Troubleshooting Help Please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian Walsh
  • Start date Start date
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Brian Walsh

This is a problem I'm having with my roommate's computer. It's a little long
but I wanted to list my actions step-by-step.

My roommate recently received a free Compaq Presario 5630. The user had
upgraded it to Windows ME and added a Memorex CD burner in addition to the
DVD drive already installed. At first glance, I didn't notice any problems.
We soon realized that there was no modem driver. I was unable to find one.
My roommate also advised me of CD problems (he still hasn't specified). The
person he received the tower from didn't know what driver to use and
suggested the restore disk. Bad Idea. From Windows, the restore disk only
rebooted the computer. I was able to make a boot disk and run the disk from
DOS. I placed the disk in the DVD drive and the CD launched. Before the
program began the process it asked me to insert the CD (which was already in
the drive). I switched the CD to the CD-R drive. The process began, again
asked me to insert the CD, then went to an A: prompt. I realized there was a
CD conflict and removed the CD-R drive. I ran the process again and the
program ran without problem. The computer rebooted and began to load Windows
98. It failed. I was able to boot into safe mode, though. I tried the
restore CD a few more times all with the same result. The restore CD did
tell me the name of my modem driver so I decided to run fdisk and put in
another version of Windows 98. I put in the Windows startup disk. I am
unable to access any drive. I type "cd F:" and it will change to the F (CD)
drive, hang for a few seconds, and switch back to the A: drive. It does this
for all drives. If I reconnect the CD-R I get a message after POST, "Invalid
system disk. Please remove the disk and restart." (that's not word for word,
but we all know that message) I had nothing in any drives. I am now unable
to access any drive except A: from the boot disk. With the CD-R removed I
can still start Windows in safe mode. With the CD-R connected, I can do
nothing. My next step was going to be to remove all CD drives and use the
one from my computer. Before I do that I was hoping someone here might have
some ideas. Any Thoughts? Thank you for any help you may provide.
 
have you looked at the BIOS to see if the CD drives are being recognized?
also....have you by chance looked at the jumpers on the back of the CD drives
to see how they're set???
 
I've checked the jumpers in all positions. On a Compaq, the BIOS is supposed
to be accessible by pressing F1, but it won't let me in. I've also tried
Tab, Delete, Shift, ~, and random button combinations.

j said:
have you looked at the BIOS to see if the CD drives are being recognized?
also....have you by chance looked at the jumpers on the back of the CD drives
to see how they're set???





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I've checked the jumpers in all positions. On a Compaq, the BIOS is supposed
to be accessible by pressing F1, but it won't let me in. I've also tried
Tab, Delete, Shift, ~, and random button combinations.
Click to expand...

Have you tried f10? That has been standard on Compaq for years.

JT
 
This is a problem I'm having with my roommate's computer. It's a little long
but I wanted to list my actions step-by-step.

My roommate recently received a free Compaq Presario 5630. The user had
upgraded it to Windows ME and added a Memorex CD burner in addition to the
DVD drive already installed. At first glance, I didn't notice any problems.
We soon realized that there was no modem driver. I was unable to find one.
My roommate also advised me of CD problems (he still hasn't specified). The
person he received the tower from didn't know what driver to use and
suggested the restore disk. Bad Idea. From Windows, the restore disk only
rebooted the computer. I was able to make a boot disk and run the disk from
DOS. I placed the disk in the DVD drive and the CD launched. Before the
program began the process it asked me to insert the CD (which was already in
the drive). I switched the CD to the CD-R drive. The process began, again
asked me to insert the CD, then went to an A: prompt. I realized there was a
CD conflict and removed the CD-R drive. I ran the process again and the
program ran without problem. The computer rebooted and began to load Windows
98. It failed. I was able to boot into safe mode, though. I tried the
restore CD a few more times all with the same result. The restore CD did
tell me the name of my modem driver so I decided to run fdisk and put in
another version of Windows 98. I put in the Windows startup disk. I am
unable to access any drive. I type "cd F:" and it will change to the F (CD)
drive, hang for a few seconds, and switch back to the A: drive. It does this
for all drives. If I reconnect the CD-R I get a message after POST, "Invalid
system disk. Please remove the disk and restart." (that's not word for word,
but we all know that message) I had nothing in any drives. I am now unable
to access any drive except A: from the boot disk. With the CD-R removed I
can still start Windows in safe mode. With the CD-R connected, I can do
nothing. My next step was going to be to remove all CD drives and use the
one from my computer. Before I do that I was hoping someone here might have
some ideas. Any Thoughts? Thank you for any help you may provide.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the CD drives in your system?



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Brian Walsh said:
already
That's my next step. I was hoping someone here had encountered this and had
a quick fix.
Click to expand...
I still can't get his CD-R to work, but everything else workes. Now I have
to track down some drivers....
 
Brian Walsh said:
That's my next step. I was hoping someone here had encountered this and had
a quick fix.
Click to expand...
Did you try to put your boot disk in and select no cd support and try
to use the command fdisk/mbr.
This will correct the master boot record it sounds like you may have a
problem there.
You also may want to do a virus scan before you do this.
the former fdisk command will not delete any info or anything but it
will fix a boot record problem.
Also you did check to make sure that you had selected boot from cdrom
in bios?
If all else fails ditch the restore disk and fdisk and format and get
a fresh windows disk to install from.
 
"Brian Walsh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Did you try to put your boot disk in and select no cd support and try
to use the command fdisk/mbr.
This will correct the master boot record it sounds like you may have a
problem there.
You also may want to do a virus scan before you do this.
the former fdisk command will not delete any info or anything but it
will fix a boot record problem.
Also you did check to make sure that you had selected boot from cdrom
in bios?
If all else fails ditch the restore disk and fdisk and format and get
a fresh windows disk to install from.
Click to expand...

That last is what I finally did. I resolved the issue with the DVD drive,
but the CD-R is still a problem. I think it may be jumper settings. I still
can't track down the sound drivers though. The Compaq site is no help at
all.
 
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