View Single Post - Son's Compaq won't boot up/error messages

tractorboy · 01-04-2006, 11:06 PM

First, did you pay with a credit card / pay pal ... or something close to these.
I would FIRST contact what you used to pay .... ie your credit card company.
Notify them to the situation and tell them that the issue is trying to be resolved between you and the seller... till it is resolved to YOUR satisfaction you would like the charge placed as a disputed transaction, also tell the seller, if he gets mad tell him he can have the whole thing back, have HIM send UPS there with return shipment paid by the seller.

ok when the pc boots up there should be an option to get into the bios, in the bios you can see if the HD is at least being detected.
Having the seller send you a copy of his xp cd will not work. You may be able to install xp , unless it is a Volume lisence copy of xp, you will not be able to activate xp. The seller more than likely has already activated the xp already.
What I would do is try to find out the make and model of the HD. All the manufacturers of modern HDs have FREE floppy based bootable diag tools ( on their website) that will diagnose your HD. Here are some things to check

1. make sure the cable is connected at the mainboard, not one end sticking up
2. if the HD is cable with another device like a cdrom/dvd drive, make sure the cable is connected securely at each device.

3. make sure the IDE channel is not turned off in the bios. also see if the drive is being detected ... or any drives ... cdrom ...zip ...etc

4 If the hd is cabled with another device and the other device goes bad or a power connector drops off , the hd will not work , even if it has a power connector and a data cable, it will always wait for the other device. If the HD is connected with another device you may want to disconnect and just cable the HD by itself ... you may have to change the jumpers on the HD.

5. Make sure they all have power, sometimes power cable extenders are used and they come apart not at the drive but in the middle connection.

6. More than likely, if you detrmine that the hd is ok and the pc boots up you are ok, if the hd is ok, but needs an OS ... you have to ask yourself the question, what happened to the OS, shipping does not remove an OS. You will have to buy an os, depending on home or porof , ranges $70 - $ 100.

01-04-2006, 11:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
tractorboy Gold Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 253	First, did you pay with a credit card / pay pal ... or something close to these. I would FIRST contact what you used to pay .... ie your credit card company. Notify them to the situation and tell them that the issue is trying to be resolved between you and the seller... till it is resolved to YOUR satisfaction you would like the charge placed as a disputed transaction, also tell the seller, if he gets mad tell him he can have the whole thing back, have HIM send UPS there with return shipment paid by the seller. ok when the pc boots up there should be an option to get into the bios, in the bios you can see if the HD is at least being detected. Having the seller send you a copy of his xp cd will not work. You may be able to install xp , unless it is a Volume lisence copy of xp, you will not be able to activate xp. The seller more than likely has already activated the xp already. What I would do is try to find out the make and model of the HD. All the manufacturers of modern HDs have FREE floppy based bootable diag tools ( on their website) that will diagnose your HD. Here are some things to check 1. make sure the cable is connected at the mainboard, not one end sticking up 2. if the HD is cable with another device like a cdrom/dvd drive, make sure the cable is connected securely at each device. 3. make sure the IDE channel is not turned off in the bios. also see if the drive is being detected ... or any drives ... cdrom ...zip ...etc 4 If the hd is cabled with another device and the other device goes bad or a power connector drops off , the hd will not work , even if it has a power connector and a data cable, it will always wait for the other device. If the HD is connected with another device you may want to disconnect and just cable the HD by itself ... you may have to change the jumpers on the HD. 5. Make sure they all have power, sometimes power cable extenders are used and they come apart not at the drive but in the middle connection. 6. More than likely, if you detrmine that the hd is ok and the pc boots up you are ok, if the hd is ok, but needs an OS ... you have to ask yourself the question, what happened to the OS, shipping does not remove an OS. You will have to buy an os, depending on home or porof , ranges $70 - $ 100. __________________ Win XP Prof Win 2003 --------------- A+ MCP NASDA CERT SCUBA Diver >>PCs underwater ?