How do I remove (completely) an oem OS from a Compaq

[MeadowsG]

How do you go about changing the operating system on a compaq desktop machine? I have 3 compaq machines (2 POS desktop)(1 fantastic bulletproof armada laptop) My laptop was no problem but the 350mhz desk machine will not even take the restore disks.
Any suggestions?( other then using my ball pein hammer)

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Pass the coffee and no one gets hurt

[Paleo Pete]

Don't know of a way to do it successfully, since Compaq stores part of the BIOS on a partition on the hard drive, format and reinstall it without using the restore disk and you lose a good chunk of BIOS. Compaq's way of making sure you are forced to use their proprietary OS.

You should be able to boot to a Start Up disk and format the drive, then run the restore disk, which will recreate the original factory setup, partitions and all.

Changing OS is a bad idea, because of the BIOS that has to be there, and can only be restored from the restore disk.

Want to borrow my hammer? http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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[hiredgoonz]

Well that explains the difficulties I had trying to replace 98 w/2000...you might have luck w/a dual boot (which is what I did with my laptop)

[MeadowsG]

I found the problem,
After I repaired this computer for a friend he took it to a computer shop and had 128mgs of ram added to the 32megs that was original. The MORON at the shop put 133mhz128meg with 100mhz32 meg, he put the larger chip in the second slot and this POS Compaq 350mhz could not deal with it.

Thanks for the suggestion, and a lesson learned
G

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Pass the coffee and no one gets hurt

[rdaniels]

You can always go to Compaq's web site and get the utility which recreates the BIOS partition and the BIOS (it's a two-part process). Once the BIOS partition is restored, you can put any OS you desire on it, assuming you have wiped the disk previously.

[Randy_tx]

Additionally, you can just eliminate the Bios Partition on the Compaq's that use them altogether by going into bios with a floppy if you ever need to change bios settings.

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[BigBlue66]

Me have big ass Cadillac to run over with, if hammer don't work. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[andyb]

Compaq no longer use the F10 partition on their desktop and laptop products. The BIOS information is stored on a CMOS same as most other machines. They still use a diagnostics partition but this is not needed for day to day running.

[Randy_tx]

That is correct Andy; however, when did the changeover for Compaq occur??

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT