Laptop won't boot, how do I make a bootable CD from my desktop?

macx

Posts: 720   +3
I read thru the stickies at the top and am, basically, lost.

It's an old HP Compaq nc8230 with XPsp3.

I haven't been using it much lately, last time was over a month ago.

I plugged it in to power to let it charge awhile.

I then hit the start button and the on light comes on and stays on,
and once in awhile I get a brief hp logo on the screen when I try
starting, but then the screen goes dark again.

I've got the Windows XP CD and tried starting with that in the machine,
but nothing happened.

Can I take something off my desktop (also XPsp3) onto either a CD or
onto my portable USB HD to make it boot?

I would need pretty explicit step by step instructions.

Thanks!

PS - I looked again at the thing about putting the HD into a portable HD case -
I have a small portable HD that I took the cover off of and I see it's a standard
lapop HD apparently. But then got the HD out of the laptop and I see it's a
different kind of connector.
 
The HDD in a laptop is 2.5. In a desktop it is 3.5, so an enclosure for a desktop 3.5 HDD cannot take a 2.5
Additionally one may be SATA and one maybe IDE/PATA the one in your laptop is ore than likely NOT SATA.

First thing to try is to disconnect the battery and boot on power only.

Second thing to try is F8 after first post scren and see if it will boot to Safe mode.

Third thing to try is go to setup, it will tell you on post scren which key is setup, you only have a split second to press it, if you miss it the first time, boot again. In setup make sure CD is the first boot device and then try with the XO CD in.
 
Further to the above, this I think is your hard drive
Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 60GB 7200 RPM hard drive/

If all the above fails, we need to test the drive.here is the utility from Hitachi and the instructions are on the site
This will boot from dos and therefore can be run irrpestive of the fact that you cannot load windows.
http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/
 
Thanks for the info!

My laptop drive is indeed a Hitachi Travelstart 60 GB, but I believe I saw it's 5400 rpm.

And my portable HD is a SATA, the one in the laptop is not, hence not being able to
put it in the encl.

I haven't had problems like this for some time, so had forgotten about the F8 thing.

AFter reading the stickies, I recalled that and tried it, and it came alive, so was able to
select "start windows in normal mode" and, holding my breath, it all came back.

Needless to say the first thing I did was copy all my data onto my portable drive and
from there into one of the big HD's on my desktop. I had done that before, but was a
little while and wanted to make sure I had everything. I can sort out the duplicates later.

I still would like to know how to make a boot disc in case something happens later, or
does the Windows CD function as a boot disc?

Thanks much!
 
The XP CD is bootable and should give you access to the Recovery Console or the Repair installation.
HOWEVER it is not quite as easy as that as the Repair installation requires that the CD is the same version as on the computer. ie: Home to Home and P:rofessional to Professional, but ALSO SP3 to SP3
So if your installation is XP SP3 the CD must be XP SP3 to use it as a repair installation.

If you look at my post - Recover your data - on this forum you will find a very useful program for recovering your data if ever Windows will not load.

OR if your external drive is Western Digital by any chance you can use their version of Acronis True Image, create a complete image and simply use that. There is of course other imaging software available.

Here is the link to my guide.
https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic155947.html
 
I've been running XP for quite some time so my CD does not contain the SP updates.

I tried booting with the CD in the player but nothing happened. The CD spun, but
didn't boot it.

Of course with a black screen I couldn't change Setup to make it boot from CD.

Once out perhaps a half dozen times trying to boot I'd get a very brief flash of the HP
logo, and understand now that if I had hit the correct F key during that brief flash I could
have gone into setup to designate first boot attempt from the CD.

So - back to the question of how to make a CD from which I can boot if it becomes
necessary in the future.

Thanks!
 
I appreciate the question, but the answer is, as I said.
The XP CD is bootable.
If you are looking for a CD with which to repair windows and access your data, then dealing with the latter aspect first - the easiest way of retrieving your data is the puppy linux I sent you ther link for.. It also has other capabilities depending on your level of knowledge.

If you are looking to use the XP CD then slipstream the CD and SP3 to a new CD. The instructions using NLite and an ISO burning program are available on this site or on many results with a simple google search.

If you are looking for a way of loading windows when it will not then the questions and answers are endless. For the simple reason it depends why it will not load..
For instance if it is no more then the boot files then you can usually get away with an XP startup floppy.. NOT a Dos floppy but an XP one copying the boot.ini NTLDR etc to a floppy. Google it if you do not know how.

Or you can make yourself the UBCD4Win. If you do not know what I mean search on this site or Google that..

Or you can make yourself a Hirens boot CD. (NOTE on many sites this is a banned subject as it contains unlicensed software) On other sites I work on just me mentioning it would have got myself a penalty point warning, immediately. However on here the atmosphere is a little more relaxed.
Search the site you will find ample instructions for HIrens. Usually that will boot any computer with XP and contains a MIniCP to acess your XP just as though you were in YOUR actaul XP as normal.

So the question is EASY to ask, the answer is more difficult.
 
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