[Supergeek.dcse]

not if u use the w2k boot disk to setup the drive from fresh

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the drive might even have a hibernation partion on it it the lab top has got a network card in and you have a second com make a boot disk that will boot strat to the other com and install that way across the network that way you can install the drivers and any thing you want

[Supergeek.dcse]

the drive might even have a hibernation partion on it it the lab top has got a network card in and you have a second com make a boot disk that will boot strat to the other com and install that way across the network that way you can install the drivers and any thing you want

[eejacket99]

Yes, I do have a copy of Partition Magic Version 8.0.

I got it when I purchased Norton Ghost 9.0.

Thanks again for your help.

[Samm]

In that case, I suggest you reconnect the laptop drive back up to the desktop & install Partition magic.
PM should be to give you a clearer idea of whats going on & it will allow you delete/recreate the partition.

[eejacket99]

So, I used Partition Magic to remove everything and repartition the
hard drive.

I reinstalled the Harddrive into the laptop but still could not
access it by typing C: at the A: prompt.

What format should I use on the partition (FAT32 or something
else)?

I let the laptop reboot on the c: drive and it told me
"No Operating System" which was different
than last time I tried this.

Can I use Partition Magic to install an operating system on this drive?

By default, the drive is being named "F" when I use
Partition Magic. Will this cause a problem? I can seem
to name it C: becuase my desktop already has a C drive.

Thanks again.

[Samm]

Don't worry about the drive letter being F on the desktop. The drives physical position in relation to the IDE controllers & its master/slave config determine the drive letter assignment.

The drives partition should be created as FAT32 in order for the boot disk to recognise it.
The reason that you get the 'operating system not found' message is because the drive hasn't had the system boot files copied to it yet. (ie msdos.sys, command.com etc).
What I'm not certain of is whether PM actually formatted the drive as well as partitioning it.

Boot from the floppy & run fdisk again. Same as last time, please tell me what the fdisk parameters are.

[Supergeek.dcse]

boot of flopy
format c:/u/s
it should boot on it own then

[eejacket99]

Hello.

So, I used PM to delete and create a new FAT32 partition. I installed
the harddrive back into the lap top.

I still cannot access the C drive (although I can access a B and
an R drive)

I type Fdisk and here are the parameters that I get:

Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
1 A Non-Dos 1440 4 100 %

Everything seems to be the same except System is now 4.

Maybe I am using the wrong MSDOS disk?

I downloaded the boot disk from:

www.bootdisk.com

Thanks again for your help.

[Samm]

You know, I think you could be right.
What version of DOS boot disk have you been using? You need to use Win98 boot disk, anything else is too old & won't recognise the drive or FAT32 correctly.

[Supergeek.dcse]

use your boot disk remove all partions and get rid of none dos part no 4 in fdisk i think and reboot each time before recreat check to see if it s gone

[Samm]

use your boot disk remove all partions and get rid of none dos part no 4 in fdisk i think and reboot each time before recreat check to see if it s gone

Supergeek.dcse
You advised this in an earlier post in this thread. I told you then that you can't use fdisk for this if it doesn't recognise the drive capacity correctly. Fdisk thinks that there is a single primary 1.4GB partition which fills 100% of the drives capacity. Given that the actual capacity is 15GB, I think it's fair to assume that fdisk is not able to recognise the disks current structure correctly. This alone makes it a very bad choice of partitioning software in this particular case.

[eejacket99]

Hi Again,

So here is the latest:

I went to bootdisk.com and created a bootdisk for Windows98.

I then booted the laptop with this disk and now I can
see the C: drive.

So, I removed the hard drive from the laptop and copied all of the files
from the Windows XP disk (all files at the root including
setup.exe and the I386 folder) into a folder called
"Options".

I then put the hard drive back into the laptop, booted it
from the boot disk.

I then changed directories from a: to c: (and I was able
to see all of my files).

I then got to c:\options.

I typed setup.exe (and setup) and I got the error message:

"This program cannot be run in DOS mode".

Almost there :-).

Any suggestions?

Thanks again for your time and help.

[Samm]

Yeah I know exactly what the problem is.
I made a slight error earlier. I told you that you needed the setup.exe file from the CD to install XP. You don't. what you need to do is run the winnt.exe file from inside the i386 folder.
ie
From the A:> prompt, type C: to switch drives
type CD i386 to open the i386 folder
type winnt.exe


The only thing I am not certain about, is whether you need an XP boot disk to do this. Try it from the win98 boot disk but if it doesn't work, download the XP System Setup bootdisk (single disk) from here :

http://freepctech.co.../files010.shtml


Let me know what happens.

[eejacket99]

Thanks again for your time and help.

I went to the web site that you suggested and got
the Windows XP bootable disk.

I placed it in the floppy drive and booted from it.

It boots fine and I get to the A drive.

Then, I go to the c drive.

(I copied all files from the XP CD in the root and all files
from the I386 folder. I put this in the folder c:\options)

Then, I type:

c:\options\i386\winnt

WindowsXP begins to install, which is good.

It then asks me to remove the disk from the A drive and then
it will restart.

It restarts fine, but then goes into an infinite loop (the screen is black
and a curser blinks in the upper left part of the screen).
(I waited for about an hour and nothing happens, though I can
hear the drive moving).

I have tried this twice, and it does the same thing.

Do you know what I may be doing wrong?

Thanks again for your help.

[Samm]

Not exactly sure what the problem is.

Can you tell me :
are you using xp pro or home?
when you copied the i386 folder contents, did you copy the sub-folders inside it as well?
You said the system reboots ok but then hangs. At what stage exactly does this happen? ie does the install get any further at all or does it just boot staight to the blank screen?

Try these ideas:

rename the options folder to i386 - boot from floppy, switch to the C drive, then type: ren options i386

disable any boot sector (virus) protection you may have in the bios. (don't think this is a problem for XP but try it anyway)