Is my laptop broken forever

[havfunonline]

It has no operating system and its CD drive is broken and you can no longer buy them (Toshiba satellite pro A10), and it does not have a USB option in the boot priority section.

Is there any way to fix it, like sticking the laptop HDD in a main computer (I have the connector) and putting a OS on it that way? would that work?

 

[G0AOZ]

I'd be surprised if you couldn't get a replacement CD drive, if that is what is actually not working. These drives usually have a standard connector and are all much the same shape and fitting. If it's a completely different drive you might find the facia plate is not sculpted exactly the same as the original.

If Toshiba can't supply one, go to an independent laptop replacement parts supplier...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[havfunonline]

I've tried to find matching CD drives but it appears the model of laptop I own doesn't seem to exist anywhere. I've tried regular Toshiba CDDs in there, to no avail.

 

[electronicsfreak]

What he means is go to a site like newegg and order a laptop cdrom. Any laptop cdrom should work in your laptop.

http://www.newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N=2010100005+1036508690&name=Slim+Combo+Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&N=2010100005+1036508673&name=Slim+DVD+Burner

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=5&name=CD-DVD-Burners

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[havfunonline]

should being the operative word. I've tried 6 laptop CDDs in there and none of them worked, not even the Toshiba one. They make them so that they aren't incompatible because they're fags.

 

[Lemon13]

slave the hd 2 another pc, start the install of the os, after the dos part of install (first reboot) put it back in laptop, it should continue with install now

 

[G0AOZ]

If you've tried several other CD drives and none of them work, that suggests there is a problem with the connector or the IDE interface on the laptop's motherboard.

Have you tried clearing CMOS on this laptop, and then trying the original or new CD drive again?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[havfunonline]

clearing CMOS? I have no idea what that means. Other suggestions sound good cause there are similar laptops with similar problems, although I think that there are other unfixable errors on it as well.

 

[saikee]

I have mentioned in another thread of yours that you can install a Linux into the laptop disk when hooking to a normal desktop.

Once you have one Linux inside you can download any other Linux iso file, mount it on a loop back device to expand it, copy the content of the new expanded Linux filing systems onto a partition, substitute the boot loader isolinux with Grub and boot the new Linux directly from the hard disk without using a CD rom.

The above method enable you to run as many Linux as you need. The only problem is some Linux installers have been written to look for system files from a CD drive and so not every Linux is bootable from a hard drive. I would say you should get about 4 distros installed out of 10.

This is the method using your existing hard disk exactly the same way as before but switching the OS to Linux.

 

[G0AOZ]

CMOS. This is a volatile memory chip which retains basic information regarding hardware on your computer. Things like hard drive type, floppy attached (or not), CD or DVD, how much memory on the motherboard, date and time, and a whole host of other info. This memory is kept intact by a small battery (usually lithium) when the computer is switched off. Sometimes clearing CMOS or removing the battery for a short time can get rid of any corruption within that volatile memory. It is possible, although unlikely, that this might be causing your difficulty. You would undoubtedly need to delve deep inside the laptop to get to this battery, and then of course it might not help you...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[havfunonline]

last time I turned the computer on the CMOS was erased, it didn't know what the time or date was, so I don;t think that was the problem. Thanks for al your help guys and gals, think I@ll have a crack at puttign linux on it at some point in a desktop computer.