Install laptop OS with swapable floppy/cdrom

[goosemold]

A friend of mine gave me an HP Omnibook 4100 loaded with NT. She could no longer use it since she had forgotten her NT password. (The BIOS is also password protected - password unknown - but that's another story).

I would like to replace the OS with Win 98. I have a Win98 bootdisk, and am prepared to reformat the hard disk. However, of the swapable CDROM and floppy disk drive, only one can be installed at a time. Any tips for how I can install Win 98 on this thing when I can only boot from the floppy boot disk (with CDROM support) but the CDROM drivers don't install because no CDROM can be detected during boot up?

I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks.

 

[Wallysaurus]

Boot the laptop from the floppy disk. Choose "Boot without CD ROM support". Run fdisk and re-partition the hard drive and then reboot and choose "Boot without CD ROM support" again. At the prompt type the following commands:

format c: /s <ENTER>

When the format is complete, type:

copy a:\*.* c:\ <ENTER>

Remove the boot disk and turn off the laptop and switch the drives. Restart the laptop. This should boot the pc and load the drivers for the CDROM. Insert the Win98 cd and type d:\win98\setup.exe This should start the installation.

If the CD ROM drivers don't load, you may have to edit the config.sys and autoexec.bat file on the boot floppy. I haven't done anything with Windows 98 for quite some time, but I think this will work.

 

[bacillus]

your win98 cd may be bootable so dispensing the need for a startup floppy.
mind you if the bios is password protected & you don't know it then you may not be able to change the boot order.

 

[goosemold]

OK, you helped me get started, but for a number of reasons, it didn?t work. For one thing, simply copying the contents of the startup disk go c: was a no go, because access to overwrite DRVSPACE.BIN was denied, and the many of the copied files from the bootdisk seemed to get in the way. So, based on advice gained at

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=36605

I did the following:

partitioned c:
using fdisk, formatted c: (format c: /s),
found a copy of MSCDEX.EXE and copied it to c:

Next I created the following two simplified files:

*********** CONFIG.SYS ****************

device=oakcdrom.sys /d:mscd000

********end of file********************

*********** AUTOEXEC.BAT ***************

mscdex.exe /d:mscd000

********end of file*********************

and copied each to c:

Shutting down, inserting the CDROM drive, and booting from c:, I found that the computer would boot, the oakcdrom.sys driver loaded, but I now get the following error messages:

This driver is provided by Oak Technology, Inc. OTI-91X ATAPI CD-ROM device driver, Rev D91XV352 (C) Copyright Oak Technology Inc. 1987-1997
Device Name : MSCD001
No drives found aborting installation

C:\>c:mscdex.exe /d:mscd001
Device driver not found : 'MSCD001'
No valid CDROM device driver selected.

I feel like I?m making progress, but I still can?t access the cdrom drive to try to install the OS.

Any ideas regarding the nature of the problem, which was experienced by others (without solution) at the link cited above?

 

[johnjkr1]

Why not just make a bootable cdrom? Pop it in, boot up, then switch over to the 98 disk?

 

[goosemold]

Because, as the error message above states, the driver is not finding a cdrom. Thus, I do not have access to the cdrom at this point; getting this access is my goal.

 

[kurt454]

You need to find real mode drivers for the swappable cdrom. The oak cdrom drivers don't recognize a pcmcia cdrom. Have you checked HP's website?

 

[goosemold]

At HP's site, I have found a hot swap utility called hotswp9x.exe (1.9 MB) as well as a zipped archive called "HP OmniBook 4100 Drivers for Windows 98." Perhaps one of these files contains what I need, but I don't know what filename to look for, and, since the files are bigger than 1.4 MB, I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how to get them onto my laptop's c: drive with just a floppy drive.

 

[goosemold]

 

[goosemold]

I extracted the HP hotswap files on another computer, then transfered them to the laptop's c: drive via floppy. Unfortunately, when I tried to execute the setup program for the hotswap files, it calls for "win SETUP.EXE" and doesn't find it on c: giving me a "Bad command or file name" error. I'm stuck. Is there some way I can transfer necessary files from my Win 98 disk to floppy, then to laptop's c:, and somehow get past this roadblock? Is there some driver file out there that might install on c: and allow me to boot with cdrom support? Help!

 

[kurt454]

This may help.

 

[johnjkr1]

If it's a normal internal laptop type cdrom, you dont need crazy cdrom drivers to get it recognized. You just need an .iso of a cdrom boot disk from the web. Then you ignore the floppy completely.

 

[kurt454]

Another link to a boot disk if johnjkr1's method does not work for you.

 

[goosemold]

Thanks, guys. I'll follow up on your advice and report back. (Although I don't think my swappable drive is a "normal internal laptop type cdrom", so I think I will pursue kurt454's suggestions first.)

 

[goosemold]

Well, I tried the Compu-Docs laptop install boot disk suggested in kurt454's first link, to no avail. This boot disk uses a cdrom driver from Creative Technology, but again the cdrom activation stalls, "No drives found, aborting installation" "Device driver not found: 'MSCD001' " "No valid CDROM device drivers selected"

Bah. Any thoughts? I'm certain that the cdrom drive was inserted correctly, and is properly seated in its slot. Anybody else experience (and overcome) these problems?

 

[kurt454]

Running out of ideas now. Maybe you could get some form of null modem cable. Copy the Win98 folder from your setup cd to a desktop pc. Maybe find some software like Laplink to then tranfer the Win98 folder to the laptop hard drive. If you have the drive bootable, you can change directories to the win98 folder and run Setup.exe

 

[johnjkr1]

I have a cdrom that I know you can use to boot off of, let me see how big the .iso is. If its too big, i can just mail it to you.

 

[redbeard1]

Here is another way to do it. I described it in detail in one of the posts.

old thread

 

[Abhi]

Try this...

Take that bootable floppy... and go to a computer with a cd burner.
Start nero. Make a bootable CD. Use the image of the floppy.

Boot your laptop using that CD. Put in the Windows 98 Cd. Install.

PM me if need clarification...

 

[Abhi]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=32&threadid=1148685&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=arc

Old thread regarding the same..

 

[goosemold]

I appreciate the recent suggestions, and will follow up. For those who have suggested approaches that rely on booting from the cdrom, I have a basic problem, however. As I have explained, I have yet to get my laptop to recognize the cdrom drive when booting, its light has yet to come on, no spinning, nothing. So I do not understand what you are suggesting. Am I missing something?

redbeard1, your suggestion sounds intriguing, and I will pursue it.

 

[goosemold]

I appreciate the recent suggestions, and will follow up. For those who have suggested approaches that rely on booting from the cdrom, I have a basic problem, however. As I have explained, I have yet to get my laptop to recognize the cdrom drive when booting, its light has yet to come on, no spinning, nothing. So I do not understand what you are suggesting. Am I missing something?

redbeard1, your suggestion sounds intriguing, and I will pursue it.

 

[Abhi]

I guess the CD ROM is not in the boot sequence... or in there much later..

If only you had that BIOS password...

 

[Abhi]

uh.... just had an idea.... somebody correct me if i am wrong...

Boot using the floppy...

format c:

type "sys a: c:" (to copy the system files to the hdd)

Copy all the files from the floppy to the HDD, in effect giving it all abilities of the startup disk ... (including auto detect of the CD rom).

Put in the CD Drive.. and reboot...

It *should* work...

 

[goosemold]

I haven't implemented redbeard1's suggestion yet, but let me add a couple of observations. When I reformatted the c: drive initially, from NTFS to FAT32, and each time since, it seems to report a disk size around 4 MB. MB, not GB. Is there a DOS command to confirm the disk capacity after format? The dir command seems to indicate around 4 MB.