compaq armada 1540d problems

My boyfriend got this laptop from someone and when he plugged it in and turned it on there was a blank screen and a number showing but the number wasnt doing anything and underneath the number was a tiny white line pulsing like a cursor. He tried turning it off but it wouldnt turn off.

He gave the laptop to me to see if I could get it going. I plugged it in and turned it on and got the same blank screen with the number and the tiny white line. I could hear a beeping noise that sounded like outerspace beeps or something like that.

I tried putting a windows 98 cd into the cd rom but nothing happened. Also tried a bootable floppy in the floppy drive and nothing happened. I tried the purple button in the middle above the keyboard and nothing happened. I tried the slider button beside it to turn it off but nothing happened. I dont know if any Windows program is on the laptop.

I don't want to waste money taking it to someone to try to figure out whats wrong with it. I want to see if I can get it going myself. Its a really old laptop.

I would greatly appreciate help with this. Thankyou.

What number?

the number is 81920 KB

So, the screen looks like this:

81920 KB
-

That's it?

yes it looked like that but now i fooled around with the keys and now on the screen it says invalid system disk replace disk and press any key so what can i do now none of the discs i put in work cd or floppy

also i tried holding down the purple button in the middle for a few seconds and sliding the slider button and it turned off the lapotp but cant turn off the laptop with just the slider button

the boot disks i made still dont work is there anything else i can try

When you turn computer on, is there any writing at the bottom of the screen, like:
Press "some key" to enter setup.

nothing else on the screen when i turn it on the laptop

i dont even know which windows was on the laptop before my boyfriend got it

Does computer make a beep when starting?

no i dont think it did it was only making that weird beeping noise when that number was on the screen remember its on old compaq laptop

Well, start with some tests:
1. memtest: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic62524.html
2. HD test: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

okay it changed from invalid system disk to non system disk then it went back to just showing that number and the tiny white line pulsing hehe

Huh?

hehe when i was looking for another disk to put in the laptop i saw that the computer went back to that number it was showing when i first turned on the laptop i dont know why it did that so i tried to get that non system disk message back and now i cant disks that i have downloaded dont seem to be getting the laptop to work

i downloaded and put onto floppies those things from the website you gave me but they didnt work either i am getting really frustrated i really dont want to take the laptop to someone to have them look at it

okay the number now says 81920 KB OK with the tiny line underneath hehe

Sounds like the harddrive may be missing.Did the unit work before it was purchased?
If its very old they used to require a set up disk to configure the system.What model number is it?

...or bad. Can you turn laptop up side down, remove HD cover, and see, if it's there?

Where would that be on this laptop ive never had a laptop before where should i be looking

i'll have to see what the model number is

well i know its a compaq armada 1540d hehe

okay i think theres no hard drive in it my sister has almost the same exact laptop and when i opened up the bottom of one compartment near the back there was a circuit board in hers and not in the one i'm trying to get going

i think that circuit board is the memory not sure hehe i'm too afraid to open up the laptop and look inside to see if hard drive is there

as to opening hd cover i dont know where that is on the armada 1540d hehe

is it that little tiny square with two screws on it i opened that and saw something in there but couldnt make out what it was unless i take the whole bottom off

i was told if there wasnt a hard drive i wouldnt get anything on the screen i was getting all kinds of messages i had tried to install windows 95 and it said cant install window 95 missing hard drive, missing hard drive special driver and something else that i cant remember

Manual: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...Fc00139858.pdf
Hard drive - chapter 7.9

This is really old laptop from mid 90s with 1GB hard drive. I don't know, if you really wanna play with it.

And unless you can find the right Bios update,you are limited to a 2 GB hdd.

I suggest getting a new laptop.

the link doesnt work so i cant check it out

Here is the home page for that laptop
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...&lang=en&cc=us

If you select manual, then you have this url.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...SeriesId=96219

But it seems the various versions of that laptop cover everything from Windows 3.11 to 2000.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...219&taskId=135

SO, the correct version will tell us what can be done and the size of hdd it can take.