PXE XP Install

I've searched some and cannot find a solution. I would spend more time searching, but my only working notebook has killed its internal cpu fan and I have to set it on top of a brick of ice on top of the broiling pan to use it, and ice melts!! So I cannot spend much time on it.

Basically, I have another notebook I wish to make working. I had to cannabalize a HD from another notebook that didn't work to use this one. The OS won't boot cause of the hardware change. So I took it back out, copied over the entire XP CD to the root of this HD, reinstalled, but it won't boot to be able to see it. This notebook has an 8yr BIOS, and that's the latest version! The USB won't boot (no bios option for that), no floppy, the internal CD/DVD drive won't boot as it, too, is dying. So all that is left is an external floppy drive, but that didn't work due to it not being able to read disk 3 and a PXE network boot/XP Install.

I don't know how to do that, though. I have Windows Server 2003 & it is DHCP serving. Is there a good link I can print out telling me what to do? Does anyone here want to provide any pointers? I'm at wits end with this whole setup of antique computers that don't work.....

Thanks for any help, and the ice has melted..........

 

You can make it boot from USB even if unsupported by BIOS.

http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html

 

Thanks for the link! I'm printing it out now so I can read it without the pressure of ice melting. I'll get back.

 

Well, I must just be fraught with denseness due to all these computer problems..... but if I cannot get it to even boot from the HD, USB or CD, how will this boot manager help?

I read all 22 pages, and I can't see how to get it to make the HD bootable. All I can do is take the HD out and externally copy something on to it. That in itself doesn't make it bootable.

I guess I am just really dense at the moment.

Dobermann

 

Well, not really much I could help with unless you say what you did and what it the exact problem with that.