Compaq HD and Windows 2000 uggh

PoopyTheJ · Sep 4, 2003, 07:54 PM

Ok, so my manager at work gave me her Compaq Presario with like a celery 600 in it and a 12Gig HD to blow away and install 2000 on for her. Well, after attempting to get windows to erase and install 98 a bunch of times, it wouldn't delete the primary partition, I threw the HD in my system used Partition magic and blew away the partition reformating blank with NTFS. tried running the setup from windows 200 after putting the HD back in but she doesn't have enough memory and like setup won't write the files to the disk. So, I tried running setup on my rig and I'm getting an error that the drive doesn't have a windows 2000 compatible partition. Attempting to have setup create the partition is absolutely no go I just keep getting the same error. What gives here? Anybody got any ideas? If anyone needs more info shoot.

PoopyTheJ · Sep 7, 2003, 01:20 AM

Bump!

Nobody has any ideas?

Judas · Sep 7, 2003, 02:03 AM

OH NO.... some compaqs have a small unremoveable (although it is possible with partition magic) for all the nessary Compaq bios information files, I'm not sure if this one has it... most likely..... but i know of plenty 1ghz compaqs that still do (i hate compaq btw).... You'll have to WIPE the disk clean now (possilbe low level format using the HD's manufatures stuff)... and go to Compaq's site and look for all the files for that make and model (just the bios related stuff).... it doesn't matter what windows version (using 3.1 bios files according to compaq with windows XP pro)..... There site should explain everything to you... as long as you can find the files for it (took me forever to find files for a 94 machine.... and just as hard for a 97)

Judas · Sep 7, 2003, 02:03 AM

BTW, what is the EXACT model of the computer.... CPU speed... MEMORY... monitors.... pretty well all the exact specs.... and i'll see if i can find them.....

PoopyTheJ · Sep 7, 2003, 02:32 AM

Thanks, I'm at work now so when I get home I'll post them it'll be late tonight thanks for the help Judas!

PoopyTheJ · Sep 7, 2003, 07:11 PM

It's a celery 600 I'm pretty sure, 12G HD 96MB Ram, I've got a tracking number and a serial number if that works.
Serial - 1x9cyt3m38f and a tracking code? 72166-3973 dunno what that is. Thanks!
Presario 5724 I think.

Judas · Sep 8, 2003, 02:43 AM

OK

Just to make sure i have the right page...and that i don't forget it...

http://www29.compaq.com/falco/sp_res...odel=1425&Os=0

that lists all the Available downloads including every version of windows.... However, Compaq isn't smart enough to include such files as the Bios under all versions...

Right now i'm going to check to see if it's a hardrive ran bios or not...

Judas · Sep 8, 2003, 02:51 AM

It appears that there might have been a locked Partition... on the drive...that (according to Compaq) they could only remove.....

D: drive locked...

Now they recommend that if you want to delete it, you can dowload the Utility to do so under that link i posted....
Do this before installing the new bios just in case)

As for the Bios image.... looks like there alot of fixes for windows 98 and 2000 (some majors for 2000)

http://www29.compaq.com/falco/sp_det...twareVer=12244

READ THAT THOROUGHLY AND PRINT IT OUT SO YOU CAN USE IT AS A SOLID GUIDE.... I DO NOT TAKE RESPONCIBILITY FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS IF YOU USE IT...

(no offence... just need to be carefull)

After that, you might want to enter the bios, usually F10 is the button for Compaqs. You look around and setup the time (will probably be reset)

Now as for partitioning..... usually a good idea for Windows to do it.. You said 96Mb of ram? Windows 2000 and XP should both be able to be installed on it.....

i've run XP PRO 80mb of ram, on an old 90mhz 1.6gb computer.... that things pretty smooth....

Hope i got enough info for you.... (DOUBLE CHECK AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT MODEL COMPUTER)

Judas · Sep 8, 2003, 02:52 AM

ONE MORE THING..... if it's not the right model....

http://www29.compaq.com/falco/sp_list.asp

Go there to select the computer you have....or any other compaqs..... (the above link is usually a pain to find)

PoopyTheJ · Sep 8, 2003, 05:22 AM

THANKS Judas! Trust me I wouldn't blame you for my screw up!

Judas · Sep 8, 2003, 05:43 AM

Your welcome...i've stressed over fixing lots of older compaqs... they've got to be the most stuborn and hard to find stuff for machines..

PoopyTheJ · Sep 11, 2003, 12:01 AM

Will a new non-compaq HD work? Just replace the wholse shooting match?

Logla · Sep 11, 2003, 12:15 AM

I think we may have had a similar problem at work last year with a customers laptop - similar spec. In the end had to get a compaq HDD cos the replacement we bought wasn't picked up by the BIOS.

I'm another who hates compaqs. They are quite finicky when it comes to buying components for them, like, have you seen the price of compaq ram? Cos only compaq ram works in compaq laptops.

Compaq - Great if you know nothing about computers

Compaq - A right pain in the a*se if you do!

PoopyTheJ · Sep 11, 2003, 12:18 AM

Damn, Damn, Damn! guess I'll have to do it the hard way then.

PoopyTheJ · Sep 11, 2003, 12:23 AM

Hey Logla what kinda cooling you running on that 9800 Pro in your 3dmark03 score?

Judas · Sep 11, 2003, 07:00 AM

Actually a NON-Compaq HD will work fine... I've done this to many Compaqs/new old...... I replaced a 1gb compaq HD with a 6.4GB and it will work flawlessly... HOWEVER, you MUST DELETE all partitions on it.. make it completely free.... and install the bios information onto it... then go into the bios and select all the nesary settings... ( hitting COMPLETE DEFAULTS) you have to have Bios access.... see how it works is... instead of all the bios user interfaces loaded right onto the board...it's actually on the hardrive... you can remove the partition... but all the settings will be still saved in the onboard bios.... ... OH, TRY reseting the bios... all compaqs still have a CMOS reset switch of some kind..being jumper or a really weird one i've come across is you remove the jumper... turn the power on then off and put the jumper back... (READ CAREFULLY THOUGH, RESETING CMOS INCORRECTLY CAN KILL A MACHINE QUICK.... USUALLY YOU MUST UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER COMPLETELY BEFORE PROCEEDING.....

Logla · Sep 11, 2003, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gaborn415
Hey Logla what kinda cooling you running on that 9800 Pro in your 3dmark03 score?

All stock man. Plus about 5 case fans.

PoopyTheJ · Sep 12, 2003, 01:11 AM

wow, so no matter what I need those BIOS files on the HDD. How bizarre, what kind of retarded way to handle a BIOS is putting it on a HD?

Judas · Sep 12, 2003, 11:26 AM

my thoughts exactly..... Thing is they have to be the first to go on..... or else it won't work.... (has to be a blank HD... no partitions at all..).... i got really mad when i did my first Compaq.... after that... it was just except it ....and move on.... as soon as you get it on there..... you'll usually have no problem... if your HD isn't being recongized at all.... i've had to RESET CMOS before continueing... then install the bios files...go into the bios... and setup everthing (the HD's will usually, but sometimes not, default to the Failsafe settings just to get your started...) so make sure you turn on settings that should be on.... and oh btw, the Compaq bioses are pretty weak settings wise....but GUI, i'm rather serprised as it has a mouse and very similare to running windows 3.1

Logla · Sep 12, 2003, 04:45 PM

Just finished working on a Compaq Deskpro today. Noticed that in the BIOS on that machine, there was an option to save/load the settings to/from disk. I'm assuming this is the same sort of thing in case you format the HDD and lose everything, you can just save the settings back. I think.

Judas · Sep 12, 2003, 10:15 PM

yes... your can make a backup.... However, it sounded like he already deleted it....

PoopyTheJ · Sep 13, 2003, 01:04 AM

I had.

Judas · Sep 13, 2003, 02:27 AM

Still a good idea to Update the bios.... more likely to have less troubles...

Logla · Sep 13, 2003, 09:36 AM

So this means that these machines have their BIOS only on the HDD? I'm sure the one I was working on had a conventional BIOS and then just the ability to back this up to disk, not that it actually read the BIOS info from the disk first.

Judas · Sep 13, 2003, 10:00 AM

ok... seeing as we have a bit of a misunderstanding... i think i'll try and nail it down now...

On Compaqs.... the motherboards have the bios ONBOARD..... However, it's so completely barbericly simple... that there is NO gui, no ability to change settings... nothing... all it does is STORE the information that is needed to start the computer.... and run the nessary protocals and whatnot to get to windows.... (put basically)

THE HD is used to do everything.... basically, what happens is.... you load everything into the first partition...... this includes the available bios settings... the bios itself.... the gui.... and nessary drivers to get basic keyboard... mouse... printer operations....

What happens is, when you change a setting in the bios which is located on the HD, it automatically sorta REFLASHES the new settings onto the one onboard..... (of course this is done when your exitining to bios utility)

When you restart..... the changes have taken effect....enless there was a total incapability.... NOW, if something were to happen such as a flash failure, there isn't anything to worry about because the onboard bios has an auto default settings....

Now this is the only part i consider actually rather good.... as theres NO WAY you can kill your motherboard doing a flash..... NO WAY AT ALL..... (you'd have to take a hammer or chizel to the bios chip on the board)......

But having to have the HD bios data on your hardrive at all times.. and having to install it on every new hardrive you put in.. sorta really bites..... as sometimes.. certain hardrives won't read at all......

BTW, try setting your hardrive to slave and setting it as slave on the cable... Might be odd, but trust me.... for some reason. this one compaq i did, would refuse to do anything with the hardrive when set to master.... it took me a good 2 hours to figure this out..... (did i mention i hate compaqs? )

Logla · Sep 13, 2003, 10:57 AM

Thanx for explaining that man. I'm with you on the hate thing by the way.

PoopyTheJ · Sep 14, 2003, 05:42 PM

I'm definitely with you on the hate thing. What an amazing pain in the ass that thing was. btw this is a great site www.compaqsucks.com.

Judas · Sep 14, 2003, 08:56 PM

i'm loving the site.....

Sep 4, 2003, 07:54 PM	#1
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	Compaq HD and Windows 2000 uggh Ok, so my manager at work gave me her Compaq Presario with like a celery 600 in it and a 12Gig HD to blow away and install 2000 on for her. Well, after attempting to get windows to erase and install 98 a bunch of times, it wouldn't delete the primary partition, I threw the HD in my system used Partition magic and blew away the partition reformating blank with NTFS. tried running the setup from windows 200 after putting the HD back in but she doesn't have enough memory and like setup won't write the files to the disk. So, I tried running setup on my rig and I'm getting an error that the drive doesn't have a windows 2000 compatible partition. Attempting to have setup create the partition is absolutely no go I just keep getting the same error. What gives here? Anybody got any ideas? If anyone needs more info shoot. __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 7, 2003, 01:20 AM	Thread Starter #2
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	Bump! Nobody has any ideas? __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 7, 2003, 02:32 AM	Thread Starter #5
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	Thanks, I'm at work now so when I get home I'll post them it'll be late tonight thanks for the help Judas! __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 7, 2003, 07:11 PM	Thread Starter #6
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	It's a celery 600 I'm pretty sure, 12G HD 96MB Ram, I've got a tracking number and a serial number if that works. Serial - 1x9cyt3m38f and a tracking code? 72166-3973 dunno what that is. Thanks! Presario 5724 I think. __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 8, 2003, 05:22 AM	Thread Starter #10
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	THANKS Judas! Trust me I wouldn't blame you for my screw up! __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 11, 2003, 12:01 AM	Thread Starter #12
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	Will a new non-compaq HD work? Just replace the wholse shooting match? __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 11, 2003, 12:15 AM	#13
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	I think we may have had a similar problem at work last year with a customers laptop - similar spec. In the end had to get a compaq HDD cos the replacement we bought wasn't picked up by the BIOS. I'm another who hates compaqs. They are quite finicky when it comes to buying components for them, like, have you seen the price of compaq ram? Cos only compaq ram works in compaq laptops. Compaq - Great if you know nothing about computers Compaq - A right pain in the a*se if you do!

Sep 11, 2003, 12:18 AM	Thread Starter #14
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	Damn, Damn, Damn! guess I'll have to do it the hard way then. __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 11, 2003, 12:23 AM	Thread Starter #15
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	Hey Logla what kinda cooling you running on that 9800 Pro in your 3dmark03 score? __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 12, 2003, 01:11 AM	Thread Starter #18
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	wow, so no matter what I need those BIOS files on the HDD. How bizarre, what kind of retarded way to handle a BIOS is putting it on a HD? __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 12, 2003, 04:45 PM	#20
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	Just finished working on a Compaq Deskpro today. Noticed that in the BIOS on that machine, there was an option to save/load the settings to/from disk. I'm assuming this is the same sort of thing in case you format the HDD and lose everything, you can just save the settings back. I think.

Sep 13, 2003, 01:04 AM	Thread Starter #22
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	I had. __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Sep 13, 2003, 09:36 AM	#24
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	So this means that these machines have their BIOS only on the HDD? I'm sure the one I was working on had a conventional BIOS and then just the ability to back this up to disk, not that it actually read the BIOS info from the disk first.

Sep 13, 2003, 10:57 AM	#26
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	Thanx for explaining that man. I'm with you on the hate thing by the way.

Sep 14, 2003, 05:42 PM	Thread Starter #27
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	I'm definitely with you on the hate thing. What an amazing pain in the ass that thing was. btw this is a great site www.compaqsucks.com. __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]