HP and Compaq Computers Notice !!

Hello All

It is now appears that HP and Compaq do not include any
restore disks or drivers disk, neither do they have any place
on their website to download the drivers.....

I had several computers I needed to do a clean install
of XP due to a corrupted drive.
Their restoe is on a partition on the drive
and thus no CD's
Not really a very nice thing to do.....
Usually that is not a problem but if the
device drivers are not on XP and there is
no info on where to get it.... and You do not have
another computer of the same model around, YOUR SCREWERD!!!

Ideas ??? or comments ????
There may be other computers mfgs. that do the same thing.....
Lets hear from you....

My main computer is a Compaq, part of the 5000 series, and came with all the recovery cds. Now mind you, it isn't a traditional install of XP that I have on the cds, it's Compaq's version, with all of their extra junk. I had a problem a while back, when I messed up my windows partition beyond repair installing linux the first time. I had lost my recovery cd and had to go through a huge ordeal on the phone with Compaq. If you didn't buy extra time on your warranty, you have to pay 900 charges, thank god my warranty was still good. I spent about an hour trying to speak english to this indian guy who had no idea, so it seemed, what I was talking about. In the end, I had to drop 10 dollars for them to ship me a spare cd, which partitions your hard disk a certain way to allow for the compaq install. I don't know WHY or what they do to the partitions myself, but I know it won't take a regular windows partition, cause I got nothing but a blinking red screen that said: CONTACT COMPAQ CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

I know HP is handled the same way. My uncle had the same trouble a while back with their custom cds, since they don't bother to give you a REAL copy of Windows. Yeah, you get your authenticity certificate, but it's not an actual windows cd.

But yeah, they stick you in a difficult spot. You either have to have that recovery cd, or you have to go to a designated Compaq center to have your computer repartitioned. While I was waiting for my cd in the mail, I borrowed my friend's recovery cd...wasn't from the exact same model, her's was a lower end, but it still got the partitioning right and I went from there and was able to use my comp instead of going without for a week.

I had that problem not too long ago. The tech support guy kept on telling me that I had to pay 50.00 for a software warranty because it had expired. I told the guy to go to H3LL. I vowed never to buy another compaq or a HP computer, I will buy from dell They are very friendly and are very quick on sending replacement parts.

Update:
After a bunch of e-mails; they finally gave me a link
to the board Mfg. so I could down load the needed drivers
for my customer whom I was speaking about...
Lucky he had XP Pro and we were doing a clean
install.... after trashing the fat 32 inatall partition....

DUMB!!! DUMB!!! DUMB!!!

I had a HP computer once. I never bought one again. I couldn't use any of HP's devices with other computers, it was slow, and horrible service. I build my own now. However, my computer did come with a set of rescue disks.

Can you call them up and tell them that they never gave you a cd with the OS on it. See if they will send you a new restore disks.

A note to HP Users.....
There is an areas called c:/hp as a hidden directory
COPY ALL THE FILES TO CD's ... There your drivers
Also c:/i386 is the XP home install files....

Now all I need is the Programs for the wireless keyboard so the extra buttons will work...

Fun...WOW!

If the MFRs are going to play this crap, I'll stick to building my "gray" boxes.

Tiger and a few of the hardware retailers are offering OEM prices on Microsoft products.

I'm building 2 computers in August for the family's network, it will be worth the extra bucks to get what I want and the restore material. I give lifetime warranties on my family's pcs

The latest reply!!!

The volume control and internet buttons on keyboard requires special
drivers from HP. However, as you have change the Operating System we
are unable to provide you the drivers for Windows XP Pro.

There full of CRAP!!!

Heaven help you if you have a hard drive die on you. I have an older COMPAQ, and
it has a recover CD. It is made with Norton Ghost, and it partitions the Drive into
one FAT32 partition, whether you like it or not. There is a directory that has all the
Windows CAB files, though, so you can copy it and have a full installable copy
of Windows, and you could burn it to a CD.

Why do they go to all the trouble of including that stuff, but not document
it properly.

Anyway, back up all that stuff before a disaster strikes.
:cool:

They do that so you will have to call and give you a bunch of garbage. and tell you that you have to update this and that and pay for this sometimes it is better to build your own :D custom built boxes are sometimes better than pre built ones

Personally I believe all computer with a pre-installed os should have the CD's
with the OS and one with the drivers, no matter what. It only cost pennies per
CD to have it come packed with the computer.
And any computers MFG should have all drivers on their website or
links where to get it.....

I don't know if this is true.. it may be an urban legend..

Quote:

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Apparently.. IF the big blue or the new HP were to ship the machines with a restore CD, and as these machines are factory activated.. the CD Set would there for be a preactivated archive, problem for M$, BB and HP these disk could install on almost any hardware..

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True?.. I don't know..
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I have had conflicting statements from HP (OZ) regarding getting Restore CD's, Yes, no, "Yes but you don't need them, you can restore from the HDD, besides the restore is 3 CD's and will take hours"..

Ever wondered why these systems are cheap?.. the OS cost per machine is less than half that of the Beige Box Edition.. You sort of wonder how the DOJ looks apon the "collusion on maintaing a monopoly"? ("Hey M$ I want to improve my market share.. here scratch my back and I will help you maintain your market share')


enough from me.. for my 2c's worth

BTW: yes copy the files as mentioned earlier.. F the B's

Cheers

or an even better scenario for ya. My mother in law has a hp with onboard restore. Her computer started running really horribly so i went and checked it out. She was MAJORLY infected with both virii and trojans. and the real kicker was after carefull examination (i looked at the screen;) ) not only was her primary partiton infected but so was the poartition with system restore information. Now i know there are a bunh of you out there that are going to miss the point of this by thinking "well she should have been scanning her downloads" and all that other crap. The point is that if you have a really bad infection or some such problem what are you supposed to do if you have to format but your recover data has been compromised. Personaly id rather pay the extra money and have the stuff i need to recover ona cd