# Rebuilding a donated computer



## socraturk (Oct 27, 2005)

I have a dell Dimension L866r. It's a Pentium III, 866Mhz with 128 Megs of Ram. The school gave it to me so that I can put some software on it for some needy kids. Before giving it to me, they wiped it clean. It has no operating system on it at all. I am going to put Windows 2000 on it and some other software, but I am confused how to get the computer to recognize the other drives or how to boot from the CD Rom. Do I need to install DOS on the system 1st? Can I use a generic DOS start up disk?


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## cheese (Jun 22, 2003)

Do you have the 2000 disc with you? When you put in cdrom does it not boot? 

I know there a bootup floppy disks that go to install screen - i will have a look around and post back.


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## socraturk (Oct 27, 2005)

Yes, I have the W2k disk, but it doesn't recognize it even when I change the boot order in the bios.


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## cheese (Jun 22, 2003)

Here we go: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=197063


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

You can install W2K directly without installing DOS separately.


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## gotrootdude (Feb 19, 2003)

It's possible that you need a cdrom driver on a boot disk in order to install it..

Try this:
http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/cdrom/

or

http://www.startdisk.com/

Since your bound to have to search down drivers for that PC, Have you thought about putting linux on it.. It'd probably be much easier..


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## socraturk (Oct 27, 2005)

I am thinking that I have taken on a task that I can't complete. I am going to give it a shot. I tried using the boot disks from the W2k cd, but the computer says that it isn't a valid boot disk. Is my 1st step going to be to find the drivers for the CD rom? Does dell maybe support older machines (drivers) on their site?


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## win2kpro (Jul 19, 2005)

You can go to this site http://www.bootdisk.com/ and download the 4 boot disks you will need for W2KPro. Make sure you have the 4 floppies formatted and clean before you you install the files on them.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

If this Dell has both a DVD drive and a CD drive, put the CD in the DVD drive and try it. This is what I have to do using a Dell Dimension. The DVD drive is the top drive and is only recognized for bootable CDs because it is the master drive on its IDE channel.


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## socraturk (Oct 27, 2005)

You guys are all awesome. The computer is up and running. I was a little scared because I was giving this computer to a student who was going to depend on it for studys. It works great. Thanks to you all.


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## jp1203 (Jul 21, 2005)

WOW...similar to my internet PC. Except I upped my processor to 1 GHZ from 800 MHz. I thought they had all fallen off the face of the earth.

(Listed in my sig)


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## spiers (Apr 25, 2005)

Hi, Im getting a poor pc donated soon, dont know anything about it except its been running windows 98. The HD probs gotta be wiped because it was for the NHS (National Health Service) and it contained confidential information. Ive always wanted to make my own pc after being ripped off at pc world and was wondering where to start and what to get etc? Or even what to use the pc for?
Thanks.


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## cheese (Jun 22, 2003)

Well it all depends on what you are going to use it for, which you should decide first heh.


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