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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:45 am Post subject: Reformatting a Netbook |
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I have a Dell Inspiron 9 and I would like to completely reformat it and install the much needed English OS on it.
I am not sure how it's done because it doesn't have a CD-rom drive or anything.
Can anyone help?
TIA! |
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DCJames
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:51 am Post subject: |
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| You need to connect a USB CD/DVD drive to it. Put the XP OS CD into it and turn it on. Fllow the directions that come on the screen which give you option to setup XP. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:06 am Post subject: |
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| It should be possible to install from a USB stick. Google for it. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
When I got my Eee PC, I also got an XP license with it, as I never intended to use the OS that came with it. I did not get a USB CD-ROM though because I figured flash drives have been around long enough that I should be able to use it just as easily as a floppy disk to boot and install an OS. Boy was I wrong.
After a lot of time spent searching, trying various methods only to end in failure, and experimenting, I finally found a way to do it that doesn't involve Bart or PE anything, nor any really arcane tools (okay, maybe one or two  .
This guide is an adaptation of instructions posted by cityfun in this thread: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=12725
Naturally, all instructions here are at your own risk. This method worked for me, but your mileage may vary. If you are careless, you could potentially nuke your computer's hard disk doing some of this stuff, so be careful. Hey, I said it was easy, not safe and fun!
Edit: Please see footnotes at the bottom for variations on these requirements before beginning. I also suggest reading through this thread, as many helpful posters have addressed common questions and suggested other variations on this install. My thanks to all who have contributed!
What you need:
1. A USB memory stick AND a SD card. One of these has to have enough space to contain the XP install files.
2. Physdiskwrite (http://m0n0.ch/wall/physdiskwrite.php)
3. Boot disk image: MS Windows XP System Setup Disk (http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files010.shtml)
A computer running Windows 2000/XP (I am pretty sure Vista won't work since physdiskwrite is a 16-bit app) and a USB slot or SD card reader attached
4. Windows XP installation files (off your MS CD, or from wherever)
5. A tool for extracting archives. I used WinRAR, but there are plenty of others out there.
6. Some knowledge of DOS. I do not go into the minutia of every command or DOS tool. Luckily, Google is an able companion for help if you get stuck.
The goal of this whole thing is to get your Eee PC into the following state, which will allow for Win XP to be installed:
1. SSD has a single FAT32 partition that is "active" and has a functional boot loader.
2. The complete i386 folder from your XP CD is copied to your SSD
What to do:
-On your XP computer, download physdiskwrite and the boot disk image mentioned above. Unzip physdiskwrite to a temp directory. I was able to "unzip" the system setup disk executable using WinRAR as well, to get the actual image file rather than the disk maker. WinRAR throws an error and says that the archive is corrupt, but it gets the image out and it works just the same.
So, you should have a temp filder (say c:\temp) with two files: physdiskwrite.exe and WXPBOOT.IMA.
-Insert the flash memory device you DO NOT intend to use to hold your XP install files.
-Open a command line and navigate to your temp directory.
-Type: physdiskwrite -u wxpboot.ima
It will list all of your drives and ask you which one you want to write to. BE VERY CAREFUL HERE. You need to make sure you aren't writing to any of your actual hard disks. If you are not sure which one is your flash disk, do the following:
Control Panel --> Administration Tools --> Computer Management --> Disk Management
You will see a list of all your drives. The numbers should correspond to the numbers listed by physdiskwrite. Also, your flash disk should not list a manufacturer like Maxtor, Seagate or Western Digital
Now that you are sure you are writing the image to the correct drive, enter the drive number at the command prompt and it will write the image to your flash drive. It should take just a second or two.
-With your "boot disk" created, go ahead and copy the XP install files to your other flash drive.
-When that's done, insert your "boot disk" drive into the Eee PC. Hit Esc during startup and tell it to boot from whichever one you just used physdiskwrite on. DO NOT insert your XP flash drive yet.
It will pause a time or two for you to hit a key. At the end, you should end up at A:\. If you did, congratulations, you are almost there.
-Type fdisk
The only "fixed disk" available to fdisk now should be your internal SSD. You can check this by selecting the option to view all physical disks. If that option is absent from the menu (and it should be at this point), then it is only seeing your SSD. You can further verify this by looking at the current partition information. It should show several non-DOS partitions, and a DOS partition named BIOS (well, my machine did anyway). Delete all of these partitions. Create a new primary DOS partition using all of the SSD's space. Fdisk should automatically set it to "Active", but just make sure by viewing partition info after all of this is done and check that the A flag is present.
-Insert your XP install flash drive and reboot the machine. You should boot from your boot disk again.
-Back at A:\ prompt, format the C drive:
A:\format c: /s
-When that is complete, we need to make sure the Linux boot loader is gone once and for all. type:
A:\fdisk /mbr
Your SSD should now be bootable to DOS without a boot disk
-Copy the WinXP install files over to your SSD:
A:\md c:\i386
A:\xcopy B:\i386 C:\i386 /E
(note: this command assumes your XP install files are in a folder called i386 on your XP flash drive. Adjust as necessary). Be sure to use the /E switch so that it copies all the subdirectories. If you omit that like I did the first time, you get to the GUI part of the installation and then it asks for files that don't exist.
That copy operation will take a while. Go get a donut or something.
When that's done, navigate to c:\i386 and run winnt.exe
The Windows installer should start, and you should be home free from there!
If you totally screw up and want to restore the system, there is a system restore utility on the ASUS DVD that will make your USB drive into a bootable restoration disk.
Hopefully you are kicking it in XP on your Eee PC. Have fun!
Edit: I am using the space below to address some issues I've seen posted in the thread. I will add to this list as necessary.
1. Yes, you can delete the i386 folder from your C drive if you copied the files over. The only time you'd need those files is if you add/remove Windows components. What you can do is stick the i386 folder on a SD card or USB drive and point Windows there when it asks for the location of a file.
2. According to bretton and others in this thread, you can use two USB drives rather than a USB + SD. You can also install Windows directly from the USB drive rather than copying the files over if you wish. I do not suggest installing Windows from an SD card, as data transfer rates from the card reader are pretty abysmal and it will take forever. Just bear in mind that if you install windows from a removable drive and you attempt to add/remove windows components, you will need to have the drive with your install files handy, as mentioned above.
3. Results may vary depending on which version of Windows you are installing. For this particular installation, I was using an OEM copy of XP Home SP2. I do not have the time or money to test many other versions of Windows, but it looks like several users have posted issues with their versions. Remember, for this method you should be using a full XP install, not an upgrade version.
4. Yes, you can use nLite on your install files, but be sure to retain the manual setup files. If you i386 folder does not contain the winnt.exe file, your install will be hosed.
5. Several users have posted a link to a relatively new method for installing XP with one USB drive. I haven't tried it, but the link is here for your convenience: http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/11/instal � thumb.html
Obviously I can't comment on it or support it. Linked by oldpueblo, et al.
-Hanns
Last edited by Hanns (2008-01-07 9:01:59 pm) |
And there you go. Doable on the EEEPC but not easy. An external CDROM will cost you roughly 50,000. So money or hassle, which is it gonna be? You may be able to save money by buying a USB to IDE cable and using a regular CD rom but that's not as neat or portable as a genuine external cdrom.
A third option is to try copying all the XP files to your HDD into a folder and then running that setup.exe from that folder. This was very easy in Win95/98 and much faster than a CD install, but I'm not sure how much things have changed since then. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, peeps!!!
I can borrow my computer geeky friend's external CDROM drive... and I will eventually get one for myself.
Yeah, getting it done today! |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Install MicroXP. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Demophobe wrote: |
| Install MicroXP. |
Was ist das?? |
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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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I used unetboot to install ubuntu. It's quite easy. I'm not sure if you can use it to install windows. It might be possible if you download a pirate copy.
Unetboot is quite good because you can use it to test OS, just run them from the usb drive to see if you like it. Then you can decide whether to install it or not from within the OS.
It's kind of difficult, you may need to do some reading. I have about 20/100 tech ability so most people should be able to do it.
Or just install it from a removable disc drive. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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Micro XP would be highly recommended on a Dell mini9 as SDD space is at a real premium. It's a third party free software program that makes up a CD image for you, taking your XP disk and removing things that you don't want.
Basically you get a lot of options of things to strip out of your XP install, and it can save you a lot of space. I've heard of XP installs down to less than half a gigabyte, which is a big difference from the 1.5gigs or so that XP takes up.
Even if you don't go this route, make sure that when you install XP, pick the custom install option and uncheck everything that you won't use. Wordpad, games and so on.
Edit: oops that's nlite.
Micro XP is another similar program.
I'd prefer nlite myself, not that I've tried it yet.
http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| tzechuk wrote: |
| Vas ist das?? |
Micro XP explained.
Download Linkage.
Beats NLite if only for the fact that all the work is done already. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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| I got an HP Mini. MicroXP looks great, but I can't use it because there is no webcam support in MicroXP. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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That would be the advantage of nlite. More work involved, but you don't need to go with someone else's idea of a minimal install. You can put in as much or as little as you need. I'd much prefer nlite for that reason. And once you have it set up, you can burn the whole thing to an install CD.
At least so I have read. YMMV |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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Webcam support...drivers? Services? Both can be installed. ('Windows Image Acquisition' service)
| some guy from another forum wrote: |
| ...copying C:\Windows\System32\drivers\usbvideo.sys and C:\Windows\inf\usbvideo.inf from a normal Windows XP installation to the EEE PC... |
Anyhow...if this is a problem, then perhaps making an NLite version of XP would be useful. For one not well versed in computers, neither option will be attractive, nor one more workable than the other. For that matter, re-installing an OS on a netbook ain't easy in itself. |
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Golem
Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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I would install Ubuntu on it instead of XP. It should be a snap to get working i you take the image of the dell website as the Dell 9's were designed to work with Ubuntu. It can be easily installed from a USB drive. Then again I am actually nerdy enough to think its interesting to install Linux on computers.
Of course it would be slightly different than the XP you might be used to but all in all there are a lot of cool things that can be done on Linux that I would have to spend a lot of money and time to get working on Windows. That and every few months you get more cool features so it feels like you have a new computer each time.
If you use the internet, you are already a linux user. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:48 am Post subject: |
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Actually Linux is good advice. If the image is there, for free on the website, and all you plan to do is the basic stuff that netbooks are designed for, then it's probably the better choice.
I prefer to have access to games myself even on my little Everun so it's not for me. |
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