HP nc8430 does not always boot from USB

Hi!

I have made a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows XP from, but my HP nc8430 notebook refuses to boot from it. As soon as it tries to boot from my flash drive it goes to a blank screen with a blinking cursor. I also have a bootable flash drive with BartPE on it as well and does the same thing with that one, too. I had this problem with my IBM Lenovo t60, too. The only thing I can see in common with these two notebooks is the chipset used in them being the Intel 945pm. I have another bootable flash drive that boots to a Windows 98 command prompt and that works just fine.

All three of these bootable USB flash drives work perfectly on my desktop, my brother's MSI GT735 notebook, my older E-machines desktop, and my brother's desktop. So I cannot understand why my notebook refuses these flash drives.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Installing XP from a flash drive is so freakin' fast I would love to be able to do it on my notebook as well as I can my desktops.

 

I have a Nx9420, which is pretty much the same thing with a 17" display.

I have used Unetbootin for copying Windows ISO's to USB, and while it works well with Vista and W7, it doesn't always play nice with XP.

WinSetupFromUSB works every time, if you do it right.

1 - Connect your USB and format it, NTFS.

2 - Download ( Source).

3 - Extract, start, choose device, [Edit: not needed] click Bootice, click Process MBR.

4 - Choose Windows NT 5.x MBR, click install, then close MBR window and Bootice window.

5 - Select the Windows XP folder you want to copy and click GO. The program can't read ISO's so you have to either copy the contents or mount the ISO.


6 - Power up the Nc8430 with the USB connected, press F9 as soon as you see the HP logo. Choose the USB and press enter.

7 - In the first menu, just press enter or wait.

8 - In the second menu you have to choose the right device to boot from, press enter.

9 - The XP installer should be loading now.


Question: Why don't you use HP Backup and Recovery Manager instead of reinstalling all the time?
I just don't see the point in reinstalling all the drivers and programs over and over again..

 

Sorry for replying back late. I didn't think anyone would respond and gave up looking back.

Nice program. I'm trying it out now! I have tried many programs to make bootable usb flash drives and have had luck, but some (xp setup from usb particular) just do not want to boot on this notebook or my previous one that was the IBM with very similar components/hardware. I like this program you have found because it also seems to be able to automatically put all grub4dos stuff on the flash drive for you!

You ask why not use hp recovery tools instead of this? The answer is simple, it would actually be more work for me because I do so many machines that I need something universal and like being able to apply updates to drivers and programs in an XP setup configuration which will work for installing on almost any computer. This saves time, too because I can just wait for the 'Registering components' part of the install and have it install a lot of stuff for me without even having to touch the computer. Things like Firefox, WinRAR, DotNet framework, IE8, Media Player 11, some old Windows 3.11 games like Skifree , and whatever else I think every computer running XP should have mandatory.

Because I have drivers integrated into my XP setup as well, during setup it automatically finds compatible drivers out of those for all of the devices in the machine and installs them during installation, too. This way I don't have to go online and download all the drivers for that machine as they may very well be drivers I already have and will make most computers fully functional after installation completes. That means I don't have to go on scavenger hunts either because there are many drivers also in my XP setup that cover most of those unknown devices as well.

Last, but not least, installing from USB @ 2.0 speeds make the installation go much, much faster than a CD needless to say. These factors make this method, especially for netbooks and machines with broken CD/DVD drives, very, very convenient.

Thank you very much for your help, though. I like that program you linked to. I'm going to hang on to that. Very cool!!!


edit:

HOLY CRAP!!! IT WORKED!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! REP FOR YOU Mats!!!

Out of all the bootable USB programs I have tried, this one worked like a charm for all my systems!!! AWESOME!!! I am so excited (as if you couldn't tell)!!!

 

LOL, I'm glad I could help!

Actually, I don't think it's necessary to do half of #3 or #4, the program copies the appropriate MBR anyway after you choose ISO and click go:

1 - Connect your USB and format it, NTFS.

2 - Download.

3 - Extract and start.

5 - Select the Windows XP folder you want to copy and click GO. The program can't read ISO's so you have to either copy the contents or mount the ISO.


6 - Power up the Nc8430 with the USB connected, press F9 as soon as you see the HP logo. Choose the USB and press enter.

7 - In the first menu, just press enter or wait.

8 - In the second menu you have to choose the right device to boot from, press enter.

9 - The XP installer should be loading now.