Thread: Need solution for lack of power and IDE ports.

Problem 1: LP4 Y adapter, sold at your local rat-shack (radioshack, or other electronics type store)

Problem 2: Known issue with windows, you can't install on one motherboard and move to another. To reinstall: dual device IDE cable SHOULD work. Make the HDD master and the CDrom slave.

Yes, you're better off buying SATA, but there are solutions if you wish to stick with IDE

I just realized I won't be able to hook up a dial IDE cable because the connector on the hard drive is a mini connector while the other end is a normal size. I don't have any dual cables like that. I'm trying to work with what I have which is a box full of regular computer parts.

Originally Posted by Maheriano

I just realized I won't be able to hook up a dial IDE cable because the connector on the hard drive is a mini connector while the other end is a normal size. I don't have any dual cables like that. I'm trying to work with what I have which is a box full of regular computer parts.

Well I have a quadrillion Y adapters. Actually I will be driving northwards Tuesday, probably be in the Toronto area Wednesday night and all day Thursday this week if you need me to give you one.

Also every geek should have IDE converters, external enclosures, that sort of thing.

Anyways, the easiest way to install windows in your case, is to hook up your harddrive to another fully functional NT based computer as a slave (basically just another drive, not bootable drive). Then format your drive (a quick NTFS format will be fine unless you know there are bad partitions that a full format's MBR indexing will help with). Now assume D: is your CarPC harddrive you just formatted, and E: is an optical drive with the XP CD in it. Type the following into the command prompt (needs admin privs under Vista)

Code:

E:\I386\winnt32.exe /syspart:D: /tempdrive:D: /makelocalsource /noreboot

XP Setup will startup, choose Full Install, go through the rigamaroo, and type in your CD key. After that, it will take some time and it will start copying files and such. When the XP window disappears and shows you your regular desktop, then you can power down your host computer, remove the CarPC drive, and put it in your new PC. Start it up, and XP installation will resume.

It basically does all the setup from the blue loading screen, EULA, CD Key, and copying all files until it says "remove disk and your computer will reboot in 15 seconds" and counts down. So all you are doing is saying do that part, but leave it alone when you are done. Then when you put it into anything else, it starts right back up like it was there the whole time. Simple trick.

And if you dont want to buy Y-adapters you can just hack up some clips from a donor PSU and solder them into your CarPC's PSU. Really doesn't matter.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see you are in Calgary. I thought you were in Toronto for some reason... Rest of it holds true though

So I've resorted to the following:

- I just bought a LP4 power splitter in case I don't end up getting a SATA drive.
- I rounded up a 80 gig SATA laptop drive for $15, supposed to be picking it up tonight.
- I'm creating a .iso image of Windows XP, using my Ubuntu bootable USB creator to turn my USB stick into an installer, going to plug that into the machine and hopefully eliminate the need for the CD drive. I'll install Windows to the IDE drive for now in case I don't get the SATA drive tonight for whatever reason.

Well that didn't work, I should have known Microsoft would find some way to **** me off.

Originally Posted by Maheriano

Well that didn't work, I should have known Microsoft would find some way to **** me off.

That's unfortunate, I tried installing from a USB stick a while back and had no luck either.

I've installed from USB stick before, but it is extremely slow.


I'm telling you the easiest way is just put the drive in a host PC and start installation like I mention, then move it back. Works everytime and is very fast since it is internal transfer speeds, not USB conversions.

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

I've installed from USB stick before, but it is extremely slow.


I'm telling you the easiest way is just put the drive in a host PC and start installation like I mention, then move it back. Works everytime and is very fast since it is internal transfer speeds, not USB conversions.

Well that's how I installed Ubuntu on this laptop I'm using, it was from a USB stick. But Microsoft must have done something with their CD to make it so you couldn't do that with the .iso image. All other .iso worked fine for me in the past.

Sorry, I should have explained to you why I didn't use your idea. You said I need another NT based machine. I got 5 computers and all of them run Ubuntu except my car computer. Don't have another Windows machine unfortunately.

Well these are the headaches you get when you go away from M$.

You could always download the XP floppy install which does the same thing but with 10-14 floppy diskettes.