Originally Posted By: redhook
use a USB antenna to connect to the internet...

That Dell sounds like the vintage that may have a card bus Type II slot and if so there are wireless adapters for that interface. About $20.
Not a big deal to run one and you don't use up a USB port.
(1/8"+ x 2"+ slot)

Quote:

or another option, that i just thought of... i could look on Ebay for a "parts" computer of the same make as the Dell with a cracked LCD or something, and pull the board and the drive out of it, and put it in this one, or the screen out of this one, and put it in the other... and if Parker is right about only being 50 bucks at most, that would be the easiest simplest and cheapest way to fix it...

Stop it.
Don't buy someone else's junk.
And don't buy a new HDD until you test the one in the Dell.
If you have to buy, get it online from Newegg.

First run the hard drive diagnostic with the UBCD linked above after you determine whether you have a Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, Maxtor or Fujitsu. Look under the cover if you don't have the Dell build sheet to determine HDD mfr.
Just burn the bootdisk on your healthy computer, boot up the sick machine with it and choose the correct diagnostic.
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