I'm trying to reinstall the original software on my Presario 7360. When I put in Disk#1 of the QuickRestore set, it boots to the COMPAQ screen, the I just get a cursor in the upper right corner. Documentation says it should bring up the reinstallation menu. Does anyone know how to make these damn CDs work?

l.o.l you got two CD'S?Both my compaqs have one.One is probaly for OS install and 2 is for drivers.If i was you i would e-mail compaq.People say bad things about Compaq support.Ive had no trouble at all.Infact the worst computer company to deal with is ABSPC. Thats another story.

I also have a 7360, my compaq quick restore cd's do not work. my disc's are version 0001. I have tried everything that support sent to me and none of their advise worked. Their final resposense was to tell me to buy the newest version of quick restore.....I reformated & FDISK'd as they said one day, and the next day they told me i shouldnt have done it. Now i have no sound at all. I understand why people are upset with compaq. Good luck!

They want u to pay money something like $4 per minute after the software warranty has run out in 3 months, they don't tell u only your hardware is warranteed for 1 yr. Here is the formula. Boot into safe mode, f5 or f8, choose option 6 and enter. Type cd and then space and type windows. Type cd again and space and type command and enter. Type FDISK and then enter. Answer Y for yes. Choose 3, choose 3, system_sav Answer yes. Press escape x 2 Choose 3 enter Choose 2 enter Choose y enter Press escape Choose 3 enter, Choose 1 enter Press escape x 2. Press y and enter Press escape Choose option 4 Escape x 3 Type fdisk space /mbr then enter Escape x 2 CD rom should say 1 factory - choose this all the way and follow the instructs. I hated when Compaq did this to me, here it is for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***********I must tell u though, if u have fdisked and formated your hard drive, usually the recovery cds won't work after that, as a BOMID is burned on the hard drive which is the identifying factor that your recover cds need to work, it is the identifier. ***********My opinion - I did this a year ago with the help of the forum, fdisk and format and get your own operating system and install yourself and make your own recovery cds with Norton Ghost - drive image takes about 30 minutes to make but only takes 10 to reinstall an entire copy of your drive. Get all of your things on your computer configured and then ghost it out, beats a reformat time of 1 hr. plus reload an reconfiguration. THE RECOVERY CDS ARE MORE TROUBLE THAN THEIR WORTH. Hope this helps!!!!!!!

Here is more info from prior posts on computing.net on the Compaq Bomid issues and u c an do a search in the right hand corner of this page for "BOMID" for Compaqs. ------------- Search Result 10 From: Anon (nomailplease@hotmail.com) Subject: Re: Compaq 8702 and Operating System Problems Newsgroups: alt.sys.pc-clone.compaq View: Complete Thread (4 articles) | Original Format Date: 1998/12/07 You couldn't set up the BIOS because the BIOS setup was on a 2nd hidden partition on the hard disk referred to as the diagnostics partition. To get the diagnostics partition in is best done using the Quick Restore CD. To get the latest QuickRestore CD which has all your pre-loaded software, you can call 1-800-841-2761 (United States). The kit will have a boot floppy if the system can't boot from CD. When you run it Quick Restore can partition and format the hard drive if it doesn't already have an active partition. It will also create the contents of the diagnostic partition and the main partitions, largely by unzipping them under DOS and then for the main partition restoring the long file names. I have the notion it also puts in whatever BIOS revision is current as of the kit date, but I may be mistaken. You will need to do another something out of the ordinary since you are putting it in a new hard drive. The Quick Restore relies on having a Bill of Materials ID (BOMID) already on the hard drive to select or confirm the kit to be installed. You'll need to use a tool on the CD to See the information below for details on how to do all the things you should do to get the system restored to the current QR kit. After that is done you should update the phone center with another CD you get by calling either the number above, the COC Compaq Order Center US 1-800-952-7689, or via Product Information 1-800-345-1518, I've forgotten which. Then, you install all the updates from http://www.compaq.com/athome/support/softpaq/consumer/pres8700/pres8702.html that aren't already present from the QR CD. You can follow the links to read the detailed descriptions to find out what files are affected and figure out what has already been installed with the QR CD, Look at http://www.walbeehm.com/win95upd.html to see what system updates you are missing, and put in the ones you don't have in the order listed there. If you get IE 4.01, get the core only w/o desktop update, and w/o outlook express, to avoid phone center problems After all that's done, you're ready to install OSR2 or Windows 98. If you install you OSR2 as a licensed leftover from some other scrapped computer, you need to play mix and match to avoid pulling in another computer's OEMSETUP.INF which might force in a lot of wrong hardware. For example, on the 8700 series OEMSETUP forces into the registry PnP IDs for the sound card and the modem.when they aren't really PnP. (This was a hint.) On the other hand if you install Windows 98, you'll live long and prosper if you avoid the full IE4.01 desktop update, outlook express and the channel bar. There is an AWFAXD (sp?) update on the CD you need to find and install to make the MS Fax component behave to get the phone center Fax going again. The power management should be set to ON in the BIOS, but to never time anything out, use the Windows 98 settings for that. After that... DirectX6 seems to work on other 8700 series machines. All this could take several days. Start by getting the QR CD and the "Phone Center Update" aka "JetFighter CD" ---------- Topic: Presario 8700 Subject: CAN NOT QUICKRESTORE COMPAQ PRESARIO 8716 From: COMPAQ - Charnette D 09/29/98 09:41:10 To use a QuickRestore on a new hard drive. You have will need to do the following: During the manufacturing process, an identification number (BOMID) is written to the UIA area of a hard drive. This BOMID identifies the model of the PC into which the hard drive is installed. Replacement hard drives do not contain this information. Therefore, when using QuickRestore on a Compaq Presario PC that contains a replacement hard drive, QuickRestore will be unable to identify the model of the PC. SOLUTION Follow the steps below to write the BOMID to the UIA area of the hard drive: 1. Insert the QuickRestore diskette (when applicable) and CD into the appropriate drives, then restart the computer. NOTE: If a QuickRestore diskette is not included with the QuickRestore kit, you can create this diskette from the BOOTDISK subdirectory on the QuickRestore CD. 2. From the initial screen (Program Language Selection), Exit the QuickRestore utility. 3. From the A:\> prompt type uiabomwr_xxx (where xxx is the BOMID of the PC), then press Enter. EXAMPLE: A:\uiabomwr 049 would store the 049 BOMID (for a Compaq Presario model 8716) into the UIA area of the hard drive. ------------------ Topic: Presario 8700 Subject: QuickRestore to a new,larger hard drive From: COMPAQ - Stewart S 07/07/98 14:26:20 Please review the following document: The Quick Restore CD Program was designed to replace the factory image exactly as it left the Factory. For this reason the Quick Restore CD program PARTITIONS the computers hard drive the same way it left the factory. If an advanced user wants to separate the hard drive into two partitions before running the Quick Restore program, then they need to be aware of the following information. The Quick Restore program was designed to first look for an ''Active'' valid partition before the Quick Restore program runs FDISK and Format. If there is an ''Active'' valid partition the Quick Restore program will restore to that ''Active'' partition without running FDISK therefore the advanced users hard drive partitions will be respected by the Quick Restore program. NOTE1: When the large hard drive is split into two partitions it will create a C and D drive. This CD-Rom drive will move out to the E drive. This is important because all the Compaq default settings for any preinstalled software that use the CD-Rom drive will point to the D drive. These pointers will have to be changed to reflect the new E drive. NOTE2: The D drive can serve as a place to backup data if the Quick Restore needs to be run in the future. The partitions settings must not be changed. This is a condensed version of the steps below. Run Fdisk and create a Primary Dos partition making it active, but do not format that partition which will be the C drive. Create an Extended Dos partition and format this partition which will be the D drive. Run the Quick Restore program and you will have the original Compaq software on the C drive and a D drive with nothing on it. Please see the steps listed below for details. To partition the 2.5gb or larger hard drive please follow the steps listed below: 1) Power your system up with the QRCD in the CD-Rom Drive. 2) At the Microsoft Boot screen select option 3 (Exit to DOS) 3) At the A:\ Type ''CD Tools'' 4) At the A:\Tools\ Type ''FDISK'' 5) At the screen where it states (Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)......?[ ] Type ''Y'' 6) FDISK options Enter Choice [ ] type ''1'' and press ''Enter'' 7) Create Primary DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive Enter Choice [ ] type ''1'' and press ''Enter'' The Fdisk program will now verify drive integrity 8) Do you wish to use the maximum available size for primary DOS Partition and make the partition active (Y/N).....?[ ] type ''N'' The Fdisk program will now verify drive integrity 9) Enter partition size in Mbytes or percent of disk space (%) to create a Primary DOS Partition......: [ ] Type ''2000'' press ''Enter'' (example depending on the size of the hard drive, could be 6000 for 12Gig. Note: You can either choose a % (example 50%) of the drive or type in Mbytes you want for the primary partition. 10) Press ''ESC'' key 11) Create Primary DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive Enter Choice [ ] type ''1'' and press ''Enter'' The Fdisk program will now verify drive integrity 12) Select option 2 (2. Create Extended DOS Partition) Enter Choice [ ] Type ''2'' The Fdisk program will now verify drive integrity 13) Press ''Enter'' 14) Press ''ESC'' The Fdisk program will now verify drive integrity 15) Press ''Enter'' 16) Press ''ESC'' 17) Select (2. Set active partition) Type ''2'' Press ''Enter'' 18) Enter the number of the Partition you want to make Active.......[ ] Type ''1'' Note: This is a VERY KEY STEP without setting the PARTITION ACTIVE the QRCD program will look at the drive and see no active partition, and will then run FDISK and re-partition your hard drive. 19) Press ''ESC'' 20) At the main FDISK screen select option 4 (4. To display partition information) type ''4'' Note: This will show you if you have partition the drive correctly and the C: drive is active 21) Press ''Enter'' 22) Press ''ESC'' 23) Press ''ESC'' to Exit FDISK Program 24) Press ''ESC'' to Exit FDISK Program 25) Reboot your system by pressing ''CTRL+ALT+DEL'' 26) At the Microsoft Boot screen select option 3 (Exit to DOS) 27) At the A:\ Type ''CD Tools'' 28) At the A:\Tools\ Type ''Format D:'' Note this will format your new D: drive 29) At the (Warning all DATA on Non-Removable Disk Drive D: will be lost Proceed with Format (Y/N) Type ''Y'' 30) Press ''Enter'' 31) Reboot your system by pressing ''CTRL+ALT+DEL'' 32) Run QRCD Program ------------- JaH wrote in message ... >I am working on a Compaq Presario 8702 system for a family I work with. The >hard drive failed in the computer (for sure of this), so I order another >drive similar in size. After about an hour wrestling with damned machine to >recognize the drive (wouldn't let me into BIOS to change any settings, and >yes, I pressed F10 at the right hand blinking cursor), it took it (had to >take the jumper for the CMOS battery off to force it to loose settings just >to get it to recognize it). The HDD works great, but Win 95B and WIn98 has >some problems with some of the hardware (sound card [Interwave], and quite >of bit of unknown devices. It can't find a modem, not even a generic modem, >and I know there is one in there because the owner used it for net access, >plus there are two phone plugins on the back of the machine). Win98 >recognizes the USB on it, but still has problems with the sound card and >other things. One question: Should I have used the QuickRestore CD for that >computer on it? I tried using it and the little floppy for it and it would >not come up. Matter-of-a-fact, the damned floppy drive on it does not work >properlly. It will not read a perfect disk read by all 5 of my other >machines. Please, I am desperately seeking assistance. I have worked on >computers for years and this is the first machine that has been a pain in >the ass, so much that I want to throw it out on the concrete and let it rest >for the rest of its days. Thanx in advance. -JaH > > --------------- The following words are very common and were not included in your search: where to on. [details] Groups search result 1 for where to fine bomid on compaqs Search Result 1 From: David Culver (David.Culver3@gte.net) Subject: Re: Presario 4770 QuikRestore Hangs at 57% Newsgroups: alt.sys.pc-clone.compaq View: Complete Thread (9 articles) | Original Format Date: 1999/11/11 The QR cd looks for a bomid written to the uia area of the " Compaq" hard drive. When you install a non Compaq drive you need to know the bomid of the system . Usually found in info.bom (on HD ) or bomid.txt (on QR cd). Uiabomwr.exe is a program on the QR cd which will write the bomid to the new drive , enabling it to pass the QR configuration checks. For information on manipulating the QR cd visit: http://people.we.mediaone.net/bslick/newsgroup.htm

Never buy a PC without a proper copy of the Windows software, saves all the problems.....