Problem with a Compaq Deskpro recognising Hard disk!

[Marzman]

Firstly, this is not a harddisk problem. I have a compaq deskpro EN series SFF, PII 350Mhz, 128Mb Ram, 6.4 H/d, but every time I connect a harddisk the bios finds it automatically but when it should boot from the H/D it says invalid system disk, replace disk and press any key. Now, in the past, this sort of problem has always been a faulty hard disk, but I've tried two which both booted the operating system (Win98 SE) on another computer, and the cables are fine and I've tried every possibility with the jumpers and Ide ports. I beleive I am missing something in the bios, and as this system is designed to be on a network in a office, maybe getting the O/S to load from the harddisk is not as simple as ordinary PC's. I tried to search for a manual, no luck and I can only seem to find software to update the bios from the Compaq site, not just to configure it. This is why I need help, from anyone who has delt with Compaqs, office (network) computers or knows something I have might missed with the automatic bios, thanks in advance

[classicsoftware]

Go into the Bios and check the Boot up sequence.

[Marzman]

The boot sequence is fine, its at A: First/C: second but I've tried it both ways and it makes no difference. Most I can do is get in through a Win98 boot disk but unless there is away to boot windows from their thats no advantage. Thanks for the idea though, I still think I'm missing something that I need to turn on/off.

[classicsoftware]

Is this the disk that came with the PC or did you adda new one?

If it's old, you need to run the HD diagnostics from th manufacturers web site.

If it's new, what steps did you take to install it?

[Sylvander]

Are you moving this HDD [which has an OS installed] around from one PC to another?

To do that you'd need to run Setup.exe on each new set of hardware that it's attached to, so that particular set of hardware is included in a new, additional branch of the hardware tree in the registry.

Once that has been done for all the different sets of hardware, then that drive SHOULD be capable of being used on each of those particular hardware combinations.

There would be drivers installed for EVERY item of hardware that is included in the various combinations.

When, at startup, a particular combination of hardware is detected, then the appropriate settings in the registry would be used.
Those would specify the correct drivers and configurations to use and all the hardware should be correctly set for use.

All those settings would increase the size of the registry!

[Marzman]

The disk I have been trying to get the PC to boot from is one that came with it but I have also tried with another hard disk with the same outcome.
QUOTE-
If it's old, you need to run the HD diagnostics from th manufacturers web site.
Is this the norm with compaqs, I thought all bios's would just pick up the harddisk and thats it (it has automatically, and I've checked the H/d setup in the bios and its fine

The hard disk the computer came with was blank, and due to a stupid "feature" where the Power supply only has one Ide power cable running from it I cannot run a Cd-rom so I took the disk off and installed windows on another computer

Sylvander- when you mean running setup.exe, do you mean installing windows again or is this a seperate program on the O/s installed hard disk to configure the system. The computer I installed windows on was full up with hardware so it must have configured itself for that system but I thought when I placed it into the compaq, as its not got much hardware and it has a few bulit in components, I would just get a whole load of driver conflicts once in windows. If I understand correctly, you beleive windows configuration could cause the system to come up with invalid system disk. Just an idea, it might be stupid but on the front of the computer there is a little sticker thats says designed for win98 and NT, could putting Win98 SE have anything to do with it?

[Sylvander]

"The hard disk the computer came with was blank"
If the HDD doesn't have an OS installed [DOS at the very least. Using a Win98 startup disk to "sys C:" installs dos on the HDD], then you would get the "invalid system disk" error.

"so I took the disk off and installed windows on another computer"
As I explained previously:
If you install the OS on a HDD connected to a certain set of hardware items, then that OS will only work with that set [or an identical set] of hardware.
If you then swap it to another set it is not set up for use with that set, and therefore is unlikely to work properly with it.
To make the OS on that HDD work with your "Compaq Deskpro", Windows must have "Setup.exe" run with that HDD connected to the the "Compaq Deskpro" [or another totally identical Deskpro].
Either that or you need to clone your HDD contents from an identical "Compaq Deskpro".

"when you mean running setup.exe, do you mean installing windows again"
Yes.
Either you begin with a blank HDD [preferred]. OR:
When the Windows ["Setup.exe"] installation file detects that you already have Windows installed on the PC it should ask if you wish to "confirm" or "repair" the installation [I can't remember the wording]. You answer yes and "Setup.exe" re-detects all the hardware connected, installs drivers [if it has them], and sets the hardware up for use. "Setup.exe" is the all-important file that does the work of installing Windows onto your HDD. It is on the Windows installation CD in the Win98 folder.

"or is this a seperate program on the O/s installed hard disk to configure the system"
No.

"The computer I installed windows on was full up with hardware so it must have configured itself for that system but I thought when I placed it into the compaq, as its not got much hardware and it has a few bulit in components, I would just get a whole load of driver conflicts once in windows."
I'm not sure what Windows would do when presented with a whole lot of hardware that it was not set up to work with, but it most likely would not be good. You shouldn't expect it to work if not set up correctly. First do that, then take it from there.

"you beleive windows configuration could cause the system to come up with invalid system disk"
I wouldn't begin to address that problem until the more important issue is fixed.
"Invalid System Disk" just means that the BIOS is unable to find DOS on the HDD so it can hand over to it. But there might be a number of reasons for that.

"could putting Win98 SE have anything to do with it?"
I believe that's not a problem. No issue there.

The important problem is:
How are you going to run "Setup.exe" from the Windows installation disk so that Windows can be properly installed and set up for use with this hardware?

[Marzman]

Sys C, I knew that rang a bell, I was trying to remember the command but forgot it. Thanks, its hunky dorey now, moral of this stroy: remember your dos commands

[Sylvander]

Great! :D