I/O Device Error

In ,
BillW50 typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:59:40 -0500:
In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:20:25 +0000 (UTC):
I assume that right now I've got a dual boot loader on the XP drive,
but no MBR for this drive and the XP install did not make it an
active partition, while the Win2K still has it's original boot
loader, and MBR.

I'm thinking that the Windows 2000 drive has the MBR and loader. While
the XP drive just has XP and that is all. The XP drive could be
active, but a reinstall as the only drive would make it so anyway.

I should explain.about a partition being active. Up to Windows XP, only
one partition per drive can be active. And you can have up to four
primary partitions per physical hard drive. And only one can be active
at boot. Usually you set one and leave it alone. The active one has the
loader on them. Which usually includes the boot menu.

The boot part is the first sector of a hard drive. Which is outside of
any partition. It is like its own partition in itself. As it holds the
MBR, disk type, and partition info. Nobody calls it a partition though.
Just the first sector on the drive.

Your second hard drive, all of the same can be said. As it could also
have a boot, loader, and OS too. And up to four primary partitions as
well. And one of them could be set as active. But normally the boot and
the loader is completely ignored (if it exists). As the first (master)
drive is used for the boot and loader.

The exception is if you reverse the slave and master. Now it is
reversed. Also some BIOS, you can select which drive you want to boot
from. And some will allow you to boot from the slave instead of the
master. So it is reversed without physically doing anything.

So when I say your XP drive could be set to being active, now you should
know what I mean. Another physical drive can have an active partition.
Although it means nothing unless it is the drive that is being booted
from.

--
Bill
Windows XP SP2 (5.1.2600)
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC

"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:20:25 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:53:56 +0000 (UTC):
Hi,

I only want to run XP, off of C, and I don't mind doing another
install. I don't care about Windows 2000. I do have lots of
Windows 9x startup floppies around. I used a 98SE startup floppy
last night to try some things, and I also have ntdetect, ntldr,
etc, on floppy.

My problem is that even with a startup floppy, when it eventually
wants me to insert the XP cd into the CD-ROM, and I do, my CD-ROM
then says insert a floppy in A and press any key, instead of
starting the XP install.

I may try the 6 floppy startup set. If I could only get this thing
to boot from CD, but even with the BIOS set properly, it ends up
looking to A. Hmmmmm...???

Okay no problem. Delete all files and folders on the XP drive. Or
format it would be far quicker (use FAT32 so DOS can see it, you can
convert to NTFS later if you want). Still with the Windows 2000 hard
drive installed, copy the i386 folder from the XP install CD to the
XP drive. So that is all is on there now, right? Remove the CD and
you don't need it anymore.

Power down and remove the Windows 2000 drive. Setup the XP drive as
master and change the cable.

Now bootup one of those Windows 98 Startup disks. Log on to the C
drive and cd (change directory) over to the i386 folder. Now run
ntwin and XP will install. This method works without the XP CD. Once
XP is up and running, delete this i386 folder.

Now you should be all set except for all of the drivers like sound
card, video, modem, etc. Usually the manufactures website is the
place to get those. They might not have XP drivers though. So this
might be a little tricky. But Windows 2000 drivers usually works for
XP too and you got that up and running. So that is a good sign.
vbg


I'm going to try this tonight when I get home. Your instructions are
very clear.

Sounds good.

I assume that right now I've got a dual boot loader on the XP drive,
but no MBR for this drive and the XP install did not make it an
active partition, while the Win2K still has it's original boot
loader, and MBR.

I'm thinking that the Windows 2000 drive has the MBR and loader. While
the XP drive just has XP and that is all. The XP drive could be
active, but a reinstall as the only drive would make it so anyway.

I'll format the XP drive FAT32. When I get to installing XP from the
i386 folder by running ntwin, I guess this is where I can change to
NTFS when I'm asked to format.

I'm thinking that formatting it to NTFS won't work since the install
files are on this drive too. But you can convert to NTFS much later
anyway.

The problem is your CD drive can't boot. Thus why you are copying the
i386 folder over to the hard drive. If you can see the CD after
booting with a Windows 98 Startup disk, you don't need to copy the
i386 folder over. Just run ntwin from there. That should work if you
can see it. Then you can format the drive as NTFS now as you need
nothing off of the XP drive now.

Will this partition automatically be marked as active, since it's the
only one on the machine with and OS?

Thanks again.

Yes, a reinstall with this drive the only one will take care of this
and everything else.


I didn't have any luck last night. Here's how it went.

Win2K as master, new hard drive as slave (F)
I do a properties on F, and see it's an NTFS file system
Boot to Win2K, bring up Command prompt (Accessories)
format F:
done
copy the i386 folder on Win2000 drive to F: (used drag and drop)
power down
remove Win2K drive entirely
set up F (XP drive) as master; changed position on cable and jumper

Boot from a Win98SE floppy
log on to C:
check properties on XP drive, shows it has the i386 folder
shows NTFS file sytem (oh, o, but I try anyway)
log on to the i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but then says it cannot operate in DOS
only option is to exit

decide to try and run winnt directly from XP CD in CD-ROM
booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in CD-ROM
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says hard drive not large enough
only option is to exit


I figure I should try to reformat C: as FAT32, as originally wished
reformatted C: as large disk with FAT32 (of course wipes out i386 folder
on c booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in CD-ROM
properites on C: shows it's now FAT32
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I continue, lower right screen does show copying files
a minute later, doesn't show anymore files being copied, but does still
say in middle of screen that setup is copying files I wait 20 minutes,
no change, figure it'll be a long time since there's no smartdrv.exe go
to bed (3 hrs sleep the night before, and only 4 now available
tonight...but I digress g) this morning screen shows:

"The MS-DOS portion of setup is complete.
Setup will now restart your computer. After your computer restarts,
Windows XP setup will continue. Ifthere is a floppy in drive A:, remove
it now. Press enter to restart your computer and continue XP setup."

I remove floppy, and press enter.

Machine restarts
Invalid Boot Disk in A (there's nothing in A)

**** In hindsight, perhaps I should have now set BIOS to boot from IDE,
**** and see if XP setup starts from where it left off, but I now do:

power off
boot with Win98SE startup disk, CD support
log on to i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I exit, and come to work.

**** I'll try this tonight.


Thanks again for the help.

In ,
Boris typed on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:30:41 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:20:25 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:53:56 +0000 (UTC):
Hi,

I only want to run XP, off of C, and I don't mind doing another
install. I don't care about Windows 2000. I do have lots of
Windows 9x startup floppies around. I used a 98SE startup floppy
last night to try some things, and I also have ntdetect, ntldr,
etc, on floppy.

My problem is that even with a startup floppy, when it eventually
wants me to insert the XP cd into the CD-ROM, and I do, my CD-ROM
then says insert a floppy in A and press any key, instead of
starting the XP install.

I may try the 6 floppy startup set. If I could only get this
thing to boot from CD, but even with the BIOS set properly, it
ends up looking to A. Hmmmmm...???

Okay no problem. Delete all files and folders on the XP drive. Or
format it would be far quicker (use FAT32 so DOS can see it, you
can convert to NTFS later if you want). Still with the Windows
2000 hard drive installed, copy the i386 folder from the XP
install CD to the XP drive. So that is all is on there now, right?
Remove the CD and you don't need it anymore.

Power down and remove the Windows 2000 drive. Setup the XP drive as
master and change the cable.

Now bootup one of those Windows 98 Startup disks. Log on to the C
drive and cd (change directory) over to the i386 folder. Now run
ntwin and XP will install. This method works without the XP CD.
Once XP is up and running, delete this i386 folder.

Now you should be all set except for all of the drivers like sound
card, video, modem, etc. Usually the manufactures website is the
place to get those. They might not have XP drivers though. So this
might be a little tricky. But Windows 2000 drivers usually works
for XP too and you got that up and running. So that is a good sign.
vbg


I'm going to try this tonight when I get home. Your instructions
are very clear.

Sounds good.

I assume that right now I've got a dual boot loader on the XP drive,
but no MBR for this drive and the XP install did not make it an
active partition, while the Win2K still has it's original boot
loader, and MBR.

I'm thinking that the Windows 2000 drive has the MBR and loader.
While the XP drive just has XP and that is all. The XP drive could be
active, but a reinstall as the only drive would make it so anyway.

I'll format the XP drive FAT32. When I get to installing XP from
the i386 folder by running ntwin, I guess this is where I can
change to NTFS when I'm asked to format.

I'm thinking that formatting it to NTFS won't work since the install
files are on this drive too. But you can convert to NTFS much later
anyway.

The problem is your CD drive can't boot. Thus why you are copying the
i386 folder over to the hard drive. If you can see the CD after
booting with a Windows 98 Startup disk, you don't need to copy the
i386 folder over. Just run ntwin from there. That should work if you
can see it. Then you can format the drive as NTFS now as you need
nothing off of the XP drive now.

Will this partition automatically be marked as active, since it's
the only one on the machine with and OS?

Thanks again.

Yes, a reinstall with this drive the only one will take care of this
and everything else.


I didn't have any luck last night. Here's how it went.

Win2K as master, new hard drive as slave (F)
I do a properties on F, and see it's an NTFS file system
Boot to Win2K, bring up Command prompt (Accessories)
format F:
done
copy the i386 folder on Win2000 drive to F: (used drag and drop)
power down
remove Win2K drive entirely
set up F (XP drive) as master; changed position on cable and jumper

Boot from a Win98SE floppy
log on to C:
check properties on XP drive, shows it has the i386 folder
shows NTFS file sytem (oh, o, but I try anyway)
log on to the i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but then says it cannot operate in DOS
only option is to exit

Something is wrong! Windows 98SE Startup Disc can't read a NTFS
partition.

decide to try and run winnt directly from XP CD in CD-ROM
booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in CD-ROM
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says hard drive not large enough
only option is to exit

What is the size of this drive again?

I figure I should try to reformat C: as FAT32, as originally wished
reformatted C: as large disk with FAT32 (of course wipes out i386
folder on c booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in
CD-ROM properites on C: shows it's now FAT32
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I continue, lower right screen does show copying files
a minute later, doesn't show anymore files being copied, but does
still say in middle of screen that setup is copying files I wait 20
minutes, no change, figure it'll be a long time since there's no
smartdrv.exe go to bed (3 hrs sleep the night before, and only 4 now
available tonight...but I digress g) this morning screen shows:

Yes without smartdrv, Microsoft says it can take 24 hours to install XP.
Smartdrv is like virtual memory, swapfile, pagefile, etc. Without it, it
just takes a very longtime. I don't remember if the Windows 98 CD has
smartdrv or not. MS-DOS5 and 6 should have it. Plus it is available on
the Internet.

"The MS-DOS portion of setup is complete.
Setup will now restart your computer. After your computer restarts,
Windows XP setup will continue. Ifthere is a floppy in drive A:,
remove it now. Press enter to restart your computer and continue XP
setup."

I remove floppy, and press enter.

Machine restarts
Invalid Boot Disk in A (there's nothing in A)

**** In hindsight, perhaps I should have now set BIOS to boot from
IDE,
**** and see if XP setup starts from where it left off, but I now do:

power off
boot with Win98SE startup disk, CD support
log on to i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I exit, and come to work.

**** I'll try this tonight.


Thanks again for the help.

And what happened?

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2

"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:30:41 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:20:25 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:53:56 +0000 (UTC):
Hi,

I only want to run XP, off of C, and I don't mind doing another
install. I don't care about Windows 2000. I do have lots of
Windows 9x startup floppies around. I used a 98SE startup floppy
last night to try some things, and I also have ntdetect, ntldr,
etc, on floppy.

My problem is that even with a startup floppy, when it eventually
wants me to insert the XP cd into the CD-ROM, and I do, my CD-ROM
then says insert a floppy in A and press any key, instead of
starting the XP install.

I may try the 6 floppy startup set. If I could only get this
thing to boot from CD, but even with the BIOS set properly, it
ends up looking to A. Hmmmmm...???

Okay no problem. Delete all files and folders on the XP drive. Or
format it would be far quicker (use FAT32 so DOS can see it, you
can convert to NTFS later if you want). Still with the Windows
2000 hard drive installed, copy the i386 folder from the XP
install CD to the XP drive. So that is all is on there now, right?
Remove the CD and you don't need it anymore.

Power down and remove the Windows 2000 drive. Setup the XP drive
as master and change the cable.

Now bootup one of those Windows 98 Startup disks. Log on to the C
drive and cd (change directory) over to the i386 folder. Now run
ntwin and XP will install. This method works without the XP CD.
Once XP is up and running, delete this i386 folder.

Now you should be all set except for all of the drivers like sound
card, video, modem, etc. Usually the manufactures website is the
place to get those. They might not have XP drivers though. So this
might be a little tricky. But Windows 2000 drivers usually works
for XP too and you got that up and running. So that is a good
sign. vbg


I'm going to try this tonight when I get home. Your instructions
are very clear.

Sounds good.

I assume that right now I've got a dual boot loader on the XP
drive, but no MBR for this drive and the XP install did not make it
an active partition, while the Win2K still has it's original boot
loader, and MBR.

I'm thinking that the Windows 2000 drive has the MBR and loader.
While the XP drive just has XP and that is all. The XP drive could
be active, but a reinstall as the only drive would make it so
anyway.

I'll format the XP drive FAT32. When I get to installing XP from
the i386 folder by running ntwin, I guess this is where I can
change to NTFS when I'm asked to format.

I'm thinking that formatting it to NTFS won't work since the install
files are on this drive too. But you can convert to NTFS much later
anyway.

The problem is your CD drive can't boot. Thus why you are copying
the i386 folder over to the hard drive. If you can see the CD after
booting with a Windows 98 Startup disk, you don't need to copy the
i386 folder over. Just run ntwin from there. That should work if you
can see it. Then you can format the drive as NTFS now as you need
nothing off of the XP drive now.

Will this partition automatically be marked as active, since it's
the only one on the machine with and OS?

Thanks again.

Yes, a reinstall with this drive the only one will take care of this
and everything else.


I didn't have any luck last night. Here's how it went.

Win2K as master, new hard drive as slave (F)
I do a properties on F, and see it's an NTFS file system
Boot to Win2K, bring up Command prompt (Accessories)
format F:
done
copy the i386 folder on Win2000 drive to F: (used drag and drop)
power down
remove Win2K drive entirely
set up F (XP drive) as master; changed position on cable and jumper

Boot from a Win98SE floppy
log on to C:
check properties on XP drive, shows it has the i386 folder
shows NTFS file sytem (oh, o, but I try anyway)
log on to the i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but then says it cannot operate in DOS
only option is to exit

Something is wrong! Windows 98SE Startup Disc can't read a NTFS
partition.

decide to try and run winnt directly from XP CD in CD-ROM
booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in CD-ROM
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says hard drive not large enough
only option is to exit

What is the size of this drive again?

The hard drive is a 160GB WD, 8MB cache.



I figure I should try to reformat C: as FAT32, as originally wished
reformatted C: as large disk with FAT32 (of course wipes out i386
folder on c booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in
CD-ROM properites on C: shows it's now FAT32
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I continue, lower right screen does show copying files
a minute later, doesn't show anymore files being copied, but does
still say in middle of screen that setup is copying files I wait 20
minutes, no change, figure it'll be a long time since there's no
smartdrv.exe go to bed (3 hrs sleep the night before, and only 4 now
available tonight...but I digress g) this morning screen shows:

Yes without smartdrv, Microsoft says it can take 24 hours to install
XP. Smartdrv is like virtual memory, swapfile, pagefile, etc. Without
it, it just takes a very longtime. I don't remember if the Windows 98
CD has smartdrv or not. MS-DOS5 and 6 should have it. Plus it is
available on the Internet.

"The MS-DOS portion of setup is complete.
Setup will now restart your computer. After your computer restarts,
Windows XP setup will continue. Ifthere is a floppy in drive A:,
remove it now. Press enter to restart your computer and continue XP
setup."

I remove floppy, and press enter.

Machine restarts
Invalid Boot Disk in A (there's nothing in A)

**** In hindsight, perhaps I should have now set BIOS to boot from
IDE,
**** and see if XP setup starts from where it left off, but I now do:

power off
boot with Win98SE startup disk, CD support
log on to i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I exit, and come to work.

**** I'll try this tonight.


Thanks again for the help.

And what happened?

Hi, Bill,

I finally got it installed after 3 tries, using different tactics. I
can't remember the exact sequence of events that finally got XP
installed on the hard drive, but I took lots of notes as I proceeded,
because I didn't want to go down the same dead end twice. I'm at work,
but when I get home I'll write back.

This version was XP Pro, SP1a, so when finally installed, I also
installed SP3 from a CD I had made when SP3 came out. I use it to
update all my XP machines.

Some info...I did check to see that the XP CD was bootable on another
machine, and it was. I also installed a known good CD-ROM in this P4,
but the P4 still wouldn't boot from CD. I tried new cables, reinstalled
the secondary controller, etc., but nothing worked.

In ,
Boris typed on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:29:41 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:30:41 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:20:25 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
:

In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:53:56 +0000 (UTC):
Hi,

I only want to run XP, off of C, and I don't mind doing another
install. I don't care about Windows 2000. I do have lots of
Windows 9x startup floppies around. I used a 98SE startup
floppy last night to try some things, and I also have ntdetect,
ntldr, etc, on floppy.

My problem is that even with a startup floppy, when it
eventually wants me to insert the XP cd into the CD-ROM, and I
do, my CD-ROM then says insert a floppy in A and press any key,
instead of starting the XP install.

I may try the 6 floppy startup set. If I could only get this
thing to boot from CD, but even with the BIOS set properly, it
ends up looking to A. Hmmmmm...???

Okay no problem. Delete all files and folders on the XP drive. Or
format it would be far quicker (use FAT32 so DOS can see it, you
can convert to NTFS later if you want). Still with the Windows
2000 hard drive installed, copy the i386 folder from the XP
install CD to the XP drive. So that is all is on there now,
right? Remove the CD and you don't need it anymore.

Power down and remove the Windows 2000 drive. Setup the XP drive
as master and change the cable.

Now bootup one of those Windows 98 Startup disks. Log on to the C
drive and cd (change directory) over to the i386 folder. Now run
ntwin and XP will install. This method works without the XP CD.
Once XP is up and running, delete this i386 folder.

Now you should be all set except for all of the drivers like
sound card, video, modem, etc. Usually the manufactures website
is the place to get those. They might not have XP drivers
though. So this might be a little tricky. But Windows 2000
drivers usually works for XP too and you got that up and
running. So that is a good sign. vbg


I'm going to try this tonight when I get home. Your instructions
are very clear.

Sounds good.

I assume that right now I've got a dual boot loader on the XP
drive, but no MBR for this drive and the XP install did not make
it an active partition, while the Win2K still has it's original
boot loader, and MBR.

I'm thinking that the Windows 2000 drive has the MBR and loader.
While the XP drive just has XP and that is all. The XP drive could
be active, but a reinstall as the only drive would make it so
anyway.

I'll format the XP drive FAT32. When I get to installing XP from
the i386 folder by running ntwin, I guess this is where I can
change to NTFS when I'm asked to format.

I'm thinking that formatting it to NTFS won't work since the
install files are on this drive too. But you can convert to NTFS
much later anyway.

The problem is your CD drive can't boot. Thus why you are copying
the i386 folder over to the hard drive. If you can see the CD after
booting with a Windows 98 Startup disk, you don't need to copy the
i386 folder over. Just run ntwin from there. That should work if
you can see it. Then you can format the drive as NTFS now as you
need nothing off of the XP drive now.

Will this partition automatically be marked as active, since it's
the only one on the machine with and OS?

Thanks again.

Yes, a reinstall with this drive the only one will take care of
this and everything else.


I didn't have any luck last night. Here's how it went.

Win2K as master, new hard drive as slave (F)
I do a properties on F, and see it's an NTFS file system
Boot to Win2K, bring up Command prompt (Accessories)
format F:
done
copy the i386 folder on Win2000 drive to F: (used drag and drop)
power down
remove Win2K drive entirely
set up F (XP drive) as master; changed position on cable and jumper

Boot from a Win98SE floppy
log on to C:
check properties on XP drive, shows it has the i386 folder
shows NTFS file sytem (oh, o, but I try anyway)
log on to the i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but then says it cannot operate in DOS
only option is to exit

Something is wrong! Windows 98SE Startup Disc can't read a NTFS
partition.

decide to try and run winnt directly from XP CD in CD-ROM
booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in CD-ROM
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says hard drive not large enough
only option is to exit

What is the size of this drive again?

The hard drive is a 160GB WD, 8MB cache.



I figure I should try to reformat C: as FAT32, as originally wished
reformatted C: as large disk with FAT32 (of course wipes out i386
folder on c booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in
CD-ROM properites on C: shows it's now FAT32
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I continue, lower right screen does show copying files
a minute later, doesn't show anymore files being copied, but does
still say in middle of screen that setup is copying files I wait 20
minutes, no change, figure it'll be a long time since there's no
smartdrv.exe go to bed (3 hrs sleep the night before, and only 4 now
available tonight...but I digress g) this morning screen shows:

Yes without smartdrv, Microsoft says it can take 24 hours to install
XP. Smartdrv is like virtual memory, swapfile, pagefile, etc. Without
it, it just takes a very longtime. I don't remember if the Windows 98
CD has smartdrv or not. MS-DOS5 and 6 should have it. Plus it is
available on the Internet.

"The MS-DOS portion of setup is complete.
Setup will now restart your computer. After your computer restarts,
Windows XP setup will continue. Ifthere is a floppy in drive A:,
remove it now. Press enter to restart your computer and continue XP
setup."

I remove floppy, and press enter.

Machine restarts
Invalid Boot Disk in A (there's nothing in A)

**** In hindsight, perhaps I should have now set BIOS to boot from
IDE,
**** and see if XP setup starts from where it left off, but I now
do:

power off
boot with Win98SE startup disk, CD support
log on to i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I exit, and come to work.

**** I'll try this tonight.


Thanks again for the help.

And what happened?

Hi, Bill,

I finally got it installed after 3 tries, using different tactics. I
can't remember the exact sequence of events that finally got XP
installed on the hard drive, but I took lots of notes as I proceeded,
because I didn't want to go down the same dead end twice. I'm at
work, but when I get home I'll write back.

This version was XP Pro, SP1a, so when finally installed, I also
installed SP3 from a CD I had made when SP3 came out. I use it to
update all my XP machines.

Some info...I did check to see that the XP CD was bootable on another
machine, and it was. I also installed a known good CD-ROM in this P4,
but the P4 still wouldn't boot from CD. I tried new cables,
reinstalled the secondary controller, etc., but nothing worked.

Okay it is all making sense now. The BIOS is old and doesn't seem to
support booting from the CD drive for one. Secondly the BIOS is too old
to see 160GB hard drives. And old Windows XP versions can't help since
they can't see anything that large either. Although a patched or SP2 or
SP3 XP should be able too.

--
Bill
Windows XP SP2 (5.1.2600)
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC

"BillW50" wrote in
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In ,
Boris typed on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:29:41 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
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In ,
Boris typed on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:30:41 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
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In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:20:25 +0000 (UTC):
"BillW50" wrote in
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In ,
Boris typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:53:56 +0000 (UTC):
Hi,

I only want to run XP, off of C, and I don't mind doing another
install. I don't care about Windows 2000. I do have lots of
Windows 9x startup floppies around. I used a 98SE startup
floppy last night to try some things, and I also have ntdetect,
ntldr, etc, on floppy.

My problem is that even with a startup floppy, when it
eventually wants me to insert the XP cd into the CD-ROM, and I
do, my CD-ROM then says insert a floppy in A and press any key,
instead of starting the XP install.

I may try the 6 floppy startup set. If I could only get this
thing to boot from CD, but even with the BIOS set properly, it
ends up looking to A. Hmmmmm...???

Okay no problem. Delete all files and folders on the XP drive.
Or format it would be far quicker (use FAT32 so DOS can see it,
you can convert to NTFS later if you want). Still with the
Windows 2000 hard drive installed, copy the i386 folder from the
XP install CD to the XP drive. So that is all is on there now,
right? Remove the CD and you don't need it anymore.

Power down and remove the Windows 2000 drive. Setup the XP drive
as master and change the cable.

Now bootup one of those Windows 98 Startup disks. Log on to the
C drive and cd (change directory) over to the i386 folder. Now
run ntwin and XP will install. This method works without the XP
CD. Once XP is up and running, delete this i386 folder.

Now you should be all set except for all of the drivers like
sound card, video, modem, etc. Usually the manufactures website
is the place to get those. They might not have XP drivers
though. So this might be a little tricky. But Windows 2000
drivers usually works for XP too and you got that up and
running. So that is a good sign. vbg


I'm going to try this tonight when I get home. Your instructions
are very clear.

Sounds good.

I assume that right now I've got a dual boot loader on the XP
drive, but no MBR for this drive and the XP install did not make
it an active partition, while the Win2K still has it's original
boot loader, and MBR.

I'm thinking that the Windows 2000 drive has the MBR and loader.
While the XP drive just has XP and that is all. The XP drive could
be active, but a reinstall as the only drive would make it so
anyway.

I'll format the XP drive FAT32. When I get to installing XP from
the i386 folder by running ntwin, I guess this is where I can
change to NTFS when I'm asked to format.

I'm thinking that formatting it to NTFS won't work since the
install files are on this drive too. But you can convert to NTFS
much later anyway.

The problem is your CD drive can't boot. Thus why you are copying
the i386 folder over to the hard drive. If you can see the CD
after booting with a Windows 98 Startup disk, you don't need to
copy the i386 folder over. Just run ntwin from there. That should
work if you can see it. Then you can format the drive as NTFS now
as you need nothing off of the XP drive now.

Will this partition automatically be marked as active, since it's
the only one on the machine with and OS?

Thanks again.

Yes, a reinstall with this drive the only one will take care of
this and everything else.


I didn't have any luck last night. Here's how it went.

Win2K as master, new hard drive as slave (F)
I do a properties on F, and see it's an NTFS file system
Boot to Win2K, bring up Command prompt (Accessories)
format F:
done
copy the i386 folder on Win2000 drive to F: (used drag and drop)
power down
remove Win2K drive entirely
set up F (XP drive) as master; changed position on cable and jumper

Boot from a Win98SE floppy
log on to C:
check properties on XP drive, shows it has the i386 folder
shows NTFS file sytem (oh, o, but I try anyway)
log on to the i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but then says it cannot operate in DOS
only option is to exit

Something is wrong! Windows 98SE Startup Disc can't read a NTFS
partition.

decide to try and run winnt directly from XP CD in CD-ROM
booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in CD-ROM
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says hard drive not large enough
only option is to exit

What is the size of this drive again?

The hard drive is a 160GB WD, 8MB cache.



I figure I should try to reformat C: as FAT32, as originally wished
reformatted C: as large disk with FAT32 (of course wipes out i386
folder on c booted with Win98SE floppy, CD support, with XP CD in
CD-ROM properites on C: shows it's now FAT32
log on to i386 folder on XP CD
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I continue, lower right screen does show copying files
a minute later, doesn't show anymore files being copied, but does
still say in middle of screen that setup is copying files I wait 20
minutes, no change, figure it'll be a long time since there's no
smartdrv.exe go to bed (3 hrs sleep the night before, and only 4
now available tonight...but I digress g) this morning screen
shows:

Yes without smartdrv, Microsoft says it can take 24 hours to install
XP. Smartdrv is like virtual memory, swapfile, pagefile, etc.
Without it, it just takes a very longtime. I don't remember if the
Windows 98 CD has smartdrv or not. MS-DOS5 and 6 should have it.
Plus it is available on the Internet.

"The MS-DOS portion of setup is complete.
Setup will now restart your computer. After your computer
restarts, Windows XP setup will continue. Ifthere is a floppy in
drive A:, remove it now. Press enter to restart your computer and
continue XP setup."

I remove floppy, and press enter.

Machine restarts
Invalid Boot Disk in A (there's nothing in A)

**** In hindsight, perhaps I should have now set BIOS to boot from
IDE,
**** and see if XP setup starts from where it left off, but I now
do:

power off
boot with Win98SE startup disk, CD support
log on to i386 folder
type winnt
XP setup starts, but now says there's no smartdrv.exe on the system
I can either exit, or continue without smartdrv
I exit, and come to work.

**** I'll try this tonight.


Thanks again for the help.

And what happened?

Hi, Bill,

I finally got it installed after 3 tries, using different tactics. I
can't remember the exact sequence of events that finally got XP
installed on the hard drive, but I took lots of notes as I proceeded,
because I didn't want to go down the same dead end twice. I'm at
work, but when I get home I'll write back.

This version was XP Pro, SP1a, so when finally installed, I also
installed SP3 from a CD I had made when SP3 came out. I use it to
update all my XP machines.

Some info...I did check to see that the XP CD was bootable on another
machine, and it was. I also installed a known good CD-ROM in this
P4, but the P4 still wouldn't boot from CD. I tried new cables,
reinstalled the secondary controller, etc., but nothing worked.

Okay it is all making sense now. The BIOS is old and doesn't seem to
support booting from the CD drive for one. Secondly the BIOS is too
old to see 160GB hard drives. And old Windows XP versions can't help
since they can't see anything that large either. Although a patched or
SP2 or SP3 XP should be able too.


OK. I have my notes, sort of sketchy, but here's what I did. As I go
over them, it turns out your suggestion is basically what worked for me.

What I was trying to do was install XP Pro, SP1a, from CD, onto a (used)
Western Digital 160GB, 8MB cache, hard drive. The Gateway P4 already
had Windows 2000 Pro installed on an 80GB drive, and was running fine.

removed the 80GB drive
connected 160GB drive to primary IDE channel,as single drive
the only CD-ROM was connected to seconday IDE channel as single drive
there is a floppy drive

set BIOS to start from floppy, then hard drive
put Win98SE Startup disk into floppy
started machine
Win98SE Startup floppy installed ramdrive
executed FDISK and created DOS primary partition on 160 GB hard drive
activated DOS partition
executed FORMAT
created large FAT32 partition
put Windows XP Pro CD in CD-ROM
logged onto i386 folder
executed 'winnt'
Windows XP Pro Setup began
told me I didn't have smartdrv.exe, and would take a while
I continued without smartdrv.exe
copied some files, and then took another 2 hours to get to:

Then:
"The MS DOS portion of Setup is complete
Remove floppy A and hit enter.
Windows Setup will continue."

I removed floppy A
Hit Enter
I got, "Invalid boot disk, please insert boot disk into A"

Floppy was still out

I restarted the machine, which was set to boot from hard drive after the
floppy

C came up
C showed:
$LDR$ 245,920
$WIN_NT$ ~BT DIR
$WIN_NT$ ~LS DIR
COMMAND COM 93,880
NTDETECT COM 47,580
NTLDR 233,632
TXTSETUP SIF 454,830

5 file(s) 1,075,842 bytes
2 dir(s) 130,568,660 MB free

I restarted and went into BIOS
I reset BIOS to boot from IDE
I rebooted

Windows XP Pro Setup began where it left off
allowed me to convert FAT32 to NTFS
the machine restarted a few times
the Windows XP Pro licensing screen came up!

The install finished successfully.

My video was poor. When moving windows across the screen, they moved
really slow, like they were 'stickey'.

My audio was warbly.

I installed SP3, and all problems were solved.

I made an XP Startup floppy.

Machine is working fine, but still won't boot from CD. I could do a
reset on the BIOS via a jumper on the motherboard, but think I'll leave
well enough alone.