Help reloading Laptop with only swapable CD Rom and Floppy!!!

[wncads]

I have done this before but trying to hurry tonight and not having any luck. I have the HP OmniBook 5700 which has the swap CDrom and Floppy. How do I copy the Win98 Bootdisk Files to the hard drive so I can put in the Cdrom and get the computer to recognize it??? The 5700 series does not offer the boot from CDROM option or I would have changed it in the BIOS. So, I need to copy the Win 98 Boot Disk to C drive then how do I get autoexec.bat to run?? I have checked and thought I had edited the batch files to correct the paths from a: to c: but that didn't work for me... I am just doing something slightly wrong, but am looking for the fastest way to resolve the prob and don't have an external zip drive handy. Thanks for the help. Keith Buchanan
AplusNetworking.com
Commercial I.T. Networking & Wiring Specialist
keith@aplusnetworking.com

 

[DaveGoTech]

Make a boot disk on floppy using WIN98. Make sure the SYS.COM command is also on the disk. Run the command SYS. This will copy the system boot files.
The hard disk should now boot. Next you will need to put the required statements in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for your particular CD-ROM. If they are correct, DOS will automatically run these when it boots.

 

[apkohn]

I was in a situation a few weeks back, and initially tried what Dave suggested above. For reasons still unknown to me, the computer (a Compaq laptop) would not boot. 2 hrs of fiddling later, I remembered I had Dos 6.2 disks lying somewhere around the house. After 2 hrs of hunting, I found all the disks (why is it Disk 1 is always so hard to find), and installed it. Now the machine booted from the hardrive. Next, I needed to find the Compaq CD drivers - the downloads of their web site were corrupt, and so 5 hrs later, I found generic files that worked, and I was able to install windows.

While I was cursing Compaq (I lose my manners at 6am), I also cursed MS for not making their Operating System Install disks (full version, not upgrade) bootable (I had almost resorted to installing w2k which I use on my desktop, as the cd is bootable, despite the laptops lack of power)

 

[ShaithisDanoveur]

Step 1: Get Win98 bootable floppy from friend. Have friend add OAKCDROM.SYS from EBD directory if it isn't already on the floppy. Also need MSCDEX.EXE.

Step 2: After booting from floppy, formatting drive, putting system on drive, put the OAKCDROM.SYS on the HDD.
Also need the MSCDEX.EXE.

Step 3:
COPY CON CONFIG.SYS (ENTER)
DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MYCD01

F6, ENTER

Step 4:
COPY CON AUTOEXEC.BAT (ENTER)
MSCDEX.EXE /D:MYCD01

F6, Enter

Step 5:

Remove floppy, turn off machine, change to CDRom. Turn back on.

Step 6: After booting, make a "win98" directory on the HDD. Switch to the CD, copy the Win98 directory from there to the HDD.

Step 7: Run setup.exe in the Win98 dir on the HDD.

Step 8: Go make a sandwich and enjoy Bill'sBoards.