Topic: Old Dell Latitude Laptop Q.

[amyswannick]

I'm trying to enter the BIOS of an old Dell laptop (Latitude CP M233XT) so that I can change the order of boot drives to re-install Win 98. I've tried pressing the DEL, F2, ESC keys and others in various combinations but can't seem to overide the boot sequence from the HDD. Anyone know what the trick is with this particular unit?

Also I'll be looking for drivers for it if I'm sucessful. If you know a damp & dusty corner of the t'internet where such aged files might be found I'd appreciate it too.

Cheers,

Mike.

[joudi]

I've tried pressing the DEL, F2, ESC keys and others in various combinations but can't seem to overide the boot sequence from the HDD.

Hi Mike and  

1 - If you like to install "Windows 98", can you please tell us which OS is installed already? Is it "W98"?

2 - Do you mean that you like to install two OS, and make it a dual boot?

3 - If so, do you have your HDD already partitioned, or maybe you have a second HDD already there?


In fact, me personally, I don't know whether the old computers have different way of BIOS opening, but the relatively new ones, don't need in fact a combination of keys to open the BIOS.

Some companies make it possible by hitting the key "Esc", at the boot sequence (first or second written black page appears to you. Some need to hit the key many times), While other companies make it possible by hitting the key "F1".

So you can try one of those two keys. But in reality, I'm not sure of what you are planning to do on your laptop.

Concerning the second part of your question, I'm not sure I well understood your need of drivers (what you want them for? For the laptop, for the installed OS or for any other program?) Wait for one of our techies to come and understand your need better than me.    

[Simon]

Hi Mike, and  

It does seem, from what I have managed to find, that it is indeed the F2 key which enables you to enter the BIOS, but in some circumstances, this can be password protected.  Not being funny, but if you can't bypass the boot sequence, perhaps you're not pressing the F2 key at precicely the right time?

Have you tried inserting a Windows 98 start up floppy, as well as the CD, then rebooting?  You may then be able to FDISK your hard drive, if that's what you want to do, and reload Win98 that way.

A good place for drivers is http://www.driverguide.com/ and you used to be able to log in without registering, by using Username:- drivers, and Password:- all (or possibly the other way round), but not sure if you still can.

[amyswannick]

I've tried the floppy disk & Win 98 CD disks in their respective drives but nothing seems to interupt the HDD boot sequence. I'll keep persevering with usual F2/ESC/DEL options. Maybe, like all good jokes, it's down to timing....

Thanks anyway.

[Sandra]

On some laptops its a two key combination to getinto the BIOS.

I amnot familiar with your particular laptop but theres probably a Fn key at the bottom left of the keyboard try that and F2 at the same time.

Other combinations to try, again with Fn are F1, F10, DEL and ESC.

I will have a look on the Dell site later when I get the chance to see if I can find the exact one, good luck with getting in.

Some pcs will automatically restart in SETUP mode( BIOS) if you switch off or unplug them without shutting windows down first.
With a laptop this doesnt work due to the battery being in place, so you need to disconnect the battery and be running off the mains before you try this option  

[joudi]

Every day we learn new things.    

Here's the combination which you have to do Mike:

I had to go to the BIOS setup page (Fn-F1) to set the boot order to boot from the CD before the HD, but once this was done, I was ready to boot from the RedHat CD.

http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/laptop/linux_on_latitude.html


You may visit the DELL support center for other needs if you like:

http://docs.euro.dell.com/

[Sandra]

Thanks for finding that Joudi, it will save me some time later as I am helping Michelle on messenger at the moment  

[amyswannick]

Thanks Joudi, a tip for the mental archives there!

I haven't actually tried it yet as I managed to overcome the problem another way with a little luck. The solution was so easy I feel a little embarressed to admit it....

I had been trying to boot using a Win '98 FD with the FDD attached to the parallel port on the rear and a CD ROM in the bay (so I could boot with CD ROM support and not have to swap later). If you do it the long way round and boot from the FDD in the bay, then swap the FDD for the CD ROM at the point immediately before you type 'SETUP' at the D:\ prompt, it works fine and wonders what all the fuss was about. This particular situation has had me foxed for weeks........

I suspect the boot order will be;  FDD  /   C:  /   CD ROM when I get to examine it.

Fortunately situations like this are getting less frequent!

[Sandra]

Glad its sorted Mike, I am suprised that it set up from D though as usually for a 98 or ME installation from a boot floppy it usually creates a virtual drive and moves the actual CDs drive letter up one so it would normally be E:/setup

The main thing is it worked, if you had explained what you were doing though you could have done the installation in a couple of different ways. ie one of the easiest ways would have been to use the XCOPY command, after booting from a floppy to copy the I386 folder from the 98 cd to the hard drive and then run the installation from there, sometimes handy if the CD drive is a bit dicky as its better copying a full directory rather than stopping and starting all the time  

I had a similar problem last year to yours but this laptop had a floppy drive and I was using an external CD drive connected through the printer port.
I had to boot from the floppy and load the drivers and then load msdex and mess around for ages before I got it to work  

Laptops with onboard floppy and CD are much easier or better still a later laptop which has a CD and will take XP