OLD HP Omnibook!

Morning everyone,

Whilst rummaging around in the loft, I found my old lap-top, Hewlett Packard
OMNIBOOK XE, so i've powered it up, and all that seems to happen is I get a black screen with the HP logo and the model, centre screen.

If i remember correctly, the OS is windows 98 and would like to get it to
boot, and then uninstall everything, including the OS, and re-install Windows
XP Pro that I have, because i would like to use it solely for My Astronomy and Imaging of Planets and DSO's, so it would operate my web cam, and Tracking facility on the 'scope, and for storing the images taken to be processed by my desktop afterwards.

Has anyone got a suggestion as to the procedure needed to get this old thing started!

Thanks in advance...........
Nick.........

 

I suggest you change the HDD and install a new os probably xp pro

 

Thanks bulik, by that, do you mean the Hard drive? if so, do you know what type? or any links as to where i might get one, because i already have a Windows XP Pro SP2 Disc to install on it, or could I just Format the Drive and do a clean install?

Forgive the questions, but I am, by no means, an expert on these things, just average

Thanks....
Nick....

 

i'm not sure what kind of hard drive you have in your notebook but to be on the safe side and for optimum performance of your omnibook try to change it with non-sata hdd. Up to you how much cap you like but make sure it runs in 5400rpm. probably your existing hdd drive runs slower than that. you can also upgrade your ram like what i did with my asus m2c. this is an old notebook but i upgraded my hdd and ram and dual boot to xp and vista basic. still working like a charm. my current notebook is hp compaq 8510p

 

Here's a few things you can try:

The backup battery probably died a long time ago, so the computer would have forgotten how its configured. Is there a setup option displayed on the screen?

If you can find a DOS or Win98 startup floppy, try putting that in the drive and see if it'll boot.

If the computer still hangs without booting, try opening it up (power off, of course) and reseating the memory and any other plug-in modules.

 

Spoke to a company in the UK, and they said that the hard drive is a 6gb, and that i wouldn't be able to put anything larger than 8gb in it, and that if I formatted the disc, and did a clean install, the processor would not be able to handle Windows XP Pro, and there would not be enough space.
He also said that he sells 80gb hard drives that would fit, but the computer would only recognise, or use 8gb max, is this the case?

 

Yes, there was a limit of about 8GB some years ago. Before that there was a 2.1GB limit, but since you already have a 6GB drive your computer must be newer than that. If HP updated the BIOS you might be able to use larger drives, but I doubt they'd update anything that old.

 

just try reinstalling 98 to see if it works

 

Thanks for your help everyone, but it looks as though I will have to buy another Lap top, as I don't think that in it's present format, it wouldn't cope with the amount of data from the Camera on the telescope, and controlling the Tracking of the Motorised Mount...........
Oh well...........
Nick........

 

wow... are you an astronomer?