old laptop server?

invisiblekid00

Solid State Member
Messages
7
I have a couple of old laptops with dead gpu's so no way to even plug a remote monitor in. Is it possible to 100% install and run an os on it for a home server?
 
well if you cant see what you are doing on the computer how would you install an OS, sorry just a little confused at the question.
 
I know some OS' s can be installed remotely from another computer for example an admin installing new os on a whole network of computers or servers. But my question is "can an os be installed remotely to a computer with no os or funcional gpu?"
 
Yes, and no.

Invariably you need some information from the machine. Either hardware types so you know what drivers you want to install, or MAC address that will allow you to target your remote install.

Your best bet might be to customise a Linux live boot dc to start up whatever services you want with a fixed ip so that you can just boot it and connect remotely. This is going to end up with huge amounts of guess work as to what stage you're getting to etc.
 
Yes, and no.

Invariably you need some information from the machine. Either hardware types so you know what drivers you want to install, or MAC address that will allow you to target your remote install.

Your best bet might be to customise a Linux live boot dc to start up whatever services you want with a fixed ip so that you can just boot it and connect remotely. This is going to end up with huge amounts of guess work as to what stage you're getting to etc.

At one point I was able to get the bios to show on screen but booting windows rendered the machine useless. Hopefully I can get some info from there. Ill give it a shot.Thanks for your help.
 
ya its called PXE boot or using SCCM.. even then you have to set up pretty much your own little network either using your computer or VMware. Im guessing to use the dead laptop you would remote desktop into it right?
 
You can't just plow in to another system using remote desktop. Permission has to be granted from the remote computer.

If they are older models they probably don't have enough drive space to make them of any use as a server. Even with external drives taking up the slack, you're also going to have power and heating issues. Laptops were not designed to run 24/7. If you leave them plugged in to the wall you're going to eventually cook the battery. And the internal cooling is going to be hard pressed to keep up with a constant demand load on the CPU.

I'd pop them open and see if the GPU problem can be resolved. Might be as simple as a loose wire.
 
The laptops aren't terribly old but old enough its not worth spending any money on to fix them. I have two of them given to me and both have overheated and fried on board gpu's. I'm just experimenting to see what I can do with them before I junk them. I'm not looking to make a "World of Warcraft" server... Just a toy to play with.
 
well servers dont really use that many resources until you really start utilizing a lot of its features, ie. file share, DNS server, DHCP server, ADDS, Domain controller. But still using it with out the GPU will be difficult.. even if you were going to use PXE boot like I said you will have to still press buttons that you wont be able to see.
 
Your best off getting an old desktop and running a server that way, Like Setishock laptops were never designed to be left on all the time and nor were they mean't to be a server.
 
Back
Top Bottom