# Is it fixable?



## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

Dell Inspiron 1100, Intel celeron processor, model No. PP07L, Windows XP Home edition, CD-DVD Rewritable, 128MB RAM, 2 GB ? hard drive, 4 or more years old.

Someone gave me the above computer, a laptop. It has a virus that takes a person to a porn site. Now it won't even turn on. Is this thing fixable fairly cheaply or should I just toss it?

And (total computer novice here) is it possible to take the CD drive out and put it in my desktop? Or is that a really bad idea?

Thanks!!


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

How does the virus relate to the computer failing to power-up? Why do you want to remove the CD drive?

I don't see why the virus can't be removed with software like Avast.

The machine is certainly worth working on. The "2 GB" that you refer to is the 2.0 GHz Celeron processor, which is a great processor to run XP with.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

As I said, I am a total and complete computer idiot. I have no idea if the power up (or lack of) and the virus are related. If the computer was not saveable, I wanted to know if the CD drive could be removed and installed on my desktop. That one doesn't write cd's, just reads them. I was told that if I could find the start up software for this machine, that it would erase everything on there, including the virus, and start over from square one. Would that work? Is a virus software like you mentioned above a better idea?


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

If it's not powering on, and you're sure it's getting power (good AC adapter and/or battery), that's not related to the virus. Fixing laptops is usually expensive and difficult, and Inspiron is Dell's low-end consumer line so it was never much good to begin with, so it may be time to sell it for parts.

As for the DVD drive, you can't put it in a desktop. You can get external USB enclosures for notebook DVD drives, but for a similar cost or a little more, you can get a desktop-size DVD burner that's faster and more durable. So unless you want a small portable drive, that's the better option.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

thermopkt said:


> As I said, I am a total and complete computer idiot. I have no idea if the power up (or lack of) and the virus are related. If the computer was not saveable, I wanted to know if the CD drive could be removed and installed on my desktop. That one doesn't write cd's, just reads them. I was told that if I could find the start up software for this machine, that it would erase everything on there, including the virus, and start over from square one. Would that work? Is a virus software like you mentioned above a better idea?


Do you get any lights at all when you power up the computer?


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

It makes it's little start up noise and the lights flicker for a minute and then it dies. Doesn't seem to matter if it's plugged in or on battery power.


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

Remove the battery and leave it out - connect the AC adapter and plug that in - try to start the laptop. Any luck?


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## Countryboy (Oct 2, 2008)

Did the person who gave this laptop to you include any of the Dell disks that came with it? If so put the Dell operatings system disk into the cd-rom and turn it on. Follow the onscreen instructions to completely reformat the HD and reinstall XP Home. That usually gets rid of any problem unless they are component related.


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## aaronwesley94 (May 23, 2008)

thermopkt said:


> It makes it's little start up noise and the lights flicker for a minute and then it dies. Doesn't seem to matter if it's plugged in or on battery power.


Doesn't sound like it has anything to do with software. Sounds completely hardware related....at least the boot issue.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

OntarioMan said:


> Remove the battery and leave it out - connect the AC adapter and plug that in - try to start the laptop. Any luck?


Tried that. No luck





Countryboy said:


> Did the person who gave this laptop to you include any of the Dell disks that came with it? If so put the Dell operatings system disk into the cd-rom and turn it on. Follow the onscreen instructions to completely reformat the HD and reinstall XP Home. That usually gets rid of any problem unless they are component related.


No, they didn't. Is that something that is possible to find, or again, is it not worth it?



Thanks for all the help so far, guys! I really appreciate it.


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