re-instal winxp without cdrom?

[kusazero]

hi, i got an old laptop (hp omnibook 500) from a friend, however, he did not gave me the base (cdrom, floppy drive, etc) for it, so, i am left with a laptop with no other bootable device. i already copied winxp files into a partition of the HDD, but i would like to have a clean install (format c:, then install), any ideas to that? is there a pure command promt for winxp (rather than having a psuedo command prompt safe mode from F7)?

ps: i made a usb boot disk, but doesnt seems to work.

thanks

 

[htmlman]

yes that is what I mean. cd-key. Since the unit is from a friend.

 

[kusazero]

i am using my own winxp, so, not a problem. thanks for the concern.

 

[JBruyet]

Kusazero, yes you will be able to make the two partitions and you will be able to put the installation files on the second partition. You may need to download a copy of freeDOS so you can make sure your first partition is bootable. Someone else here may have an easier way to do this, but I would recommend the following procedure: connect your laptop hd (using the adapter) to a desktop computer, and using that hd only (disconnect your main hd on your desktop system) install freeDOS in the first partition of the laptop hd. Then when you have that hd configured so it's bootable, set the laptop hd as the second drive on your desktop system and set the desktop system's hd as the main drive. Boot your desktop and then copy the XP installation files to the second partition on the laptop hd. Put the laptop hd back in the laptop, boot it up and run the XP install. I know this sounds a little complicated, but I think this is your best bet.

Good luck and let us know how it works for you,

Joe