VERY OLD BIOS doesn’t support USB key. CD ROM faulty. How can I boot this OLD Laptop?

Brian_Pamo

Hi guys

Here’s a bit of a challenge for you all. A bit of a head scratcher and a bit of fun although my reasons are genuine. 

I won’t bore you with why I need this specific OLD laptop but I do. I finally managed to secure it from Germany after waiting 5 years to find one anywhere. So, I have it in front of me. I want to wipe it and clean install the Compaq Evo N110 rescue disk but I’m having problems...
So, I booted (F10) into the BIOS and low and behold the 20+ year old BIOS doesn’t support USB Boot although I’m not surprised because the lap top is over 20 years old. So, I changed the boot order to CD-ROM first but the CD-ROM is faulty. I know this because I let the machine boot into the German version of win 98 and then in my computer selected the CD Drive. After making lots of noises it is obvious the old CD Drive is faulty. It does appear that the floppy drive is working.

So, just when you thought you’d be bored with all the Christmas TV repeats let’s have your suggestions guys. I know some folk may say bin the old laptop but there is a specific reason I need to keep it. I do have the original, genuine Compaq QuickRestore disks and Compaq QuickRestore Win98 SE but they are on CD and the CD is faulty. I do not want to update the OS (when I finally get in) because the old machine software that I use with this old laptop is only designed for Win 98. So, while my intentions are genuine need I thought I’d throw this one out. What do you think guys? An old laptop with a broken CD drive that doesn’t support USB in the old BIOS? BIOS Version is 0F0A and I do not want to upgrade this either. 

DingerUK

Replace the CD Drive

Neil_Jones

USB boot wasn't a thing until the mid 2000s so its hardly surprising it won't boot off USB, as it doesn't know how to to do it.

Easiest solution is just to beg, borrow or obtain a CD drive off eBay or somewhere like that. (almost certainly an IDE one - note:  not the same as Desktop IDE drives - same principle, different connector).  A lot of drives were relatively standard, you just change the bezel and maybe the orientation of the holding screw on the back to fit the laptop.

Brian_Pamo

DingerUK said:

Replace the CD Drive

Almost certainly no chance of getting hold of one taking into account how long I had to wait to buy this old machine. 

Neil_Jones

As I said above they are almost always standard. Get the CD out the laptop and see what it is.  It'll probably be a Samsung or a Lite-on, possibly a Sony.

Brian_Pamo

Neil_Jones said:

As I said above they are almost always standard. Get the CD out the laptop and see what it is.  It'll probably be a Samsung or a Lite-on, possibly a Sony.

Aghhhh, Great idea! I’m sure then they’ll be loads on eBay. 

Cheers Neil. 

tacpot12

I'm still running my Quickbooks V3 program, which will only run on Windows 3.1 or 3.11, on Windows 10 using DOSbox. Are you sure you need this laptop to run your program? If you do, you'll have to get a new CD-drive for it. 

tehone

Boot from the floppy. convert the restore Cd you want to iso files , and mount them in a virtual Cd-drive (like deamon tools), run the install from there

You may need to do some fiddling/checking to make sure that once the restore gets so far, it doesn't need to access the virtual drive again before finishing

tehone

Or actually just install the Win98 language pack as you say it boots into German Win98

Brian_Pamo

tehone said:

Or actually just install the Win98 language pack as you say it boots into German Win98

This is not possible. I tried this and it asked for the installation CD. 

Brian_Pamo

tacpot12 said:

I'm still running my Quickbooks V3 program, which will only run on Windows 3.1 or 3.11, on Windows 10 using DOSbox. Are you sure you need this laptop to run your program? If you do, you'll have to get a new CD-drive for it. 

I’m sure. The software utilises a hardware dongle that is programmed to work only with that specific setup.