Booting Thorugh Network

[godmode117]

ok i got htis old p1 and it can only boot from floppy and the floppy pins are bent so i cant boot there. ive heard stuff about booting through a network. is this possible?

 

EDIT: i want to b eable to telll the computer to boot the cd -rom

Edited September 16, 2004 by godmode117

[Capslock118]

why not do a search online for your MB manual? I mean just because its a p1 doesnt mean it cant boot from cd-rom, it all depends on the MB, plus...whats bent, the floppy drive pins on the MB or the floppy drive? cause floppy drive isnt much at all anymore

[godmode117]

the pins on the mb are bent and ones missing.

[Nemo]

You can boot off the network if your BIOS has that option. You'll have to go into the BIOS and enable the LAN as your boot 'device'. Not all motherboards have that option enabled in the BIOS.

 

However, this is not simply a matter of just changing a BIOS setting. You'll need to have a server capable of handling the request and responding with an operating system back to your P1, which means you'll need to set up a DHCP and TFTP server (software) as well. Unless you're running Linux or a version of Windows Server, then you'll have to get separate software to do this. Once you have all this set up you'll need to a OS to feed your P1.

 

Sounds like an awful lot of trouble for an old P1.

 

I suggest you do a Google search on "PXE boot" and "TFTP".

 

Edit: Hmmm. I wonder if you could send back a batch file to the P1 to tell it to boot off the CD?

Edited September 16, 2004 by Nemo

[MindDrive]

if your skilled with a soldering iron/gun - you can always remove the motherboard, get the solder hot enough to remove the bent/broken pin and you can replace it with a needle of the same thickness and then after you solder it in - just snip the ends so its the same as the rest of the pins- ive done this a few times and since the pins for floppies/ide devices arent surface mount, you dont have that much of a problem worrying about making a connection through the motherboard as long as the ring around the pin has solder connecting it to the pin

 

changing your boot device order on your P1 system shouldnt be that hard really -- what are the options you have in your bios for boot order or devices?

[godmode117]

boot devices-

hdd network floppy

[asus]

trust me.. it wont be easy, espetally with an old compuer like that.. i woudl not even wory, i would trash the thing.. right now i have a friedns 133, and i cant even install windows 98 or 95 because the cd rom is not supported by the bootdisk.. try ahh.. installing windows 95 on the hd through a dif compuer, then copy a 95 image onto a seprate partition, then go to f8 and choose command prompt only, and say "D:\win95\setup.exe"

and install it from that partition?? that could work

[MindDrive]

just remembered - if your bios is PRIOR to 1994 then you are going to have harddrive issues!!!! bios's prior to 94 couldnt support harddrives OVER 504MB's so if you are using a motherboard that is that old then you are going to need to either update the bios (GOOD LUCK FINDING ONE!!) or you are going to need to use the harddrive manufacturers utility to fix the limitations on the drive

 

(just as a referance guide for OLDER PC's):

 

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor....php?p_faqid=344

 

as for the computer not recognizing the cdrom drive - make sure that its not more than 24x (some bios's will see above 24x but have problems loading that fast and will cause errors or "file cannot be found" errors)

 

 

make sure that the pin settings are set properly -

C S M

S L A

: : :

 

for a single cdrom puter you should have the jumper set to MA (master)

but if that does not work then set the jumper to CS

 

if that doesnt work try the cdrom drive in a different puter to see if infact it actually is functional