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    How to reinstall WinXP when internal DVD drive non-functional ?

    Discussion in 'eMachines' started by ZZX, Oct 9, 2007.

  1. ZZX

    ZZX Newbie

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    Dear M680x Users,
    About 6 months ago the DVD drive on my M6809 refused to work or even eject from the laptop. For everyday use I have got around this problem by using an internal drive from a desktop PC in an external housing and plugging it into a USB port on the laptop.

    However, the time has come to reinstall WinXP (the laptop is running sluggishly). Unfortunately, I cannot get the laptop to recognise the external drive as a legitimate boot device. I have tried changing the boot sequence in the BIOS to "removeable device" as the first option but that does not work.

    Does anyone have a suggestion how I can reinstall WinXP on the laptop using the external drive ? Ideally, I would like to reinstall from the restore DVD that came with the laptop, but I do have an extra copy of WinXP that I could use at a pinch. I was hoping to save that copy for a new PC that I was planning to buy and to use the original WinXP Home that came on the restore DVD on the laptop.

    A new internal laptop drive is not really an option as I live in Germany (but bought the machine in the US) and I really do not want to spend $$$ shipping back to the US for repairing.

    Many thanks in advance for any help !

    Zeph.
     
    ZZX, Oct 9, 2007
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  2. Gilliann

    Gilliann Notebook Consultant

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    Replacing the drive is really quite simple, its just one skrew. I'm sure you can find one there and fix it yourself. In the states its only about 40$ usd, I can't imagine it being much more in europe.

    Good luck!
     
    Gilliann, Oct 9, 2007
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  3. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Look in Device Manager to see the model number of the optical drive. It's 99% likely to be a standard notebook "slimline" burner which can be replaced by a new standard burner.

    However, while you are in Device Manager, look in the IDE ATA/ATAPI deives and see if you have devices connected to both IDE channels. Usually the HDD is on channel 0 with current transfer mode of UDMA-5 and the optical drive is on channel 1 with transfer mode of UDMA-2. If they are on the same channel with the optical drive as the second (slave) device then this will need a new optical drive pre-set to be slave.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Oct 9, 2007
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  4. ZZX

    ZZX Newbie

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    Thank you for both of these suggestions.

    Unfortunately, I have tried swapping out the drive but, strangely, it refuses to come out no matter how many screws I remove.

    In the BIOS (which the is the original 0F05.P00 one) there is nothing populating the Secondary master position which would suggest that the DVD drive is slaved to the HDD. Strangely, I see no reference anywhere in the BIOS to the drive itself yet it appears as a valid device in WinXP.

    Anyway, it would appear that since a new drive will be difficult to install, I am left with either the external DVD drive or a USB stick option. For the latter I have found descriptions of how that can be generally setup ( http://www.weethet.nl/english/hardware_bootfromusbstick.php) but they rely on the BIOS having a USB stick as a viable boot option. This does not exist in my BIOS version.

    I also have a an external HDD - it is the original HDD that came with the laptop which I replaced with a Hitachi 7200rpm drive. Could that be used ?

    Rgds, Zeph.
     
    ZZX, Oct 9, 2007
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  5. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

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    qhn, Oct 14, 2007
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  6. bldegle2

    bldegle2 Newbie

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    changing the CD is very easy....

    changed mine to newer liteon DVD burner.....

    you have to get the CD working, or, you could slave the lappy HD to a regular desktop (there are a couple of ways to do this), do a basic XP install, immediately disconnnect, insert back into the lappy, and pray it will boot....you are still going to have problems with chipset drivers and ethernet stuffs, so downloading and installing the driver packages may be a problem....LOL

    BTW, i think the burner i got was only $35......

    laterzzzzzz
     
    bldegle2, Nov 21, 2007
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  7. JDELUNA

    JDELUNA Notebook Deity

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    If you can copy the Windows XP CD onto a large enough USB thumb drive, using another computer, you should be able to install from a USB thumb drive. You will probably have to go to your BIOS of your laptop and have it recognize USB devices as one of your BOOTUP drives. I hope that helps. God Bless :)




    Oops just read one of your posts that said that your bios does not support USB on boot up. How old is that laptop ??
     
    JDELUNA, Jan 29, 2008
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