Need help with a Dell notebook

[loumeinhart 0]

1100 inspiron, registry is corrupt and windows boots but explorer (not IE) just hangs. Safemode does the same. I have a copy of XP but apparaently it's not bootable. recovery-cds.com has a boot disk but it's meant for recovery. I just want to format/reinstall a fresh OS. Obviously without paying circuit city to do it for me :)

If I just buy a licensed XPor Vista will that have a format utility??

[BIGUN 1,482]

No promises... but you can make your XP CD bootable.

http://old.bink.nu/xpbootcd/

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[ifall 0]

Get a Mac!! Get a Mac!! simmons voice>

[normiss 891]

you're sure your cd-rom is enabled as a boot device and in the order before the hdd in bios?

make a bootable xp floppy off any other machine? they load the cd-rom drivers on there, allowing you to get to the cd and run setup.

[labrys 0]

A retail copy of XP or Vista is bootable and has the ability to delete / create partitions and format them.

Owned by Remi #?

[loumeinhart 0]

Quote

you're sure your cd-rom is enabled as a boot device and in the order before the hdd in bios?

make a bootable xp floppy off any other machine? they load the cd-rom drivers on there, allowing you to get to the cd and run setup.

Yea cd-rom enabled in setup and disabled hdd just to be sure.

There is an old DOS command that will boot or something from safemode I believe but I can't find it

No floppy drive ..((

[loumeinhart 0]

thanks hottie !! You recommend one or the other? I would be happy with win98 for the rest of my life

BTW jump my gear any freakin time you want, I would have grabbed yours if the situation was reversed )

Louie

[normiss 891]

usb floppy drives are like $8
buy one from a clone shop!

[1969912 0]

Or download Darik's Boot and Nuke, then burn it to a CD. It's a bootable Linux based drive wiper. Open source. It should boot ok.

Quote

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Another handy thing to have is a bootable Puppy Linux CD. It runs in RAM and doesn't need the hard drive.

Quote

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/AboutPuppy

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[murrays 0]

Quote

Or download Darik's Boot and Nuke, then burn it to a CD. It's a bootable Linux based drive wiper. Open source. It should boot ok.

Quote

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Another handy thing to have is a bootable Puppy Linux CD. It runs in RAM and doesn't need the hard drive.

Quote

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/AboutPuppy

I have an old 233mhz --that's mhz --- HP laptop that I'd like to make usable ... without reinstalling WIN98 on it. Would puppylinux run on a machine with a processor this slow?

Just so you know, I installed Ubuntu on it but it is so slow it is unusable.

Thanks,

Murray

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

[pirana 0]

My experience is that the best thing to do with anything from Dell is, . . . replace it with something better.

Easy to do cuz there is not much worse. Well, maybe a sharp stick in the eye, a knee in the groin, and the quality of service from whichever group of overseas zombies Dell is contracting with this month.

I wonder if when people in India need help with their computer they get transferred to a USA help desk staffed by people who don't speak their language?

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[1969912 0]

As long as you have 128MB of RAM, the only problem I can think of is that it might not support the old hardware. Might as well just try it. It won't hurt your laptop. You will want to change the laptop settings so it looks at the CD/DVD drive for an OS before it looks at the Hard Drive. If the Puppy disk is in the drive it will get booted, if not it will look at the HDD. Check their forums. Someone must have asked that question before. Post results.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[loumeinhart 0]

Pirana check out my new sigline

I like linux but only familiar with redhat. I'll try that CD and will post results.

[labrys 0]

Quote

BTW jump my gear any freakin time you want, I would have grabbed yours if the situation was reversed )

There's something just...well....just so sexy about that offer.

Bring the laptop down if ya want.

Owned by Remi #?

[psw097 0]

You can try something Xfce based (the interface is Windows-ish and fast) - Xubuntu would be a good choice. I'm running Xubuntu on a dirt slow 1999 Dell laptop with very good speed. The live CD before installing will tell you if its fast enough before needing to install anything.

http://www.xubuntu.org/