So I have an old IBM R50e Thinkpad that I haven't used in about 5 years. I only need it to remote in to my work computer.

Problem 1: the hard drive died. So I obtained a replacement hard drive.

Problem 2: I can't boot from it because it has no operating system.

Problem 3: I can't access the BIOS to change the boot order because I set a password on it 10 years ago (don't ask me why) and don't remember what it is.

Problem 4: It's next to impossible to recover or reset the password. The only solution is to change the motherboard. A new motherboard is pretty cheap, but I saw a video on it and I just don't think I have the skill to take apart the entire laptop.

So it seems like I'm stuck.

However, here's what I'm thinking: I take out the new hard drive, buy a USB-PATA adapter, connect it to my desktop and put MS-DOS on the hard drive. I then put the new hard drive back into the Thinkpad and let it boot up from the hard drive (the password is only to gain entry into the BIOS). Once it's booted up, I get an Ubuntu CD, and then just run the executable from MS-DOS

and

...

voila?

Will this work? Or should I just buy a basic $200 laptop? lol.

Thanks for your comments.