I bought a used Compaq Armada M300 with functional Windows 2000 3 years ago. In the meantime I managed to install Windows XP as well with a bootable USB drive. I have dropped it on the floor some months ago and it got a nice shock. Now when I want to start it, it sends an error message that notskrnl. exe file is missing.

I wanted to re-install Windows XP to maybe fix the problem but I forgot how I did it:((((! This laptop has NO CD-ROM. I have tried to make a bootable USB but I have no clue how to set in BIOS to boot form USB as it doesn't have that option!

Any suggestions?? TRY selecting boot from Hard Disk. If it's like my motherboard, the USB-HDD option will be hidden in their for some reason.Hi!
I tried that, unfortunately doesn't work ! I am just not getting the Windows Installation up, all I get is the same start-up Compaq logo...you're going into the bios and trying to set up the boot order in there right?Yup, I have to like make the hard drive as first choice, I GUESS. But I am also not sure if my USB is auto-bootable? I came across SO many articles on this and all of them are listing different files that I have to have on my USB for it to start as soon as I start my laptop, bleh... I am SURPRISED if you did install XP from USB as I believe boot from USB option is not supported on a Compaq Armada M300. In any case the specs of these ancient machines, P3 500 or 600 Mhz & 64MB RAM (most models), would make them marginal for XP. Even more so if it has been dropped!

You can buy CD-ROM and -RW drives for this model but is the expenditure worthwhile? (a NEW drive might roughly equal the value of the machine)