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

Brian_Pamo

tehone said:

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

Sounds a bit to complicated for me. Thank you. 

esuhl

Are you sure you can't run the software in a Win98 virtual machine using VirtualBox?

There's a page here troubleshooting USB devices in VirtualBox:

https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=82639

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Do you have a recovery image on the hard drive that does what you want?

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-restore-a-compaq-evo-without-a-disc

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Otherwise, to get the laptop to boot from USB, you could install a third-party boot manager like PLOP:

https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/intro.html

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It might be worth taking the hard drive out of the laptop and cloning it using another PC, so you can restore the drive exactly as it was if anything goes wrong.

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

tehone

Brian_Pamo said:

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. 

If you install Daemon tools it'll create a virtual CD drive say for example F:

On a different computer make the original Cd you require into an ISO image (basically one large file)

Copy that file over to the laptop, "mount" (open) it using deamon tools - as far as your laptop is concerned it will have a CD in an F drive and it'll work as expected

Version 3.44 was freeware I think can be downloaded from oldversion.com - even the latest version has a lite free version (ad supported)

Neil_Jones

Version 3.47 of Daemon Tools Lite was the last version for Windows 98:

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/daemon-tools-windows-98.html

Lite is and always has been the free version, supported by adware/shareware.  Some of this software you had to be careful what you clicked on when you install it otherwise you'd end up with a collection of other junk spyware as well as Daemon Tools.  This was changed at some point.

a

Before you buy a CD, or DVD drive, open the computer up to check if it needs EIDE , or SATA one.

Neil_Jones

a said:

Before you buy a CD, or DVD drive, open the computer up to check if it needs EIDE , or SATA one.

Considering the OP has already said its best part of 20 years old (the model name mentioned was the Compaq Evo Notebook N110, which was brand new in 2001) and the SATA standard wasn't ratified until 2003, its probably safe to assume it is EIDE....

A_Lert

If the floppy drive works, there are boot managers you can put on a floppy disc that then let you chain boot from another device such as a USB stick, for when the PC can't directly boot from USB. For example Plop Boot Manager.

https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/full.html

HereToday

Not sure why you would buy such a thing. I have an old IBM ThinkPad here. Much better and easier to service. Try changing the HDD of your machine and you will understand. IBM has a dedicated hatch, so just a few seconds. Your Compaq:

1. Prepare the computer for disassembly (Section 5.3) and, in

the order below, remove the following components:

LED cover (Section 5.6)

Keyboard (Section 5.7)

Optical drive (Section 5.8)

Display (Section 5.9)

Heat sink (Section 5.10)

Top cover (Section 5.1

As suggested, you can update the BIOS via Floppy disc. 

Have you turned on Legacy USB support in the BIOS? It's under the Advanced tab. Then you should be able to Boot from Bootable USB Flash drives.
You can find Windows 98 images here: https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-98/98-second-edition

unforeseen

Legacy USB support doesn't always guarantee boot support as well. It's just means that they are accessible before the OS loads. 

HereToday

unforeseen said:

Legacy USB support doesn't always guarantee boot support as well. It's just means that they are accessible before the OS loads. 

Quite possible it won't boot; but they can still Boot from a Floppy and then run the install from a USB Flash drive that way or just run an upgrade through the current install.