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Help! I can't access my Win XP OS on Tablet PC!
I can't access my windowds xp pro installation.
I have a viewsonic tablet pc WITHOUT cd-rom and WITHOUT Floppy Drive.
So, I purchased external USB dvd drive in order to re-install a clean copy of WIN XP PRO on the laptop.
As a part of the install, the laptop reboots and goes into DOS mode with blue screen, then I got an error - "Cannot find CD Drive."
So I found out I cannot install b/c I am using a USB device, so I gave up and decided to continue using my Original win xp installation.
However, now everytime I boot up - I get 2 choices - win xp pro or win xp setup - I wanted my laptop to go directly to win xp without asking each time which OS it wanted to boot to...so , I went to BOOT.INI file and removed the "win xp setup" line.
Then, I went to System Recovery settings and UNCHECKED , "Time to display OS choices" - it was set to 5 seconds.
I thought this would make the laptop boot directly to the WIN XP installation and bypass the OS CHOICES MENU at bootup.
But, now, it only boots to the win xp setup!!! I cannot even get to my original win xp installation... please help !!!
I have a viewsonic tablet pc WITHOUT cd-rom and WITHOUT Floppy Drive.
So, I purchased external USB dvd drive in order to re-install a clean copy of WIN XP PRO on the laptop.
As a part of the install, the laptop reboots and goes into DOS mode with blue screen, then I got an error - "Cannot find CD Drive."
So I found out I cannot install b/c I am using a USB device, so I gave up and decided to continue using my Original win xp installation.
However, now everytime I boot up - I get 2 choices - win xp pro or win xp setup - I wanted my laptop to go directly to win xp without asking each time which OS it wanted to boot to...so , I went to BOOT.INI file and removed the "win xp setup" line.
Then, I went to System Recovery settings and UNCHECKED , "Time to display OS choices" - it was set to 5 seconds.
I thought this would make the laptop boot directly to the WIN XP installation and bypass the OS CHOICES MENU at bootup.
But, now, it only boots to the win xp setup!!! I cannot even get to my original win xp installation... please help !!!
No, you won't be able to get XP to work on an external USB drive because there aren't any XP drivers which will work. What you would need to do is to get the drivers of your PC from the manufacturer, and also get a USB floppy drive. Then put the drivers (probably sata or something similar onto a floppy and when you boot your XP cdrom and the installation procedure asks you to press f6 for further drivers, use the floppy to load them. The installation should then work.
ASKER
Rindi - I have an external USB Maxtor 200 gig HDD that the laptop recognizes.
When I boot directly from that USB HDD - I get the message " Operating system not found"
So, is there anyway I can use this HDD to start the install?
Can I possibly copy boot disk files to the HDD?
OR can I copy the CDrom driver to usb hdd them hit f6 and use it from there??
When I boot directly from that USB HDD - I get the message " Operating system not found"
So, is there anyway I can use this HDD to start the install?
Can I possibly copy boot disk files to the HDD?
OR can I copy the CDrom driver to usb hdd them hit f6 and use it from there??
ASKER
OK - I now have a USB floppy drive. I created a floppy with only cdrom.sys file.
When I hit F6 on win xp setup, it says please put floppy in the A Drive with the Drivers....So, I do and hit Enter....
Then it says:
"txtoemsetup.oem" not found
When I hit F6 on win xp setup, it says please put floppy in the A Drive with the Drivers....So, I do and hit Enter....
Then it says:
"txtoemsetup.oem" not found
You have to put the drivers into the root directly. Also there might be more than one driver coming with the system, so you may have to make a couple of diskettes with the different ones and then try them out. What I also forgot to ask, are you using a retail XP CD or is this a CD that came with the notebook?
ASKER
Using a retail XP CD
ASKER
OK - Here's what I did:
I took out the HDD from the Tablet PC and put it into another Laptop I have - Toshiba Satellite.
I then was able to load WIN XP from the cd rom - installed win xp PRO.
Then, once fully installed - I took the HDD out and put it back into the Tablet PC>
Now, the Tablet PC boots ...but gives a black screen in DOS that says:
"Windows did not start successfully...recent hardware/software changed might have cuased this."
Then it gives me options:
safe mode
safe mode networking
safe mode with command prompt
last known good config
start windows normally
If I click any of the safe modes - the screen scrolls with a bunch of paths to the " x\system32\drivers\xxx.sys
The last path is to system32\drivers\mup.sys
Then...it freezes... nothing else happens... I cannot get it to boot to windows !
What can I try now ?
I took out the HDD from the Tablet PC and put it into another Laptop I have - Toshiba Satellite.
I then was able to load WIN XP from the cd rom - installed win xp PRO.
Then, once fully installed - I took the HDD out and put it back into the Tablet PC>
Now, the Tablet PC boots ...but gives a black screen in DOS that says:
"Windows did not start successfully...recent hardware/software changed might have cuased this."
Then it gives me options:
safe mode
safe mode networking
safe mode with command prompt
last known good config
start windows normally
If I click any of the safe modes - the screen scrolls with a bunch of paths to the " x\system32\drivers\xxx.sys
The last path is to system32\drivers\mup.sys
Then...it freezes... nothing else happens... I cannot get it to boot to windows !
What can I try now ?
You can't just install Windows on one hardware and then move it to another. Either Hardware is so different it just won't work because of wrong or missing drivers etc. I suggest you move the HD back to the toshiba and download all the drivers for your tablet and save the somewhere on that HD. Now return the disk to the tablet PC and boot it with the XP cd ROM. You will be asked first if you want to go to the recovery console to repait the installetion. Here don't say yes. Next you have to agree to the EULA. Now, the setup will find your existing installation and ask you if you want to repair that. Here say Yes (I think you have to hit the "R" key). Now windows setup will try a repair installation and should try to load those drivers you need for the tablet. If yfter that you can boot into windows run all the installation programs etc of the driver software you have previously downloaded for the tablet, so everything is uptodate.
ASKER
You said:
"I suggest you move the HD back to the toshiba and download all the drivers for your tablet and save the somewhere on that HD. Now return the disk to the tablet PC and boot it with the XP cd ROM. "
You're forgetting one thing: Tablet laptop DOES NOT have CDROM nor does it recognize the external USB cd rom I have. So, even after I copy drivers to the tablet HDD, it will NOT recognize the usb external cd rom in DOS mode.
Also, I don't have a specific driver for the external cd rom - it came with a CD that has 50 folders that have 3 sub-folders with 50 different drivers.
When using on other laptops in the house, windows 2000/win xp pro both use "cdrom.sys" driver instead of choosing one from the CD rom that came with the drive.
"I suggest you move the HD back to the toshiba and download all the drivers for your tablet and save the somewhere on that HD. Now return the disk to the tablet PC and boot it with the XP cd ROM. "
You're forgetting one thing: Tablet laptop DOES NOT have CDROM nor does it recognize the external USB cd rom I have. So, even after I copy drivers to the tablet HDD, it will NOT recognize the usb external cd rom in DOS mode.
Also, I don't have a specific driver for the external cd rom - it came with a CD that has 50 folders that have 3 sub-folders with 50 different drivers.
When using on other laptops in the house, windows 2000/win xp pro both use "cdrom.sys" driver instead of choosing one from the CD rom that came with the drive.
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ASKER
Rindi,
Most laptops wont boot from USB CD ROM Device.
I ended up taking out the HDD from the viewsonic tablet pc and putting it into another laptop.
Then, I copied win xp cd directly to a partition on the HDD.
Then, switched the HDD back to viewsonic, booted up and installled winx xp directly from the HDD.
It worked fine!
However, problem now is drivers. Also, the viewsonic laptop is a tablet pc , so it had "windows xp tabletc PC edition" installed.
I'm not sure if installing PRO was the right thing to do...
Most laptops wont boot from USB CD ROM Device.
I ended up taking out the HDD from the viewsonic tablet pc and putting it into another laptop.
Then, I copied win xp cd directly to a partition on the HDD.
Then, switched the HDD back to viewsonic, booted up and installled winx xp directly from the HDD.
It worked fine!
However, problem now is drivers. Also, the viewsonic laptop is a tablet pc , so it had "windows xp tabletc PC edition" installed.
I'm not sure if installing PRO was the right thing to do...
If you can download the drivers also pro should work.
ASKER
OK - found out win xp PRO will NOT work with Tablet PC.
Most of the components and devices need functions that come with Tablet PC Edition.
So, I had to contact viewsonic and get a copy of the System Recovery CD.
So, now, I am going to start all over from scratch - this time I should have the right OS installed and should be good to go.
Wow, this has got to be one of the toughest problems I've ever ran across...
Thanks for your help Rindi
Most of the components and devices need functions that come with Tablet PC Edition.
So, I had to contact viewsonic and get a copy of the System Recovery CD.
So, now, I am going to start all over from scratch - this time I should have the right OS installed and should be good to go.
Wow, this has got to be one of the toughest problems I've ever ran across...
Thanks for your help Rindi
Your Welcome.
ASKER
I have an external USB 200 GB Maxtor HDD. I plugged this into the viewsonic laptop PC and changed the boot order to boot from removeable first.
And then restarted the laptop and viola! It booted to the External HDD - and it gave me an error: "no operating system found"
Welll, this is good...now, Should I go ahead and copy the entire win xp pro CD to the root of the external usb HDD? Then, maybe I can INSTALL win xp pro directly from the external USB ??
Or should I load only the files needed to boot the laptop into safe mode??
any ideas?