A Genius only can HELP

[dap]

I have a major problem at least for me.  My son got a hold of my Campac Presario  5100C series  I bought back in 1999. It has a 128 mb with a hard drive 12GB AMD processor.  The computer runs with windows 98.  I don't know what he did but everything is off of it.   When I start it, the windows 98 comes on then it goes into a safemode screen and all I have is the black and white clouds.  I don't have any menu to get into.  The mouse arrow is there, but don't have nothing to go to, no start or menu. Tried starting with floppy startup disc but fails.  I can get the help blue screen with all the solutions but it won.t work. I tried typing in SYS X: , scandisk, and everything else but it does not respond.  Should I just trash computer and get new one or can you help.  No windows 98 disk came direct from factory.  Can I make a startup dvd with my other computer and install windows xp  home edition?      

EVERYONE I DO HAVE THE ORIGINAL WINDOWS 98 DISK,  NOW WHAT?  REMEMBER I CAN'T USE THE BROKEN PC.  ALL I HAVE IS CLOUDS, CAN'T GET INTO ANYTHING.


Thank You  

[soybean]

Do you have the original CD(s) that came with the computer?  This should include Windows 98.

[GX1_Man]

Can you get to safe mode (F8 when you see the COmpaq logo several times and before the Windows logo).

Do you have the restore CD's that came with it? Is there valuable data to get off? Try this if the answer is yes.

http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1152393515

At this point I am assuming it is software issues rather than hardware unless he opened the machine and played in there. How old is the lad?

No need to trash a computer if this is all the problem there is (unless you want a good reason to go get a new one).  

[dap]

I have a major problem at least for me.  My son got a hold of my Campac Presario  5100C series  I bought back in 1999. It has a 128 mb with a hard drive 12GB AMD processor.  The computer runs with windows 98.  I don't know what he did but everything is off of it.   When I start it, the windows 98 comes on then it goes into a safemode screen and all I have is the black and white clouds.  I don't have any menu to get into.  The mouse arrow is there, but don't have nothing to go to, no start or menu. Tried starting with floppy startup disc but fails.  I can get the help blue screen with all the solutions but it won.t work. I tried typing in SYS X: , scandisk, and everything else but it does not respond.  Should I just trash computer and get new one or can you help.  Thank You

No windows 98 disk iI bought through factory.  They installed.  

[GX1_Man]

Try the Slax CD to see if the hardware is OK. If it is, you can pick up a used Win98 or ME or 2000 CD on eBay for a little money. We can help you get it installed if necessary. 2000 should run nicely on there, but some drivers, hardware, etc. are only supported for the operating systems they came with.

Here is some info on that model:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&dest_page=product&product=92997

There's a link to order recovery disks also. On such an old model I doubt that's still valid.

[Maksim]

I would suggest wiping the whole harddrive and starting from scratch.. If you want to take this risk then go head.. you need to download a piece of software that is called WIPE0.EXE that totaly deletes the clusters the everything on the hardrive.. the sectors i mean everything.. and including the partition.. Here is the site: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=804 and get the first one.. that says this..
Package  Release   Date                    Notes / Monitor  Downloads  
wipe       2.2.0      January 10, 2004  -    Get thins one.. it is like 3kb file.. after the download create a windows startup disk..  Like Win 98 or ME disk that is the best ones to go with.. then after the creation of the disk.. open the floppy disk and copy the wipe file that you download eirlier.. paste into the flippy disk.. restart the computer and set the BIOS to read from the floppy.. and insert the floppy and then it will show A:/   after A:/ type in wipe0.exe this is what it should look like "A:/wipe0.exe" without the qotation marks 0 is for the master hard drive and if you have a slave it would be wipe1.exe so for every hard drive you have the number increases.. then press ENTER and it will tell you the hard drice specs and then slect "Y" then enter.. it wil delete everything it might take some time.. like 15 mins max.. then after the installation restart the computer and set the BIOS to boot from the CDROM.. and you need to obtain a genuine copy of Windows it doesnt matter which one.. but preferably Windows 2000 then follow the on screen iunstruction..
Hope this helps.. I had the same problem.. a friend suggested this for me..
Post us with the details.. Good Luck..

[soybean]

I would suggest wiping the whole harddrive and starting from scratch.. If you want to take this risk then go head.. you need to download a piece of software that is called WIPE0.EXE that totaly deletes the clusters the everything on the hardrive.. the sectors i mean everything.. and including the partition..

This is absolutely untrue.  He does not need WIPE0.EXE to format his hard drive and do a fresh installation of Windows.

[GX1_Man]

The downside of forums is that occasionally you get incorrect info posted.

THe upside of forums is that when that happens, usually someone calls attention to it rather quickly.  

[dap]

I DO HAVE THE ORIGINAL WINDOWS 98 DISK.  NOW WHAT.   REMEMBER I CAN'T USE THE BROKEN PC TO DOWNLOAD ON INTERNET AND COPY O N FLOPPY.  ALL I HAVE ON THE SCREEN IS CLOUDS IN BLACK AND WHITE.  CAN'T GET INTO ANYTHING.   MOUSE ARROW IS THERE BUT NOTHING TO GET INTO.

[Monty72]

Well that thing's a POS, I would just get a new computer.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/entdt_e310?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19#
Look here's a dell for under 500 bucks.

[GX1_Man]

What happens if you boot the machine with the restore disc (that's probably what it is)? What does it say on the disc?

[2k_dummy]

Get a win98 boot disk with cd rom support or boot from the windows cd. If a boot disk watch the screen to see the drive letter assigned to cd rom. Insert the W98 cd and type x:\setup, where x is cd rom drive letter. If booting from the cd, the first option is install w98 from the cd. I would not recommend wiping the HD unless all else fails. Some of those older machines had hidden partitions that contained bios extensions native to the manufacturer.