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Can't reinstall XP



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 11th 18, 06:10 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
KenK
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 444
Default Can't reinstall XP

I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the disk
and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP. Unfortunatey, doesn't
work. Tried five or six times. I follow the steps and at the last point
that works it says "turn off computer". If I do it shuts down and that's
it. Nothing else works as a response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has
no effect, no menus - just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope of
another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install disks hat
work on any computer, not just the specific one they came with. but I have
no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


--
I love a good meal! That's why I don't cook.






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  #2  
Old October 11th 18, 08:30 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 627
Default Can't reinstall XP

On 11 Oct 2018 17:10:06 GMT, KenK wrote:

I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the disk
and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP. Unfortunatey, doesn't
work. Tried five or six times. I follow the steps and at the last point
that works it says "turn off computer". If I do it shuts down and that's
it. Nothing else works as a response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has
no effect, no menus - just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope of
another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install disks hat
work on any computer, not just the specific one they came with. but I have
no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


If it did not detect an error on the install, the disk is probably
good. I would start from scratch and run some diagnostics (disk and
RAM) to be sure you don't just have a hardware problem.

  #3  
Old October 11th 18, 11:05 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Can't reinstall XP

KenK wrote:
I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the disk
and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP. Unfortunatey, doesn't
work. Tried five or six times. I follow the steps and at the last point
that works it says "turn off computer". If I do it shuts down and that's
it. Nothing else works as a response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has
no effect, no menus - just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope of
another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install disks hat
work on any computer, not just the specific one they came with. but I have
no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


One thing to remember, is there are different kinds
of discs.

A royalty OEM disc doesn't generally "install".

It might "uncompress" then "copy". It's like paving.
It pours a new copy of the factory set of files onto
the hard drive.

The other kind of disc is a conventional installer. It
has an "i386" folder at the root of the WinXP disc.
Doing a Properties on "i386" here, I see 6950 files
and 153 folders.

In that folder are two files: WINNT.EXE or WINNT32.EXE
These kick off the install.

If you could boot the computer with an MSDOS diskette,
then execute "winnt.exe", chances are that would
start an install. And the i386 folder can be copied
to a hard drive. You don't need the rest of the CD.

That's how I first installed my purchased copy of
WinXP Sp3 here. I copied the entire i386 folder to
one FAT32 partition, and a second FAT32 partition was
going to be the C: drive. I booted an MSDOS floppy,
executed winnt.exe in the i386 folder, and after a couple
hours, the install was done. (It's slow because SmartCache
on MSDOS is a bit clumsy, and purges every once in a while.)

Anyway, such an install studies the dynamics of the situation,
and installs the correct inbox drivers for the kind of
disk controller you might have.

Whereas the Compaq disc should have just the right set
of drivers for that PC model. It should be a "glove fit"
for the job, no ****ing around. You just pour those
files in place, as no "logic" is needed when you uncompress
and copy stuff.

*******

You would need to look at the contents of the disc,
to see what it is. A "file copy" OS, or an "installer" OS.
Some of the file copy things, might use Ghost or PQService
format. That sort of thing. And perhaps 7ZIP could open
and examine whatever files are on there. I use 7ZIP as if
it was a forensic tool - it's my "computer magnifying glass".

*******

A bunch of crazy people worked at Compaq :-)

They did things unlike other companies. They
had a BIOS for example, where a portion (most?)
of the BIOS code was stored on a hard drive. If
you lost the hard drive, you had no BIOS. Which
isn't how flash-based motherboards do it. On regular
motherboards, the BIOS is entirely contained in
a Flash chip.

Don't ask me how to put the BIOS back on a hard
drive for one of those, as I don't know how.

So if there's a non-standard way to do something
on a Compaq computer, they'd find it.

If the Compaq disc has a SKU or a part number, you could
try Googling that for additional breadcrumbs. Or,
if you know the precise model number of the machine
(there might be more than one flavor of 5000), perhaps
you can find some comments in Google about what
the trick was to reinstallation.

*******

http://www.oem.windowsreinstall.com/...paq_XPfull.htm

FULL RESTORE

Set your Bios so that the first boot device is the DVD

Place your restore disc one in your DVD drive.

Restart or start up your computer.

Select Option 4 – Factory Restore

Warning screen will appear, read this and press enter to continue.

System will now restore. When finished you will be prompted
to reboot, remove the restore CD and press enter.

The prompt you're referring to, sounds like a "win98 situation".
Win98 used to say "It is now Safe To Turn Off Your PC" and
you'd flip the power switch. Soft power wasn't a popular
thing back then.

Paul
  #4  
Old October 12th 18, 12:37 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 627
Default Can't reinstall XP

On Thu, 11 Oct 2018 18:05:18 -0400, Paul
wrote:

KenK wrote:
I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the disk
and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP. Unfortunatey, doesn't
work. Tried five or six times. I follow the steps and at the last point
that works it says "turn off computer". If I do it shuts down and that's
it. Nothing else works as a response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has
no effect, no menus - just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope of
another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install disks hat
work on any computer, not just the specific one they came with. but I have
no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


One thing to remember, is there are different kinds
of discs.

A royalty OEM disc doesn't generally "install".

It might "uncompress" then "copy". It's like paving.
It pours a new copy of the factory set of files onto
the hard drive.

The other kind of disc is a conventional installer. It
has an "i386" folder at the root of the WinXP disc.
Doing a Properties on "i386" here, I see 6950 files
and 153 folders.

In that folder are two files: WINNT.EXE or WINNT32.EXE
These kick off the install.

If you could boot the computer with an MSDOS diskette,
then execute "winnt.exe", chances are that would
start an install. And the i386 folder can be copied
to a hard drive. You don't need the rest of the CD.

That's how I first installed my purchased copy of
WinXP Sp3 here. I copied the entire i386 folder to
one FAT32 partition, and a second FAT32 partition was
going to be the C: drive. I booted an MSDOS floppy,
executed winnt.exe in the i386 folder, and after a couple
hours, the install was done. (It's slow because SmartCache
on MSDOS is a bit clumsy, and purges every once in a while.)

Anyway, such an install studies the dynamics of the situation,
and installs the correct inbox drivers for the kind of
disk controller you might have.

Whereas the Compaq disc should have just the right set
of drivers for that PC model. It should be a "glove fit"
for the job, no ****ing around. You just pour those
files in place, as no "logic" is needed when you uncompress
and copy stuff.

*******

You would need to look at the contents of the disc,
to see what it is. A "file copy" OS, or an "installer" OS.
Some of the file copy things, might use Ghost or PQService
format. That sort of thing. And perhaps 7ZIP could open
and examine whatever files are on there. I use 7ZIP as if
it was a forensic tool - it's my "computer magnifying glass".

*******

A bunch of crazy people worked at Compaq :-)

They did things unlike other companies. They
had a BIOS for example, where a portion (most?)
of the BIOS code was stored on a hard drive. If
you lost the hard drive, you had no BIOS. Which
isn't how flash-based motherboards do it. On regular
motherboards, the BIOS is entirely contained in
a Flash chip.

Don't ask me how to put the BIOS back on a hard
drive for one of those, as I don't know how.

So if there's a non-standard way to do something
on a Compaq computer, they'd find it.

If the Compaq disc has a SKU or a part number, you could
try Googling that for additional breadcrumbs. Or,
if you know the precise model number of the machine
(there might be more than one flavor of 5000), perhaps
you can find some comments in Google about what
the trick was to reinstallation.

*******

http://www.oem.windowsreinstall.com/...paq_XPfull.htm

FULL RESTORE

Set your Bios so that the first boot device is the DVD

Place your restore disc one in your DVD drive.

Restart or start up your computer.

Select Option 4 – Factory Restore

Warning screen will appear, read this and press enter to continue.

System will now restore. When finished you will be prompted
to reboot, remove the restore CD and press enter.

The prompt you're referring to, sounds like a "win98 situation".
Win98 used to say "It is now Safe To Turn Off Your PC" and
you'd flip the power switch. Soft power wasn't a popular
thing back then.

Paul

The compaq disk I have is the $10 one they send you if you say you
lost yours and it is a pretty generic XP SP2 load. I have used it a
lot, not always on a Compaq/HP.
Drivers are always the trick since what is on that disk is minimal at
best.
  #5  
Old October 12th 18, 01:45 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Can't reinstall XP

wrote:
On 11 Oct 2018 17:10:06 GMT, KenK wrote:

I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the disk
and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP. Unfortunatey, doesn't
work. Tried five or six times. I follow the steps and at the last point
that works it says "turn off computer". If I do it shuts down and that's
it. Nothing else works as a response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has
no effect, no menus - just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope of
another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install disks hat
work on any computer, not just the specific one they came with. but I have
no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


If it did not detect an error on the install, the disk is probably
good. I would start from scratch and run some diagnostics (disk and
RAM) to be sure you don't just have a hardware problem.


I would probably move the disk to another machine, or even
an IDE enclosure, plug it into another computer, and look to
see how far along in the file copying process it got. See
if the collection of files "looks complete". Or whether it
never did anything in all that time.

Paul
  #6  
Old October 12th 18, 02:01 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Can't reinstall XP

wrote:

The compaq disk I have is the $10 one they send you if you say you
lost yours and it is a pretty generic XP SP2 load. I have used it a
lot, not always on a Compaq/HP.
Drivers are always the trick since what is on that disk is minimal at
best.


This kinda sounds like "installing" and not just copying.

https://www.windowsbbs.com/threads/u...resario.42873/

The thread starter there, managed to end up with a dual-boot.

And that is hardly the "Factory Restore" you associate with
OEM (copying type) media. If it was a Factory Restore, it should
have zapped everything on the disk before it started.

And I still don't understand their reference to "BIOS returned
to Defaults". Sure, on a conventional motherboard you can
do a "Load Setup Defaults", "Save and Exit" to achieve such
a result. Is this one of those weird Compaq BIOS setups with
half the BIOS sitting on the hard drive ? Which makes it
easy to trash.

And the machine particulars in that example:

Compaq Presario 5000 series. Model 5BW220, with
A Maxtor 120Gb HDD,
P-3 1.33GHz. 133MHzFSB
which originally had Win ME installed.

That's close to my vintage year 2000 machine. The machine
likely didn't get the 120GB drive until later. And the
reasons it's 120GB, is because a larger disk would be over
the limit for the BIOS.

My machine shipped with the 64GB drive limit, and a BIOS
update extended that to 128GB (allowing a 120GB drive to be
the boot drive). The larger disks weren't available
right away.

And my machine from back then, couldn't boot from USB. It
only had USB 1.1 (too slow). It couldn't use a DVD drive
(refused to issue commands to it). It could use a CD-R
or a CD-RW optical drive. If you wanted to install an OS, it
has to fit on CD media (ruling out modern copies
of Ubuntu or Mint, but still allowing Puppy). And WinXP
fits on a CD, so that one is OK. Vista+, not so much.

Paul
  #7  
Old October 16th 18, 03:00 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
No_Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6
Default Can't reinstall XP

On 11 Oct 2018 17:10:06 GMT, KenK wrote:

I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the disk
and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP. Unfortunatey, doesn't
work. Tried five or six times. I follow the steps and at the last point
that works it says "turn off computer". If I do it shuts down and that's
it. Nothing else works as a response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has
no effect, no menus - just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope of
another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install disks hat
work on any computer, not just the specific one they came with. but I have
no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


Make sure the CD drive is working properly.

  #8  
Old October 16th 18, 08:58 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
MikeS[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 74
Default Can't reinstall XP

On 16/10/2018 03:00, wrote:
On 11 Oct 2018 17:10:06 GMT, KenK wrote:

I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the disk
and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP. Unfortunatey, doesn't
work. Tried five or six times. I follow the steps and at the last point
that works it says "turn off computer". If I do it shuts down and that's
it. Nothing else works as a response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has
no effect, no menus - just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope of
another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install disks hat
work on any computer, not just the specific one they came with. but I have
no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


Make sure the CD drive is working properly.

What is printed on the CD?

If it is a Microsoft OEM XP CD supplied with many Compaq PCs it has "For
distribution with a new PC only." printed on it, and has the Microsoft
holograms on it. You can use that to install XP just like a Microsoft
retail disk but only on the make/model it was supplied with.

If the CD does not have that label it is only a recovery/repair disk and
cannot be used to install XP.

  #9  
Old October 20th 18, 06:42 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
KenK
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 444
Default Can't reinstall XP

MikeS wrote in news
On 16/10/2018 03:00, wrote:
On 11 Oct 2018 17:10:06 GMT, KenK wrote:

I have an old Compaq Presario 5000 which is extremely slow. Used the
disk and instructions that came with it to reinstall XP.
Unfortunatey, doesn't work. Tried five or six times. I follow the
steps and at the last point that works it says "turn off computer".
If I do it shuts down and that's it. Nothing else works as a
response to that screen - no mouse, Enter has no effect, no menus -
just a message to turn computer off.

Looks like it's a defective CD? Compaq is out of business so no hope
of another CD - I doubt HP cares.

Any other way to reinstall XP? I understand there are XP install
disks hat work on any computer, not just the specific one they came
with. but I have no access to one.

Any suggestions or an I just SOL?

TIA


Make sure the CD drive is working properly.

What is printed on the CD?

If it is a Microsoft OEM XP CD supplied with many Compaq PCs it has
"For distribution with a new PC only." printed on it, and has the
Microsoft holograms on it. You can use that to install XP just like a
Microsoft retail disk but only on the make/model it was supplied with.

If the CD does not have that label it is only a recovery/repair disk
and cannot be used to install XP.


Disk says "Compaq Recovery CD'. Instruction sheet with disk includes
"Factory Resto Restores your computer to the original factory
installed software state." That's the one I used. No MS logo on the disk
but at the bottom there is copyright info which incluses MS Corp.



--
I love a good meal! That's why I don't cook.






  #10  
Old October 21st 18, 02:48 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Shadow
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default Can't reinstall XP

On Sun, 21 Oct 2018 01:57:03 +0100, ? Good Guy ?
wrote:

On 20/10/2018 18:42, KenK wrote:


Disk says "Compaq Recovery CD'. Instruction sheet with disk includes
"Factory Resto Restores your computer to the original factory
installed software state." That's the one I used. No MS logo on the disk
but at the bottom there is copyright info which incluses MS Corp.


The disk must have passed its shelf life. All magnetic media have a
shelf life and like magnets, the data fades as time passes. The disks
needs to be used at least once every 6 months to preserve its magnetic
media properties. This is sometimes called "Re-charging" the disk!!!!!!!!.


Now that was funny !!!!! Magnetic CDs ....
Like Win 10 uploading your personal data to "keep it fresh" ?
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012
 




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