I turned it on today and WinXp wouldn't boot, so now I'm using the other one right now.

it gave me the following error:

"DISK BOOT ERROR. INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND CONTINUE."

Now, since the restore partition and the restore cds I made wouldn't work, I downloaded the winxp boot disk maker program and made all 6 boot disks (using the computer that I'm on right now) which i fed into my damaged comp until I was able to run winxp pro setup.

I got past the EULA part, but setup couldn't reconize my hard drive partition. It wouldn't let me create a new one, and it wouldn't let me delete the existing partition (it said it was a setup partition). When I tried to install anyway, the computer totally locked up and gave one of those "this program has terminated in order to prevent damage to your computer, blah, blah, blah" messages. (like the computer could be screwed up any more than it already is... )


I checked BIOS and my hard drive is listed correctly as primary master device, so I don't know what's wrong.

the computer is under warranty, so i'm thinking of putting it back in its crate, taking the damn thing back and getting a new one. I have Norton Internet Security (legit copy, no warez here) and it didn't pick up any viruses during the last windows session on that computer before this problem, so I don't know what happened. Perhaps the computer is defective.

Do you think that a virus somehow got through norton antivirus and norton personal firewall? I wouldn't think so. This computer has always done weird things ever since i got it. For example, it crashed when I was just removing some of the crapware apps in the add/remove programs screen and that was right after I took it out of the box.


Since its under warranty, they either have to fix it for free or give me a new one, but I would appreciate any advice that may save me a trip and get the comp working again .



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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited February 03, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited February 03, 2004).]

they will most likely try to repair instead of giving you a new one

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wang is within all

repair using what? I've done this before, and they ask for your restore cds. I've used the restore cds before and its idiot proof. You just turn it on and leave it. Hell, I could do that. In this case, the Cds don't work.

Worse, the restore Cds, even if they manage to work for once, will only reload all that crapware and demos on the comp. After seeing how well my working computer runs without all those demos (It was very unstable until I cleaned all that s*** out of the disk) I think the demos may have been a factor in the problem.

My official stance for this is that the computer companies should either give you full versions of software or else give you nothing at all except for 100% pure windows.

(From experience, I can say that these demos make the computer act like a dumb blonde that's been dropped on her head)

Right out of the box, most compaqs are little more than advertising machines that you have to manually recondition into a decent computer.



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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

You bought a Compaq, what did you expect ?

Seriously though, do you have a non-Compaq OEM version of windows you could try ?

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AGONetwork

^^I was thinking the same thing^^

That's pretty much the same error I've gotten whenever I used to leave a disk in the floppy.

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In rememberance of MaDaVentor...
MaDaVentor Memorial Post
The Limelite Memorial
The MaDaVentor Memorial Pack


RiP MaDa. You will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.

bah... right after I deleted my post because after re-reading I thought it wasn't a problem.

Oh well...

So yea... Floppy in the drive?

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Frogblast the Vent Core!

--End of Line--

Did you lose a HD or something?

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I had that problem with my computer a while ago... I had to get it fixed sa i knew little about them before, they had to completly get rid of everything on the computer, reformat it and stuff...

now i get an error similar to that if there is a floyy in the drive... hehe

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Inter arma silent leges

Try installing with something other than those damned "restore disks". Odds are its a problem with Compaq's ****ty software.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

yep, I do have a copy of windows XP that just happens to be activation-free. That's all I'm going to tell you about it, if you catch my meaning. I tried it, but like I said earlier, it wouldn't reconize my HD partitions.

The only other comp option was an HP, and on my budget I couldn't afford one. Compaq used to be good... what the hell happened? When did they sell out?


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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited February 03, 2004).]

No, they were never good, heh, but anyway.

It sounds like something may be bad with the hard drive, unless it's just the IDE cable.

Although I've seen weird instances where a HD can have the jumpers set incorrectly(like once I had once accidentally set to alternate single instead of single) and it initially work. Then suddenly it stops working and you get the boot sector errors.

Compaqs were NEVER good. EVER. HP is almost as bad. Gateway is worse.


Dell use to be good, past 4 or 5 years ago. But now they suck almost as bad as Compaq.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

hmm... since I never opened the case, it must have shipped like that. In that case, they would owe me a new machine since it was a defect in the hardware.

btw, are there any good brands left, or do I have to build the damn thing myself?


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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.



[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited February 03, 2004).]

GBK, is there ANY brand of computer that you think DOESN'T suck?

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Frogblast the Vent Core!

--End of Line--

Shut up.

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In Tribute to Adam Sliger. Rest in Peace

10/7/85 - 12/9/03

I'd say none of them were ever really that good.

Considering I've only owned one that wasn't self-built and that was my first over 13 years ago. That's all it took to realize the greater freedom you have, and the fact that you seem to have a lot better knowledge of what's going on since you did it after all.

Of course back in the day it wasn't as simple as "pop this video card in, install drivers, and it works", and it took a bit more knowledge to get it done right.

[This message has been edited by Darth (edited February 03, 2004).]

Yes. The "BIYS." (Build it yourself)

A jokeses! No bashing, please.. meep!

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MadQuack on Military school: Pro's: I get to shoot a gun. Con's: Everything else.
"I'm going to beat you until the laws of physics are violated!!" ! Maeve's Warcry

RIP -MaDaVentor-. You will be missed.

Well, the jumper thing I mentioned is really only an issue for a self-installed hard drives where you accidentally set the wrong one(which is what I did once, just glanced at settings and did the alternate single on accident). I don't see it really being an issue with pre-built systems unless it was just by some fluke.

Why? Do you own stock in Dell?


Dells arent so bad. If you HAVE to get a pre-built one, either get one from your local screwdriver shop, or failing that, get one from Dell. Ive personally never had bad luck with them, and I know a few people that have used them with good luck. . . . But I still prefer vastly to build them myself.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

So you say they suck, yet then you claim that you've never had any really bad luck with them and they aren't that bad.

Unless I'm REALLY missing something, this strikes me as hypocritical.

As I type this, I'm in my Yearbook class on a Compaq Evo. Just today, I had three of the four die for no reason. One does it on a regular basis. In fact, I just fixed it and it just now died again. Just power's off for no reason.

HP makes very decent systems. I've used one at home now for the past 4 years. It shipped with WinMe. That is the ONLY serious gripe I've ever had for it. That gripe went away when I installed Win2k last year. Now my only problems are it being a tad slow, not having the best graphics (integrated sucks but I deal with it) and it having very little RAM (128 physical, I've given it a gig of virtual). I can fix that, but I don't want to pour money into it.

Gateway, though I've never used one for extended periods, falls inbetween Compaq and HP.

Dell is along side HP. It has qualities I like, but there are also quite a few things I dislike. Same goes for HP though I didn't mention it.

If I had to buy a pre-built today, it'd be a tie between Dell and HP probably. That's my expirence and opinions.

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Frogblast the Vent Core!

--End of Line--

In my experience pre-built computers suck because they use cheap parts (Especially motherboards) yet cost twice the price of building one yourself. It is a lot bettre to build your own computer. If you have to use a pre-built one make sure you use a proper version of windows not one with all the company crap in it.

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WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUT!!!
---@%

my other compaq (the one that still works) is like that. It reboots spontaneously and at random. I've had to reload Windows twice on it already and I just got it this past saturday.


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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited February 04, 2004).]

It surprises me that many of you seem to think that HP's are any good... I owned an HP once, and it came installed with so much crap the thing hardly ran at all... We finally managed to get everything more or less ship-shape, though there was still a lot of crap on it that we never used at all just taking up hd space.

Then one day, it just crashed. And if any of you have ever tried to use HP tech support, it's like ripping off your own fingernails with rusty pliars and then sticking your hands in a jug of rubbing alcohol.

The next one we bought from Computer Renisannce (sp?), and it was a lot better. Up until recently it ran very smoothly and has had very little problems (see question below).

But overall, I think the very best option is to build yourself. You can get a great computer, usually for cheaper, and there's no problem with a bunch of crap demoes and worthless programs you don't need. On top of that, computers are relatively easy to build these days... The only main disadvantage with that is that software (Windows OS and MS Office mainly) can be expensive. Anyway, I built myself a computer (with the help of a friend) and it's the best computer I've ever had or used. It's stable (I once left it running for over a month using it almost daily without a single restart, and it never crashed in that whole time), it doesn't have anything on it that I don't know about, there aren't like 800 apps running at startup, and if I want to upgrade something, I know exactly how to do it, and I don't have to worry about opening the case and ruining a warrenty.

Conclusion: Build it yourself, or if you don't feel comfortable doing that, go to a local store that does rebuilds.

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Question:

Like I mentioned above one of my computers has not been running smoothly lately. Basically, it just has been running very lethargically. My guess is that either the RAM or the processor has gone bad somehow, and I've got some more RAM to put into it. But anyway, is there anything else that could be causing it to run slowly? (I formatted recently and reinstalled windows, and even right after the install (which was a clean install from a retail windows cd (no bundled apps)), it still ran slowly.

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Tia mi aven Moridin isainde vadin
http://www.writings-emag.net The next big thing since individually wrapped cheese slices (coming soon).