guidance with rejuvenating an old laptop

[BigSki]

There seems to be plenty of knowledgeable IT guys on here, as well as knowledgeable everyday users. I'll start by saying, I'm not an IT guy!

I have an old (circa 2006) Toshiba Satellite that ran XP. I don't have the original install discs or the backup discs that were made right after I purchased the laptop. Long story short- after sitting idle for a while, I tried to fire it up and I got a message saying that the OS can't be found. The BIOS is recognizing the HD but that as far as I can get.

I'd be very grateful for some guidance to getting it up and running again. I've searched the webz and found a few places claiming to have clean, free complete installs of XP with SP3, I'm in the process of downloading one of them and burning a disc. My hopes are to be able to install the disc and to be able to load a new copy of the OS and be on my merry way. I don't know enough to even know if this is feasible or if there's more to it than that.

I've been reading so many different stories on the webz about how to about doing this, with each article different from the last, I honestly have little idea on how to go about this task.

Going out to buy a new laptop isn't in my current budget. If I can bring back my old laptop for basic web browsing, it would be great.

Thanks to anyone that takes the time to try to help! "thumbsup"

 

[C*H*U*D]

I'm interested to hear how this turns out for you.

I was never a tablet fan until I got my Droid Tablet and now I love it. I have an old laptop that still works but is just way too slow to run Windows, so I'm in the process of converting it to a Chromebook with Neverware:

Neverware

Not sure how it's going to go, but the laptop is basically a brick right now so I can't mess up too bad. If that doesn't work, Linux is next.

 

[BigSki]

thanks Juan. I'll definitely give that a try if I strike out on the XP OS download.

 

[The Violator]

I have a couple old laptops that run xp. I upgraded one to windows 7, but even though they were decent at the time, they have issues with even the simplest tasks. Even if you had the xp disks, once you do the updates it will slow to a crawl.

On a side note you should be able to find a copy of XP online. The laptop should have the sticker with the program info on the bottom. But again you might spend several hours pissing up a flagpole and not be happy.


I grabbed a couple new laptops for my RC stuff. I grabbed a very basic Dell for about $140, swapped in a $22 memory card and it runs OK. I also picked up a 10" windows tablet for $260 that really works surprisingly well.

In the end if you have no money then you could take some time and see what happens. Or hustle a little bit and grab something new.



The newest windows do not have the keys on them as a sticker, but the older ones all had them. " If " I was a shitbag I would have went to staples and checked out their laptops and took pictures of the model number so I could "check the out online" and if it happened to have the sticker in the pick then you would have a nice unactivated windows key.

 

[Sarra]

Put Linux on it.

 

[binaryterror]

XP isn't supported by much anymore, and the performance of a 10yr old laptop?

You'd be better sticking to a iphone, android, or windows phone or tablet to be honest.

 

[BigSki]

While I agree that an old laptop running XP isn't ideal for any real work, I wanted it so if I need to look up info while wrenching on something, a few greasy fingerprints isn't a big deal, or if the worst were to happen- it gets dropped and takes out the screen /kills the hard drive, ect.. it's no big loss.

I was able to bring it back to life, I asked around a few friends that do IT work, sure enough one of them had a full IOS disc for each one of the types of XP. I slaved the external CD player, told BIOS to boot from there, and let it do it's thing. 2 hrs later, after downloading a few basic driver files for the wifi- card,the laptop was connecting to the wireless router in the house getting most of the drivers and a few updates. I'm ok with it because I saved it from being scrapped and it didn't cost me anything.

Maybe in the near future I'll but a new one, but for right now this serves its purpose.

 

[kgb424]

I know of a few warehouses and assembly places that still use Windows 2000 for all there inventory and inter office communications

and Windows 2000 is XP Pro with out all the bells and whistles

And the one place I know for a fact has not needed to format or reload Window for over 10 years