Compaq ..... ?

[umm...lave!]

Need help, advice and touch of luck.

A friend of mine is the new owner of an old and used Compaq PC. (with a couple of drivers problems)

First I need to know how to access to the bios setup, I've tried from the well know DEL key, to the 12 functions keys and nothing happens. I've read somewhere that in some compaqs models you need a cd to boot and enter the setup, is that right?

My friend asked the original owner for the drivers CD's and he get two CD's labeled "Quick Restore"; with them comes a very short manual in spanish (my natural language), but so badly translated that don't have sense. The only "clean" knowledge that I can take from the manual is "Complete restauration of factory defaults" and "format of hard disks".

Can somebody clarify this to me, please?

[3fingersalute]

Most compaq's are accessed by pushing the F10 key during POST when you see the little cursor blinking in the top right hand corner of the screen. A lot of the Compaqs used a small partition on the hard drive wasaccess the BIOS settings, so if the hard drive was ever replaced, its possible that the BIOS utility (called softpaqs) wasn't loaded onto the new drive, so you'll need to download and reload them.

If you know the model, you can find downloads here (drivers, manuals, etc.)

[xpuser357]

Need help, advice and touch of luck.

A friend of mine is the new owner of an old and used Compaq PC. (with a couple of drivers problems)

First I need to know how to access to the bios setup, I've tried from the well know DEL key, to the 12 functions keys and nothing happens. I've read somewhere that in some compaqs models you need a cd to boot and enter the setup, is that right?

My friend asked the original owner for the drivers CD's and he get two CD's labeled "Quick Restore"; with them comes a very short manual in spanish (my natural language), but so badly translated that don't have sense. The only "clean" knowledge that I can take from the manual is "Complete restauration of factory defaults" and "format of hard disks".

Can somebody clarify this to me, please?

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I had a Compaq 7478 in 1999 and with restore CD`s. place disk 1 in cd rom
it will come up asking if you want to restore computer like when you picked it off store shelf and brought it home and hooked it up. all drivers will be loaded
I had win 98. after a bit it will ask for disk 2 and then back to disk1. Hopefully
your book has #`s microsoft will be asking for to have your operating system
to work like this XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXX. yours will be Different.

[umm...lave!]

Thank you very much people, will give a try to the CD's (if they are from this pc ), if not, will follow 3fingersalute's advice and download the correct softpack from that wonderfull link.

[umm...lave!]

yours will be Different.

Model: Compaq Presario 5363 K/450 "LA MERCO"*

Yeap, a little different. First thing the Quick Restore have done is erase the current partitions , not big deal, I was planning to do the same anyway. Then have created new partitions and formated them, all done without my intervention; done that the program ask me if I wish to perform a factory restoration (very smart question don't you think?), I've choosed "yes" (very smart answer too IMHO) and from multiples CD's. Ten minutes later the pc reseted itself and I saw the start up of win98, the program installed all the correct drivers itself. Then reset itself again and have done an image of the disk. The last thing the program ask was, like you have said, the serial key of win 98.

All done the pc works like a charm.

(*) If memory serves me well "LA MERCO" refers to the Mercosur (and economic comunity ala european one)

[xpuser357]

Model: Compaq Presario 5363 K/450 "LA MERCO"*

Yeap, a little different. First thing the Quick Restore have done is erase the current partitions , not big deal, I was planning to do the same anyway. Then have created new partitions and formated them, all done without my intervention; done that the program ask me if I wish to perform a factory restoration (very smart question don't you think?), I've choosed "yes" (very smart answer too IMHO) and from multiples CD's. Ten minutes later the pc reseted itself and I saw the start up of win98, the program installed all the correct drivers itself. Then reset itself again and have done an image of the disk. The last thing the program ask was, like you have said, the serial key of win 98.

All done the pc works like a charm.

(*) If memory serves me well "LA MERCO" refers to the Mercosur (and economic comunity ala european one)

Glad to hear it all worked I was hoping the cd`s would match hardware,
Also I wanted to explain once cd`s started you could not Intervene