in preparation for loading something else. There's still no new power supply ordered as far as I know (replacement for ADP-70EB, such as the one on Dell's site described as part number 310-1093 for $59.95), but I found one at UH that I can borrow intermittently since the laptop battery is 90% toast. A standard OEM Win98 disk does not install, probably due to the Dell BIOS demanding to see Dell drivers and utilities. Therefore, I'll use the Dell CD from a computer a relative is dumping on me to do an install on the laptop; I should get hold of that CD in about 2 weeks.

And since by the end of the month I'll be the owner of TWO refurb Dell desktops, I'll be looking into nasty stuff like BIOS flashing, replacement, upgrading, downgrading, etc. so if the HARD way of installation is necessary, I'll be able to do it THAT way without a Dell disk.

Once again, for best results, the machine will absolutely need:

* secondhand Dell system disk with Win95 or 98 (since it's only a P1 and that's your filesystem/gaming standard
* immediately install free defenses ZoneAlarm, SpyBot, Spyware Blaster and AdAware SE
* buy a replacement power supply / AC adapter as listed above

and optionally

- new internal battery
- more memory (memoryx.com has a good lookup system)
- Norton Internet Security or McAfee Security Suite

Prognosis for rebuild is good; although install is prevented at the moment, all error messages are consistent with healthy hardware and BIOS.