[suling]

I have an old Toshiba Satellite M30 Model No. PSM30A-OQRM1P.

It has been left in a corner of the house as it decided to die.

I now want to resurrect it for a school student.

It has Windows XP and may have been upgraded from Windows 98.

Am not sure if it has an NTFS file system.

When turned on the PC wants to run set up.

This is OK until it gets to "instal".

The message "The files 'ASMS' on Windows XP professional service pack 3CD is needed" appears.

Followed by "Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK".

In a blue Windows box then appears "Copy files from: Global\Device\CDRomo\i386".


Now, not having the "smarts" as many on your forum have, I can't click anything to make any of the above action happen.

Location of a Windows XP prof. service pack 3CD in this house is unknown,
although I do have startup Windows 98.

Can anyone help me to get this old laptop up and running (without any cost)
so I can pass this particular laptop on.

Thanks.

Digga

[Madxgraphics]

Originally Posted by suling

Location of a Windows XP prof. service pack 3CD in this house is unknown,
although I do have startup Windows 98.

Can anyone help me to get this old laptop up and running (without any cost)
so I can pass this particular laptop on.

Thanks.

Digga

Hi Suling.....
Welcome to the forum.....

'Windows 98 start up disks will be of no use to you. Finding the XP disk would be ideal. But as you want to get the machine up and running at no cost, why not try Linux..? Its free and there are many distros to choose from.

Here are a few links...

Linux Mint
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

Mandriva
http://www2.mandriva.com/

Ubuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

[suling]

Thank you. Will follow up with the "boss lady" of the house.

Digga

[JaLing]

Alas Mad... those options wont be viable for it.
Any work done in a format that MS Office wont open is an immidate fail.
(Even if it opens it there may be loss of formating which can also equal fail)

Schools aren't keen on open source (hence all the debates about government contracts being almost purely MS)

As this would be passed on to a student it unfortunatly HAS to be Microsoft.

I'd suggest a google search for Technet and go to the microsft technet site... from what I remember you can download Windows XP (with SP3) as an ISO ready to be burnt onto CD for free. All you need is the license code which should be on a stick on the underside of the laptop... if it isn't, I'm not giving a work around as every licensed computer must have the sticker on it (it's in the terms).

Enjoy.

[Abarbarian]

http://driverscollection.com/?H=Sate...M30&By=Toshiba

http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/71/liv...tMenu_2=295846

These might help.

Puppy Linux or Kanotix Linux would run luverly on that machine.

[Urmas]

Originally Posted by JaLing

Alas Mad... those options wont be viable for it.
Any work done in a format that MS Office wont open is an immidate fail.
(Even if it opens it there may be loss of formating which can also equal fail)

DOCX etc. (Office 2007) conversion in OpenOffice (both opening and saving) has gone forward pretty well, actually... here's what I use (its "chocolate version" in Ubuntu):
http://www.oooninja.com/2008/12/bett...converter.html

[Madxgraphics]

Where and how did MS Office come into this thread. ?

Originally Posted by Suling

Can anyone help me to get this old laptop up and running (without any cost)

That was the question that was asked, so Linux was suggested.

[Urmas]

Originally Posted by Madxgraphics

Where and how did MS Office come into this thread...

Mean and nasty and horrible proprietary file formats were mentioned as a possible obstacles on the path towards glorious penguinhood.

[suling]

Thanks for all your ideas. Someone elsewhere came up with the idea to press the power on button and tap the F12 button. Up came a message believe it or not and I put in someone elses Toshiba's product recovery CD-ROM for a Satellite M30.

It worked, but it went back to "Welcome to your new computer". As this laptop has been sitting in a corner for the last 7 months it didn't matter. Now a school student has a laptop.

Digga

[JaLing]

Originally Posted by Madxgraphics

Where and how did MS Office come into this thread. ?



That was the question that was asked, so Linux was suggested.

Ahh... alas Mad... there was a requirement for the solution in the question

"I now want to resurrect it for a school student"

Last year alot of students failed their courses due to their coursework not being in the format *.doc etc...

I don't doubt OpenOffice opening formats... it's the student being up at 4am finishing work and forgetting to save as the correct format.
( Come-on... I'm sure we all remember that last minute deadline )