how do I format HD on compaq presario?

[bilyum]

Hi. This is an old PC. It came with the OS installed. WIN95, and a restoredisk.
Restore disk is misplaced. Anyway, i can't figure out how to format the darn thing.
It won't let me!

Thanks much for any tips!

Bill

 

[bilyum]

just an addendum to my previous post. It's a Presario 4824 with a 233 Processor,
I've been trying all day to figure it out. maybe I should buy another HD for it

 

[bilyum]

yeah, me again. I'm thinking buying a new hard drive would be easier. any thoughts on that? Thanks for any feedback!

Bill

 

[Dreamland]

bilyum,

Why are you unable to format - are you getting an error message or something? You can't format it from the C: drive if that's how you started the machine. You need to boot from a floppy or CD to format and reinstall a system.

Which version of Windows are you trying to load on?

 

[muthabored]

I'm not sure how far back this dates, but I've found restore utilities for Compaq PCs on the actual HDDs that come with their machines (I would imagine this is done just in case the restorating disk(s) becomes misplaced).

 

[Dreamland]

Unfortunately, the Quick Restore CDs are integral to the whole process. The utility you found was just to make the boot floppy to get the process started but you still would need the CDs to either 1) restore the stuff in the backup partition, or 2) reload a fresh Compaq-ized version of 95. If I recall right, they never supported Win98 on some models and never provided drivers.

Wiping out the drive won't be a problem. All the work in reloading this box is to get a reatil 'generic' version of Windows and then start scavenging for all the drivers you need. They are difficult to find or non-existant on Compaq's site and there's no easy way to tell who really made the various parts of your system. Compaq's answer: we don't have individual drivers. Use your Quick Restore CD to restore/reload whatever version of Windows we put on it.

Sometimes you can find the restore CDs on eBay but they're usually a ripoff (like $50 for the set). This is still only going to let you reload Windows 95. Do you even have a generic Windows 98 setup disk you can use?

 

[bilyum]

Hi Muthabored, and Dreamland! If i'm not mistaken the restore utilities are available if you have enough horsepower to download it and burn it onto a CD. I could be wrong about that....I know I've seen something like that in downloads

Dreamland, as soon as you mentioned have a boot disk, it all made sense. I DO have a generic version of WIN95 that my brother gave me...

Unfortunately, he didn't give me the book with the numbers on it that I need to load it into my PC

I'll email him and bug him to find it

Thank you both for your help!

Bill

 

[ceh4702]

Some Compaq's have to have a special floppy to write the CMOS to the hard drive. If this is the case, you must have this to make the hard drive bootable.

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

 

[bilyum]

ceh4702, thanks for that tip. I'm not in a position to find fault with your information and certainly don't have a prob with your post....

From everyones input and my own instincts, I'm thinking 'Boat Anchor' for a light canoe or something may be the best effort spent on the compaq