Need hardware specs on OS-locked laptop

I’ve inherited a surplus Compaq Armada M300 laptop that has been agressively upgraded by my employer’s IT staff–meaning it no longer conforms to factory specs, and I don’t know the first thing about working with a laptop that has no accessible operating system. Officially, the M300 is still running XP Pro, but our tech has disavowed the license and can’t provide a password, so I can’t so much as log on. I need some way to boot around the OS and determine the exact hardware specs so I can begin preparing a Linux install to pave over Win XP.