Is it possible to run a recovery cd on the optical drive of another computer?

wandersfar · 11-02-2009, 12:58 AM

My mom recently rediscovered her old Toshiba Portege M200 work tablet from a couple years ago. (She stopped using it when her work issued her a new laptop.)

I offered to take a look at it and see what I could do with it. I uninstalled a lot of old, bloated programs, ran Defraggler, ran CCleaner, and cleared a lot of startup processes. Everything was going fine until I decided to peek at her services.

I googled for "unnecessary services" and started disabling services recommended by various websites. I then tried to reboot the computer. No dice. It's asking for a recovery disc, which, fortunately, I've been able to locate.

Unfortunately, though, the removable optical drive for this tablet is still MIA. She's misplaced it somewhere and there's a decent chance it's gone for good.

So, here's my question. I have:
1) an early/mid 2006 iMac, running XP SP3
2) a Dell Inspiron 1501, running Vista

Both of these computers have optical drives.

The tablet in question is a Toshiba Portege M200 running XP Tablet PC Edition. The (removable) optical drive is missing. It has an ethernet port and an internal Intel wireless networking card as well as an external Symbol wireless networking card. (Why it has two cards, I have no idea.)

I also have a Linksys WRT310N wireless router and a two-way patch cable.

Is there any way I can run the Toshiba recovery disc on one of the other computers, and using either the patch cable, my wireless network, or the physical router itself, connect it to the M200 and thereby fix the tablet?

(I should probably mention that I was able to successfully boot into the system for the last several days and only started having this problem after messing around with the services. I was able to connect the tablet to the internet both physically through my router using the patch cable and wirelessly through both the external and internal wi-fi cards.)

If there's anything else you need to know, please ask.

Thank you for any advice you can give me on this. It is much appreciated. :)

Madcatz · 11-04-2009, 09:05 AM

It is possible to do a network boot, but not very easily setup or done. The computer still needs something to boot too that has network support, usually a floppy disc, which you would probably need a USB floppy drive. But it would probably be easier and alot faster to pickup an external cd drive and restore windows that way.

**Tyree** · 11-04-2009, 11:15 AM

Start-Run-type msconfig in the run box-clik the "Service" box and select "Enable All". That should get you back to where you were before you started disabling things and hopefully boot successfully.
The best way to successfully run the Restore Disc would be from an external optical drive or by using an optical drive adapter to USB connection.

wandersfar · 11-05-2009, 07:27 PM

Thanks for your help, both of you. Luckily, I found the removable optical drive and, after running the recovery disc, I am now able to boot back into my system.

11-02-2009, 12:58 AM	#1 (permalink)
wandersfar Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2 OS: XP SP3	Is it possible to run a recovery cd on the optical drive of another computer? My mom recently rediscovered her old Toshiba Portege M200 work tablet from a couple years ago. (She stopped using it when her work issued her a new laptop.) I offered to take a look at it and see what I could do with it. I uninstalled a lot of old, bloated programs, ran Defraggler, ran CCleaner, and cleared a lot of startup processes. Everything was going fine until I decided to peek at her services. I googled for "unnecessary services" and started disabling services recommended by various websites. I then tried to reboot the computer. No dice. It's asking for a recovery disc, which, fortunately, I've been able to locate. Unfortunately, though, the removable optical drive for this tablet is still MIA. She's misplaced it somewhere and there's a decent chance it's gone for good. So, here's my question. I have: 1) an early/mid 2006 iMac, running XP SP3 2) a Dell Inspiron 1501, running Vista Both of these computers have optical drives. The tablet in question is a Toshiba Portege M200 running XP Tablet PC Edition. The (removable) optical drive is missing. It has an ethernet port and an internal Intel wireless networking card as well as an external Symbol wireless networking card. (Why it has two cards, I have no idea.) I also have a Linksys WRT310N wireless router and a two-way patch cable. Is there any way I can run the Toshiba recovery disc on one of the other computers, and using either the patch cable, my wireless network, or the physical router itself, connect it to the M200 and thereby fix the tablet? (I should probably mention that I was able to successfully boot into the system for the last several days and only started having this problem after messing around with the services. I was able to connect the tablet to the internet both physically through my router using the patch cable and wirelessly through both the external and internal wi-fi cards.) If there's anything else you need to know, please ask. Thank you for any advice you can give me on this. It is much appreciated. :)

11-04-2009, 09:05 AM	#2 (permalink)
Madcatz Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 1,387 OS: XP/7/Server 2008 My System	Re: Is it possible to run a recovery cd on the optical drive of another computer? It is possible to do a network boot, but not very easily setup or done. The computer still needs something to boot too that has network support, usually a floppy disc, which you would probably need a USB floppy drive. But it would probably be easier and alot faster to pickup an external cd drive and restore windows that way. __________________ memtest86+ \| Hard Drive Diags \| Speed Fan \| Unknown Device Identifier

11-04-2009, 11:15 AM	#3 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,391 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Is it possible to run a recovery cd on the optical drive of another computer? Start-Run-type msconfig in the run box-clik the "Service" box and select "Enable All". That should get you back to where you were before you started disabling things and hopefully boot successfully. The best way to successfully run the Restore Disc would be from an external optical drive or by using an optical drive adapter to USB connection. __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.

11-05-2009, 07:27 PM	#4 (permalink)
wandersfar Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2 OS: XP SP3	Re: Is it possible to run a recovery cd on the optical drive of another computer? Thanks for your help, both of you. Luckily, I found the removable optical drive and, after running the recovery disc, I am now able to boot back into my system.