Hi!
Anybody can help with this problem?
I have a compaq pc given to me by my friend.
However,when I tried to boot up,it shows:
not ready reading drive c:abort,retry,fail,ignore
Thanx!

It sounds like the C; drive has been cleared using fdisk .
The dos partition has been removed and or the drive has not been formatted.

Check with the person who gave you the unit and ask if it was cleared.
If not. Then you may have loosened a connector during transport or damaged the drive.

If you find that drive was not cleared you should open the case and ensure that all connections at in place.
1. A Large ribbon cable should be connected to the back of the drive and the other end connected to the Mother Board.
2. A 4 pin power cable should also be connected tot he drive .

Both these cables should be pressed tightly into the correct connection.

If you find the drive has been cleared you should get the original Compaq recovery disks from the person who gave you the unit ..If they still have them.
If not you should check the Compaq web site for their Compaq setup and system diagnostics programs for that system.

Install these before you use a retail copy of windows to reinstall the operating system


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To ERR is HUMAN
To REALLY screw things UP, YOU NEED a COMPUTER !

And be aware that Compaq has it's own way of doing things. "Proprietary" is what it's called. You will need the setup disks or CD that came with the computer. Sometimes you can do a a standard fdisk, but you might lose some HD space or something even wierder. Do you have the original software from Compaq?