OK, got a Compaq, for free, dead hard drive.
So I threw in my Maxtor 20G that was sitting around and doing nothing, popped in a Win2K CD, and figured it would be all honky-dury...nope, it goes through the first install phase where it copies files, etc, but after that refuses to boot. Leaves me with a blinking cursor.
At first I thought it was one of those bits with the "BIOS" on the hard disk but I just flashed the BIOS and it didn't use the hard disk at all.
WTF?
did you check the boot sequence in the bios? for compaq usually f10 when you see the flashing light on the right top.
Yep F10.
Thanks for the suggestion but it didn't work. I set hard drive as first boot device and no success. I've reinstalled about 3 times, formatting each time.
This is just a freakin' party. :rolleyes: :p
Use the 2k cd - boot from cd - run the command line repair console, type in fixboot... try again
What model compaq exactly?
I'll try that thanks.Quote:
Originally posted by NooNoo
Use the 2k cd - boot from cd - run the command line repair console, type in fixboot... try again
What model compaq exactly?
It's a 5835. Not like I can really complain because it's free :p but still would be nice to get it working. If I ever get this thing to work I'll be asking about some networking possibilities and maybe using this as a small web/network server or just a place to stash files.
Doesn't boot from the CD, yet I put in a Boot CD and it works fine.
Compaq hardware checker This might show up any problems you have...
I had nearly the same problem with a 5852, it was fixed by a new HDD. And yes I saw that you already changed it, but try another just for ****s and giggles
Totally fdisked the drive, everything, still didn't work, but finally remembered to try an fdisk /mbr and it appears to be working now.
BTW on another side note, anyone ever tried replacing a floppy in a Compaq? Ugh, there is one pin on the MB header, cable, and drive itself that is missing and since I don't have the floppy drive right now the cable wouldn't fit into my spare floppy drive. Thankfully the motherboard took a spare floppy cable I had lying around but what a pain in the arse...:p