Compaq deskpro En 6350 1

[petermeachem]

A friends son has one of these and it is getting very short of disc space.
I can't find out what is the max disc size she can add, it has a 6Gb disc currently so I am thinking that it will be something of that order.
Am I right in thinking that because it is a Compaq just replacing the disc with another may not work? Is the bios stored on disc or something odd.

I have looked for the info on the hp site but with no success.

Thanks.

 

[franklin97355]

Some Compaqs do store the BIOS settings on the hard drive but you should be able to ADD a second drive for space without problems.

The answer is "42

 

[ski]

It's my understanding that Compaq systems which were built prior to January, 1999, have what is called a BOM ID installed on the HD.
This is a 3-digit number that allowed the Compaq Quick Restore disk(s) to recognize the model number of the computer in order to restore the O/S and the hardware drivers. It was Compaq's way of preventing their QR disks from being used with other systems.
Since your system came with a Pentium 2 350 MHz CPU, then it's possible that it was built prior to Jan., 1999.

Here's how to check if your system has a BOM ID:
1. Go to START/FIND/FILES or FOLDERS.
2. Type info.bom in the 'Named' box, select your HD(C or whatever) in the 'Look In' box, and click 'Find Now'.
3. Open the file with "Notepad".
4. At the very top you'll see a 3-digit number. That is the BOM ID number that has to be installed on the new HD.

If a BOM ID exists, then the following steps are used to write it to a replacement HD:
1. Insert the QuickRestore floppy and CD into the appropriate drives, then restart the computer.
(NOTE: If you do not have a QuickRestore floppy, then you can create one from the BOOTDISK or TOOLS subdirectory on the QuickRestore CD.)
2. Exit the QuickRestore utility when the initial screen(Program Language Selection) appears.
3. At the A:\> prompt type uiabomwr_xxx (where xxx is the BOM ID of the PC), and press Enter.
(EXAMPLE: A:\>uiabomwr_201 would store the 201 BOM ID on the HD.)

However, the above may not work, depending on how old the system is. If the BOM ID cannot be written to a replacement HD, then the Quick Restore disks will not work with it.

Of course, the above does not apply when adding a 2nd storage HD. But there may be BIOS support and BIOS upgrade issues when installing a large storage HD on a system as old as yours.

 

[petermeachem]

Thanks, I've advised her to go shopping for a secondhand pc. Got to be better than trying to substantially improve what she has.