please don't type in CAPS ok? it considered 'shouting'. No problem though, tia.
Well to use a Serial or Parallel port direct cable transfer you refer to requires at least Win98 be installed your laptop first see. So those type of transfers are not an option for you in my experience, sorry.
Your shortest route might well be (and the only least expensive route in both time and money, to take the laptop to a Pro-shop or buy the CD-ROM add-in switchable drive for that laptop if you can. If going pro-shop route get a written estimate for doing the job. There should be a flat fee.
What they would likely do is take the HDD in your laptop computer out and use long IDE cables to connect that HDD to another laptop as a second HDD, and use the fully functional Laptop's floppy to create a directory on your HDD called Win98, for example, in DOS, just not called Windows, then use the CD-ROM on that computer to copy the contents of a Win9x install CD into that Directory; Uninstall your HDD; re-install it in your laptop; restart your computer with a Win9x Startup disk; switch to the appropriate directory on your HDD and type, setup, press Enter and Windows would start installing. You'd certainly need the CDKey for finishing the installation process.
I hope this helps you.
