Fixing a friend's uncle's computer...

Tittles

Dabba Dooba
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Hey my friend's uncle has a Compaq Presario 5000 series and i am tryin to install xp on it since somethin happend to windows me and since i dont know anybody that has a ME cd i ws goin to install xp. Well after it reboots to start installing it just comes up to a black screen after the Compaq picture comes up...i also tried the recovery disk but it wont boot up for some reason. Can anyone help me?
 
Not sure if Compaq was still using proprietary hw/sw at that point, but that might be the first place to look.

Also what is/was the problem the computer had (besides having ME on it) that made you want to reformat?
 
ummm...i think it just had alot of problems and he wanted to format it before he sold it so it wouldnt have anything on it cept the os.

also sorry but what is proprietary hw/sw...
 
Proprietary software/hardware would be hardware or software that is made specifically for Compaq. For instance, on some of their older machines, you had to use a Compaq specific version of windows.

Is it possible that if it was having a lot of problems, that this may also fall into that category?
 
unno...i kinda think its the hard drive because he said he did norton system disk check or somethin and it said the drive was getting badn not to sure what he said but he already tried to install xp on it and it didnt work so i formated and tried xp again but as i said above it didnt work :(. But its weird the recovery disk for it dont work...:\
 
See my thread, I was working on a Compaq 6000 series computer for a woman. After much testing it came down to the proprietary motherboard, swap that out and all your problems will likely be over.

I spent hours talking to Compaq on this one making no headway on installing a legit OS other than one branded by Compaq on their computer...
 
yeah but how come the recovery disks dont work?
 
that could be cos the harddrive is going south. Get the diagnostics from the manufacturer of the hard drive and run those.
 
TittleBitties said:
yeah but how come the recovery disks dont work?
Well if your using the recovery disks that came with the system then I would suspect perhaps hardware issues. Do you know what brand HD it is .. you could grab diagnositic program from there site and test it.
 
also...if i didnt mention the recovery disks dont boot up
 
TittleBitties said:
how would i run it? Is it bootable?
I believe most would fit on a floppy (some on cd if you like that better) and yes they are bootable. They are just an application that tests your HD for you is all ... kinda like memtest does for RAM. ;)
 
ahhhhh...alright well while i am goin threw gf troubles right now i will look up the stuff...i prob wont have any results tell like the afternoon since its late and i am havin girl problems so i cant switch computers. Thanks
 
haha girl problems (sorry to laugh) .. hope works out for ya.

/me awaits
 
1) find out who makes the hard drive (Maxtor/Quantum, Western Digital, Seagate, IBM, Hitatchi, etc)

2) Go to that manufacturers website and download their diagnostic tools. Most have a floppy image to run and make a bootable floppy. Some may have an ISO to make a bootable CD (Seagate does)

3) Run that, sit back and relax or take the girl out, it will probably be a while.
 
well that brings us to another prob...the floppy isnt bein detected :S...i looked inside and it had no power so i hooked it up and went into the bios and tried to enable it but when i restart it doesnt detect it. So i will prob just use a cd then
 
yep...i found the program and its downloading right now...maybe i will work on it tonight and have results later :)
 
Alright...I used the program from maxtor called powermax i think and it tested my drive and its fine. I did every test on the program even the thing that takes a few hours to do but i was sleepin while it was doin it. Anyway i did all that then used the recovery disk and it booted :)...but it isnt the right bootdisk its for a compaq that had windows 98 :(. So i tried xp to see if that would work now and of course it has the same problem. So from what i learned i need to get a recovery disk from Compaq or change the motherboard like some of u have said. So can i go to Compaq's site and ask for another bootdisk or do i have to call?
 

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