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W3WN
12-26-2010, 05:31 PM
OK, here's one I haven't run into for quite awhile...

When my firm upgraded to Dell machines almost 2 years ago, I bought 3 of the old Compaq EVO D300V mini-towers for home use. All three came with 20 GB hard drives.

Upgraded 2 of the 3 to 80 GB drives... only 2 since that was all I had at the time. Used the third one as the boss's computer, since all she ever does with it is read email, surf the 'net, and play solitaire. (It was also a lateral upgrade, in terms of drive space, from her old Gateway tower)

Of course, once she got a better machine, more crap got put on it. Suffice to say, we're down to 1 GB free. So, got my hands on another 80 GB drive and Ghosted it last night.

Only the machine won't boot off of the new drive. Yes, it's jumpered as a Master! But it starts to boot, gets about 20 seconds into loading XP, and reboots.

So I grabbed another drive I had sitting around, a 60 GB one out of my sister-in-law's old tower. Same thing.

Should mention that the BIOS gave a warning (when booting off floppy into Ghost) that neither drive was "ATA compatible" -- even though both are pulls out of existing machines.

I'm suspecting, since it did this with two different drives, both pulls from known working machines, that it's something on the machine, not the drive. Any thoughts?

In the meantime, my daughter just got K3AIR's old laptop, so her Dell is now destined to replace the EVO that's the shack computer, and THAT EVO will end up with the wife. Keeps the peace, if nothing else.

Any thoughts?

kd8dey
12-26-2010, 06:06 PM
How old are the computers (manufacture wise)
I remember somewhere that in older computers the bios wouldn't recognize newer larger drives over a certain size and you had to use a driver to use them (forgot what size limit that was)......

KJ3N
12-26-2010, 06:09 PM
Are all 3 machines the exact same model?

Check BIOS versions.

Do the Compaqs still use a utility partition and did you remember to Ghost that partition as well?

kd8dey
12-26-2010, 06:15 PM
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=97104&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=321973&swLang=4&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1093#120

W3WN
12-26-2010, 08:17 PM
Are all 3 machines the exact same model?

Check BIOS versions.

Do the Compaqs still use a utility partition and did you remember to Ghost that partition as well?
They are all the same age, and they should be the same BIOS, but I will verify that.

I Ghosted the entire drive, including the utility partition. Also, I should mention that when I received the machines, I had a copy of the OEM disks & reformatted them to factory specs (Win XP SP1a IIRC) including the drivers.

As I mentioned, now that my daughter is thrilled with the laptop, her machine will become the shack computer, and the current shack computer (one of the other EVOs -- with an 80 GB drive) will go the boss. Then, if I screw something up royally, no real harm done.

W3WN
12-28-2010, 02:37 PM
Just an update... I found an EVO D310V on eBay. Almost double the memory that the boss's machine has. IIRC it has a 40 GB drive in it.

$35 plus shipping. Should be here by Thursday.

So, I should be able to make this the boss's new machine, and then I can figure out what's up with the existing one. Or not. I may just stick a wireless keyboard/mouse on it, put it in the living room, and have it feed the TV. We'll see.

W3WN
12-30-2010, 07:26 PM
Good news: The "new" EVO 310 arrived today, a day earlier than expected.
Bad news: The boss is upset at this "big Dell box" that came today.
Good news: I had her open the box and then told her it was her new computer.
So-so news: It came with a 20 GB drive. Was supposed to be a 40. But what the heck, I'm replacing it anyway.
Good news: Drive replacement went smoothly.
Kinda Bad news: My Compaq Restore CD's for the EVO 300 don't work on the 310. Not exactly unexpected, though.
Good news: Compaq OEM Windows XP SP1a CD loads just fine.
Better news: The Product Key on the machine is for Win XP SP1a. Yea!
Bad news: Forgot that I can't use a USB mouse during install. Got to find an old mouse that still works...

Good news: Found a working mouse
Bad news: The generic Windows install isn't reading the network connection.

Off to Compaq's site to get the driver... although if it's bad, I may know why I got the machine so cheap. And I got rid of all my PCI network cards, I think...

Good news: Got the updates
Bad news: This PC didn't burn the CD correctly
Good news: Yes it did, the software just didn't report it correctly

Better news: NIC driver, video driver, and a bunch of other drivers installed just peachy
Boring news: And now I'm waiting (*yawn*) on 125 updates, now that SP2 & SP3 are installed.

Best news: The boss is happy.