Issue with laptop startup

[Serenity]

Ok some people from a neighboring company just donated a bunch of laptops to my high school for kids to use, but I can't get the stupid thing to start :mad:

It's a Dell, and has a Windows(R)XP sticker on the inside of it. I turn it on, everything looks normal, the blue startup screen flashes for like a milisecond, and then it gets stuck on this page [it's all black]:


Starting Windows 95...



Microsoft(R) Windows 95
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1996.


C:\>_


I can type in it, but then I push Enter and it says "Bad command or file name" and gives me another C:\>_ [the underscore flashes, btw] If I just push Enter, it keeps making more C:\>_'s. If I press Ctrl-Alt-Del, it clears the page and starts over. No matter how many times I restart it, the same thing shows up.

Any thoughts?

[thesonicguy]

Will it's look like a old Windows 95 Update to a Windows XP SP2
Try putting it "RECOVER" or put in "C:\Documents and Seetting\Owner>Recover"
Ya and don't put in the "s
Or you can ask a IT.
Microsoft Windows 95 no longer sported so you may have to get a new laptop.

[Serenity]

Nada...my mom's fiddling with it but yeah I think we'll have to call a tech or something. Gr.

[Blahages]

Ok some people from a neighboring company just donated a bunch of laptops to my high school for kids to use, but I can't get the stupid thing to start :mad:

It's a Dell, and has a Windows(R)XP sticker on the inside of it. I turn it on, everything looks normal, the blue startup screen flashes for like a milisecond, and then it gets stuck on this page [it's all black]:


Starting Windows 95...



Microsoft(R) Windows 95
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1996.


C:\>_


I can type in it, but then I push Enter and it says "Bad command or file name" and gives me another C:\>_ [the underscore flashes, btw] If I just push Enter, it keeps making more C:\>_'s. If I press Ctrl-Alt-Del, it clears the page and starts over. No matter how many times I restart it, the same thing shows up.

Any thoughts?

That blue screen, is this right?

http://toastytech.com/guis/win95logo.gif

Basically, what it looks like they did, is they cleared off the Hard Drive, and just ran the "SYS" command on the drive using a Windows 95 boot disk. Basically the SYS Command just copies the basic essential files to make the computer boot to where it does, C:\>.

It's not a Blue screen, as in an Error screen. It's the startup logo for Windows 95.

Does the Laptop have an XP License on the bottom of it? If it does, if you can find the corresponding Install CD(Home or Pro) (Whether you have one, or borrow it, doesn't matter) you can install XP on it legally if the KEY is on the laptop.

Otherwise, You're going to have go buy a copy of XP or something, or see if Dell will send you a copy of the Factory Restore CDs.

You can confirm that nothing is on the drive besides just the stuff required for boot by typing "dir" at the prompt. That way, you can see what's on the Drive. Likely, nothing besides Command.com, IO.SYS, MsDos.sys, and maybe Autoexec.bat and Config.sys, although, you probably won't see anything besides Command.com. Those are the files needed to Boot, although the last two aren't required to boot, they are there on most systems.

What you're seeing with the C:\> is the Command Prompt for DOS. DOS was what Windows used to run a top of, from Windows ME and Prior, Except NT versions.

Will it's look like a old Windows 95 Update to a Windows XP SP2
Try putting it "RECOVER" or put in "C:\Documents and Seetting\Owner>Recover"
Ya and don't put in the "s
Or you can ask a IT.
Microsoft Windows 95 no longer sported so you may have to get a new laptop.

Windows 95 update to XP? What are you talking about?

They don't need a new laptop. The Drive was just cleared off (Erased) and XP was completely removed. They likely removed it to keep information they had in their company away from whoever would get the laptop.

[Serenity]

OMG you are my savior!


That blue screen, is this right?

http://toastytech.com/guis/win95logo.gif

Indeed.


Does the Laptop have an XP License on the bottom of it? If it does, if you can find the corresponding Install CD(Home or Pro) (Whether you have one, or borrow it, doesn't matter) you can install XP on it legally if the KEY is on the laptop.


I assume this shiny sticker with "Product Key: [insert a million letters]" is what you're talking about, so yes. What's the difference between Home and Pro Install CD's?


You can confirm that nothing is on the drive besides just the stuff required for boot by typing "dir" at the prompt. That way, you can see what's on the Drive. Likely, nothing besides Command.com, IO.SYS, MsDos.sys, and maybe Autoexec.bat and Config.sys, although, you probably won't see anything besides Command.com. Those are the files needed to Boot, although the last two aren't required to boot, they are there on most systems.


Yeah, that's what happened when my mom typed 'dir.'


They likely removed it to keep information they had in their company away from whoever would get the laptop.

That sounds extremely likely. Lol they could've left a note or something warning us :P

My grandfather looked it over and turns out I don't have the memory/space to hold HP anyway, so before I do all of the above, I need some kind of upgrade or something which my mom is gonna look up....and I'm thinking I should take like a computer-savvy class b/c I feel so unintelligent right now lol

[Blahages]

I assume this shiny sticker with "Product Key: [insert a million letters]" is what you're talking about, so yes. What's the difference between Home and Pro Install CD's?


Well, you're going to have to use the one that corresponds to the license key on the bottom of the computer. If it says Home, you have to use the Home CD, if it says Professional, you have to use the Pro CD.

Basically, most users won't see much of a difference between the two. Professional is the same thing as Pro, but with some added features, like the ability to Host Remote Desktop, Group Policies, etc. Here's a little thing from MS that shows the features of Pro VS Home. Most of them won't be used by the majority of users:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx


My grandfather looked it over and turns out I don't have the memory/space to hold XP anyway, so before I do all of the above, I need some kind of upgrade or something which my mom is gonna look up....and I'm thinking I should take like a computer-savvy class b/c I feel so unintelligent right now lol

Well, if it has the XP Sticker on it, it should run it. Unless they downgraded the Memory, and stuff.

What's the Laptop Make/Model?

Pretty much, any computer made from 1998 (Actually, Some Even Earlier, although I wouldn't recommend it) or so on will run XP, although, obviously, the higher the specs, the better it'll run.

Do you know how to get into the Laptop's Bios? It should, when you first turn it on, say "Press [INSERT KEY HERE] for Setup" or "For Bios" or something of the like. Usually, the Key is F1, F2, or DEL.

In there, it should tell you how much Memory (RAM) you have, what the Processor (CPU Speed, in MHz or GHz), and the Hard Drive Size, in MB of GB.

If you could post that, I'll tell you if it'll run XP with or without any problems.

[Serenity]

Well, you're going to have to use the one that corresponds to the license key on the bottom of the computer. If it says Home, you have to use the Home CD, if it says Professional, you have to use the Pro CD.

Gotcha- it's Professional

What's the Laptop Make/Model?

Latitude C610, PP01L

Do you know how to get into the Laptop's Bios? It should, when you first turn it on, say "Press [INSERT KEY HERE] for Setup" or "For Bios" or something of the like. Usually, the Key is F1, F2, or DEL.

In there, it should tell you how much Memory (RAM) you have, what the Processor (CPU Speed, in MHz or GHz), and the Hard Drive Size, in MB of GB.

If you could post that, I'll tell you if it'll run XP with or without any problems.

System Memory: 256 MB, CPU Speed: 1.20 GHz, Primary Hard Drive: 20005 MB

[Aηdy]

That will run XP fine! :P

[Blahages]

Latitude C610, PP01L, System Memory: 256 MB, CPU Speed: 1.20 GHz, Primary Hard Drive: 20005 MB

That's adequate enough to run XP. I was in a similar situation in one of my computer classes 4 years ago. Pfizer Donated a LOT of old Dell laptops to our computer program, and they ended up getting given out to the class. I started out with a Latitude CPx, which was 650MHz (Half the Speed of the C610) and 128MB of RAM, and a 12GB hard Drive. It ran XP well enough.

I eventually was able to trade it for a Latitude C600 which was laying around there, which had a 1.0GHz Processor, 256MB Ram, and a 40GB Hard Drive. I ran XP on that as well.

There's no question about whether or not it'll run XP. The one you have will. Sure, it's not be best hardware to have it running on, but if you plan on just using it for normal usage, like browsing the internet, writing papers, etc, normal school work, and whatnot, it'll be fine. You can't expect to play top of the line games on it, or install Vista on it, but then again, it was a free laptop, and you can't expect that.

If you want, and you can get a hold of an XP CD, you can install it on the computer, and test it out and see how it works. If it doesn't work how you want, you could always do something else. Just borrow a CD from someone if you can. You have the License, so you could even make a copy of the XP CD and be fine. The legality is in the License, not the Installation Media, so you don't have to worry about it being considered pirating.

I've even had XP Installed on a Laptop that was 266MHz, 32MB Ram, and a 4GB Hdd. Granted, you don't want to run it on something like that, but eh. It was unusable, but I did get it to install. The Memory Minimum is 64MB.

Minimum requirements for XP, which is listed on the Box, and MS's Website:

233MHz Processor (300MHz+ Recommended)
64MB RAM (128+ Recommended)
1.5GB HDD Space

Yours beats that in every category.

[Serenity]

Alrighty I'm passing the message along to my mom. So we get the HP CD, install it, and it should work fine, yes? I think me and my technologically challenged self can handle that...:P

Thanks a million!!

[Blahages]

Alrighty I'm passing the message along to my mom. So we get the HP CD, install it, and it should work fine, yes? I think me and my technologically challenged self can handle that...:P

Thanks a million!!

HP CD? You mean XP CD?

Yes, if you install XP, it should be fine.

[Serenity]

HP CD? You mean XP CD?

Yes, if you install XP, it should be fine.

Lol yeah, that's what I meant.

[Blahages]

Lol yeah, that's what I meant.

That's what I thought. ;) The first time I quoted you, I edited it to XP, but the second time, I thought maybe you were talking about something else.

Just making sure.

[Serenity]

Yeap lol we're good. Thanks again!