Windows 2000 Professional

It could be.

If you were close to me I would offer to stop by and check it out.

 

Ya, get a shovel, and a little head stone for it. Say some last words, and then go buy another Dell.

The good news is that the new ones will boot off of an external USB drive. I have a USB floppy and DVD burner and can boot from either.

Drive speed and RAM is a big thing with laptops. So make sure that you get the fastest drive they have available (7200 RPM), and as much RAM as you can afford (1 gig min).

Don't let the slow clock speed of the Pentium M fool you. They are actually much faster than their Pentium 4 equivalent:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20050525/index.html

Finally, get Windows XP Pro, not Home.

 

Nonsense. It's not impossible to install Win2K on that laptop. It may not be the easiest way, but it's still possible. Close_Hauled already told you how. He said:

You'll need to buy an adapter, but they're fairly cheap-- about $10 to $20.

Here's one:

LAPTOP to IDE HARD DRIVE ADAPTER
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=906&sku=17705


There's a pretty good article on it here:

Extracting data from a dead laptop with a laptop hard drive adapter
http://techrepublic.com.com/5102-6255-5160538.html

Your situation calls for a slightly different approach than what's in the above article. You'll need to disconnect the desktop's hard disk drive (HDD) and connect the laptop's HDD in its place. Because of that, you shouldn't need to change the jumpers on the laptop HDD. It will also prevent you from accidently messing up the desktop's HDD.


Phil

 

I want to try to boot up the computer with my Win 2000 CD one more time. If it fails than I will go with the adapter suggestion. If the adapter solution fails than I'm going to find a proper burial ground for my laptop. I will be the one giving the eulogy and you are all invited to attend.

Dave

 

Dave,

Here are some additional thoughts that may be helpful:

Maybe the Win2K CD is bad? Did you try to see if it would boot on a newer computer?

Sometimes CD-ROM drives have difficulty reading certain media. If the Win2K CD boots fine on another computer, try making a copy of it onto CD-R and/or CD-RW media. Then see if the laptop can boot from the copy.

Do you have a Knoppix CD, or do you have the ability to create one? If so, see if your laptop will boot with that.


Phil

 

The Win 2000 CD is not bad because it boots fine with my desktop computer. I was able to install Win 2000 in my laptop after I retried the CD again. It turned out that I've overlooked a command on my screen all these times when I restart the computer after I've inserted my Win 2000 CD. The command said, "Press any key to boot from CD" and then it creates three dots (one dot at a time) after the command. When it reaches the third dot the computer is not able to boot from the CD and it displays a statement that said, "Invalid system disk". In other words, I have to restart the computer again and press any key as soon as the "Press any key to boot from CD" command is displayed. Well, DUUHHHHH!!! Why didn't do that earlier? Anyway, I appreciate all of your help. The problem is now solved.

Dave

 

Thanks for updating us. How's it running? Is Win2K running fast enough for you?

Phil

 

I don't realize any difference in speed when I run Win 2000 as compared with Win 98. I have Office 2000 Professional installed in it and the overall speed of Win 2000 is great.

Dave