Booting comp that won't boot...

[printwhiz]

I have a comp that reads "Operating System not found on hard drive"(black screen), and I've tried to boot from a boot floppy from another computer and it doesn't respond, neither of the two cd drives work(old lasers, no longer operable) anyone got any tricks to get this beast back up, so can reinstall fresh OS?....

{*wipedrive* has erased 25% of C: causing such black screen}

'tis a 2000 Compaq Presario 5000

\THANKS FOLKS.

 

[edfair]

Possibly the CMOS setup is corrupted because the battery has died. That would be the first step. Floppy should boot if it has a valid OS installed, unless it is disabled or set wrong in CMOS.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[printwhiz]

OK. So is there a way to get this computer back up and running?... what battery?(not a laptop?? This is a desktop.) How can I set/enable CMOS right, how can I boot in DOS? Is there anything I can do with this comp?

Anyone else?.. I would like to do a fresh start on this computer, not worried about data recovery... Could I get a generic boot floppy that would work?, should a boot floppy from a Dell XP machine work for a Compaq XP machine? If *Wipedrive* took out 25% of the hard drive, will a floppy even recognize XP? Thanks folks.

 

[edfair]

You have a manual? Try looking there for battery info and CMOS setup info.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[printwhiz]

I can get into BIOS? >manual has no instructions past that as to what to do from there to get OS reinstalled??...

CD drives don't read the discs, floppy doesn't read either>> is this comp usable?

 

[edfair]

What OS are you trying to install? Do you have a restore CD from Compaq?
You could try a boot disk from

http://www.bootdisk.com

for 98SE that will include CD drivers to allow access to operating CDROM drives, but if your drives are defective as you have said you are limited to DOS or a floppy based 95.

Have you tried to get the manual off the HP/Compaq site?

The system is probably usable, but to reload stuff you need to understand the quirks of how it was designed.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[printwhiz]

I have a compaq manual, but there was no info in it about what to do with BIOS once in it. I will try a boot disk from said website tonight when I get home. I would like to reinstall XP, but only have upgrade CD. I have a full restore CD from compaq but it didn't respond to that either.

How can I get it to boot in DOS?, and would that get me any closer or could I load an OS from there?.. Am I going to have to buy full version of XP, I have full version of 98'. Comp came originally with ME and NO disc.... upgraded to XP about a year ago. Got "rooted" about a month ago and have been trying to clean up the system since. Used software called *wipedrive* to clean off drive because of all the scattered .ini and .dat files in place for being "rooted". Now that the drive has been wiped, it doesn't recognize anything and the CDROM's don't work. I appreciate your help. I feel as if it may be a lost cause. I would love to have the extra comp at home though if I can get it back up somehow... Thanks again for your suggestions and will visit said website tonight. -printwhiz

 

[Enkrypted]

You stated the neither the CD-ROM or Floppy drive reads at all? Is this a correct statement?

If so, what I recommend is seeing if any friends have a spare cd/floppy that you could borrow to get the computer formatted and reinstalled.(Depending on what recovery type you use).

If they don't, you could always pick up CD/Floppy drives pretty cheap nowadays.

Once you get that taken care of you can restore the system back to normal and then use your upgrade CD for Windows XP. However I was looking at the specs of your system listed here and it looks as if that computer only has 64MB RAM. Windows XP minimum RAM requirements is 128MB. It would probably load, but it will be super slow.

Enkrypted
A+

 

[printwhiz]

originally had 128MB ram, I installed 2-256 sticks before being rooted.

I think the floppy "should" read fine but it wasn't and yes the CD drives had been "out of commission" for some time before being rooted and i had an external CD/DVD rom connected, but obviously it wont read from there unless OS is installed.

hope this helps...

 

[ceh4702]

Some of these HP/compaq boxes had the CMOS on the hard drive. It requires a special boot disk if that is the case to reset the cmos. I think F10 got into the CMOS/BIOS. It is dangerous using any kind of third party Hard Drive tools on older Compaq's.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[printwhiz]

F10 did get me into BIOS, but it was really unclear as to what to do from there to get anything back up and running or an OS reinstalled...

What should I do once I'm in BIOS?... how do you reset CMOS, there was nothing about CMOS in the drop downs in BIOS, nor in the manual...

 

[edfair]

Probable BIOS entry is [F10] while the cursor is blinking in upper right corner (3 blinks). Hard drive bios is restorable with floppies available at HP/Compaq but you may have problems finding them as the navigation is difficult.
CDROM drives are cheap as are floppy drives. Suspect that $25 would get you both.

Upgrade XP will be fine if you have original CD for 98. You use the original as proof, you don't need to have it installed. But best bet would be to install from a CD boot of XP rather than DOS boot as the DOS may throw restrictions into the mix.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[printwhiz]

So should I go into BIOS and then run the XP upgrade CD? or do I go into BIOS and do something else?,,, and then reboot attempting to boot from CD?/floppy?

 

[printwhiz]

I am HAPPY to announce that you guys in these here tek-tips are the best. Thank you for your help I've found the correct combination to get back up. And now am debating the upgrade version vs. the full install of XP from ME.(any reason one's better than the other?...)

Combination = reformatting HD on another workstation. also had to borrow a CD drive and use the original Recovery CD. Thanks to all that helped and to those that didnt. This site rocks.

silver lining = used as reason to convince fiance we needed one of them new 64-bit anthalon ones. >)

cheers./

 

[wolluf]

don't know if you've gone ahead yet - but clean install of XP is better bet than upgrade (for future stability).