I tried to do a factory restore on my presario, but it stoped at 69%. Then I tried to boot normally and it said there was no operating system found. I then deleted my partitions, and then created two new ones, and now the recovery wont start at all. Can anyone help?

"I then deleted my partitions, and then created two new ones, and now the recovery wont start at all"

Sounds like you deleted the recovery partition. You're sh!t of of luck. Time to try Linux.

http://distrowatch.com/

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

which one do I download?

Did you use a cd for the restore?

yah

what model presario? how much ram?

larry

what type of internet connection?

larry

Delete the two partitions so the drive is completely blank. Then bootup with the recovery/restore cd and try it again.

Ok, I deleted the partitions, but when it boots from the recovery disk, the screen goes to the command prompt, but none of the commands work

Are there any instructions for doing the restore/recovery in the manual or on the disk itself? You might want to check the compaq support page for your model. Post back your model number if you can't find the page.

Can I just start over with linux or something else? does anyone have instructions on how to do that?

I was 1/2 kidding when I mentioned Linux, but if you have no other Windows CDs & you can't use the recovery CD, it is a possibility.

We'd need to know a few things about your system:

1. what do you primarily use it for?
2. what is the speed of your Celeron & how much RAM do you have?
3. do you have a DVD or CD drive?
4. what system are you currently using to access the internet? Does it have a CD or DVD burner?

Many Linux versions (called "distros") are available as "Live CDs". What that means is you can boot off the CD & run Linux directly from the CD without actually installing it on the hard drive. That way you can take it for a "test drive"...if you like it, you can then install it. But without knowing your system specs & what you use your system for, it's difficult to recommend which distro to try.

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

You can start over with any OS your hardware can handle. You can try linux or, since it previously had ME and you're probably most familiar with it, stick with ME. Check ebay. You'll want a full install version--not an upgrade. You'll likely need to hunt down some drivers but they should be on compaq's site.

I'm fairly new to Linux - been working with it for a little over a year. If you're up to the challenge, it might be worth a look. It will usually run well on older machines that aren't capable of running XP or Vista (or would need major hardware upgrades to be able to run them well).

WinME is 8 yrs old & Microsoft officially stopped supporting it 2 yrs ago. If you find the right Linux distro, you'll be able to extend the life of your aging PC.

Other than that, get your hands on a Win98SE or WinME CD. As DAVEINCAPS said, you'll probably have to hunt down some drivers, but someone here should be able to help you with that.

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

I use it for my online college class, music, and low memory-consuming games. I don't know for sure the memory or speed, but it has a cd and floppy drive. The computer I'm on now has a burner but not a floppy drive.

Can't help you with a Linux choice without knowing your system specs. But if you know where to look (torrent), you can always get Win98SE or ME for free. Not that I condone pirating ;-)

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

what type of internet connection?? dailup? dsl? cable? what model Presario? the model # is on he front, probably 4 digits.

larry

And even without (or with) Windows installed (or even a working hard drive for that matter) you can always "try before you buy" several flavors of Linux:

http://www.frozentech.com/content/l...

Several can be installed to a HDD, and even if your system is too old to boot from CD, several others (DSL and Puppy) can boot from a floppy then run from CD.

Just make sure you understand how to burn a CD from an ISO image...