laptop - new HD - no CD or floppy drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnB
  • Start date Start date
J

JohnB

Here's my predicament; I have an older laptop, an Evo 410c. This is one of
those very light, small laptops. No built-in floppy or CD drive. The hard
drive failed, and I bought a new drive. Since I don't have a CD drive to
boot from, I took a new HD, connected it to a tower PC with one of those
adapters that lets you connect a 3.5" laptop drive to the PC's IDE
connector. And loaded XP on it.

After putting the new HD in the laptop, it will not boot to Windows. The
BIOS diags recognize the drive and it passes all tests.
The message I get at bootup is: "A disk read error occurred - Press
Alt-Ctrl-Del to restart".

I suspect that the problem is; the drivers XP loaded for the PC IDE
controller don't work for the IDE controller that's in the laptop, and
therefore it doesn't see the HD.

I have been told that there is an external device - like a docking station -
that Compaq made for this, called a Mult-Bay. Trouble is, the ones that
I've found on the internet run about $110. I would really like to get this
fixed without putting 110 bucks into a 5 year old laptop.

I tried a generic, portable USB CD drive. They don't work. There's
something weird about the USB ports on this laptop, they don't get enough
power from a standard USB portable drive. The Multi-bay has another pin
that gives the laptop the necessary power.

Is there any other way to get this new HD with XP on it, to boot on the
laptop? I suspect that I'm SOL.

Thanks.
 
JohnB said:
Here's my predicament; I have an older laptop, an Evo 410c. This is one
of those very light, small laptops. No built-in floppy or CD drive. The
hard drive failed, and I bought a new drive. Since I don't have a CD
drive to boot from, I took a new HD, connected it to a tower PC with one
of those adapters that lets you connect a 3.5" laptop drive to the PC's
IDE connector. And loaded XP on it.

After putting the new HD in the laptop, it will not boot to Windows. The
BIOS diags recognize the drive and it passes all tests.
The message I get at bootup is: "A disk read error occurred - Press
Alt-Ctrl-Del to restart".

I suspect that the problem is; the drivers XP loaded for the PC IDE
controller don't work for the IDE controller that's in the laptop, and
therefore it doesn't see the HD.

I have been told that there is an external device - like a docking
station - that Compaq made for this, called a Mult-Bay. Trouble is, the
ones that I've found on the internet run about $110. I would really like
to get this fixed without putting 110 bucks into a 5 year old laptop.

I tried a generic, portable USB CD drive. They don't work. There's
something weird about the USB ports on this laptop, they don't get enough
power from a standard USB portable drive. The Multi-bay has another pin
that gives the laptop the necessary power.

Is there any other way to get this new HD with XP on it, to boot on the
laptop? I suspect that I'm SOL.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You're on the right track but you need to make some adjustments:
1. Connect the new disk to the desktop PC.
2. Partition & format it like so:
First partition: 20 GBytes FAT32
Second partition: NTFS or FAT32.
3. Boot the desktop with a Win98 boot disk (www.bootdisk.com).
Make sure that smartdrv.exe is on that disk.
4. Run this command: sys c:. ((assuming that E: is
the first partition on the new disk)
5. Copy a:\smartdrv.exe to c:\.
6. Boot the desktop into WinXP.
7. Copy your WinXP CD to E:\i386 (assuming that E: is
the first partition on the new disk).
8. Install the new disk on the laptop. It should now boot into DOS.
9. Run smartdrv.exe.
10. Run this command to start the installation of Windows:
c:\i386\winnt
11. When finished, convert drive C to NTFS if desired.

With an ultraslim laptop like yours you must take extra precautions
to protect yourself against similar mishaps in future. Get yourself
a copy of an imaging program (e.g. Acronis TrueImage), then create
an image of drive C: and store it on drive D:. The next step is to
copy that image file to an independent medium so that you can
restore it if the disk should fail again (which, of course, it won't!).
 
And use a USB powered hub between the laptop and the
external CD.


|
| | > Here's my predicament; I have an older laptop, an Evo
410c. This is one
| > of those very light, small laptops. No built-in floppy
or CD drive. The
| > hard drive failed, and I bought a new drive. Since I
don't have a CD
| > drive to boot from, I took a new HD, connected it to a
tower PC with one
| > of those adapters that lets you connect a 3.5" laptop
drive to the PC's
| > IDE connector. And loaded XP on it.
| >
| > After putting the new HD in the laptop, it will not boot
to Windows. The
| > BIOS diags recognize the drive and it passes all tests.
| > The message I get at bootup is: "A disk read error
occurred - Press
| > Alt-Ctrl-Del to restart".
| >
| > I suspect that the problem is; the drivers XP loaded for
the PC IDE
| > controller don't work for the IDE controller that's in
the laptop, and
| > therefore it doesn't see the HD.
| >
| > I have been told that there is an external device - like
a docking
| > station - that Compaq made for this, called a Mult-Bay.
Trouble is, the
| > ones that I've found on the internet run about $110. I
would really like
| > to get this fixed without putting 110 bucks into a 5
year old laptop.
| >
| > I tried a generic, portable USB CD drive. They don't
work. There's
| > something weird about the USB ports on this laptop, they
don't get enough
| > power from a standard USB portable drive. The Multi-bay
has another pin
| > that gives the laptop the necessary power.
| >
| > Is there any other way to get this new HD with XP on it,
to boot on the
| > laptop? I suspect that I'm SOL.
| >
| > Thanks.
| >
|
| You're on the right track but you need to make some
adjustments:
| 1. Connect the new disk to the desktop PC.
| 2. Partition & format it like so:
| First partition: 20 GBytes FAT32
| Second partition: NTFS or FAT32.
| 3. Boot the desktop with a Win98 boot disk
(www.bootdisk.com).
| Make sure that smartdrv.exe is on that disk.
| 4. Run this command: sys c:. ((assuming that E: is
| the first partition on the new disk)
| 5. Copy a:\smartdrv.exe to c:\.
| 6. Boot the desktop into WinXP.
| 7. Copy your WinXP CD to E:\i386 (assuming that E: is
| the first partition on the new disk).
| 8. Install the new disk on the laptop. It should now boot
into DOS.
| 9. Run smartdrv.exe.
| 10. Run this command to start the installation of Windows:
| c:\i386\winnt
| 11. When finished, convert drive C to NTFS if desired.
|
| With an ultraslim laptop like yours you must take extra
precautions
| to protect yourself against similar mishaps in future. Get
yourself
| a copy of an imaging program (e.g. Acronis TrueImage),
then create
| an image of drive C: and store it on drive D:. The next
step is to
| copy that image file to an independent medium so that you
can
| restore it if the disk should fail again (which, of
course, it won't!).
|
|
 
Use a usb cd drive


And use a USB powered hub between the laptop and the
external CD.


|
| | > Here's my predicament; I have an older laptop, an Evo
410c. This is one
| > of those very light, small laptops. No built-in floppy
or CD drive. The
| > hard drive failed, and I bought a new drive. Since I
don't have a CD
| > drive to boot from, I took a new HD, connected it to a
tower PC with one
| > of those adapters that lets you connect a 3.5" laptop
drive to the PC's
| > IDE connector. And loaded XP on it.
| >
| > After putting the new HD in the laptop, it will not boot
to Windows. The
| > BIOS diags recognize the drive and it passes all tests.
| > The message I get at bootup is: "A disk read error
occurred - Press
| > Alt-Ctrl-Del to restart".
| >
| > I suspect that the problem is; the drivers XP loaded for
the PC IDE
| > controller don't work for the IDE controller that's in
the laptop, and
| > therefore it doesn't see the HD.
| >
| > I have been told that there is an external device - like
a docking
| > station - that Compaq made for this, called a Mult-Bay.
Trouble is, the
| > ones that I've found on the internet run about $110. I
would really like
| > to get this fixed without putting 110 bucks into a 5
year old laptop.
| >
| > I tried a generic, portable USB CD drive. They don't
work. There's
| > something weird about the USB ports on this laptop, they
don't get enough
| > power from a standard USB portable drive. The Multi-bay
has another pin
| > that gives the laptop the necessary power.
| >
| > Is there any other way to get this new HD with XP on it,
to boot on the
| > laptop? I suspect that I'm SOL.
| >
| > Thanks.
| >
|
| You're on the right track but you need to make some
adjustments:
| 1. Connect the new disk to the desktop PC.
| 2. Partition & format it like so:
| First partition: 20 GBytes FAT32
| Second partition: NTFS or FAT32.
| 3. Boot the desktop with a Win98 boot disk
(www.bootdisk.com).
| Make sure that smartdrv.exe is on that disk.
| 4. Run this command: sys c:. ((assuming that E: is
| the first partition on the new disk)
| 5. Copy a:\smartdrv.exe to c:\.
| 6. Boot the desktop into WinXP.
| 7. Copy your WinXP CD to E:\i386 (assuming that E: is
| the first partition on the new disk).
| 8. Install the new disk on the laptop. It should now boot
into DOS.
| 9. Run smartdrv.exe.
| 10. Run this command to start the installation of Windows:
| c:\i386\winnt
| 11. When finished, convert drive C to NTFS if desired.
|
| With an ultraslim laptop like yours you must take extra
precautions
| to protect yourself against similar mishaps in future. Get
yourself
| a copy of an imaging program (e.g. Acronis TrueImage),
then create
| an image of drive C: and store it on drive D:. The next
step is to
| copy that image file to an independent medium so that you
can
| restore it if the disk should fail again (which, of
course, it won't!).
|
|
Click to expand...
 
His laptop doesn't supply adequate power to run the external
USB CD drive. That is why I said to use a powered hub in
the chain.



| If you'd have read the whole post you would have seen that
that doesn't
| work.
|
|
| "administrator" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
| | > Use a usb cd drive
| >
| >
| > On 10/2/07 3:46 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Jim
| >
| >> And use a USB powered hub between the laptop and the
| >> external CD.
| >>
| >>
| >> | >> |
| >> | | >> | > Here's my predicament; I have an older laptop, an
Evo
| >> 410c. This is one
| >> | > of those very light, small laptops. No built-in
floppy
| >> or CD drive. The
| >> | > hard drive failed, and I bought a new drive. Since
I
| >> don't have a CD
| >> | > drive to boot from, I took a new HD, connected it
to a
| >> tower PC with one
| >> | > of those adapters that lets you connect a 3.5"
laptop
| >> drive to the PC's
| >> | > IDE connector. And loaded XP on it.
| >> | >
| >> | > After putting the new HD in the laptop, it will not
boot
| >> to Windows. The
| >> | > BIOS diags recognize the drive and it passes all
tests.
| >> | > The message I get at bootup is: "A disk read error
| >> occurred - Press
| >> | > Alt-Ctrl-Del to restart".
| >> | >
| >> | > I suspect that the problem is; the drivers XP
loaded for
| >> the PC IDE
| >> | > controller don't work for the IDE controller that's
in
| >> the laptop, and
| >> | > therefore it doesn't see the HD.
| >> | >
| >> | > I have been told that there is an external device -
like
| >> a docking
| >> | > station - that Compaq made for this, called a
Mult-Bay.
| >> Trouble is, the
| >> | > ones that I've found on the internet run about
$110. I
| >> would really like
| >> | > to get this fixed without putting 110 bucks into a
5
| >> year old laptop.
| >> | >
| >> | > I tried a generic, portable USB CD drive. They
don't
| >> work. There's
| >> | > something weird about the USB ports on this laptop,
they
| >> don't get enough
| >> | > power from a standard USB portable drive. The
Multi-bay
| >> has another pin
| >> | > that gives the laptop the necessary power.
| >> | >
| >> | > Is there any other way to get this new HD with XP
on it,
| >> to boot on the
| >> | > laptop? I suspect that I'm SOL.
| >> | >
| >> | > Thanks.
| >> | >
| >> |
| >> | You're on the right track but you need to make some
| >> adjustments:
| >> | 1. Connect the new disk to the desktop PC.
| >> | 2. Partition & format it like so:
| >> | First partition: 20 GBytes FAT32
| >> | Second partition: NTFS or FAT32.
| >> | 3. Boot the desktop with a Win98 boot disk
| >> (www.bootdisk.com).
| >> | Make sure that smartdrv.exe is on that disk.
| >> | 4. Run this command: sys c:. ((assuming that E: is
| >> | the first partition on the new disk)
| >> | 5. Copy a:\smartdrv.exe to c:\.
| >> | 6. Boot the desktop into WinXP.
| >> | 7. Copy your WinXP CD to E:\i386 (assuming that E: is
| >> | the first partition on the new disk).
| >> | 8. Install the new disk on the laptop. It should now
boot
| >> into DOS.
| >> | 9. Run smartdrv.exe.
| >> | 10. Run this command to start the installation of
Windows:
| >> | c:\i386\winnt
| >> | 11. When finished, convert drive C to NTFS if
desired.
| >> |
| >> | With an ultraslim laptop like yours you must take
extra
| >> precautions
| >> | to protect yourself against similar mishaps in
future. Get
| >> yourself
| >> | a copy of an imaging program (e.g. Acronis
TrueImage),
| >> then create
| >> | an image of drive C: and store it on drive D:. The
next
| >> step is to
| >> | copy that image file to an independent medium so that
you
| >> can
| >> | restore it if the disk should fail again (which, of
| >> course, it won't!).
| >> |
| >> |
| >>
| >>
| >
|
|
 
Some hubs have provisions to pull in a 5 VDC power supply,
but you can buy an excellent powered USB 2.0 hub for $12-25
and that should be able to run standard USB devices that
draw power from the USB.
Laptops often only handle USB signals and do not supply
power.



|I have a USB hub, but it doesn't have a power supply with
it.
|
|
in message
| | > And use a USB powered hub between the laptop and the
| > external CD.
| >
| >
| > | > |
| > | | > | > Here's my predicament; I have an older laptop, an
Evo
| > 410c. This is one
| > | > of those very light, small laptops. No built-in
floppy
| > or CD drive. The
| > | > hard drive failed, and I bought a new drive. Since
I
| > don't have a CD
| > | > drive to boot from, I took a new HD, connected it to
a
| > tower PC with one
| > | > of those adapters that lets you connect a 3.5"
laptop
| > drive to the PC's
| > | > IDE connector. And loaded XP on it.
| > | >
| > | > After putting the new HD in the laptop, it will not
boot
| > to Windows. The
| > | > BIOS diags recognize the drive and it passes all
tests.
| > | > The message I get at bootup is: "A disk read error
| > occurred - Press
| > | > Alt-Ctrl-Del to restart".
| > | >
| > | > I suspect that the problem is; the drivers XP loaded
for
| > the PC IDE
| > | > controller don't work for the IDE controller that's
in
| > the laptop, and
| > | > therefore it doesn't see the HD.
| > | >
| > | > I have been told that there is an external device -
like
| > a docking
| > | > station - that Compaq made for this, called a
Mult-Bay.
| > Trouble is, the
| > | > ones that I've found on the internet run about $110.
I
| > would really like
| > | > to get this fixed without putting 110 bucks into a 5
| > year old laptop.
| > | >
| > | > I tried a generic, portable USB CD drive. They
don't
| > work. There's
| > | > something weird about the USB ports on this laptop,
they
| > don't get enough
| > | > power from a standard USB portable drive. The
Multi-bay
| > has another pin
| > | > that gives the laptop the necessary power.
| > | >
| > | > Is there any other way to get this new HD with XP on
it,
| > to boot on the
| > | > laptop? I suspect that I'm SOL.
| > | >
| > | > Thanks.
| > | >
| > |
| > | You're on the right track but you need to make some
| > adjustments:
| > | 1. Connect the new disk to the desktop PC.
| > | 2. Partition & format it like so:
| > | First partition: 20 GBytes FAT32
| > | Second partition: NTFS or FAT32.
| > | 3. Boot the desktop with a Win98 boot disk
| > (www.bootdisk.com).
| > | Make sure that smartdrv.exe is on that disk.
| > | 4. Run this command: sys c:. ((assuming that E: is
| > | the first partition on the new disk)
| > | 5. Copy a:\smartdrv.exe to c:\.
| > | 6. Boot the desktop into WinXP.
| > | 7. Copy your WinXP CD to E:\i386 (assuming that E: is
| > | the first partition on the new disk).
| > | 8. Install the new disk on the laptop. It should now
boot
| > into DOS.
| > | 9. Run smartdrv.exe.
| > | 10. Run this command to start the installation of
Windows:
| > | c:\i386\winnt
| > | 11. When finished, convert drive C to NTFS if desired.
| > |
| > | With an ultraslim laptop like yours you must take
extra
| > precautions
| > | to protect yourself against similar mishaps in future.
Get
| > yourself
| > | a copy of an imaging program (e.g. Acronis TrueImage),
| > then create
| > | an image of drive C: and store it on drive D:. The
next
| > step is to
| > | copy that image file to an independent medium so that
you
| > can
| > | restore it if the disk should fail again (which, of
| > course, it won't!).
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|
 
I have been told that there is an external device - like a docking
station - that Compaq made for this, called a Mult-Bay. Trouble is, the
ones that I've found on the internet run about $110. I would really like
to get this fixed without putting 110 bucks into a 5 year old laptop.
Click to expand...

I think what you are looking for is this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-EXTERNAL-MUL...-ROM-217389-002_W0QQitemZ170154730359QQihZ007

I have one of these, and they work beautifully...

Does your laptop have the extra "power" port next to the USB port? You will
need that in order to get this to work. I bought my Multi-bay adapter new,
so it came with a power adapter, as my laptop does not have the extra power
section right next to the USB port.

This is actually a bonus buy, because normally you only get the adapter.
This one comes with a CD burner / DVD-ROM drive. Only problem I foresee is
that it is located in the UK...
 
JohnB said:
I have been told that there is an external device - like a docking
station - that Compaq made for this, called a Mult-Bay. Trouble is, the
ones that I've found on the internet run about $110. I would really like
to get this fixed without putting 110 bucks into a 5 year old laptop.
Click to expand...

Forget my last post. Search eBay for a "multibay Cradle". This one may
have ended by the time you see it, but this person has an excellent deal on
the cradle. This comes with the external power supply and everything. You
would need to buy a multibay CD drive, but you can pick those up for almost
nothing on eBay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-COMPAQ-HP-M...Mbay-DC373B-ABA_W0QQitemZ250169549396QQihZ015
 
Ok, I tried this the first time through not quite sure what I would use
SmartDrv for, and I had a problem ( I know what it is; it creates a virtual
drive from RAM).

This is what I did;
- created 2 partitions; 1 = 35 gb and 2 = 5gb
- formatted both as FAT32
- Sys'd partition 1 (C:)
- the 2nd partition is D:
- copied the I386 folder from the CD to d:\i386
- put the HD back in the laptop and booted to Win98 command prompt
- from d:\i386, ran Winnt
- at that point it told me it could not find SmartDrv (now I know why it's
needed)
- selected the option to proceed without SmartDrv
- it gave me a message saying "copying files to drive"
- and then it stopped, seemingly in the middle of setup. The laptop was not
locked up. But it was still on the screen titled copying files.

Where'd I go wrong, other than not having SmartDrv?
 
I suppose you have since found out that smartdrv does
not create a virtual drive. It is a disk caching program
that speeds up the installation process enormously.

I wonder why you created your partitions the way you
did. Having partition 2 at 5 GBytes is useless - you might
as well do with out it. However, if you omit it then you
may not be able to use imaging programs as per my
first reply.

I suggest you give it another try, this time WITH smartdrv.
AFAIR, you will also need himem.sys plus a reference in
c:\config.sys like so:
device=c:\himem.sys
 
I'm confused about which partition will ultimately be the XP partition
I've got Win98 booting from the C: partition, and D: contains the i386
folder.

And I noticed that when winnt runs, it copies files to C:

I partitioned them the way I did, thinking D: would only be used to store
the i386 folder. (For imaging software, I use Ghost. And I could fit a
compressed image in that 5gb partition.) And, I would like the final
location of the XP partition to be as large as possible. That was my
reasoning.

Sorry, but I need a picture to understand this :)
This is how I see what you described in your instructions:


Partition 1 Partition 2
------------- --------------
| | | |
| E: | | C: |
| i386 | | SmartDrv |
| | | Win98 |
------------- ---------------
20 gb Remaining gb

I'll use Himem the next time around, but I have a feeling this didn't work
for other reasons too.
Before I try this again; your instructions say run winnt from C: - I guess
you meant E: ?
When I run fdisk, the first partition letter defaults to c: How would you
get it to be E:?
And now that I see that partition 2 is ultimately going to be the XP boot
partition, I'll make it much larger.... like 35gb

Any other suggestions? By the way, thanks for your time on this.
 
See below.

JohnB said:
I'm confused about which partition will ultimately be the XP partition
I've got Win98 booting from the C: partition, and D: contains the i386
folder.

And I noticed that when winnt runs, it copies files to C:

I partitioned them the way I did, thinking D: would only be used to store
the i386 folder. (For imaging software, I use Ghost. And I could fit a
compressed image in that 5gb partition.) And, I would like the final
location of the XP partition to be as large as possible. That was my
reasoning.
Click to expand...

A 5 GByte partition is too small for an image. WinXP tends
to consume between 9 and 15 GBytes after a while, and since
imaging programs achieve a compression of about 50%, you
need around 10 GBytes for drive D:.
Sorry, but I need a picture to understand this :)
This is how I see what you described in your instructions:


Partition 1 Partition 2
------------- --------------
| | | |
| E: | | C: |
| i386 | | SmartDrv |
| | | Win98 |
------------- ---------------
20 gb Remaining gb

I'll use Himem the next time around, but I have a feeling this didn't work
for other reasons too.
Before I try this again; your instructions say run winnt from C: - I
guess you meant E: ?
Click to expand...

I expected you to create the i386 folder on the first partition,
hence the C: drive letter. However, it does not matter where
the i386 folder resides. On the other hand you must make
sure that WinXP installs on the first partition. Do NOT allow
it to go to the second partition!
When I run fdisk, the first partition letter defaults to c: How would
you get it to be E:?
And now that I see that partition 2 is ultimately going to be the XP boot
partition, I'll make it much larger.... like 35gb

Any other suggestions? By the way, thanks for your time on this.
Click to expand...

You're welcome.
 
I got further with it this time. I added the config file with the himem
command, and used SmartDrv.
It finished copying all the files, then I get the message saying "Windows
has completed the DOS portion of Setup, press Enter to reboot and complete
Setup"

But, at bootup I get "NTLDR missing".

It seems like this "should" work. Have you gotten this method to work?

BTW - it did install XP to the first partition
 
You may see this message
a) If the primary partition has an incorrect boot sector.
b) If the boot partition is not marked "active".
c) If the disk geometry is incorrect.

Conditions a) and b) can be fixed retrospectively:
a) Boot sector:
- Connect the laptop disk as the sole disk to a
desktop PC.
- Boot that PC with your Win98 boot disk.
- Type this command: fdisk /mbr
b) Active partition:
- Connect the laptop disk as the sole master disk to
a desktop PC.
- Boot that PC with your Win98 boot disk.
- Type this command: fdisk
then mark the primary partition "active".

c) is a much more difficult problem. On desktop machines
the BIOS usually lets you select a disk geometry of Auto,
LBA (Logical Block Adressing) or CHS (Cylinder/Head
Sector). On laptops this option is frequently absent. If the
laptop expects one type of geometry and the disk was
partitioned under a different geometry then the machine
won't boot. What's worse is that the condition is not easily
detected. I know of a single program that tells me - it is
an obsolete version of PQMagic.

If a) or b) fail to deliver then you have to start all over
again and do it by trial and error like so:
- Connect the laptop disk as a slave disk to a desktop PC.
- In the BIOS, select LBA for the slave disk.
- Launch Windows.
- Delete all partitions on the laptop disk, then recreate them.
Remember that the primary partition must be an active FAT32
partitions.
- Manually copy these hidden files to the laptop primary partition:
c:\ntdetect.com
c:\ntldr
c:\boot.ini
- See if the laptop will boot with this disk. It should complain
with a message that it cannot find ntoskrnl.
- Repeat the above exercise with a CHS setting.

After you have found the correct drive geometry, proceed
as per the previous posts.
 
Well, I think you're right about condition "C" below.

I put the laptop HD back in the PC and I could boot from it. It will not
boot when in the laptop.

And as luck would have it... the PC that I have does not have BIOS settings
for HD geometry. It's an older PC, a Dell Dimension 8200. And like you
said, the laptop has NO settings for that.

I didn't achieve what I wanted to but, I sure learned some helpful things
for the future.

Thanks!!!
 
This was a good test you performed: To boot the laptop disk
on the desktop PC. It demonstrates that you did the right
things when loading Windows. How about asking a friend
for access to his PC? Or perhaps borrow an older model
from your friendly computer dealer? Most desktop do have
a BIOS with these geometry settings!
 
If you were able to actually boot the drive on the PC you could try using the Sysprep utility along
with the Plug and Play switch to get it to search for the new hardware when booting on the laptop.
Just Google Sysprep and you can find many sites with walkthrough for this.
 
I don't think this is a driver issue. Remember, XP is being installed from
the laptop not the PC.
 
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