How do I "force" machine to boot from CD via a DOS command?

[AndyCountry]

This is something I've spent days on the Net trying to get the answer to...

I was given an old Tecra 510CDT running Win98. The BIOS, strangely enough, doesn't have a 'boot from CD' option available... only FDD or HDD in various combinations. I upgraded to the latest BIOS (6.90) and that didn't fix this issue. Very strange.

I booted to DOS and tried getting a Windows upgrade CD to boot. No dice.

I did have some measure of success by booting to DOS using an old HP Win95 boot floppy, which contains some proprietary code. By doing this, the Tecra was ready to read and load the OS from the CD drive.
 
 was ready, at that point, to insert the Win2kPro CD and see if it would overwrite the existing HD, but didn't want to until I had the following question answered just in case I ruined the existing HD data in an irretrievable way.

I'm guessing that the command I seek is inside the HP boot disk, but I'm not quite that tech savvy.

So:
I need to wipe the HD and run fdisk etc. (which I know how to do),  then perform a clean OS install, but need to get the exact DOS command to cause the machine to begin "reading" from the OS disc and install it to the newly cleaned HD..


What "simple" technique will get the job done?

Many thanks in advance.

[DaveLembke]

Edit the autoexec.bat file on the bootable floppy to point to the mounted CD Rom ( probably D: ) and execute the installer for the clean install of the OS. Be sure to add this at the end of the batch file if an autoexec.bat file already exists ( likely does ) since this a a system recovery/ emergency boot disk. Point the installer automatically to call to the D:\setup.exe is after the drive is mounted with the generic oakes CD driver.

Just add --


d:\setup.exe


to the end of the autoexec.bat batch instruction on a new line below everything else.

[AndyCountry]

DaveLembke,

Thank you for the helpful reply. Your advice worked to get my Win95 and 98 SE discs to load automatically when I boot from the emergency diskette which was modified per your instructions, which were very good.

For some reason my Win2kPro disc, nor my Linux disc, will boot however.

When trying to load the 2kPro disc, the message, "This program cannot be run in DOS mode" appears.

When trying to load the Linux disc, the message, "Bad command or filename" appears.

Both of these problematic discs will boot without a hitch in my other Windows machines however.

The 95 & 98SE discs are factory manufactured.

The 2kPro I burned as a backup, per Dell computer's instruction (so that I could put the original in the safe with the other discs - but the "factory" 2kPro disc has gone missing). I used the HP software that came with the HP CD burner.

The Linux disc was burned by a friend. Perhaps there is missing "code" at the start of the "burned" discs, even though they were burned utilizing different programs.

Any further suggestions?

Thanks in advance

[patio]

What happens if you boot to the emergency diskette and then at the A: prompt type D: and hit Enter ( or whichever drive is the CD drive) then type setup and hit Enter ? ?

You may have to REM out the CD autorun line provided by David temporarily to test this....

Dell probably has some pre-loaded garbage that gets included when you followed their instructions.

If you could post a screenshot of Explorer view of that Win2K CD that would be helpful...

[AndyCountry]

patio,

Thank you for the reply.  When I deleted the X:\setup.exe command from the boot diskette, and manually typed in the same at the DOS prompt,  I received the same exact results... the same error messages as outlined above appear once again.

As far as a screenshot of an Explorer window.....haven't ever tried that. Would you give me the basic instructions on how to do that?

Thanks in advance.

[DaveLembke]

Windows 2000 Pro has an option to create 4 floppy disks to initiate the install on systems lacking bootable CD roms. If you have another system up and running with a good floppy drive and 4 good floppy disks you can place the CD in the drive and build these 4 installation floppies.

The link below will show you how to do this without me having to draw it all out. It works well for older systems which can run Windows 2000 Pro, but are lacking a bios that supports cd booting.

http://www.studynotes.net/70part1.htm

[patio]

Nice catch David...i had not mentioned that.
The files for the floppies are available at bootdisk.com.

[AndyCountry]

Dave and Patio,

As you both were replying to me this morning, I discovered the following command while Exploring the Win2kPro CD:

[X]:\i386\winnt32.exe

This command from the DOS prompt launched the OS install... however a message "your drive is missing SmartDrive..." appeared. As you all know, this program makes the Win2k install much easier.

I then found the Bootdisk folder containing the MAKEBT32.EXE program on the Win2k CD and made the 4 bootdisks that you all had recommended.

I should be fine from here.........should be, should be, should be...

Thanks to you both for your help!

Now if I can figure out how to get the Linux distro to install in a dual boot environment ..... 

[patio]

You should just DLoad a new Distro and make your own...i suspect your friend didn't create it properly.
Ubuntu is a good one to start with.
If you head to their site they will send you up to 10 CD's for any platform for FREE.
The nice thing is they include a Live CD so you can run it from CD and see if all your hardware is recognised and operates before actually installing it.
Post back if you need more info on setting up a dual-boot configuration...