okay at a loss

[DocDutch]

help please

a friend of mine dropped his laptop off with me (old Compaq Armada M300)

he had XP running on it but the muppet downloaded and used a software package called kill disk and totally wiped his system.

now you think thats easy you just reinstall windows again and it should work. Which it did for 2 days then totally crashed on me coming up with PCI errors on boot (not even getting to XP screen)

so what I've done sofar:

tried the following Windows OS
ME I know sick but hey its an old laptop
2k worth a shot
XP as we know worked for a bit then crashed horribly on me as well
ERD BOOT COMMANDER 2002

Linux
PC Linux2007 managed to boot it 1 time on live disc, wiped the hd and then it stopped working as well (see reaccuring theme)
Ubuntu didnt even get past start

now I have done in the linux os mem tests and it didnt look good finding upwards of 1million errors

ow major problem I've got is I havent got floppies anymore so cant download say a dos boot flop


now who has an idea for me to try before I use the lappy as a frisbee

[Kevin T]

You can download DOS boot CD images here...

[kryogenik]

Screwed drive/mem?

Linux shows mem errors you say?
I'd say that's it right there.
Is there more than one stick so you can pull one of them?

[DocDutch]

theres 192mb in it...problem is I havent found out yet where it is... its not in the usual hiding places so must have to open the whole laptop

[kryogenik]

Try under the keyboard mate.

---------- Post added at 21:44 ---------- Previous post was at 21:38 ----------

There are 2 types of memory 'slots' on my M300, 450 Mhz. One is non removable, mine has 64MB of memory in that one on the motherboard. The other, second one is a real slot. It's located under the keyboard and what's factory installed is removable. Replacing what's there with 256 gives 320 meg.

http://forums12.itrc.hp.com/service/...hreadId=148186

[DocDutch]

yeah got that 1 out... now just bad luck that I got PC2100 spare but ofcourse thats too new a technology argh

gonna boot it with just the 64 built in... wont do much but its worth a shot.

[DocDutch]

well that 128 stick is foobarred. bugger... means me mate wont be able to run any really decent os. (yes I know 2k will run but even that will be sluggish)

[Jelly]

A Linux distro with the XFCE desktop environment would probably run acceptably.

[kryogenik]

I've got two sticks of sodimm somewhere. Think they're 256.
Dunno what speed they are though, I'll have a look.

---------- Post added at 20:41 ---------- Previous post was at 20:26 ----------

DDR2 533 200Pin SO-DIMM

I'm guessing no good chief.

[DocDutch]

LOL got 1gb of that already spare and yes PC2100, 2700, 3200.

ow well thanks anyways

[kryogenik]

No worries mate. It's cheap enough for 133 anyway.

[Druchii]

You could however nLite a copy of Windows 2000, apparently it can go down to as low as 60Mb...

www.nliteos.com

[kryogenik]

Originally Posted by Druchii

You could however nLite a copy of Windows 2000, apparently it can go down to as low as 60Mb...

www.nliteos.com

I have a 'lite' XP Pro on my old spare lappy. (384mb of 133 memory, 833Mhz processor!). The install is really small, loads of stuff stripped out of it. It runs a treat.

[DocDutch]

dumped 2k on it and it runs alright on 64mb :O just slow ... especially considering my pc wtih 4gb of mem in it.

[Paul M]

You can often find old memory on ebay.