As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Tricky XP resintall

lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
OK, my brother has a notebook that seems to have some kind of malware on it. I'd like to nuke the OS and start over but

1 He seems to have lost his recovery or OS disk that came with it.

2. The DVD-drive doesn't work. Won't read the data or music disks. Nothing. So I can't boot off one of the disks I have from another computer but use the product key from the sticker on his.

3. So I tried sharing the CD-ROM from my own laptop over the network. This works but when I run the setup off the DVD it refuses to do a reinstall because the version on the disk is older than that on the computer. The solution it offers is to boot off the disk and do the install that way. Not going to happen.

4. No profit.



So a couple questions. Any quick tricks to boot off a shared drive in XP? What are the chances that a reinstall would fix the DVD drive? If there is something wrong with it physically then I'm guessing he should just buy a new laptop since this one is old enough to have a P4 in it.

steam_sig.png
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
lowlylowlycook on

Posts

  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    edited February 2009
    See if you can download the laptop's DVD driver onto a USB drive and install that. Might fix it.

    TL DR on
  • exoplasmexoplasm Gainfully Employed Near Blizzard HQRegistered User regular
    edited February 2009
    I think you can boot XP setup from a USB thumb drive. It'll require some advanced technical know-how (read: the ability to follow directions, and how to google). I've never done it myself, though.

    exoplasm on
    1029386-1.png
    SC2 NA: exoplasm.519 | PA SC2 Mumble Server | My Website | My Stream
  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    edited February 2009
    I've never done that. Let me know if you use the USB boot technique and it works. Don't forget to allow USB boot devices in your BIOS.

    TL DR on
  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Well I found this explanation of the USB drive trick.

    Current plan is to try to burn a Windows 7 disk and see if I can install that.

    lowlylowlycook on
    steam_sig.png
    (Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
  • shadydentistshadydentist Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    A lot of notebooks come with a windows install partition. What make is it?

    shadydentist on
    Steam & GT
    steam_sig.png
    GT: Tanky the Tank
    Black: 1377 6749 7425
  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    A lot of notebooks come with a windows install partition. What make is it?

    Compaq Presario R3000. According to the Help/Advice and their support info you need the disk. I think it's a bit too old for having the partition.

    Would love to be wrong. heh.

    lowlylowlycook on
    steam_sig.png
    (Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Well, installing Windows 7 through the shared drive worked like a charm. But the drive still won't read anything. Looks like my brother gets to buy a new comp.

    Thanks to everyone that tried to help.

    lowlylowlycook on
    steam_sig.png
    (Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
  • exoplasmexoplasm Gainfully Employed Near Blizzard HQRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
    You can always buy a new DVD drive for a laptop on Newegg.

    exoplasm on
    1029386-1.png
    SC2 NA: exoplasm.519 | PA SC2 Mumble Server | My Website | My Stream
  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    The drive wouldn't happen to be disabled in BIOS, or anything happy like that, would it?

    Frem on
  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Frem wrote: »
    The drive wouldn't happen to be disabled in BIOS, or anything happy like that, would it?

    Well it used to work and if I said the word BIOS to my brother or his wife their eyes would glaze over. Furthermore when I did take a glance at the boot order, I didn't notice very many options at all. Still I should take another look.


    Oh and where do they hide the laptop drives at Newegg? I only saw external or Desktop versions.

    lowlylowlycook on
    steam_sig.png
    (Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
  • exoplasmexoplasm Gainfully Employed Near Blizzard HQRegistered User regular
    edited March 2009
  • lowlylowlycooklowlylowlycook Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Ah, thanks!

    lowlylowlycook on
    steam_sig.png
    (Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Sign In or Register to comment.