1. Home
  2. Electronics Repair
  3. A really stupid (yet annoying) problem with my OS.

A really stupid (yet annoying) problem with my OS.

Hey Guys,

I have this weird problem. My laptop's only OS (Windows 2k3) crashed. Now normally, I would have popped the Windows CD and recovered or reinstalled the OS. But my laptop's CD drive is not working. My laptop is a 3 year old Acer (AMD sempron 3000+, 512, 40GB, onboard SIS) Now I had a genius idea of removing the hard drive of this laptop and put it in my other laptop (with working CD drive) and install the OS there (Windows again), and then put the hard drive back in my old laptop. (The plan obviously didn't work as the OS attaches itself to the processor... i suppose) (and my other laptop is an intel)

Now how can I install OS in laptop. (I have heard that we can install OS through network, but I am not sure if my laptop supports it), anyways, is there any OS which can be installed on the intel machine but will still work on my AMD laptop?

(My C: is clean and formatted and I would install any OS on it if it later allows me to install Windows or Linux)

Thanks in advance

Reply to
Rahul
Loading thread data ...

No

If your BIOS supports USB boot devices use an external USB CD drive to install W2K

Reply to
Meat Plow

Rahul wrote in news:1179921609.068097.105220 @w5g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

Your computer have a USB port? USB-CD drives are cheap. Maybe you can borrow one?

Alternatively: Put a copy of dos on your HD. Put a copy of the I386 directory from your windows XP installation CD on the hard drive.

Alternative: Install knoppix on the hard drive. (knoppix is a linux that can be booted and run from a cd. It can also be installed on a hard drive from the CD. Get a free ISO of knoppix from their web site).

1 GB thumb drives are cheap. Install a copy of the install cd on a thumb drive. Make the thumb drive bootable.

Alternative: find a used laptop, same model, bad hard drive, or broken screen or ..., just as long as it has a good CD drive.

Good luck.

--
bz    	73 de N5BZ k

please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an 
infinite set.

bz+ser@ch100-5.chem.lsu.edu   remove ch100-5 to avoid spam trap
Reply to
bz

Rahul wrote in news:1179921609.068097.105220 @w5g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

swap CD drives instead...

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----

formatting link
The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups

----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

Reply to
me

Little to no chance the optical drives would be interchangeable.

--
#1 Offishul Ruiner of Usenet, March 2007
#1 Usenet Asshole, March 2007
#1 Bartlo Pset, March 13-24 2007
#10 Most hated Usenetizen of all time
#8 AUK Hate Machine Cog
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004
COOSN-266-06-25794
Reply to
Meat Plow

In message , Meat Plow writes

Actually, it's highly likely that they have the same interface on the drive mech itself, it's just that some laptop manufacturers fit them into a carrier that has a proprietary connector which is easy to swap onto another drive. If the drive is 'fixed' into the machine it's more likely to use the 'standard' connector. I think there are only two types of connector in use for small form optical drives.

--
Clint Sharp
Reply to
Clint Sharp

I've got a pile of dead laptop CDROM drives. After you remove the plastic trim that matches the laptop case, they are all alike. Its a standard component, look on Ebay for the OEM part number on the drive, not the laptop OEM part number. Its easiest to use one from the same series laptop, but there isn't much involved in converting them between machines.

formatting link
is an example of the Samsung Model: SN-124 drive I see in a lot of laptops, or get for salvage from other computer shops.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

100% chance they are interchangle: there's a standard for them.

Real fix possibility: Put drive in other computer, and *copy* the CD to the drive. Put the drive back into the broken computer, boot a diskette, and install from the CD contents that you copied earlier.

Reply to
PeterD

You could set up a pxe server and try to boot it over the network... but that would take a lot of time and effort.

Here is an easier solution: You were partly right about putting the Hard disk in another machine and installing the OS there... but don't COMPLETELY install the OS. Just install the first pass where the installer copies the files to hard disk. Just before the first reboot, power off the machine and put the hard disk back into your laptop. Then the laptop will boot, enumerate the CPU serial number, and continue the installation.

Thanks.

Remove the BALONEY from my email address.

----------------------------------------------------- Matthew Fries Minneapolis, MN USA snipped-for-privacy@baloneyvisi.com

"Quit eating all my *STUFF*!" - The Tick

Reply to
Matthew Fries

Your idea of installing the os on another computer could work. You have to install it and then go into "win2k3 dos" by booting the intel laptop cd rom from the windows cd and selecting system recovery console.

It will ask for the admin password. If you didn't set one just leav it blank and hit enter.

Then you need to go to c:\windows\system32\config type cd:\windows\system32\config (note: you may need to replace c:\windows with c:\winnt)

Then you need to replace the files "system" "defalut" while in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\config>

Type this copy c:\windows\repair\default It will ask Overwrite (Y/N) Press Y Then Type copy c:\windows\repair\system It will ask Overwrite (Y/N) Press Y

Now Don't reboot the comptuer in your intel laptop! It is set up so that when it boots next windows will be looking for what hardware you have in your comptuer. So put the drive in your AMD and fire it up. It should take a while installing drivers for all the components in the system, and should work.

- Mike

Reply to
Michael Kennedy

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.