Dell Latitude D600

[PPBart]

When I retired a few years ago my previous employer told me to just keep my laptop computer since the company was in the process of upgrading all of its equipment. I just tossed it into a closet and forgot about until today. This morning while digging something else out of that closet I noticed it, plugged it in and powered on. It works fine, but I can no longer get past the initial login security screen -- it tries to log in to the company network which no longer exists. I'm wondering if I can do something to make it usable? Would I perhaps have to replace the HDD? It's a Dell Latitude D600.

More info: I entered Setup and tried to change some items but that has apparently been disabled. I assume that means I would need to reset BIOS to defaults? Any advice on how to do that?

 

[voyagerfan99]

You'd have to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows.

As far as resetting the BIOS, you can try removing the CMOS battery off the motherboard, but no guarantee that will reset it.

 

[johnb35]

There is a way to get rid of the domain login but I haven't done it in years and can't exactly remember how I did it. Your best bet would be to reinstall windows anyway.

 

[PPBart]

...Your best bet would be to reinstall windows anyway.

I've got a Win7 disc (recently installed that on my new desktop) so I thought I would at least try that to see what would happen (I know that's not legal and didn't intend to leave it that way!) Anyway, that didn't work -- the Win7 is 64-bit, laptop requires 32-bit.

The laptop has XP installed. My wife's office desktop has XP but I have no idea where the original disks are. I thought about trying to create an XP boot CD, but that seems to be rather difficult(?)

 

[PPBart]

...As far as resetting the BIOS, you can try removing the CMOS battery off the motherboard, but no guarantee that will reset it.

I did that -- once I found the battery (it's quite easy to access), I pulled it out for about 20-25 minutes, pressed the Power button, reinstalled battery and booted up. No discernable change, still no access to Setup.

 

[johnb35]

If I remember correctly, what I did was maybe boot into safe mode then access the networking properties and uninstalled the software that makes it login to the domain and also change it from domain to workgroup in computer properties.

 

[PPBart]

...Your best bet would be to reinstall windows anyway.

Update: After several tries at clearing CMOS by removing battery, pressing Power button, etc., I seem to have succeeded and have been able to access Setup. I bought another Win7 license, this one 32-bit, and have successfully installed it. So I now have a functional (but slow) laptop with a 40Gb HDD -- not sure what I'll do with it, but it's something to play with(!)