I rec'd an old laptop from work, when i turn it on it asks for a system disk. it just states "insert system disk". when they gave it to me they put on it that it had no hard drive and that it had a bad pcmcla slot, other than that it is ok. what does that all mean. is it worth it to fix it, buy parts or just trash it. what is your advice?

First thing to do is start "googleing" the part no./ model number to find out it's specs. Knowing that it was thrown out, there may be a problem with it. Did it come with things like a floppy, or CDROM, and power supply? If so, it might be worth playing with. First thing to do, assuming it has a floppy or CDROM, is to try and boot it up with one of those, run a memory test, see how the display looks. If that much is ok, then try to find an inexpensive hard drive for it. Just about ANY laptop that works is worth SOMETHING I still yet have a couple of old Thinkpads that are 486's that I use for some jobs, including programming radios.

First you'd have to purchase a Hard Drive. Then, load an Operating System. A bad PCMCIA slot doesn't mean you can't use the computer..just that your limited as to whether or not you can have Internet access, depending on exactly what's wrong with the slot/card. Life is more painless for those who are brainless.