laptop woes

  • Thread starter Thread starter db
  • Start date Start date
D

db

k, i have a laptop which has no floppy or cd drive onboard.
the cd is a pcmcia external which can be powered from the laptop or use its
own psu.

i want to install a new os, can pcmcia cd drives install os's from boot?

i've tried using the laptops power with no success.. the cd doesn't even
power up or anything.

ummm any ideas? ps i dont' even have an external floppy..lol

and xp has just feked me over as the root>\system\hal.dll is screwed and
won't boot..

help !!
 
santa said:
: k, i have a laptop which has no floppy or cd drive onboard.
: the cd is a pcmcia external which can be powered from the laptop or use
its
: own psu.
:
: i want to install a new os, can pcmcia cd drives install os's from boot?
:
: i've tried using the laptops power with no success.. the cd doesn't even
: power up or anything.
:
: ummm any ideas? ps i dont' even have an external floppy..lol
:
: and xp has just feked me over as the root>\system\hal.dll is screwed and
: won't boot..
:
: help !!
:
:
How old is this box? IF you can fire it up you should be able to have a look
at the BIOS parameters and see if its set up to boot from CD. The other
question is do you have enough horse power to run XP I think it takes at
least 128mb maybe more. The minimum hardware requirements are just that
minimum if that's all you have forget it will be slower than the second
coming.
If your HAL. is screwed you need a new one sounds like a bad copy?

claus
Click to expand...


the laptop was running xp , but yes now hal is screwed..
and i'm figuring out ways in install an os on it (just bought it off
ebay..lol) i was going to reinstall my copy of xp on to it (freshly bought
of course ;) ) or mandrake.

The bios basically sucks and doens't even give me that option ( it's a
compal n20u 700mhz p3, 128mb ram)
the bios phoenix bios? (never heard of them either)

Xp actually got screwed because it automatically installed drivers for a usb
pen drive and obviously fubared something up and i couldn't even stop it as
it did it.. aghh.

is there any way to get something installed? via network or something.
I have a usb2 laptop external case coming i was thinking of connecting up
the laptop hdd to my main pc and fixing hal that way.. ??

bahh
 
:
: : >
: > : > : k, i have a laptop which has no floppy or cd drive onboard.
: > : the cd is a pcmcia external which can be powered from the laptop or
use
: > its
: > : own psu.
: > :
: > : i want to install a new os, can pcmcia cd drives install os's from
: boot?
: > :
: > : i've tried using the laptops power with no success.. the cd doesn't
even
: > : power up or anything.
: > :
: > : ummm any ideas? ps i dont' even have an external floppy..lol
: > :
: > : and xp has just feked me over as the root>\system\hal.dll is screwed
and
: > : won't boot..
: > :
: > : help !!
: > :
: > :
: > How old is this box? IF you can fire it up you should be able to have a
: look
: > at the BIOS parameters and see if its set up to boot from CD. The other
: > question is do you have enough horse power to run XP I think it takes at
: > least 128mb maybe more. The minimum hardware requirements are just that
: > minimum if that's all you have forget it will be slower than the second
: > coming.
: > If your HAL. is screwed you need a new one sounds like a bad copy?
: >
: > claus
: >
:
:
: the laptop was running xp , but yes now hal is screwed..
: and i'm figuring out ways in install an os on it (just bought it off
: ebay..lol) i was going to reinstall my copy of xp on to it (freshly
bought
: of course ;) ) or mandrake.
:
: The bios basically sucks and doens't even give me that option ( it's a
: compal n20u 700mhz p3, 128mb ram)
: the bios phoenix bios? (never heard of them either)
:
: Xp actually got screwed because it automatically installed drivers for a
usb
: pen drive and obviously fubared something up and i couldn't even stop it
as
: it did it.. aghh.
:
: is there any way to get something installed? via network or something.
: I have a usb2 laptop external case coming i was thinking of connecting up
: the laptop hdd to my main pc and fixing hal that way.. ??
:
: bahh
:

According to what I could find the machine was also sold as a IIRC Dell
laptop. It is apparently an ARM chip. Phoenix is well known this side side
of the pond and is no owned by AWARD I think so I don't know if hey still
use the name or not It sounds like an old machine. If you don't have a
rescue disk you'll have to build a set of XP startup disks on another
machine. This consists of a set of four (4) 3 1/2 floppies which should
load enough code to start up the cd reader for you. The BIOS in the machine
should have a floppy driver so you may need the PCMCIA floppy connection. I
forget exactly how you get the boot code off the XP cd and onto floppies but
the MS site should tell you.

Hope you have access to another machine. If you don't you can go back to MS
dos 6.2 or similar and build the XP set-up disks using that.

LOL you'll need it.
claus
 
in message
According to what I could find the machine was also sold as a IIRC Dell
laptop. It is apparently an ARM chip. Phoenix is well known this side side
of the pond and is no owned by AWARD I think so I don't know if hey still
use the name or not It sounds like an old machine. If you don't have a
rescue disk you'll have to build a set of XP startup disks on another
machine. This consists of a set of four (4) 3 1/2 floppies which should
load enough code to start up the cd reader for you. The BIOS in the machine
should have a floppy driver so you may need the PCMCIA floppy connection. I
forget exactly how you get the boot code off the XP cd and onto floppies but
the MS site should tell you.

Hope you have access to another machine. If you don't you can go back to MS
dos 6.2 or similar and build the XP set-up disks using that.

LOL you'll need it.
claus
Click to expand...

hehe yeah, but one slight problem.. i don't have a floppy (internal
or external..) LOL it's kinda funny is a horrible way.

I'll try to change the hal.dll file manually by connecting it up to my
other pc. (via a usb2 hdd case thingy) if that doesn't work .....
btw does anyone know if external usb floppy drives are bootbale? or
does it depend on the bios? thanks.
 
: "santa" wrote in message
:
: > According to what I could find the machine was also sold as a IIRC Dell
: > laptop. It is apparently an ARM chip. Phoenix is well known this side
side
: > of the pond and is no owned by AWARD I think so I don't know if hey
still
: > use the name or not It sounds like an old machine. If you don't have a
: > rescue disk you'll have to build a set of XP startup disks on another
: > machine. This consists of a set of four (4) 3 1/2 floppies which should
: > load enough code to start up the cd reader for you. The BIOS in the
machine
: > should have a floppy driver so you may need the PCMCIA floppy
connection. I
: > forget exactly how you get the boot code off the XP cd and onto floppies
but
: > the MS site should tell you.
: >
: > Hope you have access to another machine. If you don't you can go back
to MS
: > dos 6.2 or similar and build the XP set-up disks using that.
: >
: > LOL you'll need it.
: > claus
:
: hehe yeah, but one slight problem.. i don't have a floppy (internal
: or external..) LOL it's kinda funny is a horrible way.
:
: I'll try to change the hal.dll file manually by connecting it up to my
: other pc. (via a usb2 hdd case thingy) if that doesn't work .....
: btw does anyone know if external usb floppy drives are bootbale? or
: does it depend on the bios? thanks.

DB, If I remember you bought the box of e-bay? Perhaps it had a floppy with
it when it was new or is it new? You should be able to find a PCMCIA
plugable floppy drive. I think external USB are bootable but again it
depends on the BIOS having the driver code in it. If you can network to
another machine you should be able to load up XP that way but again it takes
a good BIOS.

let us know how you solve it.

Claus
 
"santa" wrote in message
let us know how you solve it.

Claus
Click to expand...

well i connected it up to the usb 2 thingy and to my other pc.. honestly i
think the hdd is screwed..
you can hear it spinning up and chunking away for a few secs then stops ..
and does this repeatidly (on the laptop and tyring to connect as a usb mass
storage device)
Luckily i have an identical hdd (which does work with the usb thingy)
Still no os though ;)
I'll keep yous updated.

bahh.. lol ohh well a lesson learned.. get a laptop withinbuilt things :)
 
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