Topic: Help Needed Please!!

[Lesley Jay]

I need some computer help please!

I have my Dad's old laptop which I have promised to give to a young autistic boy but I can't start the damned thing.

I was wiping all the info off it (email addresses, work details etc.) when it 'locked up' so I took the battery out, then put the battery back in and that is when the problem started. The laptop has lost it's hibernation mode so it will not do an auto set up / start up. I have got as far as a message "Preparing to start your computer - this might take a few minutes" Then it says A : \ > and I need to type something in to get it going but I don't know what.

Can anyone help please?

[quizzical1]

That message means that the computer is looking for info on the floppy drive (presuming it has one). The main drive is normally the "C" drive. It sounds like when you removed the battery, it reverted to the factory settings when powered up again.

First thing to look at, when it starts booting, do you see at the bottom of the screen,something like "Enter setup.Hit Del"? If so, you could try doing this, find the bit where it says "Boot sequence" and change it to boot from the C drive 1st, instead of A.

If you can't do that, when you get as far as you did before, ie at the "A" prompt, type C:\ and hit enter. This should change it to the drive where your operating system(OS) is(presumably a version of windows), and bring up a list of files/programmes on that drive. From there you should be able to find your OS and start it from there, but try the other thing first.

Hope that helps, it's difficult, not being able to see the computer to see what's happening.

[Lesley Jay]

Thanks for trying to help me.

When I switch it on you have a choice of 4 - either Help, Start with CD Rom support, Without CD Rom support or Minimal Boot. Every option brings up the "A" prompt. I have tried the C:\ but that leaves another prompt. Something else needs typing in.

At the bottom of the first page there are these options F5 - Safe Mode, Shift + F5 command prompt, Shift + F8 Step by step confirmation [N]. When I try these again there is a prompt to type something in.

I am absolutely stuck.

[quizzical1]

Sounds like you need a book on DOS. Sorry can't help any further, cos I left mine round my daughter's house when fixing their PC, and it mysteriously disappeared,(along with my tools I'd left with it) and not using DOS very much, I've forgotten all the prompts.
Typing C:\ should change the prompt to C:\>from A:\>, then type dir and hit enter (I think that's the correct command) and it should bring up a list?

[kenkew]

Quote....Typing C:\ should change the prompt to C:\>from A:\>, then type dir and hit enter ...unquote:

Also try typing
 run