I might need a Linux or DOS Guru for this

[Sam.I.Am]

In short I have an older laptop (Toshiba P35 circa 2004) that had a hard drive that died (80gb). I bought an exact replacement in both size and manufacturer (Hitachi) as I wanted to use the original CD to reload Windows XP (Home) on it.

The CD Drive on this machine is also dead otherwise I wouldn't be asking this.

Note that the links below will not download the software but will show either the home pages or the FTP pages.

I intended on using TFTPD32 (and pxelinux.0 from the Syslinux-2.10 package as well as the memdisk in that distribution along with a Bart PE boot image) to use a virtual CD Drive and then use the original XP Home install disk that came with the laptop on another XP Home laptop's CD drive. So far so good right. Just share the drive and I should be good to go.

The laptop that I wanted to install the original OS disk to saw TFTPD32 right away (less than 2 seconds) in a network boot and connected to it. Great right? The NIC had a driver built in in (flash I'm assuming) memory and it saw the network no problem when I had TFTPD32 as a DHCP server. Then it loaded the Bart PE Boot image on the other laptops hard drive and went into setup and it worked fine... until it got to the NIC device. Then all of a sudden it stopped working and threw me into a manual driver selection (none of which worked, not even the most generic of them). Then it crashed.

I think that I've found a driver (rtsnd.cab) on the Bart PE site that might work but I'm almost clueless on how to inject it into the Bart PE so that it shows up in the menu system. From what I've read elsewhere I need to actually alter the menu and I have no idea how to do that.

I've installed the 30 day shareware version of WinImage and can get around in the boot file using that but after that I'm lost, plus I have no clue on the Linux language or file structure.

I even tried WINNER but while it "Worked" at the receiving end and connected just fine I couldn't get a good working XP image made as the laptop that I'm using had "Issues" with the dot net framework (I wasted a good 16 hours on that even after following the instructions meticulously). I even tried deleting the entire dot net framework (all variations) and installing only the versions that WINNER says that it supports, all for naught.

I also tried just hooking up a portable USB hard drive (6 gb, not a flash drive) and it's not recognized even in a FAT32 configuration (I can't seem to get it to format to a regular FAT (FAT16?) partition in Partition Magic 8.0).

I also tried downloading the MS DOS 3.0 networking disks (DSK3-1 and DSK3-2) but I know so little about that that I might as well have not bothered.

I've been beating my head against the wall for 2 days now and I'm at my wits end. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Note that buying a new CD Drive is not an option at the moment. I'm quite sure that I can get this to work once I get the networking to work as it's supposed to.

Ultimately I want this to be a network based home entertainment machine that's hooked up to a TV and a stereo receiver. It was doing that before the hard drive died and I'd like to get it back to where it was.

So to sum it up I have the following hardware:

A 10\100 wired network that works just fine.
A laptop that will see the network before any boot software is loaded.
No CD drive on the machine that I want to boot.
No USB devices that can be detected on the machine that I want to boot other than a portable 3.5" floppy drive which self=identifies as A:\.
A new hard drive that is attached and working according to the BIOS and that I have formatted as C:\ (Primary) using Partition Magic 8.0 rescue diskettes.
A portable 3.5" floppy drive that the laptop sees as A:\ when plugged into a USB port.
A laptop with XP Home to run a TFTPD DHCP server.

I also have a crossover cable if anyone thinks that that will help, but I doubt it as there is no apparent network conflict.

Help!?

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

I assume you have looked in the BIOS and concluded that it is not possible to boot from USB?

It would sure make your job simpler if you could use a bootable USB stick.

One way you could (possibly) do this is by creating a DOS boot floppy (you will need better than DOS 3.0, something like DOS 7.1 from Windows 9x, or maybe FreeDOS would work) with USB drivers. Then plug in a USB stick with the XP installer and boot up. You might have to use DOS fdisk to create a small FAT32 installer partition on your hdd and copy the XP files from the USB stick to the installer partition.

Here's an article about how to install XP in a DOS environment...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307848

 

[abaddon]

I assume you have looked in the BIOS and concluded that it is not possible to boot from USB?

It would sure make your job simpler if you could use a bootable USB stick.

One way you could (possibly) do this is by creating a DOS boot floppy (you will need better than DOS 3.0, something like DOS 7.1 from Windows 9x, or maybe FreeDOS would work) with USB drivers. Then plug in a USB stick with the XP installer and boot up. You might have to use DOS fdisk to create a small FAT32 installer partition on your hdd and copy the XP files from the USB stick to the installer partition.

Here's an article about how to install XP in a DOS environment...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307848

That was going to be my question.

Alternatively, buy a new CD drive. That would be considerably cheaper than the time that has been invested to date.

 

[commandlinegamer]

That was going to be my question.

Alternatively, buy a new CD drive. That would be considerably cheaper than the time that has been invested to date.

Just make sure you get the right type - almost all new drives will be SATA. Given the age of your laptop I'm pretty sure you'll need one with an IDE (PATA) connector.

 

[Sam.I.Am]

I don't mind the time so much, I just didn't think that it would be so hard to set up a network boot considering that it's one of the BIOS options. Re: buying a CD drive I looked into it but they ain't exactly cheap for this laptop (I guess because it's so old) and I've already dumped 80 bucks into it (the new HD and a gig of RAM. Besides which I'll probably never use it again, as I said I put all my software (whenever possible) into ISO form on a NAS (I got tired of dealing with scratched disks) that I mount on a virtual CD\DVD drive (Daemon tools lite). All I'm going to do with this old thing is to stream the occasional movie and set up MAME and probably some other gaming software on it (it has a SVHS connection so I am going to hook it up to a TV). Once I get XP on it I'm good to go.

 

[bobhope2112]

I concur with the sentiment that getting a CD drive, replacement or USB external, is the painless way to go.

Here's a replacement for $10.

 

[Sam.I.Am]

Just to be clear this is basically what I'm trying to do:

http://www.ehow.com/how_7313628_install-windows-xp-using-pxe.html

The only difference is that I'll be using the Ghost Image that shipped with the laptop instead of a regular XP Home install disks i386 files (if possible, I "should" be able to navigate the the CD drive on the other machine and use it).

I get to step 6 and it crashes due to there not being a proper driver for the NIC in the BartPE boot image. What's frustrating me is that the NIC already had to work in order to get the BartPE software (the DHCP server is also telling me that it's connected) that is crashing because it can't use the NIC. It's a vicious loop.

I have the correct NIC driver (in Linux) and I have the software to put it into the BartPE image file. What I don't know how to do (and this is where the Linux part comes in) is how to get the driver into the menu system so that I can use it.

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

I think you could probably unpack the bart image, examine the scripts, and eventually figure out how to edit the menu system. If the drivers indexed in the menu are packed in a .cat file, you would need to create a new .cat file that includes the driver you want to use.

If I had a bootable floppy drive and a floppy disk that worked, I would use that as my gateway into the dead system, instead of the network. You can create a DOS boot floppy that includes the mottu hairu USB drivers along with format.com and fdisk.com. Use format and fdisk to set up your hdd with a small FAT32 partition. Then reboot and follow the instructions on the link I pasted above, using a USB stick as your installer source instead of a CD drive.

Here is a link to mottu hairu:

http://www.driver.novac.co.jp/driver/hd350w/mhairudos.zip

You need two drivers on your boot floppy, referenced as follows in your config.sys file:

device=USBASPI.SYS /W
device=Di1000dd.SYS

 

[abaddon]

I concur with the sentiment that getting a CD drive, replacement or USB external, is the painless way to go.

Here's a replacement for $10.

Sam I Am has stated he expended 16 hours on just one step which did not succeed. Even if we go at minimum wage, that one step is a $160 investment, not to mention all the other time and effort involved. I cannot see how it would not be a lot cheaper to just buy the CD drive.

 

[Sam.I.Am]

Sam I Am has stated he expended 16 hours on just one step which did not succeed. Even if we go at minimum wage, that one step is a $160 investment, not to mention all the other time and effort involved. I cannot see how it would not be a lot cheaper to just buy the CD drive.

It's not so much that I'm cheap (I am) it's that I'm determined to figure this whole thing out. It "Should" work, I've found numerous tutorials online saying that it can be done but so far no luck. It's become a mountain to climb and I've got the time to climb it.

 

[Wudang]

It's not so much that I'm cheap (I am) it's that I'm determined to figure this whole thing out. It "Should" work, I've found numerous tutorials online saying that it can be done but so far no luck. It's become a mountain to climb and I've got the time to climb it.

No real contribution. Just wanted to say: been there done that.

Tried this? http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21226

 

[abaddon]

It's not so much that I'm cheap (I am) it's that I'm determined to figure this whole thing out. It "Should" work, I've found numerous tutorials online saying that it can be done but so far no luck. It's become a mountain to climb and I've got the time to climb it.

Right, would it be correct to say you simply want this challenge? Not a criticism in any way, I often do the same, but it will certainly change the conversation if you are seeking to crack a particular nut as opposed to seeking the most expedient solution.

I will have to reread the thread if that is your intent, because I zeroed in on the expedient solution. In my experience "should work" is usually true, except for the bit you forgot. If I am correct, I will reread from the point of view of something that should work but has not, and why that might be so.

 

[surrogate]

Chances are that you don't need a specific optical drive and any IDE slim drive should work. Generally there is one or two screws through the bottom of the case near the back of the optical drive. Remove them and the drive should slide right out. Transfer any mounting brackets and connection adapters to the new drive and slide it in.