Computer help

[Marmel]

I was given a laptop that was not working. A friend put in a new hard drive, he said that was what was wrong.

I have a copy of Window ME (and 98) that I can use, but it does not seem to want to load windows onto this computer.

Any advice?

[Marmel]

dola...

now i am getting an a:/ prompt

I can change it to c:/ (where the Windows CD is) but there is nothing there when i type Dir

Frustrating...

[thealmighty]

If the CD is in the CD drive, that drive letter is not c:/...

[mckerney]

If it doesn't boot from the Windows CD, you're going to have to get a floppy disk you can boot from to install the operating system. If you don't have one, you might want to try creating a startup disk on another computer. Not sure if that will work, though if it doesn't I'm not sure where you'd get such a disk.

If I'm going over something you've already done, sorry. Not 100% sure on the situation you're having.

[thealmighty]

Try this:

reboot the puter
hit F2 to go into setup when boot-up starts
in setup, go down and set thebootup so the drive the cd is in is the 1st and ONLY boot-up option
save and exit
if the Windows cd is like mine, it will have an auto boot on it and it will give you options to install
if not, oh well, we tried...

[MikeVic]

thealmighty's plan should work. Make sure you boot the computer starting from the CDROM. If that doesn't work, try the bootdisk option that mckerney suggested. That one should work 100%.


Also, the CD-ROM drive after a format is usually something like D:, E:, or F:... it happens to me all the time, even though that is NOT the CD-ROM drive. (i.e. after install, my CD-ROM drive is D:, but in order to install Windows, I had to go to drive E: and run setup... its weird, but always seems to happen).

Hope this stuff helps too! Although, I'm really just repeating what others said....

[Marmel]

I think this computer is more messed up than I imagined.

I thought the CD was supposed to be E:/ but it is actually a:/

a:/ is supposed to be the floppy drive, but there is no floppy on this computer.

Further, C:/ is actually the hard drive, which the computer is not reading at all. (It is brand new, the original was broken, that is why he gave me this thing).

Now, I can put the Windows ME disk in the CD drive and start the computer. It asks me if I want to boot from hard drive or CD. I select CD.

It goes into a scan disk and as soon as that completes, I get an error.

The error is something along the lines of 'Fault in Extended MS-Dos Driver'.....I dont remember the exact wording.

That is where I get stuck. anybody know what that means?

Thanks for the help so far.

[mckerney]

I really don't know what to tell you. I'd have someone look at it who would know what they're doing. I might be able to figure it out if it were working on the computer, though over the net it's not quite so easy. Sorry, and I hope you find a way to get it working.

[Draft Dodger]

there's a reason he gave you that computer.

[mrsimperless]

First, check your BIOS for malformed code segments. This will incorporate subroutines of msbiosregman32.dll, which could take a while to cycle through. Upon completion, flush the random access components at IRQ6. If that doesn't take care of things you may have to reattach your bridged co-processor to the external ISA conduit. As a very last resort, try to switch the memory compliance bit to negative, but ONLY if you've recently backed up your legacy PCI host controller. This should get you up and running in no time.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally posted by mrsimperless
First, check your BIOS for malformed code segments. This will incorporate subroutines of msbiosregman32.dll, which could take a while to cycle through. Upon completion, flush the random access components at IRQ6. If that doesn't do get you up and going you may have to reattach your bridged co-processor to the external ISA conduit. As a very last resort, try to switch the memory compliance bit to negative, but ONLY if you've recently backed up your legacy PCI host controller. This should get you up and running in no time.

yep, that's what I would do too

[Marmel]

Originally posted by mrsimperless
First, check your BIOS for malformed code segments. This will incorporate subroutines of msbiosregman32.dll, which could take a while to cycle through. Upon completion, flush the random access components at IRQ6. If that doesn't take care of things you may have to reattach your bridged co-processor to the external ISA conduit. As a very last resort, try to switch the memory compliance bit to negative, but ONLY if you've recently backed up your legacy PCI host controller. This should get you up and running in no time.

Excellent suggestions.


Think CompUSA would like to give it a go?


The guy who gave it to me....it was his daughters. She dropped it, and the battery and hard drive broke. She wanted a desktop. She got a desktop. Here take this $1800 Laptop that I dont want to bother getting fixed. Hey thanks.

[Marmel]

Dola-update....

I called Computer-Medic. they make house calls. 79 bucks an hour, and they said 1 time in their history they have not been able to fix a problem.

I figure, even if it takes them 3 hours (probably more than it should take), I am getting a pretty damn good price on this computer.

It was 1800 brand new and only a year old.

[MikeVic]

Sounds good Marmel. Get a professional to fix it

Maybe your Windows CD is messed up? That drive thing is what I was talking about... I don't know why, but the CD-ROM is usually set to something dumb.