Networking in Dos

sideshow4069

sideshow4069

sideshow4069

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7 Mar 2005
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72
I have no experence in DOS so bear with me.

I have an old computer which i want to install XP on, the only problem is that it does not have a CD rom installed, it's an old Dell workstation from work. I need to install over the network.

I have installed DOS 6.22 as i have this on three floppys, and attempted to install Microsoft client, but i keep getting an error when the system starts, something about Error 7xxx. i have changed the settings in MS client to tcp/ip but still get the same error.

Is there anything out there that i could use to make this process easier, sorry to be a bit vague but this is something i have no knowledge of.

Cheers
 
The time it takes to sort it out, you might as well just bodge a CD-ROM to the machine, and copy the files across. ;)
 
Cheers for the reply.

i have tried to add a cd rom from another computer but it just does not seem to like it.

The computer is a Dell GX50 Optiplex, and it has a strange ide2/floppy cable which is joined together.

Cheers
 
And chances are even if he does that he'll need to load the CDROM drivers off a floppy disk as if it's an old BIOS it won't have boot from CDROM...

There are some Network bootdisks on:

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Which may help - you could also use a professional program such as LapLink to do this as well which may be easier.
 
If you've overnight, use Interlnk and Intersvr - these use either a parallel or serial cable, parallel being the fastest of the two. You can get them from eBay (Item #120004722062).

It's slow, but I'm 99.9% sure it'll work - be sure to enable the fastest parallel port speed in the BIOS, though!

Hell I did it with my Amstrad PC1640SD 8086 to connect to my Dad's 486 - and parallel cable was :eek: speed to me then. :o
 
bitslice said:
it does ?
new to me... pictures ?

get a dual head IDE and use that to connect HD and CD on same cable ?




.
Click to expand...



Sorry this is the biggest picture i can find of the cable. The two black ends plug into the floppy connector and into the IDE2 connector on the motherboard. On the other end the larger part of the cable connects to the floppy and the smaller part connects to a little board with a connector for the CD rom, the connector is a lot smaller than the usual IDE connection to a CD rom. I presume that is because the CD i need is small form factor.

One other thing i did try was to connect my DVD Rom from my laptop using the external cable i have but when it was connected it does not get any power so that was a no go.

I also tried to connect an IDE cable from my main compo CD rom to the motherboard on the Dell and powered up both computers so the Cd rom had power, but it just did not recognise the CD rom.

Just for your info it is an old Dell optiplex GX50 workstation.

Thanks guys for all your input so far.
 
sideshow4069 said:
.... I presume that is because the CD i need is small form factor.
Click to expand...

The SFF boxes use a laptop CD, they require a dongle to provide power when used with an IDE cable


sideshow4069 said:
.... I also tried to connect an IDE cable from my main compo CD rom to the motherboard on the Dell and powered up both computers so the Cd rom had power, but it just did not recognise the CD rom.
Click to expand...

you have to link the 0 volt line on both PC's or there is no return path
- it would be better to power the CD from the dell, you may need a Y-lead for the power cable, Dell are stingy on spare leads.

I take it you don't have a dual head cable handy ?


here's a user guide for the PC btw.

http://glen.utdallas.edu/Glen/Home/network/Dell Gx50 Users Guide.pdf


try the drives on "cable select", dell boxes seem to like that.




.
 
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Cheers for the swift reply.

I so have a spare small form factor cd rom (teac) but it only has an IDE connection, no connection for power, any way i could make use of it.

Sorry but also being completely stipid now but what is a dongle ?
 
I think i have finally cracked it.

It was a bit long winded, i had to take the power supply out of one of my other computer and connect it to the gx50, this way it seem to recognise the CD rom, then just set it to boot from the cd rom and that was it.

Thanks to all the members who help me on this matter.

Cheers
 
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bitslice said:
you have to link the 0 volt line on both PC's or there is no return path
Click to expand...
Sorry to hijack the thread, but what do you mean by this? :confused: I have never had to do this..
 
Amoeba said:
Sorry to hijack the thread, but what do you mean by this? :confused: I have never had to do this..
Click to expand...

he was (AFAIK) using two (seperated) power supplies to run two bits of kit,
so to make sure the voltages are at the same level relative to each other, you should connect both zero volt rails together.

in practice the grounds on modern PSU's are normally earthed anyway and such a config will still work OK, but it's better to be sure.

likewise using two PSU's in the same case, they will have a common earth via the casework, so no probs there.

note: this is not the same as hooking two PSU's in parallel
 
Yeh I understand what he was doing, just didn't see the need to link the grounds togethor but I guess I see what you mean ;)
 
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