Schadenfreude
Lifer
Hello, I'm a longtime lurker (on off-topic), firsttime poster (on the technical help forums, at least).
Any, I got me grubby hands on an older lappy for my GF - it's a Dell Inspiron 8000 - all she needs to do with it is to write papers, surf the web, and listen to music.
Well, the Dell has no hardware issues - other than two, minor ones;
Both of the batteries are dead: one for the mobo AND the li-ion battery. For the time being, since we have an AC adapter, it'll have to do, but how much can I expect to pay if I were to at least replace the mobo battery?
The other quibble: the dam thing has Window ME on it, AND, it has a corrupt .dll, which makes windows crash on bootup - I have all the application discs, but it seems they did not supply me with a bootdisk - I'm trying to install xubuntu linux on the thing, but I'm a laptop n00b (never owned a lappy) on top of being a computer n00b - F8 doesn't work, and I don't know how to get to the command prompt!
How can I format the lappy before I install xubuntu linux? or is there an option if I start installing, for xubuntu to automatically format it for me?
cliffs notes
---
I have a used Dell Inspiron 8000:
- How much does a mobo battery cost?
- How much does a li-ion battery cost?
- How can I get to the DOS command prompt before windows boots up? F8 doesn't work for me . . ..
Well, it's a bunch of inane questions, I realize, but any help would be appreciated!
Any, I got me grubby hands on an older lappy for my GF - it's a Dell Inspiron 8000 - all she needs to do with it is to write papers, surf the web, and listen to music.
Well, the Dell has no hardware issues - other than two, minor ones;
Both of the batteries are dead: one for the mobo AND the li-ion battery. For the time being, since we have an AC adapter, it'll have to do, but how much can I expect to pay if I were to at least replace the mobo battery?
The other quibble: the dam thing has Window ME on it, AND, it has a corrupt .dll, which makes windows crash on bootup - I have all the application discs, but it seems they did not supply me with a bootdisk - I'm trying to install xubuntu linux on the thing, but I'm a laptop n00b (never owned a lappy) on top of being a computer n00b - F8 doesn't work, and I don't know how to get to the command prompt!
How can I format the lappy before I install xubuntu linux? or is there an option if I start installing, for xubuntu to automatically format it for me?
cliffs notes
---
I have a used Dell Inspiron 8000:
- How much does a mobo battery cost?
- How much does a li-ion battery cost?
- How can I get to the DOS command prompt before windows boots up? F8 doesn't work for me . . ..
Well, it's a bunch of inane questions, I realize, but any help would be appreciated!
