Hey everyone heres the scenerio, I have a laptop that was made in about 2003 and had xp loaded. DVD drive is now dead and need to reinstall windows xp. So I got a usb cdrom drive. BIOS supports usb data drive but will not boot this dvd drive on startup, but will a USB floppy drive. So my idea is to make a bootable floppy drive that can enable my dvd drive to work in dos and install windows. I have spent the last 5 hours going over all different boot disks that claim to work with no sucess. I tried duse, ect. I finally got a windows 98 boot disk and USBASPI.sys to recognize the drive, but then I get an error (command.com is currupt or missing). Any help please? here is my config.sys setting and autoexec.bat settings [config.sys] device=himem.sys /testmemff device=usbaspi.sys device=usbcd.sys /D:mscd001 [autoexec.bat] LH %ramd%:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:%CDROM% Drive is a LITEON USB EZDUB (recognized as a LITEON IHAS120). I have been through bootdisk.com's steps also with no luck.
BIOS config I am sure that you have done so but . . . make sure your BIOS does not have some cryptic boot option that you may have missed. Many BIOS boot config options have something like 1st boot device, 2nd boot device, 3rd boot device. I used to have a Phoenix BIOS that added "other boot device." What BIOS/version/date? Monk
Specs Data Sheet Info: USB 2.0 "High-Speed" Boot "USB 2.0 "High-Speed" Boot provides enumeration and configuration of an USB CDROM, CD-ROM/RW, DVD, combination CDROM/RW - DVD, and Hard Disk drives during POST. It enables the ability to boot DOS from an USB mass storage device in "high-speed" mode when directly connected to USB 2.0 ROOT hub; when a "high-speed" USB 2.0 device is attached to an USB 2.0 external HUB, this device will be supported in USB 1.1 speed ( 12 Mbit/Sec). Additionally USB 2.0 "High-Speed" Boot support enables the use of one of the above stated USB devices while in a DOS environment." In the BIOS setup, is there a specific option that allows you to enable/configure High-Speed boot with USB DVD drive, e.g., giving you the option of, say, booting from a USB HDD v. optical drive? Secondly, can we assume that you have a USB 2.0 driver installed (v. 1.0) and that DEVICE MANAGER indicates that the USB controllers are functioning normally? A few basics before I am able to dig further. Monk
Yes in windows environment the drive works fine, it has sp2 so USB 2.0 is installed. The Bios is very limited, theres like 3-4 tabs and not to many options. In the BIOS I didnt see any option to boot like that, just a USB jump drive (and that is the first boot device), I can check again.
On the Bios boot menu I have the following selected: 1. dvd/cd rom drive 2. removeable device 3. USB storage stick 4. Main hard drive 5. boot to lan only options are to move up or down, no sub menues.
Where to begin You say your internal optical drive is dead. Go to the BIOS where I would expect you to be able to find an option to disable the drive. Such an option would be apart from boot order settings. Disable the drive (removes it from the POST/bootstrap). In addition go to Device Manager via ctrl panel and disable the drive there (removes it from win boot sequence). Reboot. This would not likely fix the issue but no need to have the BIOS/OS looking at a non-functioning drive. I would also KO the internal drive in the boot sequence if that is not done when it is disabled in the BIOS. If you have no option to KO the internal drive, I would move it to the end of the boot order and put the "removable device" first. As a final test, I would disconnect the USB floopy and see if the USB DVD boots, i.e., how does your BIOS differentiate between two removable devices when there is no designation as to which device is which - floppy or DVD drive? Secondly, are you saying that the USB drive will not boot any disc or it will not boot your OS disc? I ask because many instances of XP will not boot from an optical drive, USB or internal. Thus we must differentiate between two separate issues and apply separate fixes: create a bootable disc or create a bootable drive. Both are doable. Thirdly: I do not know exactly what you did vis-à-vis Win98 but remember Win98 is FAT32. A Win98 boot disc will create a FAT32 virtual drive that will not see an NTFS partition. That might explain the missing cmd.com - depending on what you are doing. Comment on the above and I will offer contingent solutions. Monk
Well the only way to disable the cdrom is to remove it, also I dont think this BIOS supports booting USB cd-rom. So what I had to do was go to the microsoft website and download a diskette creator to boot from. It created diskettes, and about an hour later I finally got 6 working diskettes and was able to install windows (barely had to skip a few .swf files but it works fine) Now im just having ian issue with installing the modem (sounds easy but its not gona work) I typed the serial in on gateways website and got all my drivers but the modem one wont install. tried generic chipset drivers with no luck. Tried manually installing and wont work either, so now idk, probably not needed anyway. Its a gateway mx6436.
USB support BIOS specs claim USB CD/DVD support. I'll send you a recipe for creating a boot disc tomorrow. Regarding modem: did you try to install from Device Manager? First off, does DM indicate modem issue? If there is any driver installed, uninstall it and boot; XP might install a generic driver when it boots. Then, while connected to Internet, click on update driver from the driver tab and tick the radio button to allow MS to search the Net when the option is given. Might work. If you are interested in pursing the swf installation OR verifying a proper install got to START>RUN and type "sfc /scannow" without the quotes>OK; have the installation disc in the drive. SFC is System File Checker, an automated process that will install/replace any missing/corrupt OS file. Monk
Ya, its just a flash file so I should be ok. I installed from a disk I created, its a gateway SLP. I think my original OEM cd was tampered with because windows doesnt have ANY modem drivers installed. I turned off the modem and just went to add harware wizard and it didnt have any. Also when I run the gateway modem installer it fails, and it wont manually detect it. Ive tried all different kinds of drivers nothing works, so I just assume its an issue with the disk I used. As far as the disks I tried to use in the USB boot, I know that they work correctly because they work on any other computer. I was able to boot USB with my desktop.