[Nick601]

I have a Samsung GT6000 series laptop

it is a 400MHz pentium II and has 256MB of ram

i have managed to install Windows XP sucessfully on it before but everytime i shut the computer down it crashed.

i am now trying to install Xagain and it cannot boot from the XP disk so i have to install windows 98 first then upgrade to XP

once it has finished copying the XP startup files (Preparing directory) it reboots the computer, it then goes to a black screen where it stays there with the hard disk light stuck on and i have to reboot it again and thats as far as i can get!

HELP!

[Jerry Atrik]

did u happen to upgrade the bios at all.
most (old) lappys need a new bios for xp

[Nick601]

the bios has not been upgraded at all as far as i know, the problem is that i have actually had XP running on this laptop in the past just that it crashed when shuttinh down

i have also tried to install win2k and that failed and crashed on the install so im not sure whats wring with it!

When XP crashed the screen went black as it went into powersaving mode do you think it has something to do with powersaving??? or is it just crashing!!?

[Jerry Atrik]

im pretty positive a bios upgrade will fix your probs
the main difference is the power management from the
older os's
i have upgraded 9 or 10 old lappy's to xp and they all needed a bios
to run properly

[Nick601]

ok well i hope it works but i have NEVER upgraded a bios before how do i do it and how do i go about doing it??

thanks for you help so far by the way

[Jerry Atrik]

http://www.samsungpc.com/gb/support/gt6000/bios/bios-instructions.html

i was looking thru the info on that particular laptop. directions and the latest bios are there.
make sure u can boot from the floppy, and make sure that nothing can interupt the process during the flash.

should be ok after that

[Nick601]

hey!

thanks for the link, however i do have a problem, i have currently got windows ME on my laptop, i have created a bootable floopy disk (1.44Mb) but i cannot fit the bios.rom file and the splash file on the same disk, do these files have to be on the disk you are booting from or can i put them on a seperate floppy?

thanks again

[Jerry Atrik]

the only system files u need are

command.com
io.sys
msdos.sys

it'll all fit fine after that.
me puts a lotta crap for a boot disk that it doesnt need
make sure u back up the bios (it'll ask if u want to)

[Nick601]

ok so i can delete all the other files that windows puts on the floppy?

ill give it a go!

lets hope it works!!

thanks again for your help

[Nick601]

ok i have got an error

it says

cannot flash when memory managers (e.g HIMEM) are present

press any key to exit


i assume i have to turn off the memory manager?

how do i do that??

[Nick601]

ok i cant flash the bios cause it says the following


Cannot flash when memory managers (e.g. HIMEM) are present

Press any key to exit

i assume i have to disable the himem but how??

[Jerry Atrik]

bummer about this time difference

im at work so i cant look at my flash disk but...

on your boot floppy there is a file config.sys
what are the commands in it?

[Nick601]

its just all code and stuff, nothing english!! i have been trying to get this to work all day and i cant get it to work!!

[adamvjackson]

Open up the Config.sys file on your bootdisk in a text editor. Notepad will work just fine for this.

Look for a line that reads something like this:

Code:

DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS

Delete that line.
Reboot with bootdisk, reflash BIOS.

[Nick601]

ok ill try that only one problem is that i have no operating system on it now is it still possible to do that?

[Nick601]

ok i have managed to open up the confog.sys file in dos but cannot find any referance to the device a:\ himem

i made the boot disk from windows ME

anything else i can do!!??

[adamvjackson]

View all hidden files on the floppy, either rename or delete himem.sys...

[Nick601]

ok success!!

i am getting an extended memory error when the computer boots now but the bioos has been flashed sucessfully

[Jerry Atrik]

sweet
load xp and i will keep my fingers crossed


p.s. i always sweat when i recommend to a new guy to flash the bios

[Nick601]

lol your not the only one

i still have a problem

when the laptop starts up now i get an error that says:

ERROR
0232: Extended RAM Failed at offset: 1B


If it makes any sense i have upgraded the memory from 128Mb to 256Mb


i now cannot load ANY operating system (Windows 98) being the main one

HEEEELPP!!!!