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gateway 2000 solo laptop ( its old but its good)

  • 07-02-2011 06:53PM
    #1
    joelim7
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19 ✭


    I am working on an old gateway2000 solo laptop, a poor person asked me to fix up for them. I kinda forget about it but now realise it powers up like a millenium falcon.
    the cd rom is a bit noisy, but first prob i dont have a windows 98 disk or boot disk.

    on power up i get the following screen1-



    Gateway2000
    BIOS version 5.04

    CPU = Pentium 120MHz
    0000640K System RAM Passed
    0056320K Extendended RAM Passed
    0256K Cache SSRAM Passed
    System BIOS shadowed
    Video BIOS shadowed
    Fixed DIsk 0:: Identified
    Mouse initialised

    Operating system not found




    when i press F2 to enter setup i get the following screen2-


    PhoenixBIOS Setup- copyright bla bla

    Enter password (from floppy press enter) : _________



    Enter Accepts
    ESC Aborts





    any suggestions? imagine the look on said poor persons face three years later.
    probably eh ive got a new one from *&778885%%.


Comments

  • #2
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 94,366 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Operating system not found

    given it's age it could be a dead hard drive :(
    is it making any funny noises like clicking ?


    64MB but using some of that for shared video memory , and 120MHz

    any mobile phone with a camera is more powerful that it is

    moving from windows till it gets an OS


  • #3
    Alanstrainor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,157 ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »
    Operating system not found

    given it's age it could be a dead hard drive :(
    is it making any funny noises like clicking ?


    64MB but using some of that for shared video memory , and 120MHz

    any mobile phone with a camera is more powerful that it is

    moving from windows till it gets an OS

    Aye. it sounds like hard drive failure.

    My phone runs at up to 1.15Ghz, and with 256mb of RAM! That laptop is not worth it. It could be interesting to get back up and running with windows 95 or something! But's not going to be worth while if you intend on using it.


  • #4
    Fysh
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 11,141 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    Wow, impressive that it boots at all.

    As per Capt'n Midnight & Alanstrainor it sounds like a dead drive. You could try seeing if it'll boot from something like a Damn Small Linux CD; installing it is likely to be your best bet to make the laptop usable if you can't find Win98 media. Even at that, Win98 is so full of holes you wouldn't want them letting it anywhere near the internet without software that'd cripple its performance, so converting them to Linux is probably the only way to go...


  • #5
    joelim7
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19 ✭joelim7


    Alans right about the win95, this is a 2100 as per the spec.
    label gives a manufacturing date for crimbo 12/4/96.


    When i got out the ear trumpet out, the hard disk spins for a second/ dies /makes a sound like a dial up connection. then back to the disk spin for a second and so on repeatedley i'd have to say i was in full agreement with midnight..


    Also at times the cd rom was going haywire noise wise. So i ditched the cd rom and the batterypack. the cdrom also seemed to affect the power on/off fuction ie. laptop would not power off on smoothly.


    I should mention I slotted the hard drive in/out at this stage.
    When i start up now the functionality is the same as before but the harddrive sounds a lot, healthier. There is a single beep (post)
    then the F2 option appears,the leds light ok and so on. if i dont press F2 the cpu look for the OS once and prints the OS not found msg.

    What i am wondering now looking at the manual and similar queries on google am i locked out from the BIOS? or worse again locked out from the Harddrive?


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