Re: Floppy stopped working: Could this mean a boot sector virus?
- From: "news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com>
- Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2005 00:25:42 -0400
Oh I see, the floppy only works in the bay? I thought that the cable which
connects it to the parallel port had something to do with it? Obviously not.
I suspect that with all this talk of misusing abstraction layers, everyone
has lost sight of what I am trying to do here, which is to format the hard
drive or wipe the C drive and install 98SE from the original install discs
If I can't install 98SE because I cant connect a floppy to the unit with the
CD in the bay then how DO I do it?
Anyway for a fleeting moment, I did manage to get the CD to work by closing
to DOS and letting it load a driver and read the CD. So I copied the whole
98SE install disc (NOT an upgrade disc) to the D drive.
Is there any way of getting into windows and going to the D drive and using
the 98SE install disc to install 98 to the C drive IN PLACE OF 95usb?
"Christopher Muto" <muto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:i1D0f.19$OL5.5@xxxxxxxxxxx
> the inspiron 3500 runs windows xp just fine and all drivers for it are
> built into windows xp (so no additional ones to download/install).
> however you need a 10gb hard disk for an xp installation with office 2000
> and you need at least 128mb of ram for xp.
>
> your problems stem from taking the disk from the thinkpad with windows
> installed on it and expecting it to work on the inspiron as it. windows
> nt/2k/xp can not be transplanted between different systems like that.
> there is a layer of software called the hardware abstraction layer that is
> tailored to the specific machine when windows is installed and it now has
> no idea how to talk to your various components. if it is an oem install
> of windows then you should be able to find a copy of the original windows
> 2k disk in a folder on the hard drive. from there you should be able to
> start a new installation of windows. if you are careful you can install
> it without formating your hard drive. other than that you could use the
> makedisk utility to create a set of 4 bootable diskettes from your win2k
> cd (in another machine) and then boot from your floppy (that only works
> when in the internal bay in the i3500). be sure to enter the system bios
> and modify the default boot sequence to move the floppy to the front of
> the list and the cd drive second. good luck.
>
> "news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
> news:hbednSdC8YxadN_eRVn-jQ@xxxxxxxxxx
>> This is an Inspiron 3500 running at 366 MHz with 64 Meg ram which is
>> about the minimum for 98SE: I don't think it will run XP but have an
>> install disc so could give it a try if I could get a CD working.
>>
>> The problem I have is that the system won't recognise the floppy at all
>> or now the CD, neither in the bay or at the end of the cable (supplied so
>> that you can use the floppy with the CD in the bay). It lights the LED
>> on the front, sometimes buzzes as if it were trying to read, clicks
>> slowly a few times as if it were trying to read and then gives up.
>> Pressing A: in windows explorer does much the same and you get a message
>> telling you that the floppy isn't formatted and do you want to format it.
>>
>> The only other oddity is that all the drives show to be working in DOS
>> compatibility mode??? Could this mean that there is some boot sector
>> virus somewhere which is preventing the system seeing the floppy? And if
>> so, how do I remove it without a floppy or a cd? I seem to remember a
>> virus years ago which exhibited these tendencies called NYB although it
>> wasn't a hard drive boot sector virus was it? You got rid of it by using
>> FDISK /MBR as I remember it but I cant see doing this from within windows
>> and any boot-up puts you in windows
>>
>> Otherwise I was wondering whether there was a way of reinstalling the
>> BIOS over the present possibly corrupted BIOS installation? The present
>> BIOS is 4.00 revision 6.00 with Version 10 showing and a version 14 on a
>> floppy I thought I had installed. I suppose it may not have installed if
>> there is a boot sector virus?
>>
>> This may well be just poor hardware components but I am somewhat
>> comforted by the fact that the CD went out only a short while after the
>> floppy stopped working so it MAY well just be the BIOS which has become
>> corrupted or a boot sector virus: I am also slightly comforted by the
>> appearance of a Win 95 USB updater in ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS so there is a
>> possibility I may be able to get an USB CD reader working so long as it
>> doesn't need drivers to work
>>
>>
>> "Christopher Muto" <muto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:o_e0f.10475$794.4103@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>> would help if you mentioned the model...
>>
>> ORIGINAL POSTING:
>>
>> I am suffering what appears to be a Dell issue (I have only had it on
>> Dell
>> computers, - and too often on various different Dells), which is that
>> suddenly this computer wont recognise its floppy drive. It spins and
>> spins
>> and however many times I try to check the BIOS and boot off it, the
>> computer
>> wont boot off the floppy. So I cant get it to see whatever CD I put in
>> the
>> drive.
>>
>> The unit wont see its floppy whether I put it into the bay or at the end
>> of
>> the cable. I don't think it is a BIOS revision issue OR is there some way
>> of
>> reinstalling the same BIOS as is in the unit already? Can an attempted
>> install of an OS screw up the BIOS? I haven't unplugged the Unit since
>> all
>> this arose so I can't see this as a BIOS battery issue
>>
>> The full problem is that I have changed the hard drive and put one off a
>> ThinkPad in with Win 95 on it. It works. I tried to install 98SE off the
>> original install discs but, booting off the CD, the unit won't do a
>> clean
>> install. I discovered that it also obviously won't install with the 95
>> win.com in place. Then suddenly after this failed install, the OS
>> stopped
>> seeing the floppy (and, later, the CD as well)! Now I don't dare format
>> the hard drive and try to install 98 SE from the CD for fear that the
>> unit
>> won't see its CD when I try this. I kinda presume that the not seeing the
>> CD
>> is not a hardware fault but is something to do with the OS although it
>> wont
>> see its CD on boot either. It booted off the CD when it was doing this
>> install but wont boot off it any more now after restarting the unit.
>>
>> Anyone know what causes this Dell floppy issue or is it simply a poor
>> quality hardware issue?
>>
>>
>>
>
>
.
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