Hard drive conundrum.

D

Dolbeag

Geek Trainee
I have Dell Inspron 3700 running windows 98 which has sat in a cupboard for a few years and is pretty knackered, it has a removable DVD drive that doesn’t work and is stuck in the machine and can‘t link to the internet currently. I would like to use my pal’s external hard drive with it (a Western Digital Elements 250GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive), save me splashing the cash to get it fixed. The problem is that because the Inspron is running windows 98 it needs a driver for the external hard drive which I could install via a 32M flash drive, which is the only removable memory presently. I have scoured the net to find the driver for the external HD but to no avail. I’ve been trying for days to come up with a solution without any joy, I’d love to hear any ideas you’ve got.I don't want to throw it out as it would be good for messing about on the net.
Cheers.
 
Dolbeag said:
it has a removable DVD drive that doesn’t work and is stuck in the machine
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turn the system off then unfold a paperclip and push it into the very small hole on the front of the drive, this will eject the drive then push the drive closed and turn your system on, is the drive detected by the BIOS

Dolbeag said:
can‘t link to the internet currently.
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it is highly recommended that any Win9x machines are NOT used on the net[/QUOTE]
 
Dolbeag said:
No joy just says drive not accessible.
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is the drive reconized by the BIOS at POST (system beeps) can you see the CD on the POST screen[ot]it is probably attached to the primary slave (only 4 IDE devices, primary & secondary each with a master and a slave)[/ot]
 
Windows 98 is no longer supported and you may have a hard time finding a driver. If the external hard drive is new, I'd give up looking for a driver. However, if the hard drive is a few years old, you may be in luck. Check the links in the Driver Guide Sticky in this forum for common places to get drivers.
 
Donkey 42, not quite sure what I'm looking for but I don't think I can see anything listed. I can now remove the DVD drive, I looked in the device manager and it said the drive is working but under hardware profiles it says it's undocked when it actually docked.

Megamaced, the external hard drive is new and I've already given up the hunt for a driver. Thanks anyway.
 
Dolbeag said:
not quite sure what I'm looking for but I don't think I can see anything listed.
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the POST screen, the screen that flashes on screen before the XP startup screen just press the Pause button (next to Scroll Lock) then press <Space> to contine booting
Dolbeag said:
I can now remove the DVD drive, I looked in the device manager and it said the drive is working but under hardware profiles it says it's undocked when it actually docked.
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:confused: docked :confused:
 
The dvd drive isn't listed at the the startup, it's running windows 98 not XP if it makes any difference (if I was running XP there would be no probs as I could rip any discs and run them from an external hard drive). The laptop has an inerchangable floppy drive and dvd drive, when inserted are listed as being 'docked'
 
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