Hello.

I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals, discs,
etc.), but its installation keeps failing at cdrom0\i386\asms. The error
said it cannot find it, but it is there on the CDs (tried slipstreamed
SP2 and SP3, other brands, other burns from other software and drives,
etc.). I have to install from an external CD/DVD drive.

I researched on Google, and it seems like this a common problem (error
message) but none of their suggestions worked. One interesting
suggestion was to press shift-F10 keys when the error occurs so I did
that to bring up a command prompt/cmd.exe. From here, to do registry
edits with regedit but regedit.exe fails to run (not installed yet I
think). I also couldn't find the drive (only found the HDD). It seems
like during the blue text installer, the drive exists but after
rebooting to GUI installer, it forgot the external USB CD/DVD drive?

I cannot make a new partition/drive, to install from another drive on
the same HDD) because the netbook only has 7 GB excluding its 100 MB
system drive (Dell stuff).

I had no problems installing Windows 7 though. Any ideas? Thank you in
advance. :)
--
"Lay a stick of bubble gum on an anthill for instant Siamese Ant Twins."
--unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phil/Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi@earthlink.netANT
( ) or ANTant@zimage.com
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

In news:cNSdnea6obK_hi7XnZ2dnUVZ_v6dnZ2d@earthlink.co m,
Ant typed on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:31:07 -0700:
> Hello.
>
> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
> Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals, discs,
> etc.), but its installation keeps failing at cdrom0\i386\asms. The
> error said it cannot find it, but it is there on the CDs (tried
> slipstreamed SP2 and SP3, other brands, other burns from other
> software and drives, etc.). I have to install from an external CD/DVD
> drive...

Windows XP will not completely install from an USB drive unless it is
SP2 or higher. So slipstreaming to at least SP2 would be a good thing to
do. Did you try with nLite yet? It is pretty easy, but requires .NET20
to be installed on the machine that you use to make the slipstream. Does
this help?

As a side note: Windows 2000 requires SP4 to be successfully installed
from USB.

--
Bill
Windows 2000 SP4 (5.00.2195)
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC

On 9/18/2009 2:53 AM PT, BillW50 typed:

>> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
>> Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals, discs,
>> etc.), but its installation keeps failing at cdrom0\i386\asms. The
>> error said it cannot find it, but it is there on the CDs (tried
>> slipstreamed SP2 and SP3, other brands, other burns from other
>> software and drives, etc.). I have to install from an external CD/DVD
>> drive...
>
> Windows XP will not completely install from an USB drive unless it is
> SP2 or higher. So slipstreaming to at least SP2 would be a good thing to
> do.

Please kindly reread what I said in my original post about slipstreamed
XP (Pro.) SP2 and SP3 CDs. :)
--
"Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of
men." --Mortimer J. Adler
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phil/Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi@earthlink.netANT
( ) or ANTant@zimage.com
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

In news:T-KdnYUI4tFZFC7XnZ2dnUVZ_qGdnZ2d@earthlink.com,
Ant typed on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:23:16 -0700:
> On 9/18/2009 2:53 AM PT, BillW50 typed:
>
>>> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
>>> Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals,
>>> discs, etc.), but its installation keeps failing at
>>> cdrom0\i386\asms. The error said it cannot find it, but it is there
>>> on the CDs (tried slipstreamed SP2 and SP3, other brands, other
>>> burns from other software and drives, etc.). I have to install from
>>> an external CD/DVD drive...
>>
>> Windows XP will not completely install from an USB drive unless it is
>> SP2 or higher. So slipstreaming to at least SP2 would be a good
>> thing to do.
>
> Please kindly reread what I said in my original post about
> slipstreamed XP (Pro.) SP2 and SP3 CDs. :)

I read it fine the first time, you said you tried. So what does that
mean? You tried and failed or what? It that is what is sounds like to
me. As without SP2/3 correctly slipstreamed into the install, it will
fail to see files on the CD after the install resets the USB ports. As
you had stated, the file is really there on the CD, is it not?

--
Bill
Windows 2000 SP4 (5.00.2195)
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC

On Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:31:07 -0700, Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

>I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
>Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals, discs,
>etc.), but its installation keeps failing at cdrom0\i386\asms. The error
>said it cannot find it, but it is there on the CDs (tried slipstreamed
>SP2 and SP3, other brands, other burns from other software and drives,
>etc.). I have to install from an external CD/DVD drive.

The external drive depends on USB.

Win XP is plain ****, mildly put. I fought with it for several weeks. The
problem is HOW the partitions are organized. The tools for Windows are too
****ed stupid to handle all that. The only way I succeeded in the end was to use
a Linux installation DVD and SUPER-GRUB, a CD for working on the MBR *AND* for
booting the machine.

Did you ever work a bit with Linux? Do you have a SuSE installation DVD?

How big is the HDD of your machine? What type is it? SSD, IDE, SATA?
How much RAM has your computer?
--
POLICE - POLIZEI - POLITIE - POLICIA

http://www.ariplex.com/ama/amapolis.htm

On 9/18/2009 6:42 AM PT, BillW50 typed:

>>>> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
>>>> Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals,
>>>> discs, etc.), but its installation keeps failing at
>>>> cdrom0\i386\asms. The error said it cannot find it, but it is there
>>>> on the CDs (tried slipstreamed SP2 and SP3, other brands, other
>>>> burns from other software and drives, etc.). I have to install from
>>>> an external CD/DVD drive...
>>>
>>> Windows XP will not completely install from an USB drive unless it is
>>> SP2 or higher. So slipstreaming to at least SP2 would be a good
>>> thing to do.
>> Please kindly reread what I said in my original post about
>> slipstreamed XP (Pro.) SP2 and SP3 CDs. :)
>
> I read it fine the first time, you said you tried. So what does that
> mean? You tried and failed or what? It that is what is sounds like to
> me. As without SP2/3 correctly slipstreamed into the install, it will
> fail to see files on the CD after the install resets the USB ports. As
> you had stated, the file is really there on the CD, is it not?

Yes, the \i386\asms and its files are there. I already tried installing
them (slipstreamed SP2 and SP3 CDs) on regular desktop PCs without any
issues. I wonder if XP is just too old for this netbook since installing
Windows 7 had no problems?

The same CDs worked fine on another netbook, HP Mini (had to disable its
native SATA or something in CMOS according to hp.com's Web site even if
I used F6 trick with an external 3.5" disk with SATA drivers).
--
"She's got ants in her pants." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phil/Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi@earthlink.netANT
( ) or ANTant@zimage.com
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

On 9/18/2009 7:34 AM PT, Happy Oyster typed:

>> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
>> Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals, discs,
>> etc.), but its installation keeps failing at cdrom0\i386\asms. The error
>> said it cannot find it, but it is there on the CDs (tried slipstreamed
>> SP2 and SP3, other brands, other burns from other software and drives,
>> etc.). I have to install from an external CD/DVD drive.
>
> The external drive depends on USB.
>
> Win XP is plain ****, mildly put. I fought with it for several weeks. The
> problem is HOW the partitions are organized. The tools for Windows are too
> ****ed stupid to handle all that. The only way I succeeded in the end was to use
> a Linux installation DVD and SUPER-GRUB, a CD for working on the MBR *AND* for
> booting the machine.

Dang it. :(


> Did you ever work a bit with Linux? Do you have a SuSE installation DVD?

Yeah, I use Debian and used to use Red Hat Linux 7.x at home. What do I
need to do?


> How big is the HDD of your machine? What type is it? SSD, IDE, SATA?

Don't know. It has a 7 GB partition + 100 MB partition, tiny memory card
slot (empty), etc. I will need to check later with Windows 7's installation.


> How much RAM has your computer?

I think it was 1 GB? I will have to check later since I do not have it
with me now.
--
"Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant." --Richard Lovelace
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phil/Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi@earthlink.netANT
( ) or ANTant@zimage.com
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

In news:k72dnYwTzcR6AS7XnZ2dnUVZ_gRi4p2d@earthlink.co m,
Ant typed on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:44:55 -0700:
> On 9/18/2009 6:42 AM PT, BillW50 typed:
>
>>>>> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell
>>>>> Inspiron Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes,
>>>>> manuals, discs, etc.), but its installation keeps failing at
>>>>> cdrom0\i386\asms. The error said it cannot find it, but it is
>>>>> there on the CDs (tried slipstreamed SP2 and SP3, other brands,
>>>>> other burns from other software and drives, etc.). I have to
>>>>> install from an external CD/DVD drive...
> >>>
>>>> Windows XP will not completely install from an USB drive unless it
>>>> is SP2 or higher. So slipstreaming to at least SP2 would be a good
>>>> thing to do.
>>> Please kindly reread what I said in my original post about
>>> slipstreamed XP (Pro.) SP2 and SP3 CDs. :)
>>
>> I read it fine the first time, you said you tried. So what does that
>> mean? You tried and failed or what? It that is what is sounds like to
>> me. As without SP2/3 correctly slipstreamed into the install, it will
>> fail to see files on the CD after the install resets the USB ports.
>> As you had stated, the file is really there on the CD, is it not?
>
> Yes, the \i386\asms and its files are there. I already tried
> installing them (slipstreamed SP2 and SP3 CDs) on regular desktop PCs
> without any issues. I wonder if XP is just too old for this netbook
> since installing Windows 7 had no problems?
>
> The same CDs worked fine on another netbook, HP Mini (had to disable
> its native SATA or something in CMOS according to hp.com's Web site
> even if I used F6 trick with an external 3.5" disk with SATA drivers).

Okay I am convinced that it is a good slipstream if it worked on the
desktop with the USB CD/DVD drive.

1) Some BIOS has a toggle to install an OS. Once the operating system is
installed, you are supposed to toggle it back. I am not sure what this
is supposed to do. Prevent MBR modification or lock the USB at 1.1
speeds or something.

2) Could be bad RAM. If you can swap it with some other I would try
this.

3) Could be a bad drive like David already mentioned.

4) Don't think the USB CD/DVD drive or disc is bad. But if this drive
has two USB plugs, try plugging them both in. What make and model is
this drive anyway? Some can have problems on some netbooks.

And no Windows XP should be perfect on this netbook, as long as the
system/boot drive has enough room.

--
Bill
Windows 2000 SP4 (5.00.2195)
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC

http://www.pctipsbox.com/installing-...b-flash-drive/

"Ant" <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote in message
news:cNSdnea6obK_hi7XnZ2dnUVZ_v6dnZ2d@earthlink.co m...
> Hello.
>
> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron Mini
> (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals, discs, etc.),
> but its installation keeps failing at cdrom0\i386\asms. The error said it
> cannot find it, but it is there on the CDs (tried slipstreamed SP2 and
> SP3, other brands, other burns from other software and drives, etc.). I
> have to install from an external CD/DVD drive.
>
> I researched on Google, and it seems like this a common problem (error
> message) but none of their suggestions worked. One interesting suggestion
> was to press shift-F10 keys when the error occurs so I did that to bring
> up a command prompt/cmd.exe. From here, to do registry edits with regedit
> but regedit.exe fails to run (not installed yet I think). I also couldn't
> find the drive (only found the HDD). It seems like during the blue text
> installer, the drive exists but after rebooting to GUI installer, it
> forgot the external USB CD/DVD drive?
>
> I cannot make a new partition/drive, to install from another drive on the
> same HDD) because the netbook only has 7 GB excluding its 100 MB system
> drive (Dell stuff).
>
> I had no problems installing Windows 7 though. Any ideas? Thank you in
> advance. :)
> --
> "Lay a stick of bubble gum on an anthill for instant Siamese Ant
> Twins." --unknown
> /\___/\
> / /\ /\ \ Phil/Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
> | |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
> \ _ / Nuke ANT from e-mail address: philpi@earthlink.netANT
> ( ) or ANTant@zimage.com
> Ant is currently not listening to any songs on his home computer.

On Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:31:07 -0700, Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

>Dell Inspiron Mini

What is the size of the flat screen?

9 inch or 10 inch?

This is the data for the 10-inch version:

<quote>
Processor Intel® AtomTM Processor Intel® AtomTM Processor
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition Genuine Windows
XP® Home Edition
Weight 2.6 lbs1 2.5 lbs1
Battery Power 3-cell and 6-cell Battery2 3-cell and 6-cell Battery2
Memory 1GB3 1GB3
Display Glossy 10.1 inch LED display (1024x576) WSVGA
Glossy 10.1 inch HD display (1366x768) WLED Glossy 10.1 inch display
(1024x576) WSVGA
Graphics Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 500 Integrated
Intel® 945GSE UMA Graphics Media Accelerator
Hard Drive Up to 250GB4 SATA HDD 2.5 inch 5400RPM
Up to 64GB4 2.5" Solid State Drive MLC Up to 160 GB4 SATA HDD 2.5 inch 5400RPM
Up to 16GB4 2.5" Solid State Drive MLC
Navigation Optional GPS with optional internal WWAN support n/a
Personalization Design Studio available from artist Tristan Eaton Colors
available
GPS Optiona
<quote>


My guess is: 9 inch, and the "disk" is a SSD. Can you access the BIOS to see the
parameters?
--
POLICE - POLIZEI - POLITIE - POLICIA

http://www.ariplex.com/ama/amapolis.htm

On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:11:41 +0200, Happy Oyster <happy.oyster@ariplex.com>
wrote:

>On Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:31:07 -0700, Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
>
>>Dell Inspiron Mini
>
>What is the size of the flat screen?
>
>9 inch or 10 inch?

If, as I guess, only ONE type of interface was built, is seems to be an 1.8-inch
IDE SSD:
http://www.activemp.com/USB_drives/Obama-USB-drive.htm


The computer was built AFTER XP was made. So the XP CD will not have süecial
drivers. My quess is that De´ll, like HP or Fujitsu/Siemens mess up the
hardware, so either you should try to get the original CDs as a replacement or
try it with Win 7.

The problem is the drivers, which have to be installed.

Or did you find a source for them? Has anyone else here a Dell Inspirion 9?
--
POLICE - POLIZEI - POLITIE - POLICIA

http://www.ariplex.com/ama/amapolis.htm

XP (even current production XP3 CDs) was intended only be fully
installed both from and to an internal IDE drive ... not a USB drive,
and not a SATA drive either. [In both cases (but more frequently for
SATA drives) ***SOME*** BIOS' will "emulate" the non-IDE drive into an
IDE drive.] There is a provision in Windows to install what is
unofficially called an "F6 Driver" to support the non-IDE drive (btw,
all of this applies to any non-standard IDE drive, so it all applies to
SATA, USB and also SCSI, RAID, Network drives, etc.).

In your case, it's not clear if the problem is occurring because you are
installing FROM a non IDE drive or installing TO a non IDE drive (I am
gathering that your internal drive is a SSD).

If the SSD has a SATA interface, the Intel F6 driver for the chipset
MIGHT solve your problem. It's available from the Intel web site, and
is worth trying. You will find it with the drivers for the chipset of
the computer.

Note, F6 drivers can normally only exist on and be used by floppy disk
drives. You will probably need an external USB floppy drive (those
usually, but not always, work for this purpose). You will need another
machine on which to download the driver and make the F6 floppy disk.

If that doesn't work, you need to format the internal drive as FAT32 and
make it DOS bootable, then use some bootable "Pre-installation" type
bootable CD (Bart's PE, the "Ultimate Boot CD", etc. .... even the
"recovery environment" that is on every Vista DVD) to copy entire "I386"
folder from the XP CD to an "I386" folder on the [FAT32] hard drive.
Then run winnt.exe to start setup, and install an F6 driver for the
internal hard drive when prompted during XP setup [careful, this prompt
at the bottom line of the display is only present for a few seconds and
can be missed].

If the SSD is totally non-standard, you may be out of luck.



Ant wrote:
> Hello.
>
> I am trying to install Windows XP cleanly onto an used Dell Inspiron
> Mini (no idea what model it is; do not have its boxes, manuals, discs,
> etc.), but its installation keeps failing at cdrom0\i386\asms. The error
> said it cannot find it, but it is there on the CDs (tried slipstreamed
> SP2 and SP3, other brands, other burns from other software and drives,
> etc.). I have to install from an external CD/DVD drive.
>
> I researched on Google, and it seems like this a common problem (error
> message) but none of their suggestions worked. One interesting
> suggestion was to press shift-F10 keys when the error occurs so I did
> that to bring up a command prompt/cmd.exe. From here, to do registry
> edits with regedit but regedit.exe fails to run (not installed yet I
> think). I also couldn't find the drive (only found the HDD). It seems
> like during the blue text installer, the drive exists but after
> rebooting to GUI installer, it forgot the external USB CD/DVD drive?
>
> I cannot make a new partition/drive, to install from another drive on
> the same HDD) because the netbook only has 7 GB excluding its 100 MB
> system drive (Dell stuff).
>
> I had no problems installing Windows 7 though. Any ideas? Thank you in
> advance. :)

Doesn't matter. Even service pack 3 ONLY supports IDE drives natively.
Yes, you can slipstream a driver into an updated install CD, but
slipstreaming SP2 or SP3 or ANY OTHER ***MICROSOFT*** content won't
change the fact that ONLY IDE drives are supported. Because in XP,
Microsoft has never (even in 2009 SP3 CDs) gone further.

Ant wrote:

>
> Please kindly reread what I said in my original post about slipstreamed
> XP (Pro.) SP2 and SP3 CDs. :)

Bill, I think that the problem is more likely the fact that the
DESTINATION is not IDE than that the SOURCE is not IDE (USB in this case).

BillW50 wrote:

>
> I read it fine the first time, you said you tried. So what does that
> mean? You tried and failed or what? It that is what is sounds like to
> me. As without SP2/3 correctly slipstreamed into the install, it will
> fail to see files on the CD after the install resets the USB ports. As
> you had stated, the file is really there on the CD, is it not?
>

NO, NO, NO.

The problem is much simpler than that. XP can't access the DESTINATION
drive (in this case I think it's his SSD) because it's not IDE.

Look, you guys are pointing the finger at the USB CD, and I don't think
that's where the problem is. During an XP install, some installation
files are first copied from the install CD to the destination drive (the
SSD) and then, later, are READ FROM the SSD to be installed or
"expanded" into other files. And, also, initially the XP install
accesses the destination drive (SSD) via the BIOS, but later in the
install access switches to XP's internal drivers, and unless other
drivers have been added, XP has no internal drivers for non-IDE hard drives.

***IF*** the SSD is "SATA", then getting the F6 sata driver may fix the
problem. Otherwise, he likely needs a driver(s) that he doesn't have
and he may be out of luck.



BillW50 wrote:

>
> Okay I am convinced that it is a good slipstream if it worked on the
> desktop with the USB CD/DVD drive.
>
> 1) Some BIOS has a toggle to install an OS. Once the operating system is
> installed, you are supposed to toggle it back. I am not sure what this
> is supposed to do. Prevent MBR modification or lock the USB at 1.1
> speeds or something.
>
> 2) Could be bad RAM. If you can swap it with some other I would try
> this.
>
> 3) Could be a bad drive like David already mentioned.
>
> 4) Don't think the USB CD/DVD drive or disc is bad. But if this drive
> has two USB plugs, try plugging them both in. What make and model is
> this drive anyway? Some can have problems on some netbooks.
>
> And no Windows XP should be perfect on this netbook, as long as the
> system/boot drive has enough room.
>