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Compaq Deskstar Problems

S

Shainz

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 11, 2004
Messages
127
I have an old Compaq Deskpro which I tried installing Windows XP Pro/Windows 2000 on, but to no avail. The specs are AMD K-6 400, 192 Megs of Ram, WD 20 GB Hdd. When I put in the XP or 2000 CD, it boots from it and I select reformat. Once its done formatting, it goes to the screen where it installs the setup files and then reboots. Once it reboots it boots from the
CD again and goes to the same screen as before instead of showing me the XP/2000 Logo and finishing up installation. If I take out the XP/2000 CD and reboot the computer, it says Operating System Not Found. I would really like to get this computer running and would appreciate any help or ideas. Thanks

-Roman
 
Yes, my bad guys its Deskpro not Deskstar. I havent seen the front panel of that thing for like a month so I couldnt remember.
 
You've set an active partition, correct?
 
Elledan said:
You've set an active partition, correct?
Click to expand...

i think that is a given if you're doing a clean install.
if i remember correctly, you should take out the CD after the first reboot.
i am just guessing here, but after the intial the windows xp installation do you take out the CD when it says that it's going to reboot?

just for the hell of it, have you tried setting all the cmos/bios settings to factory defaults?
 
darkpark said:
i think that is a given if you're doing a clean install.
Click to expand...
No, it isn't.

When you create the partitions (using fdisk or whatever) on the disk you wish to install the OS on, you must set an active partition, or booting from the HDD will be impossible. Setting the active partition is often done manually.
 
Its a full format and installation. There are no partitions on the drive and I believe that the active partition is done automatically. And yes I have tried taking out the CD, it gives me "Operating System Not Found"
 
Shainz said:
Its a full format and installation. There are no partitions on the drive and I believe that the active partition is done automatically"
Click to expand...

No, it isn't.
 
hmmm... i wonder if your pc is failing to find the boot sector. is the HDD geometery (sectors, cylinders, etc...) correct in the bios?
 
darkpark said:
hmmm... i wonder if your pc is failing to find the boot sector. is the HDD geometery (sectors, cylinders, etc...) correct in the bios?
Click to expand...

It auto detects, I have no clue how to adjust any of that.. Clue me in :D
 
can you even get into the bios? i don't know just how your compaq pc is but older compaq desktops had a diagnostic/setup partition on the hard drive. so if you wiped everything off the HDD than you couldn't configure anything in the pc.
by the way, durning the isntallation of windows xp does it see the entire size of the hard drive? if it does than i'm sure your HDD is probably setup alright.

by the way, do you happen have a spare hard drive that already has windows on it? throw that into the compaq for shits and giggles than see what happens. :) it'd be interesting to see if it boots from that.
 
compaqs of that era generally have a "hidden" system partition that needs to be in place for the system to boot properly. you may need an original compaq restore CD in order to install that partition.
 
Check your boot priority. Typically it should be
First Boot Device: Floppy
Second: CD-ROM
Third: HDD-0, or primary HDD

It sounds to me like it's set to only boot from cdrom.
Go into your BIOS and change the boot priority.
 
Sirje31337: Ill try that, Thanks.

BigBadBiologist: Do you have any ideas where I could get a copy of that Compaq CD?
 
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