Ancient 75mhz laptop with 8MB of RAM Win3.1

[mick]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

A friend has given me a little project to do for him (if possible) and that
is to install Win95 and put Word plus Excel on this antique. I have a copy
of Win95 from Gateway that has never been used but I cannot get the CD Drive
to work on the laptop (floppy works). The Neon light comes on and it spins
up but it will not recognise any CD that I put in it. The laptop has an
American Megatrends AMI BIOS from 1993, but says the version 5.5.2.
(07/24/1995). The BIOS list 2 drives (C & D) but when I click on them it
recognises C, but not D which I take to be the CD ROM drive. I have even
tried an audio CD on the 3.1 player but it won't play.

I notice when the laptop is booting it says loading TEAC CD ROM. I have
tried a Win98 bootdisk and attempted to access the CD ROM this way without
success. Is this because the 98 bootdisk uses the Oakfield (sic) driver? If
I could get hold of an external CD ROM drive might this work? Can you get
Win95 off the net on floppy disks? Is the project doomed to failure because
of insufficient RAM and processing power?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

I wouldn't waste anymore time on it. It's a piece of junk. You'll find
better laptops in the curbside trash.

"Mick" <Mick@antispam.com> wrote in message
news:fIbkc.158$xt3.112@newsfe1-gui.server.ntli.net...
> A friend has given me a little project to do for him (if possible) and
that
> is to install Win95 and put Word plus Excel on this antique. I have a
copy
> of Win95 from Gateway that has never been used but I cannot get the CD
Drive
> to work on the laptop (floppy works). The Neon light comes on and it
spins
> up but it will not recognise any CD that I put in it. The laptop has an
> American Megatrends AMI BIOS from 1993, but says the version 5.5.2.
> (07/24/1995). The BIOS list 2 drives (C & D) but when I click on them it
> recognises C, but not D which I take to be the CD ROM drive. I have even
> tried an audio CD on the 3.1 player but it won't play.
>
> I notice when the laptop is booting it says loading TEAC CD ROM. I have
> tried a Win98 bootdisk and attempted to access the CD ROM this way without
> success. Is this because the 98 bootdisk uses the Oakfield (sic) driver?
If
> I could get hold of an external CD ROM drive might this work? Can you get
> Win95 off the net on floppy disks? Is the project doomed to failure
because
> of insufficient RAM and processing power?
>
>

 

[mick]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Thanks for your response Whizzer. I think you have a point, however:

1) I enjoy a challenge and if I can get something working I derive knowledge
and pleasure from that.
2) The project will serve my friend's purpose as all he wants is Word and
Excel.
3) My mate does not like spending his money unless its absolutely necessary
and I think the recycling part of it is worthy.
4) I haven't found anything better in the trash can.

Mick.

"whizzer" <whizkid@netscape.com> wrote in message
news:I7OdncKYIaPM1gzdRVn-uQ@comcast.com...
> I wouldn't waste anymore time on it. It's a piece of junk. You'll find
> better laptops in the curbside trash.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

I hear you. I must confess to some of the same feelings but I think you've
been asked to perform a miracle. 75Mhz, 8MB of memory and a bum CD
(surprised it even had one!) is one heck of a hole to start in. Even if you
succeed, you'll probably find the system unbearably slow and most likely
unusable. You're going to have a tough time finding parts for something
that old. And then it'll run for a week and croak (hopeless pessimist
huh?!).

From a technical standpoint, not much is going to run in 8MB. Not even sure
W95 will work in that amount of memory. An external CD is probably not an
option.

IMO your mate really does need to spend some money and not ask you to waste
a bunch of your time trying to resurrect a dinosaur. Unless of course
you're retired and have nothing better to do. But I will give it to you,
you sure know how to grab ahold of a real challenge!

"Mick" <Mick@antispam.com> wrote in message
news:qqckc.165$xt3.159@newsfe1-gui.server.ntli.net...
> Thanks for your response Whizzer. I think you have a point, however:
>
> 1) I enjoy a challenge and if I can get something working I derive
knowledge
> and pleasure from that.
> 2) The project will serve my friend's purpose as all he wants is Word and
> Excel.
> 3) My mate does not like spending his money unless its absolutely
necessary
> and I think the recycling part of it is worthy.
> 4) I haven't found anything better in the trash can.
>
> Mick.
>
> "whizzer" <whizkid@netscape.com> wrote in message
> news:I7OdncKYIaPM1gzdRVn-uQ@comcast.com...
> > I wouldn't waste anymore time on it. It's a piece of junk. You'll find
> > better laptops in the curbside trash.
> >
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Windows95 isn't going to run well in 8 MBytes of RAM - if you can upgrade
the memory, it may perform acceptably.

To install Windows95, remove the hard drive from the system, and purchase a
$5-10 adapter block to connect it to a desktop. Format the drive in the
desktop and make a directory called c:\windows\options\cabs. Copy the
\win95 directory from the 95 CD to the hard drive (xcopy \win95 harddrive:
/w /s /e ). Remove the drive, mount it in the notebook, and boot it with a
floppy containing the sys command. Do a sys c: Reboot to the hard drive,
log to c:\windows\options\cabs and type setup. The setup will start.



"Mick" <Mick@antispam.com> wrote in message
news:fIbkc.158$xt3.112@newsfe1-gui.server.ntli.net...
> A friend has given me a little project to do for him (if possible) and
that
> is to install Win95 and put Word plus Excel on this antique. I have a
copy
> of Win95 from Gateway that has never been used but I cannot get the CD
Drive
> to work on the laptop (floppy works). The Neon light comes on and it
spins
> up but it will not recognise any CD that I put in it. The laptop has an
> American Megatrends AMI BIOS from 1993, but says the version 5.5.2.
> (07/24/1995). The BIOS list 2 drives (C & D) but when I click on them it
> recognises C, but not D which I take to be the CD ROM drive. I have even
> tried an audio CD on the 3.1 player but it won't play.
>
> I notice when the laptop is booting it says loading TEAC CD ROM. I have
> tried a Win98 bootdisk and attempted to access the CD ROM this way without
> success. Is this because the 98 bootdisk uses the Oakfield (sic) driver?
If
> I could get hold of an external CD ROM drive might this work? Can you get
> Win95 off the net on floppy disks? Is the project doomed to failure
because
> of insufficient RAM and processing power?
>
>