Need Compaq Presario 1600 S QuickRestore CDs

[redraider3]

I have misplaced my Compaq Presairo 1600S laptop Quick Restore CD. Searched e-Bay and contacted Computer Surgeons at 1-800-496-6127 and have found nothing. I have some corrupted files and need to start over. Any suggestions?

 

[wolluf]

Have you a win98 install CD? If so could try running sfc (system file checker).

 

[redraider3]

wolluf:
I purchased the laptop from Compaq on-line, and have all documentation. I cannot find any Quick-Restore CDs. I have a Microsoft Windows 98SE Getting Started manual that has the Certificate of Authenticity on the front cover along with the Product Key. I did not get a certified CD with Win 98 Operating System if that is what you are refering to as "win98 install CD". No where in the documentation can I find reference to any supplied software.

I have seen Win98SE Operating System software on e-bay but it runs in the neighborhood of $85-$100. There must be some other solution for a computer that is not worth much more than that.

Any other ideas?

 

[wolluf]

what exactly is the 'corrupted file' problem?

do you know anybody with an old 98 machine who might also have install disk you could borrow?

You are unlikely to come across right restore CD I would think, so depends on the problem how it might be sorted.

btw - can definitely get 98 cheaper than that - I've just had a quick look on ebay - found one for $30.

 

[redraider3]

wolluf:
You had 4 comments:
1) What exactly is the ‘corrupted file’ problem? a) On booting up, I get message stating-C:\autoexec.bat:HIBCHK found on 1 lines. Bad command or file name. Google says this has to do with hibernation. Autoexec.bat calls for C:\hibernat\hibchk.bat. Don’t think hibchk.bat exists anywhere. b) Had a problem with hotsync.exe shortcut changed or moved. I don’t remember what I did, but this doesn’t come up anymore. c) Tried to make a boot disk, and the system couldn’t find what was needed and kept asking for the Win98 program disk to be inserted in CD drive. (I found

http://www.bootdisk.com

and downloaded a boot disk. I don’t have problem booting at this point, was just trying to be safe if I deleted something critical.)
2) So far, I have not found anyone to borrow a Win 98 disk. Still looking.
3) Yes, I don’t think I’ll ever find someone with a Quick Restore Disk.
4) I must not know how to find stuff on e-bay. All bid stuff seems to go into the $80++ by the time it finally sells. I haven’t seen anything in “Buy It Now” that is in my price range. Yesterday I found a used copy with certification number for around $20. Bidding closes today and it is already selling for more than I want to spend at this point.

The computer was running so slow that I thought there was too much being loaded into memory on bootup. Consequently, I had been deleting stuff and was concerned I may have corrupted the Registry. Thought at this time it would be better to re-load Win98, but am stuck with the CD problem. I removed McAfee virus s/w and that helped a lot. However, it seems like there are McAfee files everywhere I look. Sure hate to scrap a working computer for the lack of S/W.
Thanks for your comments. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

 

[edfair]

Is there a possibility that you never received a recovery disk, that there might be a recovery partition on your drive?

At some point they quit providing CDs and committed to making them available for the duration of the warranty only. If you needed to reinstall you used the recovery partition. If you lost the hard drive you had to buy the CD also.

Reinstalling with a generic 98 may have issues since it won't come with the special files that were installed for this machine. I would go with wolluf's suggestion on SFC. Or do an overlay install if you can find a CD at your price. An overlay won't wipe out any of the support files previously installed.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[wolluf]

Problem 1a - just edit autoexec.bat to REM out that command (ie, put REM followed by a space in front of it, and it will be ignored - its not important). 1c does sound a bit worrying - must be files missing as normally 98 will just create said CD (is there a Command folder under windows on the machine?). 1b I don't understand - are you saying its not a problem any more? If that's all, you sound like you're basically running ok.

 

[redraider3]

wollf:
I never could “REM” out the “C:\hibernat\hibchk.bat” as you suggested. After several tries, I did a FIND on Autoexec.bat and found it in two places. One in C:\ and the other one buried deep in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adaptc\cdguide folder. I tried to REM both, so am wondering if it is reading an Autoexec.bat somewhere else. In Windows, I right clicked the bat file to open in Wordpad. Selected Edit, made the change, saved the file, and rebooted. Obviously, I am not too swift in the software arena.

In regards to making a bootdisk, I couldn’t find a Command folder. I did find a bootdisk.bat in D:\System Save folder. I made a disk from that which had an unusual assortment of folders and files, but it would boot up to A:\ (Dos).

Yes, I am basically up and running. Have a problem getting a PCI card to work so that I can connect to the internet via wireless router. That is another issue----

Thanks for your help.

 

[redraider3]

edfair:
I believe you hit it! I probably never received a recovery disk. The HD is partitioned into C:\ (4.59 GB) and D:\(System_save) (1.44 GB). I went into DOS and looked at D:\. It was packed with special Compaq files, Recover.exe, command.com, etc. etc. I went back to the reference manual that came with the laptop and found a section on Quick Restore. It described Full, System, and Selective Restore options. To get to the options, they describe clicking a desktop icon titled “COMPAQ SUPPORT Q”. That icon is not there and I cannot find it anywhere. I probably deleted it, thinking it was useless advertising that Compaq added to just promote themselves. Do you have any recommendations on being able to activate the Selective Restore option? I assume that would be similar to what you described as doing an overlay install. I was wondering if there might be a batch file somewhere in D:\ that might do it. Obviously, I am not too swift in the s/w area.
I am still trying to find a Win98 disk. Also, noted your comment that a generic 98 disk would wipe out Compaq support files. This laptop has “internet” buttons that I have never used. I suppose software to program those buttons is an example of what I would lose. No loss to me!
Thanks for your comments.

 

[edfair]

Suspect that booting to DOS and moving to d: and telling it to run recover.exe would bring up the choices. There is also the possibility of a CMOS choice to force a recovery boot.

The full restore is going to wipe out everything on the C: drive and put a new install in place along with any demo programs they licensed. This also means that you are going to lose any programs or data that you have added.

The system restore is probably like the overlay. The selective is probably for individual files.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.