You know what, I'd read that on Google and tried it, but I'd only pushed the paper clip in only maybe a quarter inch (this was when the computer was still being used in the office and I need to open the tray for another reason) and was afraid of damaging it so I stopped. But now that the computer is mine and I'm desperate (LOL) I really stuck it in there, two, three inches, and it popped open a quarter inch and then zinged shut again. So I went in there with the paper clip again and when it poppped open I grabbed it and it opened (with the mechanism's power) all the way. I don't know if it will work regularly now or maybe I'll have to open it this way again. I want to get an OS on there, though, before I experiment with it.

Thanks Shadow but this advice is thoroughly over my head at this point. Maybe I'll be back to ask for clarification if I need to. And this computer is 2005.

ROFL I'm game if rokytnji is.

What do you mean--I already am a dumpster diver!

Excellent idea. :)

It's possible that you could steal the hard drive from one of your systems that are partially functional.

I see 40 GB SATA drives on ebay for $8 shippped.

Hi Gregg...

Here is one offer that's reasonably priced, plus whatever shipping and handling would be. :)

However, to ensure that you receive the lifetime warranty and tech support, be sure to purchase from them directly. You might want to contact them to make sure that purchasing them from Amazon (at the link above) qualifies as "direct." ;)

No problem. You would just need to replace the current CD-ROM drive with a DVD-ROM drive.

The PXE method might work but you would need to weigh the costs of the needed upgrades with the gains you might receive (64 bit functionality, as an example) to decide whether to keep it or not. ;)

Regards...

I'm busy.

http://i.imgur.com/tqLWyBP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/V584ilD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/9azXCMb.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/5PPPB88.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/JkyC1mg.jpg

http://www.imagebam.com/image/195612473586628

http://www.imagebam.com/image/a2f421473586695

I'll help on your project if I get on site physical labor help on my projects. You will break a sweat and lose a few pounds. Win win, all the way around.
Have time off and funds for a walkabout? I have a spare bed and a spare motorcycle.
http://www.mytinyphone.com/uploads/u...sm2/255469.gif

You don't do paper clip with power on.

The paper clip pushes a gear and you have to sort of ratchet it.

The system is at least worth playing with. You end up learning a lot.

I just took 3 computers to Goodwill. Nothing really wrong with them, just don't need more than 4 computers in house. Now that IRS only allows $20 each on them I could have just shipped them to a LQ user.

Thanks Timothy. I just learned that the GX520 has a 160 GB hard drive. Yeah, I'm going to have to figure something out. I kind of screwed up (I think) trying to dual boot Bodhi with the Windows 7 still (in hopes of somehow salvaging the Windows 7 that way). I'll post at the end.

Thanks ardvark! So many complications. Replace this, do that... The memory (thanks for the link) would be good. The GX520 would be 4GB RAM, 64 bit processor, 160 GB (they must've put a bigger one in than the original specs say it was). And so how much roughly would a DVD-ROM cost? (Just roughly "ballpark.") And now I think I screwed up trying to install Bodhi on the GX520. I'll post my woes at the end of this thread after I've responded to the other posts.

Hey ardvark. The drive says it is a DVD drive.

Yeah, but do either of those motorcycles work? (They look about as old as my computers.) Tell you what--let me think about it, okay? (I've never enjoyed actual labor--it's no way to live.)

Thanks jefro. So at least I avoided electrocution. (That would've been a bummer.)

Yeah, I'm learning, I guess. I'd like to get this GX520 going good though and keep it. Maybe. IDK.

Okay. I got greedy. I got a Bodhi disc in the drive of the Dell Optiplex GX520 and it booted up. I decided MAYBE I could get the Windows 7 back with a dual boot. Turns out to have been a bad idea. So it did dual boot, but then the Windows 7 was the same worthless uselessness as before. (I know, I know, I should've known.) So, my usual despising of MS took over and I decided to do another install to get rid of the Windows 7. Turns out to have been a bad idea. The first time I did it and rebooted I got this message:

So I decided to do another install. Turns out to have been a bad idea. The installation seemed to be going along nicely until I got this message:

And on the bar on the bottom it said:

It gave me the option to install to a new location but it gave me no new location to choose (it was only /dev/sda) from. Then it said I'd have to install the bootloader manually. So I canceled the installation and followed the tip (the one that got the 6 votes) I found here.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1265...ll-boot-loader

Turns out to have been a bad idea. This is where it got me. (see the two screenshots--I did two because the quality of just one was un-readable.)

So, this computer is looking do-able. If ardvark's notion of needing to replace the CD-ROM drive with an DVD-ROM drive is wrong, (On the drive it says DVD.) then it would only cost me roughly $30 for the 4GB RAM. And the hard drive (I discovered) is a whopping 160 GB. (the biggest I've ever had anyway). And then if I could get Xubuntu 15.10 on it, I think I would have a rocking computer. And it's 64 bit so I could get Chrome.

But first I would have to straighten out this mess with trying to install Bodhi. Or would I? Honestly, I don't have a real good sense of how to proceed at this point.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Those are only a couple out of the collection. Yes they work but they are not my loaners.

That tells me all I need to know. I am not game anymore.
Good luck with it.

Hi Gregg...

This is a real good indication of what the problem is and possibly why Windows 7 didn't work correctly: The hard drive has a bad sector(s) and is possibly on its way out. To confirm the condition of the drive, run the manufacturer's diagnostic utility or run a distribution live that has the "Gnome Disks" (or similar) utility. This tool includes S.M.A.R.T. monitoring which should give you a better idea of what's going on. I know Lubuntu 14.04 and Trisquel 6.0 have this tool, it's a good possibility that Xubuntu does, too.

If you would like to give us the manufacturer and model (and model number) of the drive and we might be able to point you to the right (manufacturer's) diagnostic utility. :)

Also, I didn't know the optical drive was DVD. I should have chosen my words better. My apologies for that. ;)

Regards...

@rokytnji,

That is one very impressive-looking new motorcycle workshop/garage!

The grub-install command shown in the image on the right in post 26 is incorrect. First off, anything to do with a basic system file like Grub needs root permissions so you need to precede the command with sudo. Second, you didn't mount the correct partition and you left off the mount point in the install. From the Ubuntu Grub documentation, Grub versions newer than 1.98 should use boot rather than root and you would need to change 'sda5' in the example below to whichever partition you installed Bodhi to.

The method above is from using the Live CD. During the actual install, did you select the manual install which is called Something Else in the various Ubuntus? The default should have been /dev/sda which would be the MBR of the first drive. You should have options to install to any other partitions in the drop down box.

I'd check the disk for bad sectors and see what the results are before trying again.