Resolved How can I setup cd as a boot device?

No, I have reconnected the drive 3 times on that end but not on the MB...however, if that was the culprit, other programs wouldn't run on the drive...right?

 

I just changed it out and same results..thanks for the suggestion as I had not thought of it...

 

Hi Geno, PeteC


(**edit PeteC posted as I was typing, so some of this will be redundant / irrelevant)

yes, checking the cable by substitution would indeed be a sensible thing to try / silly to overlook

when unplugging, try to hold by the connector rather than pulling the ribbon itself (as I mentioned earlier, Dell ribbons are fragile)

is it 40 way or 80 way? ...HDD and CDROM both on this cable, or separate cables? ...and (if the old ribbon has three connectors), inspect closely to see whether there's a little hole somewhere along the length, about one third of the way across the cable (= cable select cable) - so as to know what to do with the jumpers when using the new cable

could you elaborate a tiny bit pls PeteC? If you're meaning what I think you might, then what I'd be wondering is: was the other bootable CD which didn't work a WindowsXP CD, or some other type of bootable CD? (but that's me guessing again, which is almost as dangerous as assuming things!)

==

another easy and commonsense thing to check would be the 4 diagnostic LEDs on the back panel - do you get 4 green lights? ...if any show yellow, refer to table here

along completely different lines: seeing as it's not getting very far at the moment, and if no precious user data on the HDD, you could maybe try: at boot up, when the Dell logo shows, key <Ctrl>F11 to see whether that will restore to factory state from hidden partition (see step 2 and step 3 here)

(I'm still not 100% convinced that it has one! ...conflicting information. But quite a few sources indicate that it does)

==

very useful indeed to determine whether the machine can boot from a floppy I feel. Best one to try would be Win98SE boot floppy from same link as earlier post (yes, I do realise it can't see NTFS partitions etc.) (98SE is for working with save/mend Dell MBR utility)
can you get to the A:\> prompt? ...and if so, try dir C: to discover whether drive C: "exists "

(more to come later probably, depending upon whether you can get to that A:\> prompt)

best wishes, HJ

 

Hi PeteC

I think Geno said the floppy light come on briefly many posts ago

good to be sure because 1) there a save/fix MBR utility for Dells which runs from floppy & 2) can reflash the BIOS from a floppy for that revision of BIOS ...but only if the machine will boot OK from floppy of course

Geno - will that ?suspect XP CD read OK in another computer?

best wishes, HJ

 

beware trying FIXMBR though! ...it breaks the bespoke MBR for the hidden partition recovery thing

Dan Goodell's stuff is well worth reading up, particularly as the folks who seem to know their stuff on the Dell forums suggest using it; that link above, and also scroll down to find "Troubleshooting the Restore Process" (hence the Win98SE floppy)

best, because it seems to allow you to save what MBR you presently have before trying to "repair" anything. Now, where you're meant to dump it to (if C: is NTFS) is beyond me at the moment (rather like step 2 of the Underpants Gnomes' business plan...)

(of course, it might be possible to "cut the apron strings" and try to turn it into a "normal" XP computer; but seeing as you'll have to use the Dell drivers, I was thinking better to put it back the way Dell intended it using their CD. Your call, Geno)

in any case, if you want to give the CtrlF11 thing the best chance of success, after testing out alternative hardware configurations for testing/debug purposes, a good idea to revert to original configuration as closely as possible, I feel

best wishes, HJ

 

This system has an ide(ata) hd and their are two connectors on the mb...one for the hd and the other one for the optical drives. I tried to use a Hiren's boot cd to boot with same results. The Dell re-install cd I used on another system here as well as the Hiren's and they both started the reboot on that dell 2400.
BTW, I can't get to a cmd prompt or A:\ I will re-hook everything back up and report to you about the lights...

 

I have 4 green lights....I will try the methods you both have suggested and report back to you later as I have to go to an appointment now...Thanks again

 

Hi again

something's been niggling away at me from earlier in the thread, I've just sussed what it is:

now, would that be fouling up at exactly the same point, with the same CRC error on the same file?

The CRC error path given was:
E:\I386\asms\10\msft\windows\GDIPLUS\GDIPLUS.MAN
...but is E: really the CDROM drive at this point?

Yes, that's the correct location of the file on the CD, if E: is the CD.

But if E: is actually another partition with an image of the setup files (and maybe some other stuff on it), that would also be quite a believable path to that file...

...if there are one (or perhaps two) partitions which should be hidden when XP is up and running "normally ", just how hidden are they while you're stuck halfway through the setup process?

==

Geno - sorry to give you more hardware work but I think you should maybe try disconnecting the HDD altogether (as opposed to just disabling it in the BIOS)...

...with the HDD completely out of the picture, would the machine then be able to boot from floppy? or from CDROM?

(plus, for good measure, drop the power completely for >30 seconds between tests to ensure no "relics" left over in RAM)

best wishes, HJ

 

I had to give up on this project for a while and now back at it with renewed vigor. I really appreciate all the help and sorry for not replying till now.
The issue is now resolved. I ended up replacing the cd and the dvd again with a third unit and I was then successful. Did not even think it was possible to get 2 bad ones...