Laptop requires USB floppy drive to reinstall Windows XP, can I use flash drive or flash memory?

What is a "CLEVO D900T" ?  We usually refer to the regular Dell model number on this forum.  We are not Dell employees and do not normally have access to internal designations.  We use, as an example   "Inspiron 1525" or "XPS M170", etc.

HERE is the Dell reinstallation procedures, this may help you.

Hi DynamoMan, Why dont you use Windows Restore and take your system back to an time before you were hit by the virus. It will save you a lot of greif reistalling your operating system.

Not necessarily. If the virus has been captured in the restore save file then it will be still there. That is why it is always recommended to remove all restore points after you clean the system.

Hi DynamoMan, Why dont you use Windows Restore and take your system back to an time before you were hit by the virus. It will save you a lot of greif reistalling your operating system.

Hi guys. Since this is a 2005 system, Dynamo might use DELL´s PC Restore. I think that was what Robin meant to. Dynamo do you see a blue bar at the top of the screen when booting the system? If so you can try Ctrl+ F11. It will restore the system to Original specs. Hope it helps.

I do not believe this IS a Dell system. The make and model number are not is any Dell Data Base. So there more than likely is no Factory restore option even on the system .

DynamoMan

May I suggest you go HERE read the post at the top of the page and let the Great folks there see if they can get your system cleaned without the need to reinstall. Worth a shot in my bootk

In most cases that I've worked on, System Restore won't remove the virus.

Hi guys.

Since this is a 2005 system, Dynamo might use DELL´s PC Restore. I think that was what Robin meant to.

Dynamo do you see a blue bar at the top of the screen when booting the system? If so you can try Ctrl+ F11. It will restore the system to Original specs.

Hope it helps.

Note: You are going to lose all your apps and files doing this procedure. Make sure to back them up.

Also if you want to format and install clean. You do not need RAID drivers or Matrix if you only have one HHD. Go to BIOS (F2 when booting) and swicht RAID ON to Autodetect/ATA othrwise you will need one of these:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916196/en-us

Davet50.

You could be right. Any way I added that he does not need the RAID drivers and also a place where he can choose a USB floppy drive that may work.

CLEVO D900T = Alienware M 7700.

Davet50,

Good suggestion, but cracked software has infected that system with one nasty rootkit and who knows what else. Cleaning it is not an option.

 http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19266093/19456001.aspx#19456001

Thanks Linda.

Yes, as iroc mentioned this isn't a Dell laptop, it's a Clevo/Sager laptop. In it's manual it mentions that I'll need a USB floppy drive and a floppy with the drivers to set up my SATA drive as either RAID or ATA before going on with the Windows XP re-installation. I only have one HDD in this laptop and at the moment don't instead on adding any more so i dunno if these instructions apply to me. Here's an excerpt of the instructions:

1) Press a key when you see the message "Press any key to start up/boot from the CD".

2) Press the F6 key when you see the message "Press F6 if you need to install third-party SCSI or RAID drivers".

3) When the Windows setup menu appears, press the "S" key to "Specify Additional Device".

4) Insert the ATA Driver Diskette into the external USB floppy drive.

5) Select the appropriate controller for your Windows XP operating system (either WinXP Promise SATA378 Controller or Win2000 Promise SATA378 controller) and press enter.

6) The system will now read from the floppy disk drive and then return to the Windows setup menu.

7) Press Enter to continue installing the operating system as normal.

I've also been suggested elsewhere to create a "slipstream" CD with XP SP3 in it along with all of my laptop component drivers, and that SP3 contains a generic HDD driver as well. Do you think this will work???

IF you can find the corrrect SATA drivers then slipstreaming is the way to go. Also you would have the benifit of haveing the disk available if you were to need it again HERE is some info on how to do the slipstreaming

I definitely have the SATA drivers, both on the Utilities disk that came with the laptop and on a floppy diskette which was already prepared with the drivers. (I can just use my old Dimension 4400 desktop to transfer it to a flash drive).

Dynamon.

I do not think a flash drive will be read during XP install, you may try; However, the conventional way would be with USB floppy drive or slipstreaming like Davet50 adviced you above. Or you can forget the SATA drvers and in BIOS swicht from RAID ON to autodetect/ATA or ACHI autodetect (whatever is written in your system) and forget about F6.

Just a thought.