windows xp boot up from flash

[stoner]

hi,

bought a laptop with xp already installed, so i don't have the disks. have
the key etc if microsoft etc are after it to prove it's genuine.

there's no floppy disk drive, and the cd drive is a bit dodgy. is there a
bootup program available to get it to boot from flash?

the thing refuses to boot up as i believe it ran out of battery whilst in
the middle of an update...

any help greatly appreciated, not too keen on forking out for a new bit of
hardware.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Restarting and pressing F8 during the black screen right after the BIOS
screen should offer a chance to 'restore to factory defaults' If you did not
create a backup so far, that's about the best you can do.

 

[David B.]

I have never seen "restore to factory defaults" available in the F8 menu.
The OP can try using the "last known good configuration" option.

 

[db.·.. >]

yes, you can boot up
from flash if

1) your laptops bios
supports booting from
usb and

2) if you have pre created/
installed the o.s. on a
flash and pre formatted that
flash with a "boot" sector.

without a working cd drive
you have little options to
gain repair the internal disk/
o.s.

thus marks suggestion
seems reasonable at this time.

perhaps you might be able
to install the laptops disk
as a slave and repair it from
on a functional computer.