DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall

DAVED100 · 03-29-2008, 07:50 AM

hi, i've just replaced the hard disk of my laptop which failed and I am now trying to reinstall windows xp. the dell does not have a cd drive. I thought I could just copy XP onto a flash drive and install it from there but this doesn't seem to work since the laptop just keeps saying that there is no bootable sector on the hdd and doesn,t try and install xp. I would be most grateful if someone could suggest how I can proceed to get XP onto my laptop. Many thanks in advance. Dave

JohnthePilot · 03-29-2008, 08:52 AM

Hi and welcome to TSF.
As CD drives are needed for so many things I think your best bet would be to get an external drive.

DAVED100 · 03-29-2008, 09:05 AM

hi, thanks for the response. If i get a usb external cd drive and connect that to the laptop with the xp cd in this drive then should it just run the windows setup straight from there ?
regards

JohnthePilot · 03-29-2008, 09:23 AM

You should be able to provided you can set your BIOS to recognise the drive. What model is your laptop?

DAVED100 · 03-29-2008, 09:30 AM

hi its a dell latitude D400. I think i will try and get an external cd drive. I was wondering if i should get a usb drive or a pcmcia connection drive ?
thanks

JohnthePilot · 03-29-2008, 10:31 AM

You'll need to check in your BIOS to see if you can boot from the USB device. If not then a pcmcia drive might be better. I'll check with some of my colleagues who know more about laptops than I do.

Are you sure it hasn't got a CD drive? According to the specifications I've got for this model it should have one.

**TheMatt** · 03-29-2008, 08:13 PM

If it doesn't have one you should be able to install one. It should take the standard laptop optical drives.

03-29-2008, 07:50 AM	#1 (permalink)
DAVED100 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 6 OS: XP	DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall hi, i've just replaced the hard disk of my laptop which failed and I am now trying to reinstall windows xp. the dell does not have a cd drive. I thought I could just copy XP onto a flash drive and install it from there but this doesn't seem to work since the laptop just keeps saying that there is no bootable sector on the hdd and doesn,t try and install xp. I would be most grateful if someone could suggest how I can proceed to get XP onto my laptop. Many thanks in advance. Dave

03-29-2008, 08:52 AM	#2 (permalink)
JohnthePilot Manager, TSF Articles Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cheltenham, near Wales. Posts: 30,935 OS: XP Home SP3, PCLinux, Vista Home Premium SP1 My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall Hi and welcome to TSF. As CD drives are needed for so many things I think your best bet would be to get an external drive. __________________ Submit New Articles Here If you feel that TSF has helped you please make a donationand help to keep the forum free Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon Folding@Home - Team 85015

03-29-2008, 09:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
DAVED100 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 6 OS: XP	Re: DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall hi, thanks for the response. If i get a usb external cd drive and connect that to the laptop with the xp cd in this drive then should it just run the windows setup straight from there ? regards

03-29-2008, 09:23 AM	#4 (permalink)
JohnthePilot Manager, TSF Articles Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cheltenham, near Wales. Posts: 30,935 OS: XP Home SP3, PCLinux, Vista Home Premium SP1 My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall You should be able to provided you can set your BIOS to recognise the drive. What model is your laptop? __________________ Submit New Articles Here If you feel that TSF has helped you please make a donationand help to keep the forum free Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon Folding@Home - Team 85015

03-29-2008, 09:30 AM	#5 (permalink)
DAVED100 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 6 OS: XP	Re: DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall hi its a dell latitude D400. I think i will try and get an external cd drive. I was wondering if i should get a usb drive or a pcmcia connection drive ? thanks

03-29-2008, 10:31 AM	#6 (permalink)
JohnthePilot Manager, TSF Articles Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cheltenham, near Wales. Posts: 30,935 OS: XP Home SP3, PCLinux, Vista Home Premium SP1 My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall You'll need to check in your BIOS to see if you can boot from the USB device. If not then a pcmcia drive might be better. I'll check with some of my colleagues who know more about laptops than I do. Are you sure it hasn't got a CD drive? According to the specifications I've got for this model it should have one. __________________ Submit New Articles Here If you feel that TSF has helped you please make a donationand help to keep the forum free Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon Folding@Home - Team 85015 Last edited by JohnthePilot; 03-29-2008 at 10:35 AM.

03-29-2008, 08:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: DELL LATITUDE D400 O.S. reinstall If it doesn't have one you should be able to install one. It should take the standard laptop optical drives. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides