"Nate Goulet" wrote in message
...
I'm asked to fix a friend's Compaq Presario.
.... snipped ....

Ridiculous that Compaq can't simply charge an extra couple bucks and
provide them.

Compaq's solution was to purchase a new computer.

Thanks for any help.

When the OS got 'too big for one cd', I've found that , when PC was new,
booting - it prompted to 'create CD's" to save that file - or instructed
user to do so. OR, it provided a QUICKrestore cd that had only the
'instructions' and used the image file from 'hidden' partition .

what is your model number ?
I'll see what I can find.