Installing a new OS on an old desktop

[crayzz]

I picked up an old eMachine desktop off a family member. They all have their own laptops/tablets now, so they have no use for it, and I compulsively collect anything remotely useful I can get my hands on. The idea was to slap linux on it (likely Mint or Bodhi), but I've run into a slight problem: no one has any idea of what the passwords on the machine are. Not just the user logins, but the BIOS is completely locked down as well. IIRC (I haven't touched this thing in months) there was another security layer that eMachine slapped on that was also in the way.

Anyone have an idea of what to do to install a new OS? I've thought about ripping out the HD and wiping it, installing a new OS over top after, but I'd rather not have to do that.

The absolute worst (and ultimate) scenario is scrapping everything and reusing the case to just build a new desktop, but I've neither the time nor the finances to do that for a while, so I'd like to get this thing running in some way for the interim.

[Excession]

eMachine says you can send the computer to them to get the BIOS password removed. They charge for that service.

This random internet post suggests you can reset the password by turning it off, removing the CMOS battery, waiting a few minutes, putting it back in, then turning it on again.

[crayzz]

eMachine says you can send the computer to them to get the BIOS password removed. They charge for that service.

This random internet post suggests you can reset the password by turning it off, removing the CMOS battery, waiting a few minutes, putting it back in, then turning it on again.

Man I really should have refreshed my memory (I meant to post this months ago) but:

I'm like 70% sure I tried removing the CMOS battery and was still having issues. Let me try that again.

[factotum]

Usually computers have a BIOS reset jumper on the motherboard that you can use to reset things back to factory defaults, just in case you stuff up the settings so you can't boot the machine?

[Psychoalpha]

Usually computers have a BIOS reset jumper on the motherboard that you can use to reset things back to factory defaults, just in case you stuff up the settings so you can't boot the machine?

'Usually' goes out the window an aggravating amount of times when you're talking about prefabs, especially stuff like eMachines. :/

[crayzz]

'Usually' goes out the window an aggravating amount of times when you're talking about prefabs, especially stuff like eMachines. :/

Aye, this eMachine has been nothing but headaches on that front. Luckily, it is hard to get around basics physics: can't keep setting in memory if there is not battery (not sure removing the CMOS didn't work before, but it worked fine this time).

Unfortunately, the disk drive refuses to recognize installation disks, instead preferring to boot from the hard-drive (regardless of preferences) or not at all (if I disable the hard-drive). This whole thing is just an exercise in frustration.

[KillingAScarab]

Aye, this eMachine has been nothing but headaches on that front. Luckily, it is hard to get around basics physics: can't keep setting in memory if there is not battery (not sure removing the CMOS didn't work before, but it worked fine this time).

Unfortunately, the disk drive refuses to recognize installation disks, instead preferring to boot from the hard-drive (regardless of preferences) or not at all (if I disable the hard-drive). This whole thing is just an exercise in frustration.

Since CMOS/BIOS settings were wiped out, that means the boot order was set back to whatever the default was. You will need to interrupt the startup at least once and enter the BIOS to change the boot order and place your optical disc drive 1st. There may also be a key you can press to select a specific disc drive to boot from.

[factotum]

Alternatively, if you have a faulty DVD/CD drive, can you set the thing to boot from USB? If you can, you should be able to do the entire OS install from a USB pen drive.

[crayzz]

Since CMOS/BIOS settings were wiped out, that means the boot order was set back to whatever the default was. You will need to interrupt the startup at least once and enter the BIOS to change the boot order and place your optical disc drive 1st. There may also be a key you can press to select a specific disc drive to boot from.

Way ahead of you, I'm afraid. It refuses to boot from anything but the harddrive, regardless of the BIOS boot priorities. I went as far as disabling booting from the harddrive entirely (since placing the optical drive at a higher priority didn't work) and the thing refuses to boot at all. It flat out does not recognize that there's a boot disk in the optical drive.

Faulty optical drive seems likely, but there's no option in the BIOS to allow for booting from USB: just HD, CD/DVD, and ethernet. If there's a way to add that option, I'm unaware of it.

[factotum]

Actually, one other thing to check: I'm assuming your installation media is a DVD-ROM, are you sure the system has a DVD drive in it? It might only be a CD-ROM. There should be a fairly clear logo on the front of the drive tray indicating which it is.

[KillingAScarab]

Way ahead of you, I'm afraid. It refuses to boot from anything but the harddrive, regardless of the BIOS boot priorities. I went as far as disabling booting from the harddrive entirely (since placing the optical drive at a higher priority didn't work) and the thing refuses to boot at all. It flat out does not recognize that there's a boot disk in the optical drive.

Faulty optical drive seems likely, but there's no option in the BIOS to allow for booting from USB: just HD, CD/DVD, and ethernet. If there's a way to add that option, I'm unaware of it.

If there is a way, it would be through a firmware update from eMachines, but that seems unlikely and you would be facing the same problems you're having now.

Actually, one other thing to check: I'm assuming your installation media is a DVD-ROM, are you sure the system has a DVD drive in it? It might only be a CD-ROM. There should be a fairly clear logo on the front of the drive tray indicating which it is.

It is worth checking the data and power cable connections, as well. If you never see a read light turn on at the front of the drive, or you never hear the disc spin up, that could be due to a lack of power. As for the data cable, if the drive connects over a parallel ATA cable, don't forget to check the jumpers on the back to see what mode it is in: cable select, master or slave.

Don't suppose you have another machine available to test the optical drive? Even if you do, they're often a pain to slot out and slot in due to bulk.