[rmitt]

I have an old Compaq Presario 5340 desktop computer that I want to give to my neighbor to use for web surfing. The computer has 2 hard drives, one of which I installed myself and the other which is original to the machine. The computer also has one floppy drive and one CD-ROM.

Because I had used this computer for business and personal finance, I wiped both hard drives using the DataEraser program that was included with Ontrack System Suite 4.0. DataEraser overwrote both drives completely. I now want to reinstall Windows 98 and some operating software but can't.

I assume the C: drive needs to be formatted, but when I install a boot diskette into the floppy which contains format.com and type format c: (or format c:/s) I am told: Format not supported on drive c: format terminated. I get this message regardless of whether I am at the A:\> prompt and trying to use format.com from the floppy or I am at the C:\> prompt and trying to use it after it appears to have been copied to the hard drive.

System Suite came with an emergency rescue disk that installs a generic driver for the CD-ROM. When I insert the first CD to install the operating system and and type X:\dir, I get a short list of files and directories including multicd1.bat and bootdisk <dir>. If I type multicd1.bat, the CD drive starts, but then the screen displays: X:\>COMPAQ Command or filename not recognized. If I change to the bootdisk directory, it includes two exe files. If I type qrst5.exe, I get a message: QRST 5.01 Error. Can't open a temporary file or not enough disk space. Set the TMP variable to a writable location on your Fixed Disk Drive with >2.88 MB free space. EX) set TMP=C:\TEMP. If I type recover.exe, I get a long list of files, each of which is preceded by: PKSFX: (W10) Warning! can't create: [filename].

I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone might have on what to try so I can install Windows 98 on this computer.

Thanks,
Bob

[Dan Penny]

The following should help.

Post back with your results and any further questions.

Presario 5340 Models; http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...n&cc=us&dlc=en

Presario 5340 Specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...=93225&lang=en

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Recovering the System after the Hard Drive Is Replaced: (Same for a totally erased hard disk): http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...&product=93225

More info on 98;
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07141

[rmitt]

Dan,

Thanks for your help. I got the C: drive formatted and Windows 98SE installed. The problem was I had to run fdisk before running format.

Now, I have one other problem. As I mentioned originally, I have a second hard drive installed in the computer. DataEraser identifies it as Maxtor 32049H3, 20GB. This drive, which was operating properly before I started all this, is not detected by the computer (altho Ontrack's DataEraser program -- which I ran to overwrite the drive -- does show it). Both Maxtor (now Seagate) and Compaq (via the link you included on Recovering the System after the Hard Drive is Replaced, for which, thank you) prescribe going into the BIOS setup and making sure autodetect is enabled for secondary hard drives. The Setup Utility on this Presario doesn't have anything under the Main menu item, but the next heading is Storage and under it is a selection for IDE Devices. Clicking on this discloses the following list, all of which are marked Enable: IDE Drive Translation; Enhanced IDE Transfer; Ultra 33; Primary IDE Controller; Secondary IDE Controller.

There also is an Advanced menu under which is a submenu for PCI Devices, which has IRQs for: SIS USB controller; Unknown device (IRQ 3); Ethernet controller; Audio device; and says that the SIS VGA controller is Enabled.

In Windows Device Manager (under Control Panel > System), hard disk controllers are shown as: Primary IDE controller (dual fifo); Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo); SiS 5513 Dual PCI IDE Controller. I'm not sure if this is relevant, but Compaq's installation software partitions the c: drive into two partitions. The c: partition is operable; the d: partition is a recovery partition. I have no idea if a controller would be needed or assigned to that partition. Under Other Devices, Device Manager has question marks for: PCI Ethernet Controller; and for USB 2.0 Storage Device. I have an external USB 2.0 CD burner which is what that probably refers to (I need to install a driver for it). The ethernet controller is something of a mystery to me, as there is no ethernet port on the computer.

If you have any thoughts on how to get the computer to recognize the Maxtor hard drive, I'd appreciate it.

[ZeRealBigBoss]

Compaq hides the bios screen with a graphics one; go into the bios and switch that off. Now you can see whether the second disk is detected or not. If you can't manage to do that, disconnect the drive and boot; the boot will then come yup requesting for you to press F1. Do so, shut down, connect it again and then it should ask for F1 again. If it doesn't, your drive is shot. If it does, run fdisk, option 5 to choose the second hard disk, assign it, reboot and format. Do not use the install program of Compaq, that second backup partition on the same drive does not make sense. Make the first drive completely C: and the second one completely D: and work with your data only on D: and never on C: where Windows is installed.

[Dan Penny]

Have you been able to disable the Compaq logo screen so you can see the POST (Power On Self Test) screen on bootup, or, is the drive verified as being recognized in the bios?

This drive, (Maxtor 32049H3) which was operating properly before I started all this, is not detected by the computer

Do you mean not detected in the machines bios, or within Windows? It must be "seen" by the bios before windows will "see" it.

If it isn't seen by the bios, (and it's a known good drive) it's most likely the hard disk jumper settings. If the drive is on the cable with another IDE device (HDD or optical drive), ensure the jumper is set accordingly. Compaq's usually use the CS settings on the IDE devices. Verify this on your machine though. If the other device is set to CS, then the Maxtor should be set as CS. If the other device is set to Master, then the Maxtor should be set as Slave.

When using the CS settings, the master device is on the end of the data cable, and the slave is on the middle connector. (You also must use an 80 conductor/40 pin data cable or CS setting won't work.) If using Master and Slave settings, placement on the cable is irrelevant. (There will be some who disagree with this, and even some documentation to the contrary, but try it and you'll see this is correct.) http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/Sing...-Jumpering.htm