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    Installing OS on Laptop

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Liquidus, Aug 5, 2006.

  1. Liquidus

    Liquidus Newbie

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    I had a question regarding my new dell 300m laptop. It doesn't come wit an OS and it doesn't have a cd-rom drive because it is a very mobile unit. My question is what would be the best way to install an OS. Would buying an external CDROM drive work and connect it through USB/USB 2.0. Would that need drivers to install an OS through DOS? All I know is that Command com and CDROM drivers are loaded...so what port type external CDROM would I use?

    Thanks in advance! :)
     
    Liquidus, Aug 5, 2006
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  2. Gautam

    Gautam election 2008 NBR Reviewer

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    I used to encounter this problem on an ancient Thinkpad I had. I don't know how old the 300m is, but when I was doing this on the IBM, the BIOS could not boot to USB or external optical devices. If the dell can, then you are saved of a lot of hassle. Just plug in an external optical drive and have BIOS special boot to it (via F12 at POST screen)

    I needed to use a win98 boot floppy (3.5") disk to enter into fdisk, which allowed me to use another floppy I made that had a third party USB 1.1 driver on it. This got me to the point where I could use an external CD burner I had. I was able to install the OS this way. It took over half a year of toying around, failing, and going back to the drawing board to finally figure it out.
     
    Gautam, Aug 5, 2006
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  3. teamkillahilla

    teamkillahilla Notebook Evangelist

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    check your bios if it's bootable with lan and then install over your network (that's how it's done in companies)
     
    teamkillahilla, Aug 5, 2006
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  4. Liquidus

    Liquidus Newbie

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    Well-- I just copied my XP onto a 1GB USB drive and plugged that in. It picks up the USB drive when I check BIOS and it lights up and everything, but then it just goes to C prompt and I don't know how to initialize install. Any hints? Thanks.
     
    Liquidus, Aug 5, 2006
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  5. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    hmm...I use to use DOS completely forgotten now.

    I think you need to assign the drive letter of the USb stick, It's perhaps the D drive.
     
    Lil Mayz, Aug 5, 2006
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  6. Liquidus

    Liquidus Newbie

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    Yes the USB drive is indeed D, and it even shows the contents of the XP but when I type C:setup.exe it says that it can't run it in DOS.
     
    Liquidus, Aug 5, 2006
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  7. saturnotaku

    saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    The thumb drive needs to actually load the booting protocol as if it were a CD-ROM. If you Google search, you may find a guide that shows how to make a bootable flash drive.
     
    saturnotaku, Aug 5, 2006
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  8. Jesusfrk611

    Jesusfrk611 Notebook Consultant

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    You would type D:/setup.exe, the C drive is your master hard drive, and therefore has nothing on it at the moment. Since the D drive is your USB drive you would start the setup from that drive.
     
    Jesusfrk611, Aug 5, 2006
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  9. Liquidus

    Liquidus Newbie

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    Er, yes that is what I meant to type. I guess the only way to make it run is emulating it as if it were a CD-ROM then. That was my suspicion all along.
     
    Liquidus, Aug 5, 2006
    #9