So I have an old laptop that has been owned forever pretty much. I know it's old but I would still like to salvage it. It came with Windows 98 but it has since been upgraded to Windows 2000 Professional about a decade ago. It started getting blue screen errors about some hive file error or something along those lines so I forgot about it for a while. I recently dug it up and I want to install XP or something along those lines on it or at least get it to boot.

• Compaq Armada E500 Drivers
• Armada E500

There lies the problem: The CD drive opens and closes properly and the lights flash but it doesn't actually do anything come the time it should ask to boot to CD (if you've ever installed XP on a DVD/CD). I'm completely lost here and I have no idea what I can do at this point. Is anyone familiar with this model or lineup of laptops? It was decent for it's time I believe so I'd still like to get it up and running just for fun. I'm not really worried about the data that's on it; I just want to install XP or something (yes my disc is bootable and everything).

I've tried a bunch of older operating systems, including Windows XP SP2, Windows 98, and some old floppies for DOS. None of them boot (not even the MS-DOS floppy boot disc). What should I do?

Compaq Armada E500 Drivers

Tinynja98 said: I have absolutely no idea what this laptop is, but have you tried going into your bios and check for the boot device order? Make sure it is set to boot on CD/Floppy/Whateveryouwant first. There are three options, here they are in the order I've chosen: 1. MultiBay (I assume this is the CD/DVD drive) 2. Floppy Drive 3.

Armada E500

Hard Disk I don't understand what the problem is. Unfortunately I cannot get into an OS to check if the data from the DVD drive is even working, so maybe something's wrong with the connection?