reviving old laptop

[Ronjie]

Hello,

I have a Winbook Si laptop:

800mhz
256M ram
internal floppy drive good
internal hard drive shot
internal cd rom shot.

I was wondering if I got external storage ( what kind? ) how would I get this unit to boot Windows XP from it?

I already know that the bios will not directly support booting from usb. Is there any way to use the internal floppy to at least bootstrap it, and then go from there to the external storage to run? I'm open to external h/d or usb flash drive or any other INEXPENSIVE solution. ( yeah, i know, this ain't easy, if it was, I migh have had the answer already )

Thanx in advance,

Ron V.

 

[vacunita]

Any reason you don't just replace the internal hard drive?


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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Ronjie]

Thank you for your response, vacunita.

2 reasons:

1: expense, as far as I know, laptop internal hard drives are more expensive then then internals for pc's

2: time and patience. I've worked on laptops before, but I don't like the idea of having to tear this unit apart ( again ) to replace the hard drive.

3: I don't have a lot of applications that I want to use this unit for, I basically want it as a communications and possibly a security server for home use.

Thanx,

Ron V.

 

[vacunita]

!. the kind of drive you'll be able to put in the laptop is limited by its interface. I'm assuming IDE seeing as its a bit older

1. A usb drive will be just as or even more expensive than a regular internal laptop drive.

For instance 160GB Western Digital Laptop HD. 69.99
Western Digital My Passport Essential WDMEW1600TN 160GB Arctic White External Hard Drive - 89.99

No you'll find some externals a little cheaper as you will other brands of internals, but the expense tends to be either less or about the same.

2. Depending on the laptop it can be as easy as unscrewing a couple of screws. But o.k if its buried under the keyboard that may take a little more time.

3. A security server where you can accidentally disconnect the hard drive is not very secure.

Now as for booting it from a USB drive I don't think its very likely to happen. You'd basically have to load some kind of OS using the floppy that supports USB and then have it load Windows or whatever from it.


I still think the extra 5 or 10 minutes you'll take unscrewing same parts is better than the extra day or 2 you'll take trying to get the machine to boot from USB.









----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[cdogg]

GENERAL INFO

Actually, it is possible to attach a regular PC IDE hard drive through the USB port using an adapter as pictured here (this store is in my hometown):

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=927&sku=30504

Although it's $40, it does allow you to get your hands on a cheap IDE spare (possibly even used).

I've personally tested this adapter and was able to boot from an IDE or laptop hard drive. Attaching a SATA drive was a hit and miss, and generally only gets recognized in Windows. So in this situation, I would stay away from SATA drives.
______________________________________________________________________


Now with that said, I've reread your post. It seems that you have a pretty old laptop there (probably a Pentium III). So something to keep in mind is that your USB ports are probably the old 1.1 version which has a slow transfer speed. It's definitely not going to be fast enough to run an operating system on.

So I think I'll have to agree with vacunita. Replace the internal drive or trash the laptop. I'm sure you can find a 40GB ATA drive for under $30 on eBay. I wouldn't pay more than that.

Here's one of the cheapest I could locate online that's brand new and not refurbished (this is an 80GB drive):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148128

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[Ronjie]

3. A security server where you can accidentally disconnect the hard drive is not very secure.

You're right, I wasn't thinking of computer security, but of home security, i.e. pc based home security system.

GENERAL INFO

Actually, it is possible to attach a regular PC IDE hard drive through the USB port using an adapter as pictured here (this store is in my hometown):

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=927&;sku=30504

Although it's $40, it does allow you to get your hands on a cheap IDE spare (possibly even used).

I've personally tested this adapter and was able to boot from an IDE or laptop hard drive. Attaching a SATA drive was a hit and miss, and generally only gets recognized in Windows. So in this situation, I would stay away from SATA drives.

Ok, Please explain this to me: How did you get this ide drive hooked up to a usb port to be the booting drive? I've got spare full sized pc drives that I an put in enclosures / or not...

You were right about this laptop being a PIII processor, and the bios has no feature to boot from the usb port.

Thanx Guys!

Ron V.

 

[cdogg]

Well, this is probably the most important quote from above:

So something to keep in mind is that your USB ports are probably the old 1.1 version which has a slow transfer speed

On that old laptop, you're not really going to want to try. Even if it does work, it's going to be dog slow and frustrate the crap out of you.

All I did in my testing was connect the IDE drive to that adapter (see the link above) and turn on the PC. I noticed right off the bat that the IDE drive was detected in the BIOS and I was able to boot from it (it gets selected automatically). However, the PC I tested this on was less than 2 months old and had a newer motherboard. I'm not sure if older BIOS's would have a problem or not, but it's certainly a possibility.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[vacunita]

All I did in my testing was connect the IDE drive to that adapter (see the link above) and turn on the PC. I noticed right off the bat that the IDE drive was detected in the BIOS and I was able to boot from it (it gets selected automatically). However, the PC I tested this on was less than 2 months old and had a newer motherboard. I'm not sure if older BIOS's would have a problem or not, but it's certainly a possibility.

This of course immediately tells us that the machine you used does in fact support Booting from a USB device.
Unlike the winbook the TC was referring too.




----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[wahnula]

According to Winbook support, this picture:

...shows the RAM cover and also what looks suspiciously like a hard drive cover. I would pop out the screws and have a look under those covers. 2.5" HDDs are super cheap and the option of replacing an IDE drive with a USB drive is not a good one, too many chances for failure.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[tlcscousin]

http://www.fixya.com/support/t918336-open_winbook_si_laptop

This discusses removing the keyboard and also tells you how to remove palmrest to get at harddrive.

 

[cdogg]

vacunita,

Please keep in mind that as I was typing my first post above, I realized on my own that the OP had a much older laptop. Instead of scratching the information about the adapter, I decided to keep it in place. As you can see, that section is entitled "GENERAL INFO" meant for anyone who it might interest.

2.5" HDDs are super cheap and the option of replacing an IDE drive with a USB drive is not a good one, too many chances for failure.

That is exactly right that 2.5" drives are inexpensive and the best option. However, I would disagree that the "chances of failure" using USB drives are the biggest concern here. Instead, the biggest concern is that a USB drive would be extremely slow on a USB 1.1 port.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[cdogg]

Sorry, that quote was from wahnula...


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[vacunita]

My mistake. But still I think booting off a USB drive carries many more risks and problems than just transfer rate.

Mainly ease of removal. Running a system of a device that can be easily unplugged is never a good idea.






----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[cdogg]

Well sure, I would agree with that too. When I read the word "failure" I was thinking internal failure with the drive physically or a problem with the USB interface. I did not immediately associate that with something like "unplugging" the USB cable.

I mean heck we could even be more arbitrary and also worry about spilling liquids on the hard drive or USB adapter...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[vacunita]

Well yes spilling liquids is a real hazard too ;-)


So if you agree, and I agree, why are we arguing to agree?




----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Ronjie]

Thanx guys, for the discussion till now. I wasn't going to go into details, but here it is.

I have need of a second phone line. I was looking at "MagicJack" as a cheap solution to this. For those of you that don't know, it uses a usb adapter to hook up a normal telephone to a computer to allow for voip. I did hear a few things about it, namely: it is a bandwidth hog, and b: there is the possibility of their software "snooping" around in your computer. Rather than use my primary pc for this use, I wanted to use my winbook for that solution as well as probably later on using it as my home security "server" ( I'm looking at solutions from X10 as well as SmartHome. These basically have a central controlling device, but you can use a pc with appropriate software to "program" the controller as to how you want to use the security system. )

In this situation, I don't need the WinBook to be portable, it will actually stay in one place, so I don't think I'll have an issue of the (external) hard drive from being disconnected while it's being used.

I have spare pc hard drives, and enclosures are about $15-20 as far as I know. Speed isn't so much important to me as functionality is ( this would be a temporary solution till I could afford better equipment anyway )

Micro Center / WinBook TS says that the Si will only support up to 30G hard drives. I don't think I need more than that for now anyway. MONEY however is an issue, so I need to somehow get this to work, but still spend the least that I can.

Does this clarify things? I hope so.

Thanx,

Ron V.

 

[cdogg]

Ron,
Yes, that does help a bit. It seems that you are still focused on using an external hard drive. You can certainly try, but as we've pointed out, the BIOS on that old WinBook might not support booting via USB.

Just giving you fair warning before you shell out cash for an adapter...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[wahnula]

One could put Puppy Linux on a flash key and see if that boots...that's one cheap way to find out.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[Nelviticus]

How about one of these:
Laptop to IDE Hard Drive Adapter

It lets you connect a 3.5" IDE drive to a laptop's 2.5" IDE port.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[Nelviticus]

Bah, actually it doesn't, it's the other way around. I'm sure I've seen cables that let you do it however - the Amiga 1200 had a 2.5" IDE port but you could get adapters that let you use 3.5" IDE hard drives with it.

Nelviticus