Crazy Compaq

[Stealer]

I have or I should say that a customer has a compaq computer which is really acting strange. Not sure of the model number but some of the specs are listed below.

1 mgz cpu
128mb ram
10 gb hard drive
dvd
cdrw
Original software is win98se. Customer installed full version of XP pro. And in doing so he also wiped out the d partition which compaq puts there to store restore files. Customer did NOT receive a separate restore cd roms that he can use to restore win98 from. Instead compaq uses that d partition to store those files in. Ok enough said of that.

Here is the problem

In my "computer" only the "A" drive and "c" are shown.
They are shown in the bios and in device manager they both have an explanation mark. Booting off a win98 boot disk I can access both the dvd and cdrw drive. So I would think that if I can access both drives from dos that would elemi ate a hardware failure. But then I switched the ide controllers so that I had the hard drive booting from the secondary controller. And guess what, it would not boot. Most computers should boot from either controller. The decision was made to swap out the main board.

Did I say that both the dvd and cdrw drives where replaced to try to fix this problem. Ok I am saying it now, they were both replaced today

Not much of this makes any sense to me unless not booting from the secondary controller is specific to Compaq.

Does anybody here have any ideas about this?
Looking foreword to all comments.
Stealer

 

[RSA]

Compaq have an on-line driver download page at

http://www.compaq.com

(although that may have changed after the HP/Compaq merger, you can still get there via that address). Make sure you know the model number though, this is usually on a sticker somewhere on the box. From there you will be able to locate all the relevant drivers, download and install them.

 

[Stealer]

RSA
So you are saying that you think that this is a driver problem? How do you expain that the computer does not boot from the secondary controller?

Stealer

Any other comments?

 

[RSA]

Compaq do things in funny ways, when I was a bench engineer, I had to install Windows on 3 laptops, but the Compaq supplied CD's didn't work, so we used generic Windows CD's and used the Compaq licenses. 1 out of the three laptops worked ok, the others did wierd things until the Compaq drivers were installed, then all was well.

As a Compaq trained engineer, hearing that it will not boot from the secondary controller is nothing new, as you said, you have eliminated a hardware issue. Some revisions of Compaq BIOS will not boot from a secondary controller without a hard drive on the primary, some won't boot at all, while others boot quite happily, depends on machine and BIOS type (one of the reasons I hate Compaq, even though they provided me with a living for over 5 years).

As you have also said, you can get in to Windows, so any necessary patches can be applied. As a field engineer, if I had not applied the latest drivers/patches to a system (and upgraded the BIOS), Compaq were not interested in replacing the motherboard. More often than not, if we did manage to get them to swap the board without doing so, the board would be classed as No Fault Found and they would charge us for the privalidge! (They often ask for a fault report from their own diags software, which tells them the software revisions).

Anyway, before tearing a machine apart to swap the motherboard, surly it wouldn't hurt to at least try the latest drivers, if it does not solve the problem, nothing has been lost right?

 

[hodgesj]

have you tried to contact compaq for restore disks??? I can hardly believe that they weren't supplied with the computer. if not try a full format with say partition magic 7.0,run fdisk, and then do a clean install with the win xp pro disk.

 

[Stealer]

RSA,

Thanks for all your info. Well the next timne I go out there I will check into a possible driver problem. In the meantime the warranty co. is sending a main board so we will have to wait until next week and see what happens.

Hodgesj,

Nope, I am sure that Compaq does not give out restory disks anymore. They use a partition on the hard drive to store the restore files. The recovery cd rom that they do give only points to the partition on the hard drive and contains no windows files at all.
After the new main board is installed next week and it still does not work the customer will have only two options. Get Compaq to send him a set of restore cd roms or use his xp disk and install xp from scratch. The warranty companies will not help with software at all so it is up to the customer to restore his system.



I will update this thread after I go back next week.

Any other comments are welcome.

P.S.
Hey RSA.
Can you direct me to a website that would give me some info on becoming Compaq certified?

Thanks
Stealer