Help: Compaq Presario 5240(Need to reformat)

A family member in a far away state, who is not at all even close to
being tech savy, has a Compaq Presario 5240. The PC has all of the
original components it came with(in 1998?) still installed, but I am
not sure whether Compaq remained consistant with the hardware when
producing these models.

Nevertheless, years of internet surfing and downloading have taken
their toll on the machine, and it is now a giant non-bootable paper
weight. And if you've ever tried to trouble shoot a non-tech savy
family member's pc in a far away state, you can understand the the
problems I am having.

I was hoping that someone with the same system could give me or point
to a "walk-through" on how to reformat the drive inside of it, so that
everything can be re-installed. I'd be especially interested in any
idiosyncisies of this particular model.

Of note is that the floppy drive(which I believe is an LS-20) gives a
disk error message, even though there is no disk is in the drive. So
I'm hoping that this won't require a new floppy drive, because even if
I could get one I can be there to install it. And the Compaq
quick-restore CD screwed up the system the first(and last) time it was
used.

I'm hoping that everything will be plug-and-play, because getting
drivers would be all but impossible thanks to Compaq's hardware
inconsistency and refusal to make hardware spec determination easy for
the comsumers who purchase their PCs.

So is it even possible to walk someone through reformatting and
re-installing Windows 98 on this system?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Follow this link and enter the model info for product specs. On the same
page you will find a link for software.
Tom
"Darren Harris" wrote in message
om...
A family member in a far away state, who is not at all even close to
being tech savy, has a Compaq Presario 5240. The PC has all of the
original components it came with(in 1998?) still installed, but I am
not sure whether Compaq remained consistant with the hardware when
producing these models.

Nevertheless, years of internet surfing and downloading have taken
their toll on the machine, and it is now a giant non-bootable paper
weight. And if you've ever tried to trouble shoot a non-tech savy
family member's pc in a far away state, you can understand the the
problems I am having.

I was hoping that someone with the same system could give me or point
to a "walk-through" on how to reformat the drive inside of it, so that
everything can be re-installed. I'd be especially interested in any
idiosyncisies of this particular model.

Of note is that the floppy drive(which I believe is an LS-20) gives a
disk error message, even though there is no disk is in the drive. So
I'm hoping that this won't require a new floppy drive, because even if
I could get one I can be there to install it. And the Compaq
quick-restore CD screwed up the system the first(and last) time it was
used.

I'm hoping that everything will be plug-and-play, because getting
drivers would be all but impossible thanks to Compaq's hardware
inconsistency and refusal to make hardware spec determination easy for
the comsumers who purchase their PCs.

So is it even possible to walk someone through reformatting and
re-installing Windows 98 on this system?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Darren,

Sorry about the missing link it's here now
http://www.compaq.com/athome/support/msgs/

Tom
"Tom Cular" wrote in message
...
Follow this link and enter the model info for product specs. On the same
page you will find a link for software.
Tom
"Darren Harris" wrote in message
om...
A family member in a far away state, who is not at all even close to
being tech savy, has a Compaq Presario 5240. The PC has all of the
original components it came with(in 1998?) still installed, but I am
not sure whether Compaq remained consistant with the hardware when
producing these models.

Nevertheless, years of internet surfing and downloading have taken
their toll on the machine, and it is now a giant non-bootable paper
weight. And if you've ever tried to trouble shoot a non-tech savy
family member's pc in a far away state, you can understand the the
problems I am having.

I was hoping that someone with the same system could give me or point
to a "walk-through" on how to reformat the drive inside of it, so that
everything can be re-installed. I'd be especially interested in any
idiosyncisies of this particular model.

Of note is that the floppy drive(which I believe is an LS-20) gives a
disk error message, even though there is no disk is in the drive. So
I'm hoping that this won't require a new floppy drive, because even if
I could get one I can be there to install it. And the Compaq
quick-restore CD screwed up the system the first(and last) time it was
used.

I'm hoping that everything will be plug-and-play, because getting
drivers would be all but impossible thanks to Compaq's hardware
inconsistency and refusal to make hardware spec determination easy for
the comsumers who purchase their PCs.

So is it even possible to walk someone through reformatting and
re-installing Windows 98 on this system?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

I've been to the Compaq site, and there is no info for the 5240. If
there is another site, please let me know.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

************************************************** ******************************"Tom Cular" wrote in message ...
Follow this link and enter the model info for product specs. On the same
page you will find a link for software.
Tom
"Darren Harris" wrote in message
om...
A family member in a far away state, who is not at all even close to
being tech savy, has a Compaq Presario 5240. The PC has all of the
original components it came with(in 1998?) still installed, but I am
not sure whether Compaq remained consistant with the hardware when
producing these models.

Nevertheless, years of internet surfing and downloading have taken
their toll on the machine, and it is now a giant non-bootable paper
weight. And if you've ever tried to trouble shoot a non-tech savy
family member's pc in a far away state, you can understand the the
problems I am having.

I was hoping that someone with the same system could give me or point
to a "walk-through" on how to reformat the drive inside of it, so that
everything can be re-installed. I'd be especially interested in any
idiosyncisies of this particular model.

Of note is that the floppy drive(which I believe is an LS-20) gives a
disk error message, even though there is no disk is in the drive. So
I'm hoping that this won't require a new floppy drive, because even if
I could get one I can be there to install it. And the Compaq
quick-restore CD screwed up the system the first(and last) time it was
used.

I'm hoping that everything will be plug-and-play, because getting
drivers would be all but impossible thanks to Compaq's hardware
inconsistency and refusal to make hardware spec determination easy for
the comsumers who purchase their PCs.

So is it even possible to walk someone through reformatting and
re-installing Windows 98 on this system?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Okay, I found a link with drivers(and other garbage) for the 5240.

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/softwar...etype=software

I don't think it is desirable to install everything. Only the need
software. So I put 4 stars(****) next to what looks important. But can
anyone confirm and advise me if those are correct?(See below)...

software & driver downloads
Compaq Presario 5240 desktop PC

Driver- Audio
description date version previous size

****Presario Specific Models ESS 1869/1887/1888 Audio Driver
1998-09-16 4.04 Rev. M - 811.93 KB

Driver- Display
description date version previous size

****Presario Specific Models ATI Rage LT Pro Video Driver
1998-10-01 5.23 Rev. A - 4.12 MB

Driver- Keyboard, Mouse and Input Devices
description date version previous size

****Presario Easy Access Keyboard Drivers
1999-09-21 3.20.351 - 2.39 MB

****Presario Easy Access Keyboard Update
1999-01-28 3.20.0353 - 2.35 MB

Driver- Modem
description date version previous size

****Presario Conexant HCF V.90 56K PCI Modem Drivers
2001-07-20 171.017 previous 5.03 MB

ROMPaq
description date version previous size

****Presario Specific 1998 Model System ROM Update
1999-11-10 2.38 Rev. A - 1.10 MB

Software- Management
description date version previous size

****Presario Emergency Recovery Diskette
1999-02-03 00A-022 - 1.18 MB

Software- Solutions
description date version previous size

» Presario eService Security Update #2
2001-04-27 1.0.0.7 - 371.16 KB

****Presario QuickRestore Update
1999-09-01 B2A-016 - 4.70 MB

» Compaq Service Connection Update - Critical
1999-12-15 4.0 Rev. 18 - 5.59 MB

» Presario Specific Models Bitware Fax Update
1999-05-04 1.00.00 - 143.82 KB

» Presario Specific Models Word 97 Thesaurus Fix
1999-11-23 1.0 - 156.45 KB

» Presario Service and Support Organizer Update
1999-09-01 B2A-014 - 1.34 MB

****Presario Selected Models Preinstalled QuickRestore
1999-05-03 2.00B4 - 8.81 MB

Utility
description date version previous size

****Presario Hard Drive Partition Deletion Application
2003-07-21 1.0 - 1.06 MB

Now all I need to know is how the necessary software is supposed to be
installed after the system has been reformatted.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

I have discovered that often it is quicker, cheaper and less of a
headache to have a relative from another state wrap up their PC, fedex
it to you, have you fix it, and then fedex it back. The cost of
shipping is less than most minimum bench charges at a PC repair shop.


(Darren Harris) wrote in message . com...
Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

(the yeti) wrote in message . com...
I have discovered that often it is quicker, cheaper and less of a
headache to have a relative from another state wrap up their PC, fedex
it to you, have you fix it, and then fedex it back. The cost of
shipping is less than most minimum bench charges at a PC repair shop.

The cost of shipping would be more than what I got these PCs for.

$40 for two Dell GX1s.(350Mhz & 400Mhz, 6.4Gig & 10Gig hard drives
respectively, ect.).

And I'm not PC expert myself.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Darren Harris wrote:
(the yeti) wrote in message
. com...
I have discovered that often it is quicker, cheaper and less of a
headache to have a relative from another state wrap up their PC,
fedex it to you, have you fix it, and then fedex it back. The cost
of shipping is less than most minimum bench charges at a PC repair
shop.

The cost of shipping would be more than what I got these PCs for.

$40 for two Dell GX1s.(350Mhz & 400Mhz, 6.4Gig & 10Gig hard drives
respectively, ect.).

And I'm not PC expert myself.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Amazing how frugal people in this group are. I have more than $40 just in 2
cables in my main machine.
Not a slam,just noticing how frugal some of you are. I'm curious what some
of you paid and drive for a car.

An example would be the ram threads I have more memory on my video card than
some of you have in your machine.

Hey guys visit the overclockers NG.

Trai'

Amazing how frugal people in this group are. I have more than $40 just in 2
cables in my main machine.
Not a slam,just noticing how frugal some of you are. I'm curious what some
of you paid and drive for a car

Yeah, there is a whole wide world out there outside of yourself...come visit
sometime!

Dale