Help! Cant install winXP on my netbook.

[vene-nemesis]

Ive benn trying to intall winxp on my netbook, a Compaq mini 110, this whole week but im unable to.

Im doing it by means of the bootable USB, so far ive tried with an unatended version of winxp and a normal winxp sp3 and have had the same result with boht of them, once i plug the USB drive and start the computer the boot drive selection screen shows, i choose USB drive and then the screen goes black showing a blinking lower dash (like in DOS) and wont start the windows install.

Any ideas?


P.S.: I am loading the bootsec on the USB drive, following all the steps shown on many internet tutorials but cant go any further that the black screen.

[bassybill]

Try using a different USB drive - you may have seen this vid, but listen again to what he says about this process not working using some drives early on in the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vt_8p0VllY

[vene-nemesis]

How am i suposed to know that my drive is not the right one for it?

Ive used 2 drives so far, same results.

[jamswinna]

i'd just burn it as a bootable iso cd and go from there...

[vene-nemesis]

Originally Posted by jamswinna

i'd just burn it as a bootable iso cd and go from there...

Yeahm because netbooks come with cd drives...

[waleross]

I have an Iomega usb cd drive that I used to use to install programs, etc. I have (2) of those mini's made by Dell and with XP. In order to re-install XP, you'll have to use the
re-install disk with a usb powered CD drive .

[Thunderscreech]

get a USB CD drive

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by Thunderscreech

get a USB CD drive

Originally Posted by waleross

I have an Iomega usb cd drive that I used to use to install programs, etc. I have (2) of those mini's made by Dell and with XP. In order to re-install XP, you'll have to use the
re-install disk with a usb powered CD drive .

Assuming, of course, that you can boot from a CD drive connected via USB with this machine. You should be able to, I think. But that means getting another drive from somewhere, obviously. I still think you can do this from a stick - as that youtube vid shows. But perhaps not all sticks. Got any more you can try?

Originally Posted by vene-nemesis

How am i suposed to know that my drive is not the right one for it?

I don't know whether you're supposed to know, or not.

If you mean how do you tell whether it's your drive that's causing the problem, the answer is trial and error, I guess, like the guy who made the video. Or maybe see if you can get the exact same one he has?

[MIJ-VI]

There may be some clues in this:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01757458.pdf

[vene-nemesis]

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

There may be some clues in this:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01757458.pdf

That only works with backup images.

[vene-nemesis]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Assuming, of course, that you can boot from a CD drive connected via USB with this machine. You should be able to, I think. But that means getting another drive from somewhere, obviously. I still think you can do this from a stick - as that youtube vid shows. But perhaps not all sticks. Got any more you can try?



I don't know whether you're supposed to know, or not.

If you mean how do you tell whether it's your drive that's causing the problem, the answer is trial and error, I guess, like the guy who made the video. Or maybe see if you can get the exact same one he has?

A friend of mine had the same drive that guy has on the vid, i borrowed it and retried the whole process, same results.

[fdeck]

You could try using unetbootin on another computer to create a bootable Linux drive. I suggest Puppy Linux because it's small and quick. This would just be to see if your computer is capable of booting from USB.

[MIJ-VI]

BIOS settings?..

[Alucard817]

Ok this is what you do. First we need to find out a few things.

1 Check to make sure that the mini even has the option to install from a flash drive.
Not all motherboards support this feature.
Info should be in the manual.

If no You will have to get an external CD/DVD drive
If yes read on

2 Check in the BIOS. The flash drive should be set as the first drive to boot.
(This must be done or the system will boot per normal)
If not change the appropriate settings.

3 make sure you have the proper image of the OS your wanting to install. A simple .iso will not work, you must use a bootable drive image, just throwing install files on your USB drive will typically end in failure as well.

4 try this site and build a proper bootable drive.
http://www.ocia.net/articles/xpflashdrive/page1.shtml

[Buslady7803]

I was gonna say set the bios to boot at the drive the OS is on

[Martin89]

SP2 is the only version of XP that is bootable from a usb. So unless you have that you need an external optical drive. Or just use Ubuntu...

[Pilgrim]

When I bought my Acer netbook I bought a USB DVD drive on Ebay just for this kind of eventuality. They're under $50. I also wanted to echo the need to check the BIOS and make sure the USB port is in the path.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by vene-nemesis

A friend of mine had the same drive that guy has on the vid, i borrowed it and retried the whole process, same results. But thanks for posting the suggestions.

Don't mention it. Oh - you didn't.