Guest Fran Bizquez Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 (edited) I'm trying to install Mandriva 2007.1 in a laptop with a dead DVD unit and a formatted HD. I think I could use an external USB DVD unit, but the BIOS doesn't detect USB devices, so I can't boot from it. It could be possible to boot from a floppy disk with some controller added, so the installation could continue from the USB DVD? Thanks Edited August 15, 2007 by Fran Bizquez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fran Bizquez Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 Nobody knows? I think it should be possible, even Windows XP can be installed booting from a set of floppy disks that load an USB generic driver and then install from the CD using the external unit. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 AFAIK Mandriva does not provide floppy boot images anymore... try an older Mandriva version, or another distro. Slackware still provides floppy images for installation, but I do not expect this lasting for long... so either hurry up, or fix your drive. For the record, your claim about XP is wrong. XP can be installed using a floppy disk set (6 in total) but you cannot use a USB drive- because the USB bus is reset during the first phase of the installation and the drive gets "lost". Factly, you cannot even boot with your XP CD from USB drive and perform the installation, for the very same reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fran Bizquez Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 Thanks scarecrow. I started installation of XP but I aborted before rebooting, so I think you'll be right about it. I'll try with Slackware. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2 Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 You 'may' be able to use the 'Smart Boot Manager', but I'm not sure if it currently allows you to boot from a USB drive? You will have to check on that yourself. Smart Boot Manager You may also find something to help you here: wiki.mandriva.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fran Bizquez Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 Thanks Greg2, I'll try it. I also think that one possible solution is to boot from the 6 diskettes set of WinXP, gain acces to the USB drive and copy the mandriva installation to the HD, then reboot using a diskette with GRUB and install from HD. Do you think it's OK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffi Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 People have reported after buying a new computer, with completely different hardware, and putting in their old harddisk into the new computer that Mandriva would successfully boot but your milage may vary.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fran Bizquez Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 (edited) Finally I've solved it this way: - Downloaded installation diskettes of WinXP (set of 6) from Microsoft Support and gained access to the USB DVD drive. - Reinstalled Windows XP from the USB drive (yes scarecrow, it can be done till the end. They would be really stupid to allow you to start it but not finish it). - Copied the Mandriva installation to a partition of the hard disk. - Installed from HD booting with a GRUB diskette. Although it requires the use of WinXP and I'm sure there are other ways (or should be), I post this solution because it's quite easy for non-experienced users like me, and I also think that a broken DVD unit is a common issue with laptops, something that becomes worse if your BIOS doesn't have USB-booting capabilities. It would have been easier if the floppy to install from CD had some kind of "USB generic driver", it would have saved me a lot of time. Thanks to all that answered. Edited August 15, 2007 by Fran Bizquez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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