i have a compaq mod 5102US, which is running winme, my sister says that it was freesing up, i run a disk scan then i run defragment but it stop and said that it needed to run scandisk first, which i try to do but it froze, i turn off the pc and when i turn it on , it show compaq on the screen but then it goes black with a cursor on the top left side of the screen. I clean the inside of the computer which it was dusty, boot it back up but still does the same thing shows the word compaq and then goes black screen with the cursor on the top left, it does not load on safe mode either

Start with a WinME bootdisk and try running scandisk from the DOS prompt

If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers

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i have a boot up disk but for some reason the cd drive is not reading anything , i also try with the recovery cd but it does not read it, it first shows the compaq logo and the to the black screen with the cursor on the top left.

thanks for helping

You may need to enter the CMOS setup and set the CD drive (if your boot disk is a CD) as the first boot device. If you're booting from a diskette, then you'd set the floppy as the first boot device

On a Compaq, usually you hit 'F10' as the machine starts up - typically when you see the 'flashing cursor' (but not the one you're describing)

Hopefully nothing was dislodged during your cleaning efforts

If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers

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I have enter to cmos but everything is fine in there, check the boot sequence and is fine and the time&date too. could it be that is a virus that it does not allow me to use my hard drive. I recheck all the physical part and everything seems normal. I booted the pc with the boot cd and it gave me the option to choose from hard drive or cd, I choose cd but it just stays with the boot from cd option and does not do anything.

thanks for helping

It's difficult to say just what is going on, but virus is the least likely culprit.

There may be a problem with your boot CD - since you are able to access the CD's boot menu, the drive itself would seem to be ok.

Try another one? ISOs here

Memory problems are a distinct possibility as well, and you would be advised to test the RAM with something like Memtest. Normally you'd create a bootable floppy, but if you don't have one... you'll have to figure out an alternative

If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers

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http://webpages.charter.net/dperr/compaq.htm

Compaq abandoned that practice quite some time ago, and the OP has indicated that CMOS access is not an issue.

Not a great deal can be done until the machine can be booted by one means or another

Google searches should be used to extend one's understanding rather than be used as a substitute for such

I agree; Computing.Net participants need to proofread

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i'm still working with it but everything seems to be normal, but it just not booting or reading the cd drive. thaks soo much for all your help. should i try to upgrade so i do not loose anything from my hard drivfe or should i wipe everything off and try to install either win2k or xp.

i inserted the cd for win2k and it read it, but would i loose anything from my hard drive if i upgrade to win2k

thanks for helping

http://tinyurl.com/74c2q>I was not trying to be misleading sometimes a rompaq diskette is necessary.