Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

My laptop's internal DVD player stopped working a year or more ago. It
is not a software problem but hardware that was confirmed already. Now
my laptop will not boot. The battery is dead and the cord became
unplugged from the transformer as it was starting up. Now it asks for
the A drive floppy disk but cannot get back to C drive. Am I screwed?
I can't get it to boot in safe mode or any way other than the start up
98 floppy. The external USB drive is an Iomega. Is there a way to use
the boot floppy with added USB CD drivers for the Iomega on it to get
it to work and if so what would I need to do? How would I put the
drivers on the floppy? I also have a backpack external parallel CD-Rom
drive that also can be run from a PCMCA card I have. Would I have a
better chance of using the Windows 98 CD with it through that type of
interface? Or is my only option to try to track down and buy a CD-Rom
for the inside of the computer. I tried running scandisk with the
floppy booted up but it said something like could not find the boot
log for C drive.

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

DJW wrote:
My laptop's internal DVD player stopped working a year or more ago. It
is not a software problem but hardware that was confirmed already. Now
my laptop will not boot. The battery is dead and the cord became
unplugged from the transformer as it was starting up. Now it asks for
the A drive floppy disk but cannot get back to C drive. Am I screwed?
I can't get it to boot in safe mode or any way other than the start up
98 floppy. The external USB drive is an Iomega. Is there a way to use
the boot floppy with added USB CD drivers for the Iomega on it to get
it to work and if so what would I need to do? How would I put the
drivers on the floppy? I also have a backpack external parallel CD-Rom
drive that also can be run from a PCMCA card I have. Would I have a
better chance of using the Windows 98 CD with it through that type of
interface? Or is my only option to try to track down and buy a CD-Rom
for the inside of the computer. I tried running scandisk with the
floppy booted up but it said something like could not find the boot
log for C drive.

That's not a nice problem.
First check in the bios setup(Del or Esc, during boot) if there is a
hard disk recognized and the order the computer tries to boot from the
different media.
Iomega would have the drivers to install it under Dos, (your start-up
disk and you would have to load those drivers in config.sys (or edit
your config.sys so it will recognize the Iomega drive) and the usb port.
That might be the hard part here [ usb port ], no clue how to do that.
Running the external cd-rom, if you can install it(see the
manufacturer's web site I guess)
If you start up with the floppy disk and it can't find the Windows CD,
then you're at a dos prompt:something like this a:
You could try and type c: then "enter" if it accepts that you have a
hard disk. If you can get into the directory c:\windows\ [ c: cd
windows ] then a scan disk is possible from there. That might give you
some clue's what went wrong. [ c:\windows\ scandisk ]
Just for this kind of mishaps I have the windows install CD copied to
every hard drive I have, then I can always reinstall when needed.
Good luck.
Richard

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

"DJW" wrote in message
...
My laptop's internal DVD player stopped working a year or more ago. It
is not a software problem but hardware that was confirmed already. Now
my laptop will not boot. The battery is dead and the cord became
unplugged from the transformer as it was starting up. Now it asks for
the A drive floppy disk but cannot get back to C drive. Am I screwed?
I can't get it to boot in safe mode or any way other than the start up
98 floppy. The external USB drive is an Iomega. Is there a way to use
the boot floppy with added USB CD drivers for the Iomega on it to get
it to work and if so what would I need to do? How would I put the
drivers on the floppy? I also have a backpack external parallel CD-Rom
drive that also can be run from a PCMCA card I have. Would I have a
better chance of using the Windows 98 CD with it through that type of
interface? Or is my only option to try to track down and buy a CD-Rom
for the inside of the computer. I tried running scandisk with the
floppy booted up but it said something like could not find the boot
log for C drive.


Check the bios and be sure your HD is even detected
and of course listed as a boot option.
If your HD is not detected it has probably failed...
but to me it sounds like your bios setting may have been lost when the cord
was pulled

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

On Feb 18, 7:05 pm, "philo" wrote:
"DJW" wrote in message

...



My laptop's internal DVD player stopped working a year or more ago. It
is not a software problem but hardware that was confirmed already. Now
my laptop will not boot. The battery is dead and the cord became
unplugged from the transformer as it was starting up. Now it asks for
the A drive floppy disk but cannot get back to C drive. Am I screwed?
I can't get it to boot in safe mode or any way other than the start up
98 floppy. The external USB drive is an Iomega. Is there a way to use
the boot floppy with added USB CD drivers for the Iomega on it to get
it to work and if so what would I need to do? How would I put the
drivers on the floppy? I also have a backpack external parallel CD-Rom
drive that also can be run from a PCMCA card I have. Would I have a
better chance of using the Windows 98 CD with it through that type of
interface? Or is my only option to try to track down and buy a CD-Rom
for the inside of the computer. I tried running scandisk with the
floppy booted up but it said something like could not find the boot
log for C drive.

Check the bios and be sure your HD is even detected
and of course listed as a boot option.
If your HD is not detected it has probably failed...
but to me it sounds like your bios setting may have been lost when the cord
was pulled

The hard drive shows as detected being there and the boot order has CD
first then a then c. also because the CD is bad that is not detected
at startup. I brought up some screen that indeed shows the info about
the hard drive and it being there on the bus. Some time during the
startup it says the boot record for the hard drive is not found or
something to that fact. Would it help if I list here the exact wording
that the computer is telling me at startup?
One other thought I have a flash/jump drive would it be possible to
copy the win 98 installer CD to it and try to install with it. What
would be the a prompt I need to type in to get the USB to load? When
things were working it was D drive. In the boot order can I add drive
letters or is that just for IDE bus's items?

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

DJW wrote:
On Feb 18, 7:05 pm, "philo" wrote:
"DJW" wrote in message

...



My laptop's internal DVD player stopped working a year or more ago. It
is not a software problem but hardware that was confirmed already. Now
my laptop will not boot. The battery is dead and the cord became
unplugged from the transformer as it was starting up. Now it asks for
the A drive floppy disk but cannot get back to C drive. Am I screwed?
I can't get it to boot in safe mode or any way other than the start up
98 floppy. The external USB drive is an Iomega. Is there a way to use
the boot floppy with added USB CD drivers for the Iomega on it to get
it to work and if so what would I need to do? How would I put the
drivers on the floppy? I also have a backpack external parallel CD-Rom
drive that also can be run from a PCMCA card I have. Would I have a
better chance of using the Windows 98 CD with it through that type of
interface? Or is my only option to try to track down and buy a CD-Rom
for the inside of the computer. I tried running scandisk with the
floppy booted up but it said something like could not find the boot
log for C drive.
Check the bios and be sure your HD is even detected
and of course listed as a boot option.
If your HD is not detected it has probably failed...
but to me it sounds like your bios setting may have been lost when the cord
was pulled

The hard drive shows as detected being there and the boot order has CD
first then a then c. also because the CD is bad that is not detected
at startup. I brought up some screen that indeed shows the info about
the hard drive and it being there on the bus. Some time during the
startup it says the boot record for the hard drive is not found or
something to that fact. Would it help if I list here the exact wording
that the computer is telling me at startup?
One other thought I have a flash/jump drive would it be possible to
copy the win 98 installer CD to it and try to install with it. What
would be the a prompt I need to type in to get the USB to load? When
things were working it was D drive. In the boot order can I add drive
letters or is that just for IDE bus's items?

1) not really, your boot sector is toast.
2) you can list it here, but I don't think that it will hold the clue to
solve it
3) flash drive might work if your computer recognizes the usb port in an
early stage of the boot
4) you can only pick media that your computer registers at boot up.

If you start with the floppy, you have the options install windows
/command prompt only / with or without cd drive or something like that ?
Then you could choose command prompt only and you're left with a c:\
the Dos prompt. then you could type there [ scandisk /all ] to find
out what is wrong. or [ scandisk /? ] to see all your options.
If your start-up disk doesn't bring you there try a dos boot disk and
take the same solution.
Let us know how it goes/works

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

DJW wrote:
Snip
One other thought I have a flash/jump drive would it be possible to
copy the win 98 installer CD to it and try to install with it. What
would be the a prompt I need to type in to get the USB to load? When
things were working it was D drive. In the boot order can I add drive
letters or is that just for IDE bus's items?

DJW:

You can get access to a USB flash drive from a DOS boot floppy if you
load the drivers for it.

In your DOS config.sys file you need these lines

device=usbaspi.sys /w /v
device=di1000dd.sys

The /w switch causes the driver to pause so you can connect a USB device.
The /v switch causes the driver to give verbose messages.

And, of course, you need the referenced files on the boot disk as well.

Archive files that contain the drivers:

usb_dos_drivers.zip
http://www.toolsthatwork.com/downloa...os_drivers.zip

hd352u_dos.zip (The page is in Japanese but the file nanes are in
English.)
http://www.driver.novac.co.jp/driver...d352u_drv.html


If the boot floppy has FDISK and FORMAT on it, and the flash drive has
the Win98 install files on it you could then partition/format the HDD,
copy the install files to the HDD and them reinstall from the HDD.
Don't know how the install program would react to installing from the
flash drive.

HTH & GL

John


--
\\\||///
------------------o000----(o)(o)----000o----------------
----------------------------()--------------------------
'' Madness takes its toll - Please have exact change. ''

John Dulak - Gnomeway Services - http://tinyurl.com/2qs6o6

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

John Dulak wrote:
DJW wrote:
Snip
One other thought I have a flash/jump drive would it be possible to
copy the win 98 installer CD to it and try to install with it. What
would be the a prompt I need to type in to get the USB to load? When
things were working it was D drive. In the boot order can I add drive
letters or is that just for IDE bus's items?

DJW:

You can get access to a USB flash drive from a DOS boot floppy if you
load the drivers for it.

In your DOS config.sys file you need these lines

device=usbaspi.sys /w /v
device=di1000dd.sys

The /w switch causes the driver to pause so you can connect a USB device.
The /v switch causes the driver to give verbose messages.

And, of course, you need the referenced files on the boot disk as well.

Archive files that contain the drivers:

usb_dos_drivers.zip
http://www.toolsthatwork.com/downloa...os_drivers.zip

hd352u_dos.zip (The page is in Japanese but the file nanes are in English.)
http://www.driver.novac.co.jp/driver...d352u_drv.html


If the boot floppy has FDISK and FORMAT on it, and the flash drive has
the Win98 install files on it you could then partition/format the HDD,
copy the install files to the HDD and them reinstall from the HDD. Don't
know how the install program would react to installing from the flash
drive.

HTH & GL

John


Thanks John, never too old to learn something, just what I needed to get
an old laptop going again :)
DJW how are you getting along?

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

"DJW" wrote in message
...
On Feb 18, 7:05 pm, "philo" wrote:
"DJW" wrote in message

...



My laptop's internal DVD player stopped working a year or more ago. It
is not a software problem but hardware that was confirmed already. Now
my laptop will not boot. The battery is dead and the cord became
unplugged from the transformer as it was starting up. Now it asks for
the A drive floppy disk but cannot get back to C drive. Am I screwed?
I can't get it to boot in safe mode or any way other than the start up
98 floppy. The external USB drive is an Iomega. Is there a way to use
the boot floppy with added USB CD drivers for the Iomega on it to get
it to work and if so what would I need to do? How would I put the
drivers on the floppy? I also have a backpack external parallel CD-Rom
drive that also can be run from a PCMCA card I have. Would I have a
better chance of using the Windows 98 CD with it through that type of
interface? Or is my only option to try to track down and buy a CD-Rom
for the inside of the computer. I tried running scandisk with the
floppy booted up but it said something like could not find the boot
log for C drive.

Check the bios and be sure your HD is even detected
and of course listed as a boot option.
If your HD is not detected it has probably failed...
but to me it sounds like your bios setting may have been lost when the
cord
was pulled

The hard drive shows as detected being there and the boot order has CD
first then a then c. also because the CD is bad that is not detected
at startup. I brought up some screen that indeed shows the info about
the hard drive and it being there on the bus. Some time during the
startup it says the boot record for the hard drive is not found or
something to that fact. Would it help if I list here the exact wording
that the computer is telling me at startup?
One other thought I have a flash/jump drive would it be possible to
copy the win 98 installer CD to it and try to install with it. What
would be the a prompt I need to type in to get the USB to load? When
things were working it was D drive. In the boot order can I add drive
letters or is that just for IDE bus's items?


Ok...
just boot from your win98 floppy
then issue the command sys C:
that should fix the boot record

If your windows installation is good otherwise, you should boot up...
otherwise you will end with just the C: prompt

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

winfan :) wrote:

Thanks John, never too old to learn something, just what I needed to get
an old laptop going again :)

Winfan:

Glad it worked out for you. You can also use the drivers on a bootable
CD for laptops without a floppy.

John


--
\\\||///
------------------o000----(o)(o)----000o----------------
----------------------------()--------------------------
'' Madness takes its toll - Please have exact change. ''

John Dulak - Gnomeway Services - http://tinyurl.com/2qs6o6

Can I restore Windows 98 from an USB external CR-rom drive?
 

On Feb 20, 6:38 am, John Dulak wrote:
winfan :) wrote:
Thanks John, never too old to learn something, just what I needed to get
an old laptop going again :)

Winfan:

Glad it worked out for you. You can also use the drivers on a bootable
CD for laptops without a floppy.

John

--
\\\||///
------------------o000----(o)(o)----000o----------------
----------------------------()--------------------------
'' Madness takes its toll - Please have exact change. ''

John Dulak - Gnomeway Services -http://tinyurl.com/2qs6o6

Hey I am the guy with the problem not winfan! I did try to run
scandisk and it gave me a message that it could not do it not sure of
the wording. Could it be as easy to fix as
"just boot from your win98 floppy
then issue the command sys C:
that should fix the boot record "
do I do that at the a prompt?

When it comes to dos and its commands I am a novice I think for 10
bucks I can just replace the bad DVD player in my laptop with a CD_ROM
and hopefully do the windows reinstall like a normal person. Thanks
for all the help I am assuming the Win 98 install CD or boot floppy
will allow the new (used) CD-ROM to work if I reinstall 98 will all my
files and programs remain or should I just run Fdisk and wipe it clean
then do the install? I am due and have no files on the Hard drive I
need to keep anyway.