floppy boot win 7

[aperich2]

my kids com is an old hp p4.
someone messed with hard drive cables and broke on board controller. so i bought a pci add on card. siig UltraATA 133 PCI ver 3 well the bios will not detect it right at boot. (only detects it when i hit f1 to go into bios menu. so to install xp i use xp setup floppys then all is well for the install. to boot i make a floppy boot disk with ntdetect, ntldr, boot inf. and it will start os with no problems. i would like to upgrade this computer to win 7 to match the 4 other computer in my house. so to make file sharing easer for kids (to use homegroup). also they love the scenes theme... which i can do by upgrading inplace instead of a clean boot. my question is i would need to make a new startup disk to boot and i dont know whats under the hood of win7 just yet. (dont know what files win7 uses to boot). i will start researching when i find time but for the heck of it figured id just ask first and see if anyones nice enoff to help out.

also couldn't i just make a dos boot disk and load my pci card driver from dos. then i would be able to do a clean install of win7. i was learning how to mod my bios to add the drivers to my boot order menu but after the rearch just did not believe it would work right and might just end up with a dead bios. i really dont want to put any more money into kids setup just for simple browsing and axcess to my dvd collection backups from my computer and her sims2 game. for im planning on buying her a new i7 setup after tax refund time anyway. would be nice to let her learn win7 now so i can help out over the holidays. when after ill be so busy fixing peoples heaters and such that she will be on her own then for the most part.

any help would great and i can exchange help to any ? you have to hvac, electrical, plumbing problems you have for your time.

[EzyStvy]

I skimmed trough your post...Food for thought: Get a better PCI card and or look for a BIOS Flash.

Often times with cards like these - you have to do the F6 - install drivers from floppy Early on in the Windows Installation.

Often time these cards also have their own BIOS screen and have to be enabled.

[aperich2]

well the problem i have is win 7 has no floppy install. so i would have to do a floppy install from xp then upgrade xp to win 7. which this is my plan just not sure about the files i need for the start up disk for win 7 for i would need to boot from floppy first. i think even a better add on card will not work cause the problem lies with hp's own bios is whats causing the problem (crap mono). thats why f6's not the fix.(yet after a floppy xp install i still f6 and sets up fine) system bios will not boot it.

i can see the bios from add on card only when i enter bios settings on the hp. then it flashes the add on cards bios screen then. when it should be showing after the post.

i am happy with running a boot floppy to start computer to make it work. been doing xp like this for months now.

just dont know what win 7 boot files are yet. cause i need to place them on a: first... this mobo will only boot floppy, local disk, and network. no other ide controler, or usb.

[aperich2]

ps i only want win7 on this machine so i can show my little girl how to use it before i buy her a new one which will be a few months. instead of teaching her one os then changing it to a different os. i know a new mobo will fix the problem but why would i do that when now. when im getting ready to replace the whole system in a few months..... i know if i found a way for xp to work then i'll find a way for win7. help only saves time. im going through some threads now. going to try to make a dos disk to load raid drivers for ide then load cd drivers then should be able to setup win7 from my cd. so i can do a fresh install instead of upgrade. then ill look into a start up disk next.... any help would be great cause im fighting for time and this googling just isnt as good as it use to be... might even have to give it up and keep xp.

[aperich2]

well i see this fourm sucks. the only answer is buy a new card, what a lousy answer. anyway i ended up flashing a oem bios with a retail board and running win 7 flawless. i have boot start raid, usb, ect. every onboard item works great. a forum that knows what its talking about even helped me make a usb win7 install and a floppy boot that loads usb dos drivers and that was even a great idea. shame on this fourm only cause there is a paid membership which if someone pays he should have someone who knows what there are doing. i would have joined if i knew this wasn't a skeem. but looks like it is. my moneys going to another fourm and its only $20 a year with smart people lurking around there. this monthly bill with bogus help and crap software you people give at signup. looks like a jive would anyone like me to come into your home charge service fee, dignostic fee, gas fee, hourly fee. then say you need to buy a new furnace cause yours sucks. no i wave all fees and cut service fee in half if answer is no, and wave all fees if yes. i never loose a bid either too other locals co.'s. shame shame shame

[EzyStvy]

Well, we're glad YOU actively participated in the resolution of YOUR own problem. That is so much better then asking total strangers to voluntarily stop what they’re doing to do YOUR work for YOU

[aperich2]

what kinda replay is that EzyStvy is this not a pc problem fourm. i dont think thats how this works its like got a question post it if someone know anything that would like to answer he does, other user either gets helped or dosent. then user solved problem he would help someone else for all the time he saved. also just why would anyone just hang out at a help fourm if he has other things to do. thats not real fun

[aperich2]

also just in case anyone reads this in the end retail bios ended up not working right caused a flaky os. i re flashed bios with oe and then just hacked them. i added a line into my bios that slows the boot up and that worked. i even added options to boot to usb, new splash screen and found hidden options for memory timings. this was kinda hard but really worked good.

[EzyStvy]

Sites like this are full of VOLUNTEERS like me. We are here to Help YOU solve YOUR problem….And that’s a bit different then doing all the work for you.

We voluntarily take time out of our busy schedules to help complete total strangers. We do this as much as we can....

Some problems are tougher then others.....

So when we see posts by new people like you say this site SUCKS – we can’t but take offense to that....

Anyway – I hope you find a resolution to your problem

[aperich2]

i think a better (simple) program can be made to work on bios from the os. im going to start on this next week. anyone care to help out just let me know. or could share any info cause this is going to be hard. like i said before fourms are like going to tech school instead of college. help saves reading and eye strain. we end up with solutions and a nice piece of exe for free or just +2 knowledge......

[aperich2]

hay bub your site has a paid membership. there should be more than vol. your site should have a tech guy. you awnt someones money then just give bad software for it. what a joke. your even worse EzyStvy cause you dont even read these posts just reply with half a-- answers that dont make any sence. and no you dont VOLUNTEER i dont believe that at all. YOUR SITE HAS A PAID MEMBERSHIP. and there are members. selling mags software. how is this if there is not a tech that dont know what hes doing. what a greedy old man or kids running this site. i dont even remember anything about anyone ever asking anyone to do anything other than asking for any tips. and your right there are other sites. this ones just sucks and EzyStvy is just an meanny

[EzyStvy]

You misspelled several words – in particular – MEANNY should be spelled MEANIE...

If you're going to insult me - please do it correctly

[dbc]

Ride 'em Cowboy...lol

[Panama Red]

Okay, this has gone far enuf. Now this thread has been reduced to childish name calling. Stvy, you know better. And aperich2, if you don't like the way we do things around here, take a hike. We all volunteer here on these forums and the forums are FREE. If you want to enjoy the site without advertising, then you can purchase a membership. No one forced you to come here nor did anyone steal money from your wallet. So knock off the bad attitude. And I'd invite you to take another (probably the first) read of our rules you agreed to when you signed up. None of us pretend to have all the answers about every computer related problem but we do our individual best to provide help to those in need. Knowingly providing bad or faulty assistance is a clear violation of forum rules too. I'm done.

[bozo]

I would run the "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor", to see if that computer would run Win 7.

aperich2...you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wrong about the members of this "Great Forum".
I am NOT a paid member here, and I have been helped countless times here by the membership & staff...there are some pure geniuses here!