mjaune
asked on
PCMCIA Win2k problems
How do I install win2k on my laptop which has no internal CDROM? I have an external PCMCIA cd-rom and a USB floppy (which I use the 4 boot disks to install with). Right when I should be getting to the windows install menu, (where it would start accessing the CDROM) I get a "stop error" labled: inacessable boot device. I'm quite familiar with stop errors, since I've had quite a few on my desktop machine :) but this one I'm stuck. what do I need to do to fix this? Do I need different drivers? if so, then how would I incorporate them into the boot disks since they are made from the bootdisk program off the cd? I don't think that I can use the CD to boot, since I'm pretty sure that card services isn't loaded until later in the boot process. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
That would probably be the best route, but a safer way might be to boot to the disk mentioned above, FDISK and format the hard drive.
Then you can make a directory called i386 on the hard drive and copy the files from the i386 directory on the CDROM to the i386 directory on the hard drive.
Then run:
x:\i386\winnt.exe
x denotes what ever your hard drive letter would be.
I hope this helps!
Then you can make a directory called i386 on the hard drive and copy the files from the i386 directory on the CDROM to the i386 directory on the hard drive.
Then run:
x:\i386\winnt.exe
x denotes what ever your hard drive letter would be.
I hope this helps!
ASKER
No, I tried that, the windows 98 bootdisk doesn't detect the cdrom.
ASKER
But what if I was able to create another partition on the harddrive without disturbing the current operating system partition, then copy the i386 directory to that , format, and install from the new partition. Would that work?
It might, I never tried it before so I can't attest that it will though.
Umm Actually I noticed that in my i386 folder on my hard drve there isn't a winnt.exe which would be needed to install from the Win98 bootdisk.
ASKER
If I were able to detect my cdrom via a win98 boot disk, or if I were to place the i386 directory on another partition. wouldn't I still need the four bootdisks required for win2k? I mean, if I didn't then why even use 4 bootdisks in the first place. Why not when installing win2k, just use a basic bootdisk with cdrom drivers, and intall from there?
(I'm reluctant to wipe my old Operating System until I'm fairly sure it will work)
(I'm reluctant to wipe my old Operating System until I'm fairly sure it will work)
If you currently have Windows 95/98 or NT installed on the system and that operating system does recognize the PCMCIA CDROM, try the following;
1 - Boot to the computer with the current windows O/S
2 - Copy the windows 2000 i386 folder to your hard drive.
3 - Run the winnt32.exe file in the i386 folder to do a clean install or an upgrade from the current operating system. More details about using winnt32.exe can be found at this link - http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWS2000/techinfo/reskit/en/ProRK/prbb_iwp_iruj.htm
Hope this helps
DapperYout.
1 - Boot to the computer with the current windows O/S
2 - Copy the windows 2000 i386 folder to your hard drive.
3 - Run the winnt32.exe file in the i386 folder to do a clean install or an upgrade from the current operating system. More details about using winnt32.exe can be found at this link - http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWS2000/techinfo/reskit/en/ProRK/prbb_iwp_iruj.htm
Hope this helps
DapperYout.
ASKER
DapperYout: My current operating system is XP home edition. Won't xp disable any installing features from windows 2000?
You are correct, XP does disable installation features of Windows 2000. Is the partion of your hard drive FAT32 or NTFS ?
ASKER
The file system is fat32
ASKER
The file system is fat32
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
The file system is fat32
ASKER
but it IS a laptop! I think what you say will work, except I'll need to find a way to create a partition on my existing space without harming the operating system (since I need it to transfer the i386 folder and second, without harming an extended partition allready set up on the disk (it's the manufacture restore image) If I toast that, then I'm finished!
Ok, instead of a second disk, or partition. You can boot to XP, copy the i386 folder to your existing drive. While still in WinXP delete all the files at the root of the drive as well as the program files folder. You then boot with the diskette, invoke smartdrv and delete the c:\winnt or c:\windows whatever your XP installation resides. Then you can run the winnt.exe /s c:\i386.
howzat ?
howzat ?
ASKER
-k-, I'm with ya on this.. but I'm unfamiliar with 'smartdrv' how do I invoke it?
Sorry I took so long to answer, it seems this site was unavailable for a day. Anyway, the smartdrv part is not a neccessary step. it is a disk caching program that would make deleting a large amount of files in DOS go significantly faster. any machine with windows 95 or 98 will have the file smartdrv.exe in the folder x:\windows\command. Like I said however this step is optional. You can proceed without doing it and yield the same result, it will just take a wee bit longer to remove the files from DOS.
DapperYout
DapperYout
ASKER
I Tried everything this morning and it worked great. Thanks everybody that helped me out on this. Especially you dapper, thank you so much! Now I've ditched XP, things are working MUCH better.
thanks again
thanks again
x:\i\386\winnt.exe
x denotes what ever your drive letter would be
The Crazy One