Laptop Problem

[Thraxen]

I've got an old laptop that I'm trying to get running for a friend of mine. When it powers up it goes through it's memory checks (which are fine) and then when it goes to boot the OS a quick message pops up saying "Warning: Hibernation Disabled. No Partition found" and then it quickly goes to a messages that says, "Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key."

The problem is, even with a bootable floppy in the drive it does the same thing. The first warning pops up, then it says "Booting from floppy" and then the "Invalid System Disk" message pops up anyway. So am I just screwed here? It there anyway out of this other than yanking the HD and connecting it to another PC?

Thanks!

 

[Knight3058]

First of all, what kind of laptop is it, who made it, etc...
2nd of all, have you tried looking in the BIOS?
3rd...if neither of those give any clues, then pull the HDD if possible, and try booting off the floppy alone...

 

[Thraxen]

It's old. It's an HP Omnibook (P166). I can access the BIOS just fine and I've checked all the boot sequences and such, but nothing I've tried works. It you have any ideas of something I'd should check in the BIOS please let me know.

 

[Knight3058]

Unfortunatly I have not seen that BIOS setup, so I would not know exactly what to tell you, but like I said earlier, boot off the floppy with the hdd out of the system. see what happens, if it works, then you know it's the hdd most likely, if not, then the BIOS may be fried...if that is the case, check HPs webiste for a BIOS flash update...(hopefully they have one...I used to work for Dell, and they have one for almost all their old notebooks...)

Good luck!

Knight3058

 

[Thraxen]

OK, I got the laptop up and running. I had to format the HD and I installed Windows 3.1 since the laptop only has a floppy drive. Now, how would I go about installing Windows 98? I have a Windows 98 CD that I do not use anymore since I am currently running XP on my own machine. But, as mentioned, this thing has no CD drive. I have access to an external CD drive that can be connected via a parallel port. What will I need to do to get this drive to run under Windows 3.1? Thanks!

 

[Thraxen]

Just bumping this up. Anyone know if I can run a CD drive via the parallel port under Windows 3.1? Thanks!

 

[LiLithTecH]

You would be better off making a DOS Bootdisk with the
drivers for the parallel drive.

Trying to get to function under Win3.1 would not be fun.

Is a Backpack or similiar drive?

 

[Souka]

To upgrade to 98, do this.

Attach the parallel CD drive and put the 98 CD in.

Copy the D:\Win98 directory files (don't copy the sub-directories, you won't need them).
Put the files into a directory on your c: like C:\windows\cabs

Once that is done you can remove the CD drive and browse to the directory (C:\windows\cabs) and run the setup.exe program.

At this point it's a basic Win98 upgrade process....lotta questions. Will probably take you about 30-60 minutes. Make sure you have at least 200mb free HD space before beginning.


Good Luck!

 

[Thraxen]

Is a Backpack or similiar drive?

Yes, actually it is a Backpack. We have one at work.

 

[Souka]

Oh sorry, I thought you had the cd-rom drive working under Win3.1

Well, I did some looking. Backpack cd-rom is made by Microsolutions.....right?

If so, go HERE and there appears to be some 3.1 drivers available for download.

Look about a third of the way down under the section labeled "Other Backpack CD-ROM software."


Once you get the drive going, follow the directions above.

Good Luck!

 

[LiLithTecH]

I made a Bootdisk for the Parrallel Backpack that I use for older laptops.

BackPack Bootdisk

Just format a floppy with the System filesand unzip the Zip to the floppy.
If it asks to overwrite files answer yes when unzipping.

 

[Thraxen]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to try and dig out the Backpack drive tomorrow. It's in a box somewhere at work since we are about to move into a new building. I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully I should have everything working tomorrow or Saturday.