himem.sys command line??...suggestions?


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Response Number 10
Name: plainandsimple
Date: December 6, 2005 at 15:03:56 Pacific
Reply:

when i load it onto dos ??????????????

The WinImage creates a Bootable Dos Floppy. You change the BIOS boot order to Floppy as first bootable device, when switch on the PC it will load WinMEDOS with USB CD Support, it never asks for anything else so do not know why it does not work for you!


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Response Number 11
Name: ludedude25
Date: December 6, 2005 at 15:53:58 Pacific
Reply:

I'd say change ribbon cables and reset your bios. Fixing the one problem will help your other. If all else fails get a cheap IDE ata/133 controller card and put the cd rom, or hard drive, or both on it.

ASUS A7V8X
Athlon XP 2700+ @ 2.17ghz
768MB DDR 2700
nVidia 128mb FX 5200
WD 80gb SE
NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW


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Response Number 12
Name: GX1 Man
Date: December 9, 2005 at 02:47:10 Pacific
Reply:

It's obvious that youare in over your head. Call a geeky friend or take it to a shop. The machine has hardware problems, you are inexperienced and you need to read up on this stuff.


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