What to do with 2 Compaq Presarios?

Hey Holla Forums, this is a branch from a thread on /cyber/ about my old collection of computers left behind by my project manager father. Included is a picture of my 2 Compaq Presarios and their matching monitor.

8ch.net/cyber/res/42119.html#42149

I need some help repairing the hardware but don't know what to do/who to turn to.

-Presario tower-

The tower's case is in great shape, all the ports seem to work but I don't think I can test them with modern USBs. It starts up and shows windows server 2000, it's dual-booted with Windows ME but I can't seem to access it. It just shows a blinking input bar.

The ODD is yellow, so is the FDD. I think it's stuck as it won't accept my windows 7 disk. It's already trapped it inside once and it had to be surgically removed.

I need a new harddrive for it because I don't want to wipe the sensetive data that might still be on it, but I also want it to work. Where can I find compatible parts? How do I find the exact models of what I need with just the computer and nothing else?

-Monitor-

The monitor works great but the cord attached is missing a few prongs. I've straightened out the ones that are still there and pulled the ones that were beyond repair. I'm hoping I can get the cord itself fixed up but once again I have no clue where to turn.

-Presario 2k (The flat one)-

No clue. Has no operating system and hasn't been fully tested with a disk yet. Turns on fine, doesn't show any errors. Don't want to wipe anything that an expert may be able to recover

-CP Latitude-

CP Latitude turns on for 5, then turns off for 1 and turns on for 5 again. Several cracks in the case have lead me to believe it might have damaged internal compartments but I have no clue who to trust on getting it refurbished.

-Dell Latitude (Big black one, pic not posted yet)-

It's got a weird 3 dash charger, but none of the 4 for the CP latitude seem to fit (My dad was a fanatic for spare parts). I might just end up buying one if I can't find it.

And finally, the task at hand. I want to create a windows 7 OS that's designed like windows classic with a mix of vaporwave, just for fun to run on these old-fashioned beige computers. I can't figure out how to edit resources for the life of me, nor how to change the assets of the theme to make it look EXACTLY like classic. If there's any hackers out there that like the aesthetics, I'd appreciate their help or tips. Once it's running I'll do a video or something and will most likely upload the modified OS for everyone to use. I'm even considering giving away some of the other computer stuff or selling it if anyone's interested. Tons of monitors and 3 HP Pavilions, no clue if they're even of interest.

Thank you for the read and thanks in advanced for any help. I'll be glad to take any pictures of stuff I have and provide as much information as possible. I'm hoping you guys love just looking at this stuff as much as I do.

Other urls found in this thread:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA
thepiratebay.org/torrent/6096687/Windows_2000_Pro_SP4_Final_2011_Edition_(all_updates)
cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimage/archive/7.11.0-live/i386/iso-hybrid/debian-live-7.11.0-i386-standard.iso
wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/disk_cloning
rufus.akeo.ie/
cdrtfe.sourceforge.net/cdrtfe/download_en.html
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

I used to own one of these. Just get an old HDD with an IDE (the ribbon) port and either slave it to something else (maybe replace the CD-ROM temporarily) or find an open IDE somewhere. I can't remember exactly how many it has.

Just get a VGA or DVI (if applicable) cable. It's not like they're difficult to find.

It has no operating system but you're worried about deleting files? That's odd. If you're sure there's files, put a live boot USB of Linux in and an external HDD and rsync whatever over.

Have you checked that the fan(s) is/are working? Sounds like either overheating or a power issue.

I like these things. You could just use Windows 7 with the classic theme and classic start menu. It looks just like the old Windows DE, but it will maintain the new menu and file explorer layouts. If you want to change those, you might be shit out of luck. Short of editing the registry, Windows does not offer a whole lot of DE config.

You want to rice it. It'd be much easier on gnu/linux, but I believe you can still do it on Windows. I think I saw this mentioned our wiki, check there from the sticky.

It's attached to the monitor, like built into it. Big problem, don't want to rip it out or anything.

Good idea.

Fans operational as far as I can tell. Sound the same as they were before when it booted up no problem. Tried blowing in it gently but didn't dislodge anything.

I'll check it out but I'll probably be doing linux on the dells if possible. Win7 is mostly for the presario. I already have an uber powerful computer beyond replacement, 2,000 bucks hand-built by me and my friends with the best parts we could scrounge up with Tech's help. That's why I want to make a vaporwave machine, just for fun. Can always wipe it later if need be.

No clue what that term means but maybe?

What are the hardware specs?
CPU, RAM?

I'm interested in these details too. He'd probably be better off just installing an older Windows OS rather than 7 with all its bloat.

Well, I know you're not talking about the power chord since you mentioned pins. If the VGA cable is built into the monitor, then I would just get a new one (a new CRT if you insist). That's just me though, it might be a simple solder job.

It could be a power issue then. The easiest thing to do first, and probably what I would do, is swap out the RAM and make sure it's not that (If it was in person, there might be better clues I could pick up on). Swap out parts in order from easiest to hardest to see if that's why it won't POST. But tbh, if it's shutting down on its own, it's probably power. If it's not the mobo itself, then it's probably RAM or PSU.

Yikes. Look into Tiny7 or whatever the live boot Windows 7 is. Windows 2000 (NT Kernel, not ME) is the best Windows ever made, personally I would not hesitate to use that on that computer, since it was made around the 98SE/ME era.

Yes, anything pre-2002 should use Win2K.
OpenBSD would be another option.
Anything later would work fine with a Linux distro.

I of course mean a lightweight Linux distro.

gentoo

(Checked)

Yikes. Look into Tiny7 or whatever the live boot Windows 7 is. Windows 2000 (NT Kernel, not ME) is the best Windows ever made.

I want to be able to have it run mp3, videos, a few small older games, shit like that is the problem. I'm not sure if it will be compatible with the newer EXEs and programs, otherwise I'd be fine with an older system on it

Will go check and get back to you. Have to cut the power in a few minutes to switch something out.

Do I just open up the case and count shit or is there an easier way of getting the specs, like a label? Reminder, it'll only boot up win2k server right now.

Definitely.

The thing is the monitor came with one of the presarios and I want to keep the full set, matching autism and all. A new CRT, not sure how monitors work but I'll look into seeing if I can get that. It's a back project because the monitor works perfectly fine as is, it's only missing 2 of like 20 pins.

It turned on the first day with ZERO problems, it'd be a fluke if something changed that fast but it's plausible. I think it's most likely a mobo power issue, but where the hell can I even find replacement parts for a fucking CP latitude nowadays?

Will see what I can do when I get back. Thanks everyone for the quick help.

You can use an old school theme and it'll look close enough to 98. If the option isn't there try the accessibility settings. Slap on a solid blue background and it's fairly accurate. Use Classic Shell if you want a more accurate start menu.
Alternatively if you can't get Windows working look up Puppy Linux. Puppy + IceWM + Win98 theme is pretty accurate.

As for the hardware not working, if you can't salvage it you could try putting a modern computer in there. I know a guy who put his gaming PC in an old case like that, although he had to make a few modifications so it wouldn't overheat from his 290X. Just make sure it actually uses ATX motherboards, because a lot of older computers have their own weird standoff positions.
If you want you could get rid of the yellowing on the plastic. There's this thing called Retr0brite that people use, it's a mix of Hydrogen Peroxide and washing up powder from a certain brand. Alternatively blonde hair bleach might work. It's not a permanent solution though, because the yellowing eventually comes back.

Well, it doesn't hurt to try.
foobar2000 is 32-bit and mpc-hc has a 32-bit version as well, so there's a chance.
If the system is pre-i686, you might have trouble with even some 32-bit software.

>...because a lot of older computers have their own weird standoff positions.
Are you referring to glorious and beautiful BTX motherboards?

I've installed an ATX into a case that housed a BTX and it was like being in hell. The board goes in upside down, and you basically have to design an entirely new I/O on the back or just cut it all out and leave it open. You could just clue the sliding panel in and mount the board to that instead, and cut out the opposite panel as the new point of entry. Never done it that way before, but it should work.


I've seen shitty RAM do this before. If it's the motherboard, then you're probably SOL, since you'll probably be stuck with buying shady, probably reflowed boards on eGay.

But like I said, start with what's easy to disprove first. DDR RAM is pretty easy to find in any old computer (gut some from dead computers or swap from one of your others temporarily). PSUs are pretty universal, so that would be the next easiest thing.

Barring those things, yeah, it's probably the mobo.

(Allah check-bar)


I've got a fuckton of chests and buckets to go through, I'm bound to stumble on one of them soon.

Speaking of motherboards, is there any way to upgrade the presario's mobo while keeping the Compaq logo when it boots up? That'd be the shit. I'd love to make it a powerful modern computer with dinky little japwave themes and all that shit.

Thing is, I'm fairly sure mobos are the core of the computer (it's in the damn name) and replacing it would just leave me with a case, not a presario. It's a picky thing y'know?

Yep, there's always a way around it. If it can't run win7 I'll try out a more classic system, once I find the floppies/disks for it.

Been playing with ubuntu on my Lenovo x220 refurb but I'm not experienced with the distro yet. I love it, I love the freedom and the community but I suck ass and haven't even figured out WINE yet (it's not even downloaded) or how to play swf or anything. I'm garbage.

I've heard of that, does it work like stardock? Is it cumbersome?

What I wanted to do was change it all manually and make it part of an actual disk.

My aesthetic plan was to have the win7 core with the classic theme, all the bars and colors and icons changed back to classic- the very first windows. The start button, the popups, everything.

Then I wanted to replace the stock user icons, backgrounds, music, and all that jazz with vaporwaved versions.

And finally, I wanted to see if I could manually relabel things to be in japanese, with english versions in parenthesis.

Essentially, a really stupid vaporwave machine.

It sounds fun, but first thing's first- getting it to boot up correctly, increasing the RAM, and finding where the fuck the stats are on it.

Label? Open it up? Anybody got a clue? Maybe I can look up the exact model somewhere and see the stock parts? Whatever's in there has got to atleast be as good as it came. He worked for the company, so it was brought brand new.

That's the OEM's implementation of BIOS, I believe. You'll need to get a Compaq mobo to keep that. Otherwise you'd have to flash your firmware and that's probably impossible, but if it was possible you'd have to be extremely talented. Like Stallman on LSD talented.

I'm not him, but I've used Classic Shell and I think it's better than Start8 (as much as I like Stardock) and it's free. I thought you only really needed that for Win8 to get the Win7 look. I can't remember if it has a 9x setting, but it just may.

Maybe I'll get the chance to prove my worth one day, if I really want it that bad.

I'll try classic shell once it's up and running. However, first problem: ODD is busted. Yellow light, whirs when it comes on, dunno if I can fix it. Maybe if I take it apart and there's something to dislodge, no problem.

If the motor just flat out doesn't work? We're screwed.

I have an external disk drive, but when I plug it into the presario it doesn't seem to want to register it. I think it's because the USBs are so old but I could be wrong. After all, the USBs on t60s work with 3.0

A lot of those old computers don't support booting over USB, otherwise you could use a stick. You'll just have to use a spare CD-ROM if the drive is indeed busted. They're easy to come across, you just need one with IDE and Molex power.

Do they work like mounted harddrives? I just buy a disk drive and put it into the little beige compartment, slip it back in? Or will I have to buy a completely new mismatched ODD and slip it in? I don't want to ruin the full theme of the computer.

Also quickly to clarify, I mean I have a bluray read/writer that I plugged in to try and boot win7 from CD rom but it didn't register it. I also tried ubuntu on a thumbdrive but as you said, that failed.

They're a lot like hard drives, yeah. Unscrew them from the cage and slide them out of the front (very rarely the other way). It even takes IDE and molex like an HDD and is probably slaved to your HDD right now.

Look for a beige one if you want to maintain the theme. If you buy a new one, it will likely be Sata, and therefore won't work anyways.

a USB blu ray read/write? Unless your mobo has sata ports and/or the disc drive has molex power I don't see how that would work on such an old machine.

I've no clue about any of its hardware. Cracked it open to check the disk drive, can see a bunch of casings and neatly organized wires but I have no clue of its limitations or specs. Part of the problem, I can't seem to find them online, on the labels, by looking at them, and I can't load an OS on it so I can't check the stats page.

One big puzzle, this thing. Looks like the only way to find out is to take all the metal off and look around deeper.

Oh... well yeah if you used a USB blu ray drive of course it won't work. The problem is that it won't boot over USB. You have to use an IDE port.

Post pictures

Ah- so it's with the bit transfer in the cord or something? Not the USB itself.

IDE port, maybe there's some sort of external diskdrive for these type of computers in the other buckets. I'll just keep digging and try to get some stats for you guys. i'm keeping all of these ideas in mind for when some inevitably fail.


Of the interior, outside? What do you specifically want?

I'm saying the mobo firmware probably does not support USB booting. It's very common in older computers like that one.

Swap the optical drive from the other machine?

Well- clarify for a dipshit like me. IDE, like integrated developement environment? It looks like software stuff when I google it.

From what I understand right now, I need to plug in a new ODD if this one is a bust that is compatible with IDE and molex, neither of which I'm very familiar with.

Once I get the ODD in there, I just load the disk normally? There's no other way around booting it because booting from USB sin't supported by old motherboards and this thing is brand spankin new from 1985.

Am I correct?

The presario 2k? The one under the monitor? I honestly didn't even fucking think of that you genius. I'll go test the bottom one now and see if any boot menu for win7 pops up. If that works, I can swap them and worry about it later.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA

Yeah, should work

Well uh, good news and bad news.

Upon booting up the bottom one, Windows 98 seems to be miracuously on. It's frozen in a repair stage right now but the logo and shit is on the screen.

Disk drive doesn't do anythign when I press the button. Might need to warm up, might be a dead end.

Will post pictures soon, gotta charge my camera and get an SD card.

Sorry. got you though. PATA might be the right term. IDE cables are those ribbon cables that you can slave other drives on. Molex power is the four pin power connector. When you remove the faulty CD ROM drive, you'll see what I mean.


Worse comes to worst, you'll need to liveboot and rysync to an external HDD to save whatever files and then install OS (both require a CD ROM drive etc).

Recycle them. They're ugly and worthless.

You have bad taste and suicide is the only option.

First, disk drives.

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And now the description of what happens: Boot normally on pic A, then win98 screen, then scandisk, then it just says compaq presario with a mouse warning. Will try plugging in mouse to see what happens but I expected to be able to use it without one.

The second is the case. The disk drive at the top I've already taken out before and looked at but never opened up, and the back showcases all the ports. I can't quite get close enough crisp quality while balancing it, sorry, but if there's a particular part you want a close up of just circle in red in paint and repost.

my god it's been a while. Good luck with that clusterfuck.

Thanks, I'll fuckin' need it.

Okay, no matter how fucking hard I try I can't get a clear picture of it soo I'm scribing this label by hand: It's inside on the case, lots of important info.

Diagram displays the computer in the upright, facing right position.

In relevance to analog clock:

Floppy drive 11, PSU 12, Primary secondary 1, Audio connector 2, Processor connector 3, SIM sockets (4) 5, Processor speed selector CMOS J1J1 jumper settings 6, Vesa connector 8, Video Memory Connector 9, Riser card connector 10. Gameport connector 11 (under floppy)

B&C Processor speed select:
233MHz = Pins b1-b2, b4-b5, c1-c2
266MHz = Pins B2-B3, B5-B6, C2-C3

C CMOS & Password Erase: Move jumper from 5-6 to 4-5, Power ON, then power off. Move jumper back to 5-6

CAUTION Do not operate computer with system unit cover removed

May be hot.

286208-001

Yessss, now give us upskirt shot. Compaq porn all of my HUNNNGH

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It's mostly intact, the way it came, save for a few documents and frogger 2. What the fuck?

I'm not surprised, my dad would fry all his drives according to mom, but still.

It's in pristine working condition. The ODD is/was working because I was able to take frogger 2 out of it, problem is it's being a little finnicky.

Enjoy the porn boys. More to come as I explore this guy. Where should I go/look for first in our win98 time machine?

Maybe Presario Support can help with the second one?

Okay, now install Windows2000.

All I got is a windows 7 disk and win2k on the latitude that's borken. Best I can do is swap the harddrives and see if that works until I find the disk. Bet it does though.

But, if I can get the damn disk drive to open and work I can install win7 after backing it up. Can I backup win 98 to a disk? It can't read any of the USBs I put in, even the old duracell ones.

My Cruzer Glide can't find any driver software. If the glides don't come with driver software, then it needs an internet connection. I'd have to move my cat6 from this computer to the presario.

thepiratebay.org/torrent/6096687/Windows_2000_Pro_SP4_Final_2011_Edition_(all_updates)

Paperclipped the factory reset hole boys. ODD is working. I just need to find out how to backup the information on this computer to either a disk or a USB and we can play with it.

cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimage/archive/7.11.0-live/i386/iso-hybrid/debian-live-7.11.0-i386-standard.iso

wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/disk_cloning

Alright alright, I'm downloading them all.

But like I said, it can't figure out USB boot. I need to write these ISOs to disk. Does Daemon do that shit? Never tried it before, gotta go get disks from upstairs.

I'm retarded, the second one is an instruction link. Reading.

Connecting the cat6 cable causes the computer to freeze. When it turns back on, it doesn't register. I have more cables upstairs but I don't know if i should use cat3, 4, 5, etc. Maybe it's just too powerful?

windows 7 has a classic theme

It's not as good, and it'll be modified to be more vaporwavey.

you should able to burn the iso on to disk with rufus rufus.akeo.ie/

you should able to burn the iso on to disk with cdrtfe cdrtfe.sourceforge.net/cdrtfe/download_en.html

Have Rufus but never used cdrtfe. Does Rufus do disks or was that a mistake on your part?

Also, why can't I connect the poor thing to the internet? Do I need alower cable, or will modern internet just not work? It doesn't hav e awireless chip I don't think, but I have thousands of cables if I could find the right one

I don't think it should matter that it's cat6. Look at Computer Management and see if you have all the proper drivers.

Rufus can burn discs in ISO mode, I believe.

I looked at the computer again today. It's got 2 1g harddrives. MIght need to swap them out but I don't know if it can even handle my 2tb harddrives.

THat said, there's no point in wiping it clean with only a gig on 2 drives. I could just replace them, so might have to wait a bit longer for those harddrives to come in and I need to find a compatible one anyway.

Gonna try and export the system log with all the hardware data on it to SOMETHING if I can connect it to the internet.

It can handle them. But you'll likely need a IDESATA data adapter and a MolexSATA power adapter. Sometimes drives contain SATA and Molex power, so the ladder adapter may not be necessary. The limit for FAT32 is 2TB with 512k clusters, so you could even maintain an old OS on that drive.

Drop Windows 2000 extended kernel on it.

...

Looks like you need to replace the CMOS battery in this one, probably both. Otherwise it'll freak out about the settings and time each boot.

I'd leave Windows 98 on that one and use it for Doom/Mechwarrior/Starcraft.

These are Compaqs, so you're even more fucked.