Upgrading & Fixing Laptops DUMmIES

Microsoft Windows XP CD-ROM

Microsoft Windows 98 or 98SE startup disk

Microsoft Windows Millennium startup disk

Microsoft Windows XP boot disk

The simplest route, of course, is to just pop an XP CD-ROM into your laptop,
turn on the power, and let the system boot from the CD and install the operat-
ing system. In order for that to happen, though, the BIOS of your laptop has
to be set up to permit booting from a CD and configured to check the CD
drive for the presence of a bootable disk. Consult the instruction manual for
your laptop for instructions on how to adjust settings in the BIOS or System
Setup Program. Chapter 6 talks more about BIOS.

What you’re looking for is the Boot Sequence or Boot Order. A typical laptop
might offer the following options:

Floppy disk (sometimes called diskette) drive

Hard drive

Secondary or modular bay hard drive

CD or DVD drive, including CD-R, CD-RW, and writeable DVD drives, and

Network boot

For most users, the hard drive is the default boot device. But you can perma-
nently or temporarily change the boot sequence for the purposes of loading
an operating system or to get around a failed device.

Access to the BIOS or System Setup Program differs slightly from machine
to machine. On current Dell laptops, for example, you display the BIOS by
restarting the machine and pressing the F2 button immediately after the Dell
logo appears on the screen. If you miss the precise moment, you’ll have to
wait until Windows fully loads, then shut it down and try again.

If you can boot from the CD drive, then you can begin installing Windows XP
by starting the system using one of the permitted CDs outlined earlier.

Microsoft sells three types of operating system installations to consumers:

A new installation for a new drive or system, to be set up and configured

by the user

An upgrade from a recent previous version of Windows (sold at a discount

from the full price for a new installation), to be set up and configured by

the user

An additional license permitting use of an existing copy of Windows XP

on additional machines you own or use

Chapter 17: Installing a New Operating System or Migrating Upwards 261