Compaq Presario HDD

[teqmod]

I am replacing a failing hard disk in a Presario 2500 notebook. I cloned the old drive to the new one using ghost and the machine will not boot from the new drive. I have verified all files are present on this drive and using ERD Commander verified I can see the drive on the machine. The only thing I get when it boots is the Compaq splashscreen then a flashing cursor. Any ideas?

 

[jimp56]

verify that the partition setups are identical, sometimes compaq's need a special partition structure to boot.

what O/S is it?

 

[garebo]

First you have to make sure the hard drive is specified as active. But if you are installing win xp then you simply put your win xp os cd in and it will do it all for you. If you have a recovery cd then i believe it will do that as well.
I dont know if the recovery cd will take care of the "rompaq" that most Compaq computers use. This is a special version of the rom-bios that is installed on the hard drive in a special partition rather than stored on the motherboard as is the case with most or all other setups, so yours is likely special.
Consult your Compaq support info via the net. You will find manuals and info you need to do the job and we will back you up!! Today you are in luck, lol. Maybe even tomorrow and the next day.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[teqmod]

I spoke with the Compaq online support who said I should have been able to do a standard CD build but this failed. They said I had to use there "Quick Restore" disks which would overwrite and data currently on the disk. This laptop is a pain. I think what I will do is use the new Hard Disk and go through there build procedure then use the image of the c: drive and overwrite whatever contents are there. I was hoping there was just something I missed but it appears like "no luck" is my phrase for the day. I know their servers and workstations needed the Smart Start run inorder for anything to work. I guess the laptops are the same. What a pain in the a$$!!

 

[teqmod]

So I blew away the partitions and went through with the Quick Restoreand the machine came up. Then I just put the image for the c: drive in place of the freshly created c:\ drive and it would not boot once again. Frustrated I blew away the drive once again and did a basic CD build and once I got enough on there for the machine to boot I pulled the drive, stuck it in an external enclosure and did an xcopy from the old drive to the new drive. When I stuck it back in the Compaq laptop it worked. Wish I just would have done that to begin with. I wanted to use ghost though thinking it would be easier. Not this time I guess.

 

[garebo]

What did you use to do a basic cd build?
this info just might help someone else.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[teqmod]

I just used a bootable CD with Windows XP. Booted it and installed the OS. Then when I did the xcopy it overwrote the install and viola.

Hope this helps.