Can someone help me crash my computer? or help me get software to work again?

According to an accepted answer over at EE ...

From Intels site, it looks as though there's an adapter or driver that executes during Compaq's PCI Plug-and-Play BIOS? Too techie for me but maybe someone can help you attain the correct "softpaq" available from Compaq ... I'm pretty sure this is what's needed. Someone care to confirm?


GF

 

Here's the page from EE, commentary with links on Compaq's unusual BIOS setup ...

xxxx://xxx.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Q_20685422.html

Reload without the x's please.
I am hoping someone can shed some light Sonya ...


GF

 

Thanks G-Force
Setup has come up before without any problems. It is just an unusual way of getting to it. I know there is a certain key to tap during set up, or maby....I don't know. But it is not the normal typical usual way of getting to setup, lol But ya never know, with that computer there's no tellin
I know that last time I needed to get to setup, I had to call Compaq and ask how cause I could never figure it out But I have faith in the people from Wilders, I don't want to call Compaq
So any help at all is great !

 

You're welcome Sonya, I try!

Like quoted from above ... "They do have a BIOS, but it is augmented by a setup section, which is housed on a hidden partition on the hard drive" ... I'm confident Zorro can wrap this up ... maybe Bubba! I think!

Your setup file may have been damaged or deleted (the error message),
and that "softpaq" whether on your system or downloaded I believe to be the solution.

I'll be watching ....


GF

 

Ok, I got it to recognize B drive and it didn't before. Now it is like this B:\> in DOS but I don't know any of the B commands. I have the Windows 98 boot disk in now. It still doesn't recognize D though. Can someone help?
i TRIED RUN, START, STARTUP,

 

ok, I finally also got it to that screen I ve been trying to get to like the picture in post 6.
And now it says Path not found on the below
:\COMMAND.COM
:\EXTRACT.EXE
:\README.TXT
Then it goes to A:\>
tells me to type in help, but it says bad command or file name.
Still doesn't recognize D drive. Would that have anything to do with the above paths not found? Srry, I don't know this stuff.

 

Ok, now I got it on D:\>
but that's it.

 

To Ron or anyone else still sleuthing this thread, the assisted reply from BillDL halfway down the EE link above
looks to provide the information Sonya is in need of ... but you know I'm a bit short on experience so ...

GF

 

went to compaq.com did search for accessing the bios and came up with this page. link below.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bph07110&dlc=en&lang=en

 

Thanks ronjor, G-Force and ravin,
I havn't really bothered with the computer today at all, but thanks for the links and I will look them over tonight or tomorrow
P.S. Last night, I tried almost every single key on the keyboard trying to find setup. And I DID get it to change to A:\> B:\>, C:\> AND D:\> in DOS
But I will work on it more tomorrow. Thanks !

 

K I've just skimmed through this post but I'm currently doing a reinstall of 98 myself so that I can install 2000 advanced server over top of it.

Anyways to do an fdisk all you have to do is set the bios to boot from the floppy and insert your 98 startup disk on restart. The computer should read the disk and bring you to a black screen with an A:

Here you just type fdisk to start the format disk program.
When it starts set it for large disk support. After that you will come to the fdisk options. Select delete existing partition. Then select delete primary partion. After you delete the partition create a new primary. After fdisk verifies the disk space and you set the size of the partition, you will need to reboot your system. Place your 98 CD in your cdrom drive and then do a reboot. After you reboot select boot from cd and you will be able to do a fresh install of win98.

I believe this is what you need. Sorry if I'm a little skimpish on the details. I'll try and keep an eye on this post if you need help.

 

You can completely forget about my post, if it was useless lol. I missed the fact that there was more than one page of replies to your post. (Hence my skimming, I really need to stop doing that.) I image you don't need anything I wrote. Oh well I try lol
Sorry if I gave you useless info.

 

Thank you! No your post wasn't useless, lol Because I have been trying to figure out which partitions to delete so I can fdisk.
Is there a way I can first be sure it is recognizing the D drive before I do a format? I can't seem to get into bios and I've tried tapping every key on the keyboard during startup (seriously).
I don't wanna do the fdisk, and then the CD drive not work
Thanks again

 

If I may ask Sonya ... did you investigate any of the information found on that EE page?

GF

 

I have read some of it, I have been real busy today, and I plan to look it over tomorrow sometime. And to work more on the computer, I appreciate ALL of your help, and I'm sure I will be back with questions Thanks!

 

Thats good that my post was of some use to you. I don't feel completely useless now lol. Anyway..............

Well to see if drive D is being detected you should be able to startup your comp with the 98 boot disk and place the 98 cd in the CDrom (which is the d drive, correct?)

When the boot disk starts up you should be asked if you want to start with cdrom support or not. You select start with cdrom support and then press enter. When that happens you should come up with an A: prompt but should be able to switch to D: by typing d: and enter. To make sure it is the cdrom, you then type DIR and you will see what is on D:

This should include:

Setup.exe
setuptip.txt
add-ons (folder)
cdsample (folder)
drivers (folder)
tools (folder)
win98 (folder)
autorun.inf
readme.txt

This should prove D: is recognized. Once you prove this you can then fdisk the drive and reinstall 98.

 

Thank you
Ok, here is what I did, and I want to be sure this means it is recognizing D drive. Yes D is my CD drive.
Ok, I put in the boot disk, and the 98 Windows CD. And then started my computer. I chose with CD ROM support. Then it went to A:\> and I typed in D: and it went to D:\>, then I typed DIR, and this is what came up. It isn't anything like what you put, so I wanna be sure before I fdisk.
This is EXACTLY what it reads: All except for the numbers, dates, and times that are also on there beside each one

Volume in drive D is MS-RAMDRIVE
Directory of D:\
ATTRIB EXE
CHKDSK EXE
COMMAND COM
DEBUG EXE
EDIT COM
EXT EXE
EXTRACT EXE
FORMAT COM
HELP BAT
MSCDEX EXE
RESTART COM
SCANDISK EXE
SCANDISK INI
SYS COM
594,217 bytes
1,487,872 bytes free

Is this the D directory, and does that mean it is recognizing D drive?
Thanks

 

G-Force, ronjor, ravin and StevieO, and all else who have left me info, I am off to look at it now.

 

Hey Sonya,
Ya I forgot that when you use a 98 boot disk the comp creates a temporary drive out of memory and calls it D:, anyway if you try the procedure I stated before but instead go to E: you should see the CD-Rom. I hope this is right. It has been awhile since I've do this.

P.S. Sorry for the miss information

 

ok, thanks
when I go to E:\ it says invalid drive specification. I also typed E: thanks

 

I have a question. If I go ahead and fdisk, and lets just say if it does not recognize the D drive. (because I don't think it does anyway)
After the fdisk, won't it automatically go to setup/bios? Since it won't have anything else to go to? And then I can make it recognize D drive from there?
Since I can't seem to find setup/bios, then doesn't it make since that I can do it after fdisk when it will go there (to setup) afterwards anyway?
Someone set me strait, because theres a good chance I don't know what I'm talking about.
But I have fdisked once before on that computer