# Solved: OEM hard drive swap?



## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

Hi.  

Well, I have an OEM Compaq XP Home SP1 with a dead hard drive. Nothing on earth so far will boot it but it isn't hardware failure.

I have an OEM Emachine WinMe with a hard drive that functions.

Irregardless of hardware compatibility issues I want to take the hard drive out of this Emachine and put it in the Compaq and run it that way while keeping the OEM WinMe OS.

Is that allowable?

If not, could someone please add to the list of 25 or 30 things I have already attempted to get the OEM Compaq XP Home up and running again?


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

Have you tried the Quick Restore CDs. The Recovery CD may not function if the System_Save Partition D: drive has been fiddled with. You will need to contact Compaq and request the Quick Restore CDs.

Enter your BIOS setup by pressing F10 during startup. Some Compaq BIOS come with an utility kown as the DPS Self Test. Use that utility and check your hard drive for integrity. If the hard drive pass the test, your only option at this point will be to order the Quick Restore CDs:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/siteHome?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> Have you tried the Quick Restore CDs. The Recovery CD may not function if the System_Save Partition D: drive has been fiddled with. You will need to contact Compaq and request the Quick Restore CDs.
> 
> Enter your BIOS setup by pressing F10 during startup. Some Compaq BIOS come with an utility kown as the DPS Self Test. Use that utility and check your hard drive for integrity. If the hard drive pass the test, your only option at this point will be to order the Quick Restore CDs:
> 
> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/siteHome?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en


When I first got that Compaq a bit over a year ago it allowed me to make a set of 7 recovery cd's but they won't boot the machine in order to do any type of restore access. In the F1 bios I set it to check to boot from all drives and then just the cd drive so if those restore cd's had a boot sector on it it would work probably. I only have this WinMe to use at the moment and it will not read the ntfs format on those disks to see if they have a boot sector.

I also have a set of 7 boot floppies that don't work either.

I have not come across any DPS Self Test.

Worse, my freind ordered the restore cd(s) for me from Compaq, they happily take the money, promse three day delivery, two weeks later no disks, so we called and they the disks are "back ordered." So they don't have what they are selling and the ones they are getting the disks from aren't providing so it could be months before I can pop that disk in to try it.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

Download a Windows 98 Startup Diskette from www.bootdisk.com. This is a large file that contains the files you need to boot the computer to a command prompt. At the prompt type the following and press Enter:

Fdisk /Status

*What information is displayed on screen?*

Aso try the following:

First download the setup disks for Windows XP:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=33290

The download contains only one large program file. When you run the downloaded file, it will extract the files you need to repair the Operating System. You will need a total of six (6) diskettes to storage the files extracted. Label each disk accordingly.

Once the download is competed and the diskettes are created, try restarting the system by inserting the first startup disk in the floppy drive.

When you restart the system with the startup diskette, and load all diskettes, you will be prompted with the following options:

A. To setup Windows XP, press Enter.
B. To repair Windows XP installation using recovery console, press R.

Choose the option, "To repair the Windows XP installation using recovery console", press R.

If an Administrator Password have been established, you will be prompted to type it in. If no Administrator Password exists, just press ENTER.

At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:

chkdsk /r

Once this process is completed, type EXIT and press ENTER to restart your computer.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr,

Microsoft is where I got that set of floppies I have. They load up but don't do anything. Win 98 boot disks won't do it either. Neither will WinMe or XP boot disk.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

needafix said:


> JSntgRvr,
> 
> Microsoft is where I got that set of floppies I have. They load up but don't do anything. Win 98 boot disks won't do it either. Neither will WinMe or XP boot disk.


When you say "Don't do anything", specially the Windows 98 and Windows ME diskettes. Does that mean that you can't even reach a command prompt? Any error messages when attempting to boot with these diskettes?

Enter the BIOS setup utility. Change the boot order as follows:

Floppy disk First
CD_ROM Second
IDE_0 (Hard drive) Last

Then try again.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

Those fat 32 boot disks of Win 98 and WinMe won't touch XP ntsf.

All efforts result in the same thing:

"disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter"


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

I find it depressing to read in dozens of places on the net that if XP won't boot then it isn't going to.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

No. Xp has nothing to do with the ability of your computer to boot with a startup diskette. Whether you have XP or not, the Startup diskette must boot the computer to a command prompt.

If that is the case, the issue is hardware related, or a wrong setting in the BIOS.

Enter the BIOS Setup utility and make sure the devices such as the Floppy and Hard drive is being detected and that the information is correct. See if there is an option to detect the hard drive and use it if available. Set the values to Default.

If that fails, disconnect the Floppy disk drive from the computer and test the computer without it. If possible, replace the floppy disk drive.

Do the same with the CD_ROM drive. Disconnect any device that the computer may use to boot, except the hard drive and test.

The issue seems to point out to hardware malfuction or a wrong BIOS setting.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> No. Xp has nothing to do with the ability of your computer to boot with a startup diskette. Whether you have XP or not, the Startup diskette must boot the computer to a command prompt.


I used the set of 6 floppies to get so far as the command prompt but none of the commands work. Any effort I make ends up with the notice that it can't be done. fixboot or fixmbr doesn't find any boot to fix.

r did no good so I chose to install but the restore disks that the machine made a long time ago will not work because it cannot find an OS so I am not entitled to install or upgrade and it quits.

The restore disks are on the way from Compaq too so I bet they get the same results.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

If you boot with a Windows 98 Startup Diskette, are you able to get to the A:\ prompt? If you do, type Fdisk /Status. What's the computer behavior or error message if any?


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> If you boot with a Windows 98 Startup Diskette, are you able to get to the A:\ prompt? If you do, type Fdisk /Status. What's the computer behavior or error message if any?


I'm not dealing with Win 98, I'm dealing with a crashed XP Home.

Those boot disks get me the DOS prompt but it will not carry out any DOS commands because I get various types of notices that there is no operating system to carry out the commands on. No disk to check, no boot to fix, no c: to dir, no nothing.

Of which is impossible, the OS is there but it's crashed, the disk is there also.

What could cause DOS commands to stop working?


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

The answer we are seeking here is if the hard drive is accepting command. the hard drive must respond to Fdisk, whether Xp is installed or not. If you have received an error such as "Not Fixed Disk Present" when running Fdisk, It was not Xp the one that crashed, but the hard drive itself. If this is the case, nothing will help as far as restoring Windows in this hard drive. You will need to replace the hard drive and recover using the Quick Restore CDs.

Try replacing the hard drive. Would the new hard drive behaves differently? Yes, then you have confirmed the hard drive is malfunctioning and need to be replaced.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> The answer we are seeking here is if the hard drive is accepting command. the hard drive must respond to Fdisk, whether Xp is installed or not.


I have another unused hard drive I will plug into the machine to see if I get different results with fdisk but in the meantime:

"disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter"

Is what happens when the puter is turned on after I got the notice a month or so ago on my screen that there was an error in msls31.dll and that the computer was shutting down in 30 seconds. It has not restarted or booted to XP Home since then by any known methods.

After the 6 boot disks load up I get the blue screen with gray letters:

Windows XP Home Edition Setup
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------

Welcome to set up.

This portion of the setup program prepares Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP to run on your computer.

 To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

 To repair a Windows XP installation using recovery console. press R.

 To quit setup without installing Windows XP.

(note: I also attempted to use the 6 cd set that the machine made to restore it but after it loads up it says that it sees no previous OS (which is impossible) so it will not install or restore. At startup the red/orange Compaq screen appears with F1 listed and F10 listed as Compaq Recovery but F10 does not work. Hundred complaints of Compaq recovery console not working to be found online.)

So I do the R.

After a wait I get the black screen with white letters:

Insert the disk labeled:
Windows XP Home Edition Disk #6
into drive A:

Press ENTER when ready.

Then I get the black screen with white letters:

Microsoft Windows XP(TM) Recovery Console.

The recovery console provides system repair and and recovery functionality.

Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.

The path or file specified is not valid.
C:\>(enter cursor here)

Then the rest of the screen is blank and I had not yet entered any commands to warrant "The path or file specified is not valid." so I am assuming that is resulting from what something on the disk wanted to do.

So at the C:\> I enter fdisk or fdisk /status

and then appears:

"The command is not recognized Type HELP for a list of supported commands."
C:\>

So I enter dir A: and get a list of 4 files among other common data that shows when you dir a drive: disk106, kbdus.dll, system32, spcmdcon.sys.

That is the content of disk #6 so I enter a: at the C:\> and get A:\>(enter cursor)

Then I enter fdisk /status and get:

The command is not recognized Type HELP for a list of supported commands.

So fdisk /status is not obeyed by either C:\> or A:\>

So at this point I type in HELP for some comedy relief as I have already been here, done that.

Got this:

For more information on a specific command, type command-name /? or HELP command-name.

ATTRIB, BATCH, BOOTCFG, CD, CHDIR, CHKDSK, CLS, COPY, DEL, DELETE, DIR, DISABLE, DISKPART, ENABLE, EXIT, EXPAND, FIXBOOT, FIXMBR, FORMAT, HELP, LISTSVC, LOGON, MAP, MD, MKDIR, MORE, NET, RD, REN, RENAME, RMDIR, SYSTEMROOT, TYPE, AND THEN:

A:\>

The notice on this puter is "disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter" so I go for FIXBOOT.

"FIXBOOT cannot find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid"

So I try FIXMBR and it goes right back to A:\>

then I try to go back to the C:\> prompt but cannot get back to C:/>

A:\>E: gives me E:\>
E:\>A: gives me A\:>
A:\>D; gives me D:\>

so on and so forth for my drives, it switches the prompt, but trying to get to C: always renders:

"The specified drive is not valid, or there is no disk in the drive."

dir c: renders,

"The path or file specified is not valid."

Anything C: entered at the prompt gets nothing but error notices.

This C; drive contains two partitions, The OS is NTFS the other is Compaq restore and FAT.

When I plug that drive into this Emachine as a slave and do a search the hard drive is obviously working because it renders the Compaq restore folder on that *.* search. Plus the free version of GetDataBack uses that drive also and it reads that NTSF partition. Funny, it contains 8 boot setors but will not boot.

So how can this be hard drive failure in the Compaq but as that hard drive is put into another computer as a slave, the hard drive functions not only to search the drive but software will use the drive also?

I could be wrong but I think that the Compaq machine that the hard drive is in is REFUSING for some reason to access C: but C: is accessible by putting that drive in another machine as a slave drive so it appears that the hard drive is mechanically functional or a search of it could not be done by this WinMe nor could GetDataBack use that hard drive to render its info.

Funky.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

See if this procedure helps:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpb11663&dlc=en&lang=en


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> See if this procedure helps:


Hhhhmmmm, running the machine with or without the hard drive in it gets that same results.

If that hard drive is bad then that means two things:

I have to buy another hard drive and buy Windows because the restore disks for the OEM windows won't work?

I popped in another drive, fixboot functions and so does fixmbr, among other commands if I wanted to use them so I just n and enter and exit.

As long as you are here....

On every hard drive I have ever seen new or old it had a warning on the label on it not to block the air hole right beside the air hole. Small type hole.

On this Maxtor DiamondMax 16 there is no such warning and there is a white sticker that came with it covering the air hole.

http://home.ntelos.net/~heapbigchief/drive.jpg

Hard drives last for years and years so could there be no warning on this drive on purpose and the air hole covered on purpose in order to kill the drive later?

So far blocking that air hole with that white sticker is all that I can figure out that may have killed this drive under normal useage.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

The Quick Restore CDs ordered will work on a new hard drive. The Recovery CD wont as it depends upon the contents of the D: partition on your current hard drive. Have you entered the BIOS Setup Utility? Is the harddrive listed therein? Is the DPS Self test available? Can it be detected by the BIOS?

I don't want you to buy a new hard drive if the problen may be related to another issue, such as the Ribbon cable or a setting in the BIOS. You have to make sure the hard drive is malfunctioning. Test the hard rive in another computer if you have to.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> The Quick Restore CDs ordered will work on a new hard drive. The Recovery CD wont as it depends upon the contents of the D: partition on your current hard drive. Have you entered the BIOS Setup Utility? Is the harddrive listed therein? Is the DPS Self test available? Can it be detected by the BIOS?


I do not know the difference between "Quick Restore CD" and "Recovery CD."

Please explain. The set of recovery CD's that this machine made do not work.

So I ordered the restore cd's from Compaq under the part number for the restore cd's that apply to this machine.

If one set will NOT work why WILL the other set work plus why will the F10 Compaq recovery partition not work?

The restore cd's I have will not install because it finds no current or previous OS so I'm not entitled to install or upgrade and that is what the notice says on the screen.

Why would those cd's from Compaq work on a new hard drive when anyone who has not bought windows off the shelf or OEM could buy the disks from Compaq for $20 compared to buying windows at normal price and installing it?

I do not think that those cd's I orderd from Compaq will function. I really do think there is something premeditated behind all of this.

I mentioned before that all of my drives are listed in the BIOS and all are enabled to be booted from. I even disabled them and enabled them one at a time in boot attempts and only the floppy will boot to the 6 floppies but all those DOS commands find no operating system to carry out the command on and I mentioned that I find no "DPS Self test " function in the BIOS.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

The Recovery CD is an instrument to recover an image of your hard drive at factory settings saved in the System_SAV parttion (Dive D in your computer in a compressed way. If this image does not exist, then the Recovery CD becomes unusable. We know that once you replace the Hard drive that image will not be there, so the Recovery CD will not work.

The Quick Restore CDs, however, is an instrument that contain that image within. This instrument will repartition the hard drive, format and recover the original image. You don't have to do anything, but to install the new hard drive. No format or repartition of the hard drive will be required.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> The Recovery CD is an instrument to recover an image of your hard drive at factory settings saved in the System_SAV parttion (Dive D in your computer in a compressed way. If this image does not exist, then the Recovery CD becomes unusable. We know that once you replace the Hard drive that image will not be there, so the Recovery CD will not work.
> 
> The Quick Restore CDs, however, is an instrument that contain that image within. This instrument will repartition the hard drive, format and recover the original image. You don't have to do anything, but to install the new hard drive. No format or repartition of the hard drive will be required.


Which cd's did this machine make then? Recovery cd's or Quick Restore cd's?

Which version is Compaq shipping to me?

To ramble on:

I start at the beginning again and instead of doing the R for repair I choose to install or in this case reinstall so here we go with the 6 floppies for the umpteenth time.

During the course of the floppies I can both feel and hear the hard drive working.

Windows XP Home Edition Setup
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------

Welcome to set up.

This portion of the setup program prepares Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP to run on your computer.

 To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

 To repair a Windows XP installation using recovery console. press R.

 To quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

So I do ENTER with the 6 self made Compaq restore cd's in hand that the machine made.

"Insert the CD labeled:
Windows XP Home Edition CD-ROM
into your CD-ROM drive.

 Press ENTER when ready.

In goes the disk and I hit ENTER. It spins up for a few seconds and then stops.

Then after a time the same screen pops up again with the previous instructions.

So I take the disk out and put it in the DVD drive. Please wait......

After a wait the Windows XP Licensing Agreement appears. Obviously I select F8 for "I agree." 28 pages worth or 28 hits of the page down button to get to the end.

Here is the mysterious part after I do the F8 because this machine has installed on it a subsequently crashed OEM XP Home licensed to me:

Windows XP Home Edition Setup
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------

Setup cannot find a previous version of Windows installed on your computer. To continue, setup needs to verify that you qualify to use this upgrade product.

Please insert your Windows NT 3.51 Workstation, Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millenium CD into your CD-ROM drive.

 When the CD is in the drive, press ENTER.
 To quit Setup, press F3.

So I am still on disk one so I open the DVD drawer and close it again and hit ENTER.

I get the same notice except the first two sentences are different:

"Setup could not read the CD you inserted, or the CD you inserted is not a valid Windows CD."

So I take it out of the DVD drive and put it down in the CD-ROM drive and hit ENTER.

Same thing results as the last screen:

"Setup could not read the CD you inserted, or the CD you inserted is not a valid Windows CD."

So I take out disk 1 and put in disk 2 into the CD-ROM drive. Same results so I take disk 2 and put it in the DVD.

Ah, different screen:

Windows XP Home Edition Setup
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------

The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer.

Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to select an item on the list.

 To set up Windows XP on the selected item, press ENTER.

 To create a partition in the unpartitioned space, press C.

 To delete the selected partition, press D.

so at the bottom is a white lined square with the contents:

117247 MB Disk 0(zero) at Id 0(zero) on bus 0(zero) on atpi
(Setup cannot access this disk.)

At the bottom on the gray line that mimics a Windows taskbar it has:

ENTER= Install D=Delete Partition F3=Quit

The DOWN arrow key does not select anything but the UP arrow key results in me trying to access a page that isn't there:

Technical info:

*** STOP: 0X00000050 (0XCAD91466, 0X00000001, 0X807E98D0, 0X00000000.

So I start again with CD 1 in the DVD drive:

"Boot from CD-ROM :

No Emulation
Non-System disk or desk error
Press any key to continue.

So after all these different attempts to restore the OS it all comes to nothing.

So I go back to where I was but no use of the arrow keys to avoid the error screen.

So with disk 2 in the DVD drive as before I do ENTER instead of arrow keys.

Another error screen:

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xF84D6C0B, 0xF8980800, 0x00000000)

*** setupdd.sys - Address F84D6C0B base at F84AD000, DateStamp 3b7d8507
*** asc3550.sys - Address F8980800 base at F8980800, DateStamp 00000000

So I give up until the disks from Compaq arrive and I bet I get the same results as I am getting now.

Shame I would end up dragging this thing outside and giving it the business. Can reuse it all except the motherboard, it's OEM.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> The Recovery CD is an instrument to recover an image of your hard drive at factory settings saved in the System_SAV parttion (Dive D in your computer in a compressed way.


This hard drive I am dealing with does have the restore folder in that Fat 32 partition because I can plug it into this WinMe machine as a slave and search it with *.* and that folder is there.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

All compaq computers are shipped with a Recovery CD. The QuickRestore CDs are available upon request.

Now, I don't know if you are using the right procedure to recover.

I was part of Compaq Communities for various years. Then, in order to Use the Recovery CD, you must boot with the recovery CD as it is a bootable CD (No need to boot with a startup diskette). At the first Compaq logo during startup, you are suppose to to hit the Caps Lock key. At the Quick Restore Welcome Screen, you will need to press the Num Lock key. When prompted to select the model, press Ctrl+Q, and the Recovery Process should commence.

Note that this is using the original hard drive, as the Recovery CD will need to decompress the image files in the Computer.

Is that how you are attempting to use the Recovery CD? And if so, are you receiving an error message?


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> All compaq computers are shipped with a Recovery CD. The QuickRestore CDs are available upon request.


No they are not shipped with them or not at least with this one and "request"=pay $12.00+$9.00 shipping=$21.00.

I found it strange that the restore cd's were not shipped with this OEM computer but that is their policy now because they claim that using a restore partition on the hard drive is satisfactory (shame or convenience for Compaq that does not function). I called them many times about that. You can read about it online too that they don't do that anymore when I have ALWAYS known OEM computers to be accompanied by Windows restore disks. I think it serves the purpose of FORCING someone to buy the disks later because the F10 restore hot key at the red/orange Compaq startup screen does not work and never has.



> At the first Compaq logo during startup, you are suppose to to hit the Caps Lock key. At the Quick Restore Welcome Screen, you will need to press the Num Lock key. When prompted to select the model, press Ctrl+Q, and the Recovery Process should commence.


Caps Lock key does nothing. I have not found that in any instructions anywhere and I have read tons of stuff on this, mostly complaints surrounding the fact that Compaq restore doesn't function.



> Is that how you are attempting to use the Recovery CD? And if so, are you receiving an error message?


All the disks I have the machine prompted me to make shortly after I got the thing running out of the box and they had no title except 1, 2, 3, whether that is "restore" or "quick restore" or blatant scam I do not know but I have went about it a dozen different ways by at least two dozen different methods and the XP boot floppies are from Microsoft website.

The disks should be here tomorrow. If they do not work I'm going to ask the repairman how much he will charge me to plug that hard drive into an XP machine because currently I can only plug it in as a slave to this WinMe and this FAT only sees the Compaq recovery folder that is a FAT partition on the XP drive.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

The disks arrived.

First thing I noticed was the label/title on the disk that the machine has always requested on the screen:

"Compaq System Recovery Windows XP Home Edition Disc 1."

Second thing I noticed is:

"FOR DISTRIBUTION ONLY WITH A NEW COMPAQ PC."


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

Well, same old story as all the other disks. Nothing works.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

If you received the Quick Restore CDs, you may need to remove the hard drive partitions with a Windows 98 SE Startup Diskette:

Start your computer with a Windows 98 SE startup diskette. At the Menu, select Command prompt without CD Support. 

At the A:\ prompt type FDISK and press Enter .

Press Enter to confirm that the disk is larger that 512MB.

Press 4 to Display the partition Informatiom. Post this information at it apprears on screen.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

I see two 98 SE's here.

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Which do you prefer?


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

I used the OEM boot98se.exe to a floppy. After a bit:

The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D:

The two paragraphs that appear about the larger than 512 MB put me off so I quit.

"Your computer has a disk larger than 512 MB. This version of Windows includes improved support for large disks, resulting in more efficient use of disk space on large drives, and allowing disks over 2 GB to be formatted as a single drive.

IMPORTANT: If you enable large disk support and create any new drives on this disk, you will not be able to access the new drives(s) using other operating systems, including some versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT, as well as earlier versions of Windows and MS-DOS. In addition, disk utilities that were not designed explicitly for the FAT32 file system will not be able to work with this disk. If you need to access this disk with other operating systems or older disk utilities, do not enable large hard drive support."

So I backed out of there.

I switched to D:\> to do scandisk on the D: and it reported that it did not find and problems on D:. I think the Compaq recovery partition is D:

Then I ran scandisk on C:\> and again it says that it did not find any problems on drive C:

dir c: at the C:\> only reported

RECOVERY 08-08-03 10:59a
0 files(s) 0 bytes
1 dir(s) 923.28 MB free

No XP Home system files.

Apparently this matter isn't hard drive failure that much I am pretty sure of.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

You must remove all partitions from the hard drive. Run Fdisk. Press Enter to all dialog messages until to reach the Fdisk Options. Select Option 4, so we can determine how the hard drive is partitioned. Post back this information.

I am sure you will need to remove the NON DOS patition and any other FAT32 partition in the hard drive before using the Quick Restore CDs. 

You have a recovery directory with no files in it. That' the reason the Recovery CD wont work. There is no recovery files within it.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> You have a recovery directory with no files in it. That' the reason the Recovery CD wont work. There is no recovery files within it.


I wonder why that recovery folder is emtpy?

Will do the other later, busy putting laundry away. At this point I have nothing to lose so can't screw it up any worse than it is right?


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

Done.

"Error reading fixed disk"

fdisk works on that other used hard drive I have.

partition C: 1
status A
type pri dos
volume label (nothing listed)
mbytes 5087
system fat32
usage 83%

Total disk space is 6150 mbytes (1 mbyte = 1048576 bytes)


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

Even though I cannot find out why the contents of the restore folder are empty I still would like to figure out why it rejects both sets of disks as "non system disk"(s) when one set was made by the machine and the other set was purchased from Compaq for this specific computer and all the parts are original.

This thing crashed once before while it was still under warranty but I could not access the non-destructive restore from safe mode. I could only access the complete restore and even then I did not need the set of disks the machine made, it did it all on its own.

Could it be that once the contents of the restore folder are used they are wiped?

I called ms and they said that Compaq is a member of thier Gold or Royal or Royal Gold or Gold Royal club or some such title of "good" standing that allows them to put the restore on a partition instead of issuing restore disks with OEM computers. You can get some but not a lot of answers from ms if you DON"T call the number that they give you to get those specific answers.

That is bad in itself because if a drive crashes that partition may not be accessible or for some reason empty or that partition could have been corrupted or that partition could have crashed. Either way the whole process is set up to avoid or put off or outright deny the ability to put ones OS back the way it was or to do a repair restore and that means purchasing windows off the shelf and I bet even those disk(s) would not work on this machine either.

My freinds son in another state has an internet security business and when all else fails I will mail him the hard drive and he can do some forensics on it to get to a root cause of this.

In the meantime any other attempts at a solution are welcome.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

If you are experiencing problems running Fdisk in this hard drive, you wont be abe to get it to work. Is the other hard drive, (FAT) partitioned, in use? Is it the same size as the hard drive in the Compaq? Smaller? Larger?

You can attempt to swap the hard drives, but I am not sure if a difference in size can affect the process of the Quick Restore CDs due to ack of space.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> If you are experiencing problems running Fdisk in this hard drive, you wont be abe to get it to work. Is the other hard drive, (FAT) partitioned, in use? Is it the same size as the hard drive in the Compaq? Smaller? Larger? You can attempt to swap the hard drives, but I am not sure if a difference in size can affect the process of the Quick Restore CDs due to ack of space.


The FAT file system is on this WinMe machine and the recovery folder of the Compaq. I would not dare wreck this good WinMe hard drive by putting it in the Compaq and attempting to put XP on it since this is the only working OS I currently have.

The disks have a 90 day warranty so I called Compaq and jumped through the hoops for an hour which is basicaly the same methods I have been using with the disks so in the end they said that it was hard drive failure.

I need to talk to them again and get some specific answers to specific questions concerning that fact that if I go buy a hard drive and windows off the shelf would it work with this computer or is the motherboard rigged to reject everything except the original hard drive.

Be a shame if I go buy a hard drive and windows and it turns out that the motherboard would be rigged to reject all replacement disks and drives. In that event the machine is junk when the original hard drive fails.

That hard drive functions for various programs that have been using the hard drive for examination or whatever so I really don't think it is hard drive failure.

I would like to find a program that will fit on a floppy and format that drive for Win XP and then see if I can use the restore disks. If that doesn't work then I can douse it with cyberscrub and see if that does any good. After that I will have to ask Compaq if I will be throwing my money away buy buying another disk and purchasing windows.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

Use can use Partition Magic, but is not free. The fact that the hard drive is not allowing Input/Output (exchange) of information spells hard drive failure.

As far as Windows, you already have a licence (Product Key). You only need the software.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> Use can use Partition Magic, but is not free. The fact that the hard drive is not allowing Input/Output (exchange) of information spells hard drive failure.


I managed to dispose of that partition, or the contents of it for sure but the partition may still be there.

Now that I got rid of those two emtpy recovery folders, empty folder in a folder, scan disk is finding bad sectors, 4 in red blocks so far and 2 in yellow. That wasn't showing up on scandisk before. I keep selecting to "fix it" and thats when the B appears in the yellow scanned parts. I think these B's are going to keep popping up as long as I let scan disk run. Wait and see.



> As far as Windows, you already have a licence (Product Key). You only need the software


So you are saying that since I have a license key I just need the installation disks? Preferably out of the box? Guess I could beg or borrow it but wouldn't know from who. 9 B's so far so I think this drive is shot.

How would a msls31.dll error do all that damage? I do not know what would damage the surface of the disk like that.

Going to go call Compaq to see if I would be wasting my time buyong a hard drive and reinstalling windows.

I have a used hard drive out of another computer. Do you think I could use it in conjunction with the restore disks?

10 B's and counting. This thing must have thrown a rod.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

> 10 B's and counting. This thing must have thrown a rod.


That hard drive is a gonner.



> How would a msls31.dll error do all that damage? I do not know what would damage the surface of the disk like that.


The problem may have not been the the file itself. But if it was written in a bad cluster, it would have been unusable, thus the error.



> So you are saying that since I have a license key I just need the installation disks? Preferably out of the box? Guess I could beg or borrow it but wouldn't know from who. 9 B's so far so I think this drive is shot.


A loaner would do. Throughout these means, however, you will not have access to the bundled software originally included with the computer.



> I have a used hard drive out of another computer. Do you think I could use it in conjunction with the restore disks?


My only concern will be the difference in size. All partition of this disk drive will need to be removed.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

I quit scanning at 45 bad clusters.

There was nothing wrong with that computer in anyway until that last 30 seconds of life. Bad clusters is disk surface damage isnt it? 

Ok, where do I start work on that used hard drive I have? Examine it for some info? Think I can use the restore disks on it to get windows back?

It came out of a Hewlett Packard, I should scan it first huh?

I p[lug it in and the Compaq recovery starts:

File ohci1394.sys caused an unexpected error (4223) at line 5833 in d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\setup.c.

press any key to conrtinue. setup failed.

So I need to clean out or clean up that drive before using it?


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

I did fdisk on that drive before:

partition C: 1
status A
type pri dos
volume label (nothing listed)
mbytes 5087
system fat32
usage 83%

Total disk space is 6150 mbytes (1 mbyte = 1048576 bytes)


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

Remove all partitions from the hard drive prior to the Restore process.

When booting with the QR CD, at the first Compaq logo make sure both, Num Lock and Caps Lock are On. At the Quick Restore Welcome Screen, press Num Lock. If asked for Model Number, press Ctrl+Q. Then follow instructins on screen.

I hope the QR CDs are working poperly.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> Remove all partitions from the hard drive prior to the Restore process. When booting with the QR CD, at the first Compaq logo make sure both, Num Lock and Caps Lock are On. At the Quick Restore Welcome Screen, press Num Lock. If asked for Model Number, press Ctrl+Q. Then follow instructins on screen. I hope the QR CDs are working poperly.


I still am not clear on what my restore cd's are, restore or quick restore.



> When booting with the QR CD, at the first Compaq logo make sure both, Num Lock and Caps Lock are On. At the Quick Restore Welcome Screen, press Num Lock.


Isn't that function only turning off numlock? This computer will not boot to any cd's I have, it reads only non system disk.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

This hard drive only goes so far but I do get safe mode screen, it previoisly had XP Pro.

I turn it in and the Compaq recovery starts:

File ohci1394.sys caused an unexpected error (4223) at line 5833 in d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\setup.c.

When I get to safe mode I get the options:

safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command prompt
enable boot logging
enable vga mode
last known good configuration (your most recent settings that worked)
directory services restore mode (windows domain controllers only)
debugging mode
start windows normally
reboot
return to os choices menu


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

I am having some success with the 6 xp floppies.

After they load up I get the Windows XP Home Edition Setup.

I choose to set up Windows XP now so I hit enter.

I put in the first disk bought from Compaq and get some progress that was not with the other hard drive.

F8 to agree to the license agreement but this time on the next screen I am getting info in the box outlined in white.

6150 mb disk 0 at Id 1 on bus 0 on atapi (mbr)

-: partition1 <eisa utilities> 5087 mb <4907 mb free>
unpartitioned space 1063 mb

I think that "eisa utilities" may be left over from that oem win 98 boot disk you recommended?

so I select to delete the partition and get this screen:

the partition you tried to delete is a system partition.

system partitions may contain diagnostic or hardware configuration programs, programs to start operating systems, (such as windows xp), or other manufacturer supplied programs.

delete a system partition only if you are sure that it contains no such programs or if you are willing to lose them. deleting a system partition may prevent your computer from starting from the hard disk until you complete installation of windows xp.

to delete this partition, press enter. setup will prompt you for confirmation before deleting the partition.

to go back to the previous screen without deleting the partition press esc.

So I escaped and left it at that then I F3 to quit because I don't know if I need that partition or not or what may be in it. Could be from that win 98 boot disk I don'y know.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

The Quick Restore CD #1 must be bootable. I am starting to believe the CDs you received were the wrong ones. Is not the first time, nor the last time this happens. You must contact Compaq. What you need are the Quick Restore CDs. For Windows XP are usually three (3) Plus a Recovery CD (1), so the amount of CDs that you must receive from compaq are Four (4) Cds. Is that what you have?

Can you Post the Model an Series of your Compaq? How about the Serial Number?

Open the CD's compartment in the front of the computer (If exists). The Serial Number is ussually therein.


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> The Quick Restore CD #1 must be bootable. I am starting to believe the CDs you received were the wrong ones. Is not the first time, nor the last time this happens. You must contact Compaq. What you need are the Quick Restore CDs. For Windows XP are usually three (3) Plus a Recovery CD (1), so the amount of CDs that you must receive from compaq are Four (4) Cds. Is that what you have? Can you Post the Model an Series of your Compaq? How about the Serial Number? Open the CD's compartment in the front of the computer (If exists). The Serial Number is ussually therein.


8 cd's. each labeled Compaq System Recovery, Windows Xp Home Edition.

Its a Presario S5300NX. These are the right disks because I made sure that the correct part number was ordered. I wrote down the part number somewhere. I came to that conclusion by searching their site for the restore disks that applied to this machine so I suppose they could have had it wrong on their site or shipped the wrong disks.

Either way it goes I'm keeping the disks.

I'll keep the serial number of the computer to myself since any malicious persons reading this could exploit that because that serial number is in relation to the license key issued for this machine under that serial number.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

I guess HP has changed the process. See if the linkk below would help:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...est_page=solveCategory&cc=us&docname=bph07145


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> I guess HP has changed the process.


I was reading a couple of days ago that the non destructive recovery was compromised because of a conflict between these Compaq machines and SP1, and I had SP1, but sad to say there was no way the users could know this (thus had to do a destructive recovery like I did the first time this thing crashed) because even when Compaq had my email address and contact information (plus was still under warranty) I was not notified and I doubt other customers were notified about this conflict either.

Wow, now for some unknown reason without the floppies or the patch I am getting installation.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

Were you able to install successfully?


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> Were you able to install successfully?


I'm on disk 4 at 39% install. Pray it keeps going and functions huh?

If you are in P.R. maybe some of the stuff you know about these things pertains to the OS's that are shipped out of the U.S. I read somewhere that what MS ships out of the country is entirely the same thing?


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

Yes!


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

It is up and running. Doing my thing now. I'm going to load the blaster patch and then my firewall. Among other things. Remove a lot of spyware since the disks did come pre-loaded with all that OEM junk.

I barely made it. The hard drive is 5.99 gbytes, 5.53 used and 477 MB free.

I need another hard drive If I am going to load any of my software.


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## JSntgRvr (Jul 1, 2003)

Way to go. Needafix! Use can use the thread's Tools and mark this thread as "Solved".

Best wishes!


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## needafix (Mar 23, 2005)

JSntgRvr said:


> Way to go. Needafix! Use can use the thread's Tools and mark this thread as "Solved". Best wishes!


Thanks your for help and conversation through this matter of getting my machine fixed. 

I'ill request your services specifically next time I need help with anything.


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