Help! Overtired Anxiety-ridden Idiot Makes Ultimate Faux Pas!!!

I have an old model Compaq Armada 1700 that was "given" to me ($100.00 US) by an IT girl who has since moved away. In a fit of brainlock late one night when I was tired I used a program called Washee to "clean" the hard drive. Well, it cleaned too much of the operating system!

[move] Yes, I'm a Nimrod [/move]

This is a Compaq laptop w/ Pentium II chip; Win95 B , it was fully updated & tweaked. 3Gb hard drive/ floppy 3.5" drive/CD ROM drive. Windows will not boot.

I can get the system DOS prompt and I have an old Tempest DOS GUI installed as well, which helps me navagate DOS. The machine doesn't recognise the CD drive is there (not found in DOS !?!), the hard drive light remains constantly lit, which worries me, and the battery won't function properly. I don't have a Windows 95 disk & don't know where to look for one. All Compaq literature indicates that this model was optimized for Win 95; however, I'd like to know if I could install Windows 98 instead. Do I have to reformat the C: drive in either case (Win 95 or 9? Is there a way to recover otherwise? Will these disks auto-boot (if I find versions that are legal that are for sale). Could I buy some of these OEM disks that are for sale on the net and be legal when I use them?
I feel soooo helpless.

Isn't sanity just a one-trick pony anyway?
I mean, all you get is that one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, well,
the sky's the limit!

"The Tick (comic book)" ​

 

Will have to make just a real quick reply;
This should be of some help:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

The laptop could most likely be salvaged.
Sorry but haven't enough time to get indept on this subject....just breezing through an may not be back for quite some time..Luck to you.

 

Didn't compaq / win95 store all the necessary cab files in windows\options\cab or such a name? or profile in stead of options, something like that anyway. I don't have no win95 at hand this moment so can't look for you and in my win98 in that place are other cabs.
Could be there is a setup file which could maybe rebuild the win95 again.
You can with a proper win98 cd upgrade and the OEM cd's on internet would be OK, i've been told. But how much RAM do you have? The PII is ok, the 3 giga HD is ok.
You didn't make a startup diskette? The bootdisk Shunned just mentioned has all kinds of cd-rom drivers, fingers crossed!
Would start with that before trying a re-install.

 

Jooske mention the correct.. fast and easiest way.......works like a charm!!
Unfortunately,,,may not work at all for you...cause you most likely don't have the product ID.....an Startup Exe will ask for it...an wont install without it......
Purchasing legal copies of 95 or 98 is all but impossible to find these days....if you try the internet be careful....whats offered is often not real.....
You need to get D drive back....running in DOS is limited.....crashes alot.....try Jooses way.....an may luck be with you......

 

I found sometimes getting in the BIOS -- isnt't that F1 for a compaq in many cases? -- and if i've nothing to lose set CMOS etc to default (i do note down what i see before and changes after) on one of my older systems and most of time that is enough to put some things back.
I am very careful on that system with cleaners as i had to go through the BIOS each time after that.

 

That may work to some extent...the problem is that it would still be in DOS mode....no D drive.........going for clean install may be the best shot......unless the poster can get setup exe to run......

 

Another way is to copy the cabs to floppy....takes around 32 floppies....but again the product ID may be needed.....it would be a clean install.....

 

Before leaving the forum thought to answer a few of your questions.
yes, you can upgrade to win98....however, in so doing be careful, lots of people don't realize that in a case such as yours you may lose Words/Office/spreadsheet,etc//// those can be replaced with others if needed...just understand that they may be lost.
You could upgrade to XP...on compaq you may need to download certain other installs prior to installing XP or may lose Sound......the extras can be obtained from the compaq site..free.
Purchasing a used CD...........someone else would better answer that question.....
Use of the Start-up disk imo wont resolve the problem....the system has to be taken out of DOS mode first......THATS THE REAL PROBLEM.....in REAL mode the computer could perhaps be repaired

 

So as not to mis-lead you. When upgrading to 98 you WILL be offered an OPTION to SAVE whats already installed...a Box should pop-up asking you the question....saying it will take x-mumber of mb....choose that! Later that SAVED can be removed from add/remove to re-claim that space.
Was concerned that maybe in DOS mode you would not get that option then remembered otherwise.
Got to get myself some sleep......hope ypou can put all these posts together..LOL