Have pity on me... a small Compaq Presario 5070 needs your help! - Never mind, I give up.

[onemo]

I was given a Compaq Presario 5070 by a guy at work and it was complete except for a harddrive. I thought "no problem, I'll just stick in a harddrive and I'll have another computer for the kid to bang on". That was before I ran into the propriatary Compaq hardware/software wall. It seem's this computer stores part of it's bios on the harddrive as a hidden partition or something. So it doesn't recognize any boot disks (floppy or cd) without it's magical partition. I thought no problem, I'll go to compaq and download a softpaq to redo the partition.

Found the softpaq, extracted it and put in a formatted floppy just like it asked but it always craps out with a floppy error. Tried downloading it several times, no go. Had friends download it and try, no go. Tried to do it on every OS from DOS thru WinXP Pro, no go. Same error pops up on every computer on every OS.

The guy I got the computer from doesn't have the recovery disk, and Compaq support sux, so I beg of anybody who has a 5070's emergency restoration disk to give me a PM. I'm not asking for the system restore cd (OS, and extra compaq crud), just the magical disk that restores the harddrive to factory defaults.

I have given up on this machine, I think something is wrong with the motherboard, I've tried everything as well as restore disks and this thing refuses to play nice. Thanks anyway!

 

[capricorn]

OK. A longshot for your longshot. I have a compaq 4716, which has the same sort of hidden BIOS area on the hard disk. If you look at this link, there's a personal computer setup diskette that has the ability to create the diagnostics partition on a new hard disk. (After a while, I just used the diskette to set up the BIOS stuff directly rather than mess with the hidden partition, but I'd be a bit surprized if this diskette works for your model since it's not listed.) After you have the partition created, maybe the system restore will go a bit farther. Also, given the time this was created, you may have an 8 GB limit on the hard drive. (The 4716 had a 2+ GB limit). You may also want to go to here and download the service guide.

-cap

 

[onemo]

Cap, tried the setup disk in your reply and it makes the disk and it even sorta boots the computer to the computer setup menu. But... once I choose setup, I get a nice popup window that says "SETUP not applicable for this type machine". Was close but no cigar. Thanks for the suggestion.

I downloaded the rompaq I needed and tried again, and I still get the goofy unable to format disk error even when using the disk that successfully took the other rompaq.

The specific rompaq I need is this one. It's SOFTPAQ NUMBER: SP9477. If anybody could successfully get this to run and make a disk I would appreciate it.

 

[Zepper]

I've sent an email to hp/cpq product complaint dept. re. SP9477.exe not working. I tried it on my system (not Cpq) and it didn't work either. I think it is probably because Cpq changes the name of the DOS FORMAT.com (to protect the idiots who they think their customers are from themselves) file and that disk is looking for it by that changed name.
. However that doesn't explain why the ROMPaq I also DL'd for the 5070 made a diskette just fine???
.bh.
:beer: time!

 

[onemo]

This sux. This computer is a doorstop just because Compaq can't get their stuff together.

 

[Zepper]

Here is the reply I got from hp/Cpq. I hope it can help. Apparently that old hidden partition isn't used on the 5070, if I read this reply correctly.
.bh.
:sun:

----------------------
Dear Bill,

I see that you are experiencing problems in running the SoftPaq
SP9477.exe file.

>From your email, it appears that the hard drive have been crashed due to
which you are trying to run the SP9477.exe file to perform a FullRestore
to revert the Presario 5070 to factory condition.

The SP9477.exe which you are trying to run is a Presario Emergency
Recovery Diskette file. The SP9477 is nothing but a startup disk. If you
have a QuickRestore CD, you can directly perform a Full Restore with the
QuickRestore CD using the following steps instead of running the SP9477
file:

1. Insert the QuickRestore CD into the CD drive and restart the
system.
2. When the red Compaq logo appears, press and hold the Caps Lock key.
Next screen will be a blinking QuickRestore screen.
3. When the QuickRestore text stops blinking, press and hold the Num
Lock key.
4. On the next screen, release the Num Lock key, select a language,
and press Enter.
5. Immediately press Ctrl + Q keys.
6. Select the model number and press Enter.

NOTE: If the model number does not appear then press the Ctrl + Q
key again.

7. Follow the onscreen instructions.

The QuickRestore process will start on the computer now.

If you do not have a QuickRestore CD, as SP9477 (i.e Presario Emergency
Recovery Diskette) contains startup disk files, you can just create a
startup disk from any other system and install a retail version of
Windows 98 instead of running the SP9477 file. If you need the drivers
of the Presario 5070, you can download the drivers of Presario 5070 by
visiting the following URL:

http://www29.compaq.com/falco/sp_result.asp?model=2395

NOTE: Make sure to copy and paste the entire URL from
http://---to---2395.

I hope this information helps you. Please reply if you have any
comments or questions, or if I can help you further.

Regards,
Vidya S.
HP Consumer eSupport

For additional or future service assistance, you can post your question
to the Customer Communities at: http://www.compaq.com/communities

 

[redbeard1]

Zepper's response is kind of what I was thinking. Compaq doesn't always have the diagnostic/bios partition like they used to. In some of those presario's, the motherboard is from an off the shelf manufacturer, like gigabyte, and have a 'normal' bios setup.

Something that you haven't said is what size of hard drive are you using? You may be trying to use too big of a drive.

I ran into a deskpro today that wouldn't work with an older 1.2 gig drive, but would work with an 8.4 gig. The 8.4 was a test drive, with win98se on it, no special partition, and it worked ok.

 

[Zepper]

re. redbeard
Yes, confusers of that vintage did have the drive size limitations. Try to install the updated BIOS that's availabale where the SP9477 file was on the hp/cpq site.
That is the disk that I was able to create on my computer SP10911.exe . That may allow the new drive to be recognized if it's not too big. However, I don't think that even the new BIOS can handle over 32G as it was written in 1999!
..bh.
:beer: time!