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    Old Guy needs HELP with Older Laptop

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Hylander, Apr 7, 2008.

  1. Hylander

    Hylander Newbie

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    I love my son, and I know he was trying to help...But!!!! :eek:

    I have an older model HP Omnibook 4150. I had windows 2000 in it, and it was only used to run a star-mapping program for my telescope. My son in his all knowing wisdom, tried to install Windows XP on it. Unfortunately with only 128 megs of memory and a Pentium II....? Well, need I go on? When I tried to reinstall W2K Pro on the laptop, it said a new system already existed, and setup has been disabled. When I tried to use the recovery floppy made a few years ago, a message said it couldn't read the disc, wrong format, file system, or some such thing. I have tried to go to HP website to download a DOS based disc that would allow me to reformat..no luck.. I'm not that computer savvy and apparently neither is my loving son. Now I have a six pound fishing weight. Any help or ideas would be extremely appreciated.
     
    Hylander, Apr 7, 2008
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  2. atbnet

    atbnet Notebook Prophet

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    Do you still have your Windows 2k CDs? I don't believe Windows 2k CDs had the built in formatting tool like the XP cds do, so grab http://dban.sourceforge.net/ and run quick erase to nuke XP. Then just install Windows 2k. I had Win2k on an old laptop, it ran great.
     
    atbnet, Apr 7, 2008
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  3. Gintoki

    Gintoki Notebook Prophet

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    Yes, that, or get linux. It's great for old computers and the guys in the linux forum will help you out as much as needed. It'll keep you up to date with the latest tech, on something old. ;)
     
    Gintoki, Apr 7, 2008
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  4. Leon

    Leon Notebook Deity

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    I recommend linux too. Or a new computer.
     
    Leon, Apr 7, 2008
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  5. Kurat

    Kurat Notebook Consultant

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    Hylander, do you by any chance have a floppy such as a boot disk that has fdisk on it? I can try to walk you through it, Im sure I know what happened
     
    Kurat, Apr 7, 2008
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  6. hendra

    hendra Notebook Virtuoso

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    Did you put W2K Pro CD in when Windows XP still running or did you boot from the CD? If you put the CD when XP is still running, setup won't run. You will have to boot from the CD. The boot sequence has to list your CDROM first in the BIOS.
     
    hendra, Apr 7, 2008
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