I've been given a computer that was used in a racing sim network. I'm told that the hard-drive was reformatted. On starting there is a successful memory check - then nothing further and no access to the cd-drive or a-drive.
After the memory test the screen reads....

Award Medallion BIOS v6.0 1984-2000 Award Software Inc.
ASUS CUSL2-C ACPI BIOS Revision 1006.A

Inte® 111 500E MHz Processor
Memory Test 786432K OK

Press DEL to enter SETUP
02/27/2001 - 1815 - CUSL2-C-00
____________

The cursor remains flashing under the '2' at the end of the memory test number.
Pressing ESC will skip the memory test so the keyboard is active.
Pressing DEL does not enter setup....in fact pressing any key at all produces nothing.
I've reset the cmos (battery removal and jumper reset) with no change.
Neither keyboard or mouse are usb.
I've downloaded the m'board manual and reinstalled the hard-drive, floppy-drive and cd-rom drive.
On start-up there is a single beep which the manual tells me indicates that there was no error during POST.
Suggestions appreciated. Regards, ansell.

Welcome to PCHF.

If the computer's hard drive was reformatted, then there is nothing on the drive.
I suspect the computer is in need of a Windows operating system.

You might want to purchase a genuine copy of Windows XP.

Hello Gandalf....thanks for the reply.
I have a genuine copy of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.....my intention is to give the computer to the local primary school when I get it working and I'm using their disk. The problem is getting the system to access the cd-rom drive so that I can install it. Could I put the reformatted hd as the slave on my computer (the one I'm using here with Windows XP Professional SP2) and load the OS that way? What risks would I be taking? Regards, ansell.

Assuming that the computer is working. All you need to do is place the Microsoft Installation CD into the drive and boot up.

Since there is nothing on the C drive, the computer should boot from the CD.

If the computer doesn't boot up from the CD drive, then reboot and enter the BIOS.

Make sure that the CD drive is the first boot drive, then reboot.

Good Luck...

You have Windows XP 64bit version - you will not be able to install this on a pc with PIII processor. You need a normal 32bit version of XP to install on that laptop. You may want to contact the school and ask them if they have a standard XP disc.

Also you will most likely need to make Windows XP floppy set to be able to install XP on such an old PC. You download from here.

How to obtain Windows XP Setup disks for a floppy boot installation

Thanks for the replies.....
I've been able to get into the bios by removing and then replacing the three DIMM memory cards. I set the bios to the default settings and then selected to boot from the cd-rom-drive and here I ran into another problem. As I intend to give the computer to the local primary school I got their Windows XP Prof. installation disc and it turns out that this is a x64 version and the computer will only run a x32 version. As I don't have a x32 installation disc I seem to have arrived at a dead-end. Dunno what to do now! Regards, ansell.

perhaps try a linux distro pclinux or ubuntu perhaps