new install from floppy problem

[Anita Vehrsun]

Hello, I've acquired an old Dell Inspiron laptop that states that it was
designed for Windows 2000, but the hard drive was wiped clean by the
previous owner. I'm attempting to install win2000 from the 4 floppy boot
disks and am meeting a hardware (?) problem that I hope someone can help me
with.

The first boot floppy states that it's examining the hardware, but the
floppy drive is removable and is occupying the bay where the CD-ROM goes.
The 4 boot disks proceed uneventfully until after the 4th floppy, when it
states that there is no CD-ROM.

So I repeated the procedure and swapped out the floppy drive for the CD-ROM
drive containing the Windows 2000 CD before <Enter> after the 4th floppy,
but it doesn't recognize the CD drive, apparently because it assessed the
hardware configuration at the first boot floppy, even though it allowed me
to proceed.

Does anyone have suggestions about what I might be able to do to boot the
installation from floppy, and then swap the hardware to enable access to the
CD to complete the installation, please?

Thank you.

 

[John John - MVP]

Hello, I've acquired an old Dell Inspiron laptop that states that it was
designed for Windows 2000, but the hard drive was wiped clean by the
previous owner. I'm attempting to install win2000 from the 4 floppy boot
disks and am meeting a hardware (?) problem that I hope someone can help me
with.

The first boot floppy states that it's examining the hardware, but the
floppy drive is removable and is occupying the bay where the CD-ROM goes.
The 4 boot disks proceed uneventfully until after the 4th floppy, when it
states that there is no CD-ROM.

So I repeated the procedure and swapped out the floppy drive for the CD-ROM
drive containing the Windows 2000 CD before <Enter> after the 4th floppy,
but it doesn't recognize the CD drive, apparently because it assessed the
hardware configuration at the first boot floppy, even though it allowed me
to proceed.

Does anyone have suggestions about what I might be able to do to boot the
installation from floppy, and then swap the hardware to enable access to the
CD to complete the installation, please?

The Windows 2000 installation cd is bootable, boot with it instead of
the floppy diskette set.

John

 

[Anita Vehrsun]

In

The Windows 2000 installation cd is bootable, boot with it instead of
the floppy diskette set.

Apparently the CD that came with the computer isn't bootable, but I can see
(on another nachine) that it has the setup.exe ,etc. files.

 

[John John - MVP]

In

Apparently the CD that came with the computer isn't bootable, but I can see
(on another nachine) that it has the setup.exe ,etc. files.

Boot your laptop with a Windows 98SE floppy diskette and prepare the
hard disk to make it bootable to DOS. You can download a W98SE boot
disk here: http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm Use the SE disk for FAT32
support.

Boot the laptop with the W98 floppy diskette and use FDISK to remove the
primary hard disk partition and then create a new primary partition.
You will be asked to reboot if you want to format the partition, do so
and make sure that you select the option to "Start the computer with
CD-ROM support" when the computer reboots. Once booted format the
partition:

format c: /s

The /s switch will make the hard disk bootable. After the disk is
formatted you only need to copy a few files from the floppy to the hard
disk, for simplicity you can copy the whole floppy but when asked to
replace existing files on the hard disk answer NO.

copy a:\*.* c:

Remember to answer NO if asked to replace existing files.

Then copy mscdex.exe from the RAM drive to the hard disk:

copy D:\mscdex.exe C:

I'm not sure if the boot diskette from bootdisk.com contains
Smartdrv.exe, if it doesn't you can get it from a Windows 98 CD that you
have laying about somewhere, or you can download it here:
http://www.allbootdisks.com/disk_contents/download/98.html Copy
smartdrv.exe to C:\ Without Smartdrv.exe copying files from the Windows
2000 cd may take an eternity.

Now, while still booted with the Windows 98 floppy, edit the
autoexec.bat and the config.sys files that you just copied to the C:
drive, run this command:

edit c:\autoexec.bat

Remove *everything* in the autoexec.bat file and then place (type) these
two lines in the file:

smartdrv.exe
C:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001

Then edit the config.sys file:

edit c:\config.sys

Remove *everything* in the config.sys file and then place (type) these
two lines in the file:

device=himem.sys
DEVICE=C:\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001

Shut down the computer and replace the diskette drive with the CD drive
and reboot. When the computer is booted to the C:\> prompt start
smartdrv by entering this command:

smartdrv.exe

Place the Windows 2000 CD in the drive and launch the 16-bit installer:

d:\i386\winnt

When asked for the source path for the Windows 2000 installation files
enter: d:\i386

John

 

[Dave Patrick]

Good memory John.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[John John - MVP]

The memory was pretty rusty. I had to take the dust off an old test box
and try it before I posted, it took me a bit of fiddling about before I
got it to run. Always nice to hear from you Dave, I hope life is
treating you well and I wish you all the best for 2010.

John