I need help with a reformat of a Gateway 2000 Solo Laptop.

Yes, I know it is old. And, I know I could get something better, and I will. For now, though, I need help.

I got this computer second hand for dirt cheap. It isn't going to do what I want it to do in the long run, but it will be something my mom can use, that is why I want to fix it.

Anyway, on to the problem. It had Win 98. I have a bootable disk for Win 98, and have done it before on some older systems, so I know it works. I also have Win 98 program CD.

When I reformat the hard drive, I have to use the disk (which I did, the format is done.) Now I have to install Win 98 with the CD, at the same time the disk is in the disk drive. No problem so far.

Except with this computer, the disk drive and CD drive share the same port. I have never seen this before. You have an area where you pop out the disk drive, and pop in the CD drive, thus it doesn't allow you to do both at the same time.

Now what?

I can't get any further. I tried booting with CD support, except it says there is no CD installed, so it aborts. I tried booting with the Win CD in, but it says the CD drive is not recognized. And, when you pop out one drive, the computer is shut down, then has to be turned on again. :rolleyes:

Is there any way to do this? Is there a boot CD available to download on the Internet? I tried one, but it only worked if you had both drives available at the same time (it installed a generic type of CD drive.)

Oh, and I did try seeing if the CD drive was installed to another letter besides D:, no such luck.

This HAS to be possible. I know it does. Someone tell me before I tear my hair out!

ARRGH! :mad:

You'll need a bootable CD, as opposed to a boot disk that enables the CD drive. I would be surprised if a ca. 2000 laptop didn't support bootable CDs.

Where does one get bootable CDs? Do they ever have them as downloads on the internet?

Gateway was no help. The guy I had was a total moron, and I was on tech support online with him for an hour and a half, for him to tell me what I already knew last night at midnight. :rolleyes:

If that is an example of what Gateway is like, I don't think I will ever buy a Gateway. :rolleyes:

This is going back so far and I've forgotten so much about Windows 98...but I do recall a similar problem I had with one of our laptops. A tech guy we had, had a little CD file/driver on a Floppy disc and installed that on the laptop first. This allowed the laptop to "see" the CD device so when we swapped the CD drive in...it recognized it so we could continue with the rest of the installation using the Windows 98 CD.

But other than that tale of old...I can't point you in the right direction. Just been too long. Sorry.

http://www.bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com/)

Well, I called my Ohana brother. He is a computer whiz, and I thought he might tell me what to do.

He offered to fix it. He had it for several days, and it was stumping him too. Then he remembered something in the BIOS that he had to change. Something from the old days, he said! ;) Anyhow, after he remembered that, it was a piece of cake to fix.

The good news, it is fixed, and I have it back, good as new.

Bad news is that I didn't get to do it myself, darnit. I wanted that sense of accomplishment!

He was in an area of expertise that I am not familiar with, so it is probably a good thing he took it for me! ;)

Thanks for the help, guys!

Then he remembered something in the BIOS that he had to change. Something from the old days, he said! ;)

Could have been that he changed the "Boot Priority Order" from "Floppy" to "CD" so that it would attempt to boot from the CD first, before going on to try a floppy or the hard drive...which you do in BIOS.

But that didn't sound like the problem you described.

Anyway...glad you have it back up and running again. :)