New toy! Laptop lacking CD drive...

I recently adopted a stray laptop (For those of you who have known me for a while, that is sort of a hobby of mine...) This one is a Compaq nc4010. It had 512MB or memory, but I scavenged 256MB from another adopted but sadly diseased system, and transplanted into the nc4010, so it now has 768Mb. Much better.

It used to belong to a corporate environment employee, so naturally there are some heavy user restrictions on the only account I am able to access. They don't make a lot of sense. I can uninstall software, but not change the start menu properties, for example. I cannot change the Control Panel from Category View to Classic View either. The restrictions are in fact so weird, that I am concerned there may be malware on it. I know it has Norton Corporate Security installed, so it seems a safe assumption.

I can't boot to safe mode, I cannot get into the BIOS, or at least all my attempts so far as failed. I can, however, get to a recovery console. This would make me very happy, except I have zero experience with them. Can I do a reinstall or repair install from the recovery console? Can I at least reset it to factory defaults?

If the answer to any of the above two questions is yes, then how would I go about doing that?

I'd also like some reassurance that I am wrong in my malware assumptions. I am in the process of downloading the Read & Run tools to double-check, but I don't want to spend the evening doing all that when I can spend it playing with the new toy instead.

Thanks in advance for all help.

 

I adopt old computers, also. I've seen some weird restrictions, where the ones in charge have adjusted them over time, forgetting to allow some things along with others, and the users don't really notice, so they never get the privileges they don't know they can have. I wouldn't necessarily rule out malware, though. Sometimes it's best to just install a new system to start over. The recovery console seems to be like DOS. I don't know about adjusting Windows permissions with the console, but, assuming you're using XP Pro, here are Microsoft's instructions for password recovery for XP.

 

Most Compaq laptops have a recovery partition (or on original disk if you have them) ctrl+f11 on booting should restore the factory setings

 

GO to START>run>type "gpedit.msc>and go to "User configuration">Adninistrative templates.Here you can enable-disable some of the functions that you needed.

 

also go to start/computer and see if it has a recovery partition on the HD if so you should be able to restore factory conditions.

 

While I waited for replies I played around some more, and I have found a way into setup/BIOS/whatever-lame-word-Compaq-uses-for-it, and also a way into safe mode, so I have made some progress. I attempted to follow the Read & Run thread in the malware forum, but it won't let me install some of the tools, which complicated things a little bit... I have no original discs, only the laptop.

I'll check out the templates and see if I can give my account some more power, and try out Ctrl-F11 as well. Thanks!

 

I found a setting in BIOS called "restore defaults". I picked that one, the saves my changes and exited. The laptop boots really slowly now, and weird things are happening to the part of Windows that runs the clickability of the icons on the desktop... (Explorer?) I will be playing around with user permissions next, and mourn my lack of proper screwdrivers. I can hear the fans work for dear life, and I know where my Arctic Silver is. I know the CPU would enjoy some decent cooling paste, but I need the right screw drivers to remove it. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

UPDATE: I do not have permission to run gpedit.msc. The error message said so It won't let me change the folder view to show extension on file names either... whoever set up this laptop clearly expected a destructive hamster to be the only ever to use it. Bleh. Now how do I reinstall this without a CD drive nearby...? :confused

 

This is starting to aggravate me. I can uninstall the Norton Security Suite, but not turn on Windows Automatic Update? I can go into the BIOS and change whatever I want, but I am not allowed to switch to Classic View in the control panel?

I do not have $60+ to spend on an external CD drive right now...

:banghead

 

And of course, the ultimate insult:

I can't install and run my game on the laptop.

I'm sorry. I will stop spamming this thread with my frustration now. I'd be less upset if I at least had a way of reinstalling an operating system here, but right now, I don't think I do. Bleh.

 

If the system has a floppy drive, you may be able to use a net install version of some flavor of linux mimsy, you know where the floppy has enough setup info to go online and grab the setup files, might be a bit slow reinstall of nix depending on your internet connection, but could get you through until you can purchase a external cd drive.

 

Sadly, the laptop has no such animal. There is an SD slot and two USB ports (one of the powered for the external drive cable), but the laptop's BIOS won't allow for booting from either one, be they empty or with something plugged in to them.

For now, I have settled, grudgingly, for using this laptop as a browsing and typing tool, while I research what my options are.

 

I did some research... there is no possible way to install a CD drive in that laptop. It uses a docking station/port replicator (on EBay w/o the CD drive http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Compaq-nc400...oryZ3709QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem the CD drive is purchased separately)
There is a way to install a new XP without a CD drive, but it involves removing the HD, hooking it up to a working PC via the USB port (or whatever works) formatting it to a bootable FAT32 partition, copying the XP setup files to the drive, putting the drive back in the nc4010, booting to the HD which should drop into DOS, and then launching the correct setup file from the XP install folder which you copied to the hard drive. It's a pain, and the actual install takes about 4 times longer than a standard install, but it can be done.

 

I know. The laptop originally came with a separate CD drive, but the previous owner has lost it.