Thread: Been given a laptop

Ken,

Sorry to say, but based on your recent history with computers, you may as well just throw it away now, it will save time

Unless there is something on the laptop you want to keep, you'd be better off just installing XP from scratch. The XP installation process should take care of deleting W95 and W2000 for you.

G'day Snowy,

Very funny, but true. So you reckon I should wipe the slate clean, and start from scratch?

My problem is I don't have a Windows XP disk, all the computers I've bought have come with Windows pre-installed, and no disk, that's why I was hoping I could upgrade.

Ken

Surely you'll need a CD to be able to upgrade W2000?

In the banner up above it says NO PIRATING PLEASE!, lets keep it that way please

Ken,

I have sent you a PM.

Originally Posted by The Bleeder

Ken,

I have sent you a PM.

Install Linux - it's free )

Ken,

Left you phone message yesterday. You should have you package today or tomorrow.

Have fun.

I may have some issues with this newly acquired laptop that need to be addressed before I go about reformatting etc.

1. The inbuilt CD drive doesn't seem to be recognised.
2. A USB mouse plugged into the only USB port, is also not recognised, despite doing a search for new hardware.
3. The battery is shot, however there are plenty on eBay, so that's not a problem.

What steps should I take before I do a hard drive format?

Ken

Ken,

What do you mean by 'doesn't seem to be recognized".....

Haven't tried to 'Safely Remove Hardware" and by accident picked the CD drive.

G'day neksmerj!
If you are going to reformat and install XP there's a fair chance that XP will locate all the system hardware providing it is not faulty.

I'll second the Linux vote - Puppy Linux is an Aussie distribution, with support for older hardware.

Many Linux distributions will run from a CD or USB stick, so you can try them out without having to do any complicated install/format/removal exercises.

Public libraries have PC magazines, which typically have cover CDs with a version (or 5) of Linux - all free! And no piracy issues.

Cheers,
Andrew

Originally Posted by neksmerj

I may have some issues with this newly acquired laptop that need to be addressed before I go about reformatting etc.

1. The inbuilt CD drive doesn't seem to be recognised.
2. A USB mouse plugged into the only USB port, is also not recognised, despite doing a search for new hardware.
3. The battery is shot, however there are plenty on eBay, so that's not a problem.

What steps should I take before I do a hard drive format?

Ken

G'day neksmerj!
If you are going to reformat and install XP there's a fair chance that XP will locate all the system hardware providing it is not faulty.

Does the BIOS see the CD drive?
Assuming it does, you can get a Live CD version of Linux (any distribution will do) and boot it without affecting anything on the hard disk.
Test out your CD and USB devices under Linux and if all is well, then install your XP.

I'm with snowyskiesau in that I have been using Linux - Ubuntu on my desktop for sometime and will not reinstall Windoze unless it is absolutely imperative.
The Unbutu installation found all the hardware and I have not been short of open licence software to run. OpenOffice is a great substitute for MSOffice and it is free.
Admittedly there is a learning curve, but hey, that's part of experience.