ok i have a Toshiba Tecra 730XCDT, a REALLY old laptop that runs windows 95. i am planning on buying a new laptop this summer, and have a working desktop PC, but i just would like to try and fix this laptop, as something fun and interesting to do. when i turn it on it will not boot, it just goes to a DOS type screen that would normally appear when booting, but it makes no progress. anyone have any programs i could d/l to a floppy and run on startup in order to obtain a sucessful boot?

Moderator Edit: Moved topic to more appropriate forum. ~ Animal

You can try downloading a boot disk for Win 95 at http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

ok, i downloaded a bootdisk for 95, but when i put it in my laptop, nothing happens. it just stays at the original screen. is there some command i can type to start the disk, or is this method not going to work?

scratch that last reply. i restarted the comp with the disk in it to begin with, but now it says that there r no drives found. any suggestions?

Can describe the error message exactly?

Can you look in the bios? Are you drives listed there?

alright, i will give u everything i see step by step. i start up the laptop, and this message shows up:

© Copyright 1997 Toshiba Corp. All rights reserved.
Memory Initialize 147200KB
Insert system disk in drive.
Press any key when ready. . . .

after i insert the disk and press enter, under the previous messgae, "Starting Windows 95. . ." appears.

after this message, the next one comes up:

CD-ROM Device Driver for IDE (FOur Channels Supported)
© Copyright Oak Technology Inc. 1993-1996
Driver Version : V340
Device Name : BANANA
No drives found, aborting installation

Device driver not found: 'BANANA'.
No valid CDROM device drivers selected
A:\>

then i have the ability to type commands.

thats all i can do. any more suggestions?

Is there anything on the hard drive you'd like to save? The easiest solution (that I can think of) is to use the bootdisk to delete all partitions on the hard drive and reformat it.

Anyone got a better idea?

OK if I looked it up right you have a Toshiba Tecra 730XCDT.
Specs are..
P-I 150Mhx
144 EDO RAM (Max)
2 GD hard drive
12. TFT screen
Floppy & CDrom

Is that it? If yes I would recommend a Live Linux and run it from the hard drive. I have ran Puppy Linux on a P-I 133mhz with 64mhz of RAM. It was installed to the hard drive instead of running LIVE from a RAM Drive. If you install Puppy I would recommend Office Puppy. About a 200MB download, but well worth the bandwidth. It comes pre-configured with Open Office.

ok well to answer andrew, there is nothing on there i need to save. so if possible i will do a full reinstall of windows 95. and for acklan, im not quite sure i know wat u r talking bout. plz explain

i dont mean the specs that u got........ those all looked correct. i just did not understand the second part

I was referring to installing Linux on your machine. It will have more software to run than 95 and take up about the same hard drive space. I was under the mistaken impression you wanted to move away from 95.

well i really dont care wat i use. its not our main computer, we have a working Dell with XP, i just want to fix the laptop for something fun. so how would i install Linux on there?

Download it and burn it to disk. When it boors follow the instruction. They are easy to follow. It will ask if you want to install to disk or not just choose disk. You do not have enough to run from RAM.
Look at the Puppy site. It has a lot of good info. It is just for fun so why not experiment?

is there something i can put onto a floppy? like is it possible to do a clean install of windows 95 or linux or anything?

There might be a problem with that though Acklan. Seeing as most computers in that time would not boot from a CD-ROM Drive. What I would do is go out and get a copy of Windows 98 SE. More software support and ease of use for the standard user. I have also ran 2000 under similar specs and it was allright.

There are some linux boot disks that might work and can be found at: http://www.bootdisks.com I would recoment searching on the site of the distro for one.

-Steve

I was looking for a 0 cost option for him in the event her did not has an OS available. In the following link it describes booting from a floppy and installing Puppy.
Anyway he goes it is just for fun. I though dabbling with Linux on that machine may be interesting.

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HardDiskInstall

can someone just give me step by step instructions on how to completly wipe my hard drive and do a complete install of windows 98, using a floppy?

I would start with a Quick Wipe using Kill Disk. This will insure any malware is destroyed. Then partition and format the drive using Fdisl from a DOS boot floppy. You can make one from windows or download one from BootDisk.com.
Here are several good resources.

How to Install Windows 98 on a Computer with No Operating System
How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk
Hard Disk Erasing with Active@ KillDisk for PCs