Laptop puzzle

[ML]

Hallo, may I bring my problem to this newsgroup?
I am trying to sort out a Sharp A250 notebook that was given to me after it
was abandonned. After sorting out the power requirements, it runs with
W2000 Pro, flashes up an Administrator logon with stored p/w as normal. BUT
there is no on-screen cursor and the 'glide pad' and mouse keys do nothing.
There is some limited control by using the Windows Key, direction arrow keys
and Enter, but that doesn't get very far. I can access Contron Panel and do
a bit with the Arrow keys, but not easy.

It doesn't see the ext CD-ROM reader plugged in via the PC card, or an
external mouse via the PCMIA connected floppy drive unit. (The floppy does
work and read files). It seems to be networked enabled but I haven't been
able to recognise it on my 2-PC network. Is it possible the network
supervisor has locked out all control? (I'm not too familar with
networking).

Oh, and one other little problem, - its running Win2000 in
Chinese...............

All suggestions gratefully received!

Malcolm L
Somerset UK

 

[Gerry Voras]

Unless there's something you want to save on it, I'd format and start over
again.

Get yourself a DOS boot floppy with the drivers that will activate the
PCMCIA CD drive. Start with the drive manufacturer, and check bootdisk.com
as well. Fdisk and format the hard drive, and install a new operating
system of your choice (preferably 2k, xp, me, or 03, as they stand to have
the best chance of having the drivers you need natively). That should get
all the internal and external accessories working again.

 

[ML]

Unless there's something you want to save on it, I'd format and start over
again.

Get yourself a DOS boot floppy with the drivers that will activate the
PCMCIA CD drive. Start with the drive manufacturer, and check bootdisk.com
as well. Fdisk and format the hard drive, and install a new operating
system of your choice (preferably 2k, xp, me, or 03, as they stand to have
the best chance of having the drivers you need natively). That should get
all the internal and external accessories working again.

Thanks for the reply, Gerry, I'm sure that's right. The job has just got
easier as, after 'fiddling' with the BIOS, I have it loading the WIN2000 CD.
That Pheonix BIOS doesn't show what is enabled in the Boot line, so I
checked all three options and then the CD started to appear on the bottom
line.

Thanks again, Malcolm