Installing OS on Toshiba Portege 3480ct
By Grant - usenet poster
Hi,
I'm thinking of buying a used Toshiba Portege 3480ct which comes with no OS,
no floppy drive and no CD drive.
If I bought a USB CD drive, would it boot from that? (I'd rather have a USB
CD drive than a PCMCIA one as it could be used with a PC as well)
Any comments about this machine?
Best Solution
posted on Aug 02, 2007
Melissa - usenet poster
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...
Can't boot from a USB device.
Nice, small, light, pin sharp screen (are your eyes good?) and quite sturdy.
A decent performer if you aren't into games - you might just be able to play
Quake III at pretty dismal settings ;)
The most efficient route to installing an OS would be to remove the laptop's
hard-drive, obtain a laptop drive to desktop IDE cable or adapter and
transfer the install files via a desktop PC. Make sure the drive is
formatted to a bootable DOS partition, from where you can access your
installation directory :)
If you plan on installing XP I would advise including and using the smartdrv
DOS utility as this will considerably speed up installation. So, copy the
entire "i386" directory from the installation CD along with smartdrv onto
laptop drives bootable partition. Replace the drive back in the laptop (of
course!). Reboot, at the DOS prompt run "smartdrv", then "CD i386", then
execute "winnt" to get the installation up and running.
HTH,
AlexQ.
~ Reply-to valid ~
Can't boot from a USB device.
Nice, small, light, pin sharp screen (are your eyes good?) and quite sturdy.
A decent performer if you aren't into games - you might just be able to play
Quake III at pretty dismal settings ;)
The most efficient route to installing an OS would be to remove the laptop's
hard-drive, obtain a laptop drive to desktop IDE cable or adapter and
transfer the install files via a desktop PC. Make sure the drive is
formatted to a bootable DOS partition, from where you can access your
installation directory :)
If you plan on installing XP I would advise including and using the smartdrv
DOS utility as this will considerably speed up installation. So, copy the
entire "i386" directory from the installation CD along with smartdrv onto
laptop drives bootable partition. Replace the drive back in the laptop (of
course!). Reboot, at the DOS prompt run "smartdrv", then "CD i386", then
execute "winnt" to get the installation up and running.
HTH,
AlexQ.
~ Reply-to valid ~
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Solution #2
posted on Aug 02, 2007
herself - usenet poster
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Can anyone confirm this? - the vendor told me that it COULD boot from a USB
cd drive. Is that definitley wrong?
Can anyone confirm this? - the vendor told me that it COULD boot from a USB
cd drive. Is that definitley wrong?
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Solution #3
posted on Aug 02, 2007
Chandler - usenet poster
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It all depends on what your paying for it. You need to be sure once
youve got it that getting all the missing item wont cost you more than
buying one complete.
What you are trying to do is the hard way. Id never consider a laptop
that wasnt complete unless it was at scrap price. Just my 2p's worth.
youve got it that getting all the missing item wont cost you more than
buying one complete.
What you are trying to do is the hard way. Id never consider a laptop
that wasnt complete unless it was at scrap price. Just my 2p's worth.
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Solution #4
posted on Aug 02, 2007
jessie25 - usenet poster
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Don't think there is any way a USB CD drive will boot on this machine.
USB floppy should be OK, but it may have to be original Tosh one (Part
No : PA3043U-1FDD).
Suggest you have a good look around the system settings to see what
options are available.
If you boot from floppy, you will still have the problem of getting a
USB CD recognised in DOS - also there may be only a single USB port (?).
Make sure you get one with real mode drivers available! If you get that
far, I suggest you copy the OS files to a folder on the HD and install
from there - had to resort to this method on my 3110ct, which has a
similar (lower) spec.
Best of luck
Vaughan
...
USB floppy should be OK, but it may have to be original Tosh one (Part
No : PA3043U-1FDD).
Suggest you have a good look around the system settings to see what
options are available.
If you boot from floppy, you will still have the problem of getting a
USB CD recognised in DOS - also there may be only a single USB port (?).
Make sure you get one with real mode drivers available! If you get that
far, I suggest you copy the OS files to a folder on the HD and install
from there - had to resort to this method on my 3110ct, which has a
similar (lower) spec.
Best of luck
Vaughan
...
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