Help to set up an old PC with no hard drive please.

xxdeebeexx

Hi I have been given an old PC with no hard drive.
How do I get it to work?

I have an old hard drive with windows XP on.... (ithink it may be corrupt)
I have my old hard drive but fittings are different - I'm waiting for a caddy to be delivered from Amazon
I have an external Hard drive that I have backed up onto.
I have a copy of Puppy Linux on cd

The PC that I am messing with is a Dell Pentium 4 CCL9TOJ
It powers up and on screen and comes up with a message of "no boot device available"

Any advice would be really fab.

TIA

dx

gonzo127

put puppy linux cd into drive, boot up and go into bios (usually F2), change boot order to include (or make first) the cd drive, save and exit and reboot, should now allow you to boot up to the cd

xxdeebeexx

gonzo127 wrote: »

put puppy linux cd into drive, boot up and go into bios (usually F2), change boot order to include (or make first) the cd drive, save and exit and reboot, should now allow you to boot up to the cd

Thanks

That was my first thought but I can't open the cd drive... I guessed that the drivers should be installed on the hard drive.

dx

gonzo127

no a disk drive shoudl open on its own and not require drivers, could be a knackered disk drive, next though would be if you have a pen drive and the bio gives you the option to boot from usb, - this is not always possible and all depends on the age of the motherboard

googler

There'll either be a fold-down flap over the CD drive tray, or the drive tray itself will be visible. Clue - the drive tray will have CD-RW and the Compact Disc logo embossed into it.

If you can't see the drive tray, get a slim implement behind the flap, fold it down and tape it down. There's usually a pinhole on the front of the CD drive - insert a toothpick, cocktail stick or similar non-metallic pointer into there and push - that's the 'open tray' override, and should work even if the drive isn't being talked to by the OS.

If there's a fold-down flap, it usually has an embedded button which pushes the 'real' button on the drive- try the real button and see if that works. When you boot up the PC, does the activity light on the drive flash?

xxdeebeexx

Thanks got the cd draw open. no flashing light and won't open on its own.
Maybe the pen drive will work. Do I just transfer puppy linux to the pen drive? ( Is a memory stick the same as a pen drive?)

thanks

dx

gonzo127

yes a memory stick is the same as a pen drive, and no you dont, if you have access to the internet on another computer (guessing so) then check out pendrive linux (just google it) it will run you through the process

also silly thought, have you actually checked that the disk drive is pluged into the power supply? open up the case and have a look at the cables

TakeThis

Niv

xxdeebeexx wrote: »

Thanks got the cd draw open. no flashing light and won't open on its own.
Maybe the pen drive will work. Do I just transfer puppy linux to the pen drive? ( Is a memory stick the same as a pen drive?)

thanks

dx

If the cd drive has no lights on ever it is worth checking if the power cable is plugged in. When the hard drive was removed the cd drive may have been unplugged also.

Niv

TakeThis

Niv wrote: »

If the cd drive has no lights on ever it is worth checking if the power cable is plugged in. When the hard drive was removed the cd drive may have been unplugged also.

Niv

Already suggested in post #7....

xxdeebeexx

gonzo127 wrote: »

also silly thought, have you actually checked that the disk drive is pluged into the power supply? open up the case and have a look at the cables

Mmm, I took the psu out to put into my old pc and........didn't plug the cables back on!!

They are now working but linux isn't loading
I wonder if I have the bois wrong.

thanks for the help
dx