Can I get the ME install CD to only reformat the C partiti..

Really overwhelmed by all the helpful suggestions. Shane sent me an
email that, if I understood it correctly, might have a way to put
WinMeDos on my laptop HD by copying it over from an XP desktop. And
that this might enable me to get a DOS prompt when I boot the laptop.
If I could get a DOS prompt, then I could run setup from the ME
install CD that I previously copied to the D partition. That would be
the easiest and cheapest of all options to get this machine running
again.

You know, I must correct something I wrote earlier. Actually, the
fellow who previously installed Win ME on my laptop HD from another
computer did not put the HD into another laptop, but installed ME from
a laptop HD connector on an XP desktop. I wonder how he was able to do
that? Was it that the laptop HD was connected in such a way as to be a
slave to his desktop's C drive? I don't really know what "slave" drive
means, but that occurred to me as a possibility.

He did in fact install only the first stage of the install, the
"copying files" stage, then disconnected the laptop HD and put it in
my laptop, where it proceeded to detect my hardware upon restarting.

Bart, thanks for the suggestion but my laptop's CD drive does not
work, in addition to the nonfunctional floppy drive.

that's a great idea, mike. It's a hell of a lot easier to find someone
who will let me remove their full size HD and connect a converter for
my laptop HD, than to find someone willing to let me OPEN their laptop
and take the HD out, simply because desktops are MADE to be opened and
worked on easily, and laptops are not.

As long as I wouldn't have to do arcane stuff like set jumpers or
whatever, and it's a simple matter of switching the 3.5 inch HD for a
2.5" one on a converter, that will be my second choice if Shane's idea
of getting a DOS prompt onto my HD by copying it over doesn't work.

Mart No Spam,

Actually, on this laptop, the touchpad is broken, the keyboard is
broken, as well as the CD and floppy drives. And I don't use the modem
or any other stuff like PCMCIA or Ethernet, so don't need them to
function. All I need Windows to detect is the motherboard, serial
mouse, and to support an external PS2 keyboard, and the video driver,
which is pretty standard and should be on the install CD.

That wouldn't be too difficult for Windows to detect, in your scenario
of letting Windows install completely on the laptop HD in the other
fellow's computer, instead of only the "copying files" stage, followed
by transferral of the HD to my laptop for the rest of the install,
would it?

Sorry if that's rather awkwardly written...

There are cheap converters (US$3 or so) that allow a 2½" laptop IDE drive
to be connected to a full size desktop IDE connector. I use one of these
quite often and recently upgraded the disk drive on a number of laptops,
each time imaging the C: drive on the old laptop drive to the new drive
using BING and with the old and then new laptops drives connected to a
desktop PC running XP. I've used the laptop IDE connector/converter in
both an external USB enclosure and also a full size IDE caddy.

I see no reason why you shouldn't do the same given the relatively low
cost involved and the resulting easy solution to your problem which both
Shane and myself have already detailed.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby RemoveThis @gmail.com


Gumby <gumbygum RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:

> Really overwhelmed by all the helpful suggestions. Shane sent me an
> email that, if I understood it correctly, might have a way to put
> WinMeDos on my laptop HD by copying it over from an XP desktop. And
> that this might enable me to get a DOS prompt when I boot the laptop.
> If I could get a DOS prompt, then I could run setup from the ME
> install CD that I previously copied to the D partition. That would be
> the easiest and cheapest of all options to get this machine running
> again.
>
> You know, I must correct something I wrote earlier. Actually, the
> fellow who previously installed Win ME on my laptop HD from another
> computer did not put the HD into another laptop, but installed ME from
> a laptop HD connector on an XP desktop. I wonder how he was able to do
> that? Was it that the laptop HD was connected in such a way as to be a
> slave to his desktop's C drive? I don't really know what "slave" drive
> means, but that occurred to me as a possibility.
>
> He did in fact install only the first stage of the install, the
> "copying files" stage, then disconnected the laptop HD and put it in
> my laptop, where it proceeded to detect my hardware upon restarting.
>
> Bart, thanks for the suggestion but my laptop's CD drive does not
> work, in addition to the nonfunctional floppy drive.

Not always necessary to open up a desktop. I've got a cheap external box
that can be connected using either usb or firewire that can take anything
from a 5½" DVD writer, through a 3½" 1/3 height HD to a 2½" laptop drive.
My box comes with a basic IDE adapter which I then enhanced by buying at
around US$3 a pop an IDE/SATA adapter and an IDE/laptop IDE adapter. I
can drop virtually anything in the box and access it from a desktop, the
main drawback is if I need to test hardware is that due to the usb
interface the system cannot access the hardware directly and thus, for
example, is not able to see a disks SMART data/status or temperature.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby RemoveThis @gmail.com


Gumby <gumbygum RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:

> that's a great idea, mike. It's a hell of a lot easier to find someone
> who will let me remove their full size HD and connect a converter for
> my laptop HD, than to find someone willing to let me OPEN their laptop
> and take the HD out, simply because desktops are MADE to be opened and
> worked on easily, and laptops are not.
>
> As long as I wouldn't have to do arcane stuff like set jumpers or
> whatever, and it's a simple matter of switching the 3.5 inch HD for a
> 2.5" one on a converter, that will be my second choice if Shane's idea
> of getting a DOS prompt onto my HD by copying it over doesn't work.

Mart No Spam,

No, it wasn't a "crash" like dropping the laptop on the floor. Those
hardware items have all slowly broken over the years. I used "crash"
rather loosely. What actually happened, I think, is that a tear
developed in the laptop's internal HD connector ribbon, severing
several of the conductive thingies. This happened due to my habit of
removing the HD from the laptop every day when I went out, in order to
keep it from being stolen, as it was the only piece of hardware in my
dilapidated laptop that anyone would want to steal, had lots of
personal info on it (this was a concern before I learned recently to
encrypt) and for several years I've lived in hotels in various Third
World countries where hotel rooms are not safe places to leave
valuables. My laptop's been "open" for several years...i.e., the top
cover is removed and the HD would be simple to steal.

One day, after about 20 attempts to boot my computer which resulted in
"no operating system found" errors, it suddenly booted. But then after
an hour or so I got a blue screen. I think what happened is those torn
conductive thingies must have touched briefly, long enough for me to
start the computer, and then came apart again. Anyway, after that, I
could not boot it, and Windows apparently went bonkers as there were
all sorts of crazy files in my HD's Windows folder with bizarre names.
I fixed these with Scandisk on an XP computer. Then I found someone
who claimed he could actually fix the ribbon connector. He soldered
it, and I think it works now, but still the system will not boot, it
says that it can't find various essential files...so Windows was
fatally damaged by the incident, I suspect.

So...that's the "crash" ... you see why I tried to simplify a rather
involved story... )

And it is a lot of work researching this, but it would be very helpful
to me if I had my computer for the last 2 months of the year. I
suppose it is a bit of a challenge as well.

And before someone asks, yes, if I can get the computer to work, I
will leave the HD in it and risk its theft, in order not to damage the
delicate HD ribbon connector. Now the HD has all my important stuff on
encrypted virtual drives, so its theft wouldn't be a great loss.