PCR
Wed May 14 14:39:34 PDT 2008
"PaulAndPaulaH" <PaulAndPaulaH@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:174F9631-E1FC-4CAC-96DA-D4A8D0C6397F@microsoft.com...
| I recently acquired a Compaq presario 1255 laptop that is nine years
old with
| Windows 98SE OS. I was told that the hard drive was cleaned.
However, I
| find leftovers of old un-installed programs such as McAfee from 2003.
The
| problem is that about every third boot up, I get an error message that
a
| McAffee file no longer exists. I found a file labeled exactly as the
error
| message in configsys/startup. I obviously unchecked it in
confifsys/startup,
| but still get the same error message on startup.
"START button, Run, SysEdit", & post Config.sys & AutoExec.bat. At least
these two lines (or similar) in the latter should have been eliminated,
if you have uninstalled McAfee...
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\NETWOR~1\VIRUSS~1\40~1.XX\scan.exe c:\
@IF ERRORLEVEL 1 PAUSE
| I have all the original
| RESTORE disks that accompanied the purchase of the laptop. Would I be
better
| to reformat the hard drive with the FULL FACTORY RESTORE FROM CD or
the try
| and work around these leftovers.
Have you ever done that before? Here is a write-up of my own experience
with that...
Well, I don't know whether it would be the same for you, but this is
what I did on my Compaq 7470. Remember, this totally wiped out
everything & restored to factory default condition. This does an Fdisk,
so, if you want to backup first, it must be done to CD or another HDD
altogether.
It took a phone call or two to Compaq to run my QuickRestore from double
CD's after an HDD crash, since the instructions that came with the them
were lacking. They are bootable-- BUT I couldn't figure out how to get
them into the CD-R/W drive. It was dumbfounding. Here's the actual
process:
1. Turn on computer. (So that you'll be able to...
2. Open CD tray; put in CD 1; close tray.
3. Turn computer off, then on. CD will boot.
(Computer did stuff, some of it twice, maybe. How long?)
4. When asked to insert a Diskette, hold down CTRL and press "R"
three times.
(Big secret? Lucky the guy was still on the line; he wanted to
go; eventually, did.)
5. At the error message (something like "Not ready reading drive
N"), hit "R" for "Retry".
(This took a second phone call; he said sometimes it takes 3
Retry's.)
6. When prompted, put in QuickRestore CD 2.
7. When prompted, put in QuickRestore CD 1, again.
8. When prompted, remove it.
(Windows screen came up; it seemed to go back to DOS; it rebooted
to Windows again; it did some unzipping; it rebooted; it did a
SystemSave; it rebooted; it installed some drivers; it asked some
questions, and I told all.)
That's what I wrote, some of it from memory, during & after the process.
The only other item in my notes is, "NEVER NEEDED ANY DISKETTE",
capitalized. I remember wondering what that diskette asked for was
supposed to be. I don't remember how much time passed between steps;
overall, I believe it was less than an hour, maybe much less.
This QuickRestore, to "factory", from the CDs, is far more involved than
the one from the D: partition. I don't really want to do it again. So
many reboots! And I may have left some out in the notes! There is a lot
to like about Compaq, but QuickRestore from CD's is not one of them...
well, it did work, though. I hope I haven't given away a big secret.
| I only intend on using this computer for
| printing database invoices that I will create in the Works program
that came
| on it--that is it. It will never be used for internet, etc. Will I
need
| updates for Win98 (knowing they are now unavailable) if I do a full
restore,
| even though I am only using minimal applications?
The old critical updates are still available at Windows Update. It's
just that new ones won't be written. It also could be wise to go get the
old Compaq SoftPaqs available now at the HP site.
| Have I totally confused
| the situation? I am leaning towards REFORMAT and take it from there.
MS Works came with my Compaq. If you do your own reformat (I mean not
using Compaq's QuickRestore), you may lose it, if your is like my 7470.
OTOH, if you boot your 1st QuickRestore CD, it may offer to do a
Selective Restore. Mine does-- but I can't recall whether it just offers
drivers or the separate software packages as well.
| Any
| suggestions would be helpful. Thanks, Paula H
You are welcome.
--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net