Please Help me for my COMPAQ EVO N400C problems

Hi guys, greetings!!! I have been searchin' for some information on how to solve my current problem pertaining to my COMPAQ Evo N400C and eventually, I found this exciting site. I had similar problem with Newbie which I need further info and advise. My compaq Evo N400c has a Windows 2000 prof OS, and also with an external HDD (USB-CD) but without floppy disk drive. A month ago,I tried to install the Windows XP OS but unfortunately, the set up wasnt successful. I could not continue since there's an error, the system can't detect the CD...i'm sure this has something to do with the external HDD. I also tried to boot it out but still doesnt work. Unluckily, due to installation of XP, my previous windows 2K OS was corrupted and file was missing.I could never open my notebook I tried again to install the Windows 2000, but still could not read, meaning unsuccessful again. Now, I'll try to do booting with the USB DVD, thanks to mr. retche281. I hope this will work sir. However, would it be possible for a COMPAQ EVO N400c to use USB DVD since it's only USB CD? thanks again..I hope that someone out there, who is more expert could help. I really need your help guys to solve my problem.

Thank you very much and More power!

Best regards,
Everhopeful

 

Hi everhopefull. For starters, a and CD drive will not read a DVD, if that is what you were asking. The reverse is true, however. A DVD drive will read a CD. But if your question is about the USB port, it really doesn't matter what you plug in. Your laptop should read it, except that if you have a USB 1.0 port instead of 2.0, it will take about 5 times as long to load anything. I think I've been where you are. Your W2K installation is probably totally corrupted if you tried to install WinXP on the same partition. Anyway, if you are you mostly worried about saving your DATA, that is very likely still be possible, as long as you didn't format the drive with the XP installation. I think the best way to get at your data would be to remove the drive and install it as a slave on another computer. You could buy a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter on eBay for a few bucks (i bought one, it works great), and install it as a slave on a desktop computer to copy the DATA. Or buy a USB 2.5" portable case to install it as a plug-in to another laptop. After you get the data off it, you can reformat and reinstall XP or W2K (best OS ever, I think). How old is that laptop anyway? If more than 3 years, you might want to get a new drive and install XP on it. Then copy the data via USB from your old drive. Good luck!

 

P.S. If you are trying to boot off of an external CD/DVD drive, such as with an installation disk, make sure your BIOS is setup to boot from CD.