Compaq Question

[Oromocto]

My Compaq Presario model 4786 came equipped with W95. I seem to remember from some source that in order to run the Quick RESTORE disk I had to be operating in W95. Over the 5 years that I have had the computer I have ran the restore disk successfully 5 or 6 times, first in W95 and then later I would uninstall W98 and again run RESTORE disk from W95.
On impulse I bought WinMe and installed it. Nobody warned me and I wasn't thinking. During the WinMe install my Win95 files became overwritten by W98 and now if I have an unfixable crash I cannot get back to W95. I put in the RESTORE disk and ran it as far as I dare and it looked as if it would do a RESTORE. So my question becomes: Is it correct that I have to return to W95 in order to run the restore Disk? Thanks.

[Darvocet]

I don't know that much about Compaq machines but with Win Me you may even have to format the hard drive with DOS. Win Me changes the format of the file allocation table (FAT) to a point that it is incompatible with Win95/98. I tried to go back to Win98 from Me and it refused to install, saying there was disk compression present. This was after booting with the Win Me boot disk and formatting the drive with it. Unless the Restore Cd formats as it installs you may be in for some interesting learning experiences. BTW, to repair mine I had to fdisk the drive, and use the Win98 boot disk to format with. Good Luck
Darvocet

[Oromocto]

Thanks Darvocet. I posted this question to the new Compaq board and received a quick answer, They say that I need to do an F-Disk and run the restore disk.
I uninstalled WinMe and it automatically brought up Win98. It had an error message but I was able to quickly correct it. I have since gone back to WinMe and the second installation was perfect, no problems, works great.
I will place my older post about the fault and its resolution below for everyones edification.
I removed Windows ME (Too slow for my 200MC System. Also crashes a lot) W98 has worked solid without trouble for a year. Now windows crashes often upon boot up with varying VXD faults (First VXD IOS(04) and then another time VXD VKD(01) Can anyone tell me what IOS and VKD stand for?

Thanks to Snarkie,reboot,Mosiac1 and others that have helped me. Today's cigar goes to Whitphil who told me that IOS(04) was associated with Iomega and putting me on the trail of Q243037 which in turn told me exactly what to do. The problem now appears to be solved. I will copy and paste this to the other boards.
Thanks a lot,
Don (Oromocto)

[CujoRbd]

Just for your informatin, you can run Compaq restore CDs from any Microsoft OS. So you don't need to go back to Win95 at all.

Also, it is DEFINITELY a good idea to do fdisk before putting in the restore CD, as you may end up having the same problems as you did before, as Compaq restore CDs just overwrite files and doesn't do a "clean" install.

So, yes, definitely run fdisk before using the restore CD.

Cujo

[Oromocto]

To CujoRbd: Now this is the kind of answer that puts an end to all my concerns on the subject. Your answer has to be true because now everything fits and makes sence.
I have tried for a very long time to get an answer out of Compaq and when they finally answered they said the same as you but did not answer my question. You did. I can't thank you enough.

[Beemer]

And if you are running a NIC that wasn't Originally Installed Equipment, remove it before you do your restore. I just went through that with my Compaq 4540.

Note: Beemers is now Beemer. Was finally able to re-register without the "s" on my name. Now If I could only get my seniors status back!