Hardware problem on an old notebook
 

I'm having a problem loading an OS onto an old Dell notebook. I think the CD drive is bad. my question is what are some other ways to get software loaded onto this machine. I have a floppy drive but I think loading win2000 pro from floppies will take a decade, if they even publish it on floppies any more.

I was looking for a more updated version of fastlynx that could load data from the parallel or serial ports, but maybe use USB, Of course I'd need something to boot into on the old notebook to bring up the software, there's nothing on it now. Any suggestions?

I think you're possilby complicating the issue a little much! :)

Have you looked into USB or PCMCIA attached CD-ROM drives? If the internal unit is damaged you're likely to need it in the future anyway, and with a little BIOS tweaking you should be able to boot from the devices to load up an OS.

bootable disk with network drivers.

then
network install...

thanks for the suggestions
 

Thanks. I'll try those ideas. any idea where I could get network driver bootable disk images?

the search button and google is your friend...
http://www.bootdisk.com/