How do I install Windows on a Laptop using External Cd Drive?

[EvolZx6R]

I have an old Sony Vaio Notebook PCG-R505TL . Both cd-rom and floppy are external. I reformmated the Hard drive and reinstalled Windows Xp on my desktop using an IDE adapter and reinstalled the Hard Drive in my laptop. Windows boots on my desktop but not my laptop. When I power up I get a No Operating System message (black screen). I heard the reason Windows isnt booting up is because of the difference in BIOS between my desktop and laptop. The bios on the laptop doesnt give me the option to boot from anything that connects via usb. The laptop recognizes the drive is installed.

So to wrap it up. Bios says the HD is installed but doesnt boot windows. Bios will not allow booting from anything other than the HD itself.

My question is how do I reformat the Vaio and reinstall Windows with the hard drive is in my laptop without an internal Cd drive?

 

[EvolZx6R]

Sony's Answer

I copied and pasted my earlier post and emailed it to Sony.
This is what they suggest I do.

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/autoresponse.asp?id=151155

The PCGA DVD51 DVD51/A are not supported for use with this notebook. The
optional PCGA DSD5 DSM5 Transport Docking Station or another 100% ATAPI
compliant CD/DVD drive must be used.

 

[patio]

Does the laptop boot from a floppy ? ?
If so i would dload a WinME disk from bootdisk.com first off.
Then hook up your laptop drive to the IDE connector and copy the i386 folder to a dir on the laptop drive.Name it i386.
Then re-install the laptop drive, re-boot with the floppy. At the A: prompt type C: and hit Enter. Then type cd\i386 and hit Enter.
At the i386 prompt type setup and hit Enter. Your XP setup should now run.

Hope this helps.

patio.

 

[EvolZx6R]

Cant boot from anything external

Bios wont let me boot from anything via USB. Both Floppy and CD-Drive are external and connect via USB so a bootdisk isnt an option.

 

[EvolZx6R]

Progress

So I made a bootable CD to get my computer to reach DOS. I can do the partitioning and formatting no problem. How Do I Copy the I386 Folder, the laptop drivers, graphic drivers, and the AVG Install file?

 

[DelJo63]

The scenario of

remove hd from system-A
install hd in system-B as a slave
install OS on the slave
remove slave and reinstall in system-A​

is most likely to fail every time. The mother boards are usually different and the
OS that was created has the wrong drivers installed.

The approached you should have taken is to use the Restore CD that came with
the laptop.
If you can find it, get the HD partitioned NTFS and formated, then boot the
Recovery CD and restore.

 

[Josef Minde]

XP install by diskettes

If your laptop recognizes your diskette station, try to install XP trough diskettes.
Such diskettes can be found here.

 

[Surfer Sam]

Does the laptop boot from a floppy ? ?
If so i would dload a WinME disk from bootdisk.com first off.
Then hook up your laptop drive to the IDE connector and copy the i386 folder to a dir on the laptop drive.Name it i386.
Then re-install the laptop drive, re-boot with the floppy. At the A: prompt type C: and hit Enter. Then type cd\i386 and hit Enter.
At the i386 prompt type setup and hit Enter. Your XP setup should now run.

Hope this helps.

patio.

How do I copy i386 in dos form cd-rom to the hd.

Thanks in advance, Sam

 

[EvolZx6R]

Installing 386 Folder

Sam you need to have a bootdisk (98SE works) installed in your floppy and make sure your bios is setup to boot from the floppy. Once your computer boots from the bootdisk you should be brought to DOS. It's at this point you can partition your laptop hard drive using FDISK and format your C drive using format C: /s command. Once your partitions are formatted (fat 32) you can type in the location of your CD Drive and type the command COPY "whatever drive your XP is in:\i386 d: . So for me it would be COPY F:\i386 D: .This will get your xp files on the D partition of your laptop. The copying process took three hours so make sure you have somethingelse to do. :giddy:

After installing the i386 directory shutdown your pc and install the laptop hard drive back in the original laptop. Boot that badboy up and it should take you to the C: prompt. Run the XP setup by typing the command C:|i386\setup.

Hope this helps

 

[Surfer Sam]

I'll try it out.

Thanks Surfer Sam.