Install WinXP on old Dell 3200 BIOS won't recognize USB CDROM

[donnadigacomo]

Perplexing problem (to me) that I hope my savior is out there to help
....

1. Where can I get a boot floppy that "sees" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?
or
2. How do I get the PC to start up and "see" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?

All I want to do is install Windows XP on my old DELL 3200 PC.
But when I start the machine with the WinXP in the USB CDROM, the Dell
3200 does not "see" the CDROM.

How do I force the old Dell 3200 PC to "see" the WinXP disc in the USB
CDROM?

I want to install Windows XP from scratch on a formatted 10 GB hard
disk on my ancient DELL 3200 PC but when I start the machine with the
WinXP Pro disc in the USB CDROM, the machine won't "see" the CDROM
drive.

How can I force the ancient Dell 3200 to see the WinXP disk in the USB
CDROM?

History:
There is a mishmash of WinXP on top of WinME currently on the Dell 3200
and it's working but it's a royal mess. I merely wish to format the
entire 10 GB hard drive (FAT32?) and then boot to the WinXP in the USB
CDROM drive and then install a clean Windows XP on the hard drive.

I tried booting to Win98 boot disk in the internal floppy drive but it
still didn't "see" the external USB CDROM.

Two questions I guess ...
1. Where can I get a boot floppy that "sees" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?
or
2. How do I get the PC to start up and "see" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?

Donna D.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The BIOS must have an option to boot to a USB device.
If no option exists, then you cannot boot from a USB
CD drive.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Perplexing problem (to me) that I hope my savior is out there to help
| ...
|
| 1. Where can I get a boot floppy that "sees" the WinXP in the USB
| CDROM?
| or
| 2. How do I get the PC to start up and "see" the WinXP in the USB
| CDROM?
|
| All I want to do is install Windows XP on my old DELL 3200 PC.
| But when I start the machine with the WinXP in the USB CDROM, the Dell
| 3200 does not "see" the CDROM.
|
| How do I force the old Dell 3200 PC to "see" the WinXP disc in the USB
| CDROM?
|
| I want to install Windows XP from scratch on a formatted 10 GB hard
| disk on my ancient DELL 3200 PC but when I start the machine with the
| WinXP Pro disc in the USB CDROM, the machine won't "see" the CDROM
| drive.
|
| How can I force the ancient Dell 3200 to see the WinXP disk in the USB
| CDROM?
|
| History:
| There is a mishmash of WinXP on top of WinME currently on the Dell 3200
| and it's working but it's a royal mess. I merely wish to format the
| entire 10 GB hard drive (FAT32?) and then boot to the WinXP in the USB
| CDROM drive and then install a clean Windows XP on the hard drive.
|
| I tried booting to Win98 boot disk in the internal floppy drive but it
| still didn't "see" the external USB CDROM.
|
| Two questions I guess ...
| 1. Where can I get a boot floppy that "sees" the WinXP in the USB
| CDROM?
| or
| 2. How do I get the PC to start up and "see" the WinXP in the USB
| CDROM?
|
| Donna D.

 

[Dan Evans]

Perplexing problem (to me) that I hope my savior is out there to help
...

1. Where can I get a boot floppy that "sees" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?
or
2. How do I get the PC to start up and "see" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?

A machine that old can't - you need a BIOS that can boot from USB CD-ROM

How do I force the old Dell 3200 PC to "see" the WinXP disc in the USB
CDROM?

A machine that old can't - you need a BIOS that can boot from USB CD-ROM

How can I force the ancient Dell 3200 to see the WinXP disk in the USB
CDROM?

A machine that old can't - you need a BIOS that can boot from USB CD-ROM

Two questions I guess ...
1. Where can I get a boot floppy that "sees" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?
or
2. How do I get the PC to start up and "see" the WinXP in the USB
CDROM?

A machine that old can't - you need a BIOS that can boot from USB CD-ROM

Dan







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[Allan]

I don't think you'll ever be able to boot up from your external Windows
CD. The BIOS on those older machines didn't allow you to boot up from
an external USB device. But doesn't the Windows XP disk give you the
option of a clean install when you launch it from your current Windows
setup?

Here's what I would do, but it might be more trouble than you want to
go to.

Copy all valuable files onto an external, removable device.

Create a new partition on the hard drive of around 1Gb. There are
various ways of doing this.

Copy the entire contents of the Windows XP installation disk to the new
partition.

Launch the Windows XP installation on the new partition from within
your existing Windows setup.

When the XP installation asks which partition the OS is to be installed
to, point it at your C partition. I'm pretty sure it will ask you
whether you want to reformat the partition and whether you want to do a
clean installation or an upgrade.

When all is working properly, delete the partition containing the XP
installation files.

 

[Charlie Evans]

I have had the same problem with trying to launch/start form an USB CD-ROM
on a new machine. I just never got it to work. Now about the copy "entire"
contents of Win XP CD to a partition and then run it from the HD. Is that
possible, and how is it done?

 

[Dan Evans]

I have had the same problem with trying to launch/start form an USB CD-ROM
on a new machine. I just never got it to work. Now about the copy
"entire" contents of Win XP CD to a partition and then run it from the HD.
Is that possible,
Yes.

and how is it done?

You copy the entire contents of the CD to a hard drive, then run winnt32.

Dan







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[Charlie Evans]

Thank you very much. I will try it tomorrow.....