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Compaq recover CD error after replacing hard drive

I am working on a Compaq Presario 5310US, the hard drive finally died on it this morning, it's making the click of death sound, so it's replacement time. The original hard drive was a 40 GB Seagate, but the customer wanted a bigger drive, so I picked up an 80 GB Seagate to replace it with. THe customer actually had the original recovery CD that came with it so I figured it would be fairly straight forward, should've known better. Used the Seagate software to setup the drive, formatted it as one big NTFS partition, exchanged the Seagate CD for the Compaq Quick Restore, and it starts up and then goes to a red screen that says at the top, Compaq recovery CD error, with 'Please contact Compaq Technical Support" flashing on the screen. A quick call to them revealed that it IS out of warranty but for only $40 bucks I can talk to a software specialist. Well, thought I'd post a question here first because then I don't have to struggle thru the language barrier of modern tech support. I'm wondering if it's because the CD is looking for a smaller HD or because of the way it's partiitioned. Any ideas anyone?? Of course the customer wants this back tomorrow, so I just reminded him about the RAID proposal I told him about for this PC so we wouldn't have to do what I'm doing now......

adcocoser

ASKER

Ok, here's some follow up, after browsing through the mountain of Compaq questions on this website, I popped the Recovery CD into my main computer and checked to see how big it was, since one of the comments mentioned that unless it's almost full, it's not a true recovery CD and is just trying to access files stored on the recovery partition of the HD. Well, the total size for this CD is 1.9 MB, that's all. I suspect I've found my problem, it's trying to do a recovery from files that are not available. This does not give me an answer however, how do I get it running again?? Seems a pain to have to buy yet another XP CD after he's paid for the licensing on this one.

Fatal_Exception

This was off a Compaq forum... It may help you here..

During the manufacturing process, an identification number (BOMID) is written to the UIA area of a hard drive. This BOMID identifies the model of the PC into which the hard drive is installed. Replacement hard drives do not contain this information.

Therefore, when using QuickRestore on a Compaq Presario PC that contains a replacement hard drive, QuickRestore will be unable to identify the model of the PC.

SOLUTION

Follow the steps below to write the BOMID to the UIA area of the hard drive:

1. Insert the QuickRestore diskette (when applicable) and CD into the appropriate drives, then restart the computer.

NOTE: If a QuickRestore boot diskette is not included with the
QuickRestore kit, you can create this diskette from the BOOTDISK
subdirectory on the QuickRestore CD.

2. From the initial screen (Program Language Selection), Exit the
QuickRestore utility.

3. From the A:\> prompt type uiabomwr_xxx (where xxx is the BOMID of the PC), then press Enter.

EXAMPLE: A:\uiabomwr 201 would store the 201 BOMID (for a Compaq Presario model 8772) into the UIA area of the hard drive.

NOTE: On future Versions of QuickRestore CDs, the uiabomwr.exe utility will be located in the TOOLS directory of the QuickRestore CD.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

envoguecomputers

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Fatal_Exception

envogue.. you cannot use an OEM license on a Retail version.. This will NOT work..!!!

FE

adcocoser

ASKER

perhaps I forgot to mention that I am a licensed reseller and currently have an unopened OEM version, (for distribution with new PC only) of window's XP, as well as the opened version I just installed on the new PC I built for myself. Would that possibly work? Am going to try first suggestion about the ID thing.

envoguecomputers

I dunno, fatal. I think it might work. And if it doesn't, why not download the Retail Version (file sharing) and use the license on the Compaq? I see no issues with that. Any technician worth his salt keeps backup copies of OSes.

Fatal_Exception

Retail version licensing is different than OEM. You can try it, but I have a feeling that this is Recovery OEM and it will not work. Now, I suppose you may have a different version of Recovery CD, but in all my experiences, a retail install will not accept a key from a OEM loaded machine.

FE

Fatal_Exception

BTW: I am also a licensed reseller and MS Partner... Been there done that type of thing, you know? :)

envoguecomputers

I've done that before, no problem! Brand name computers will go with any WinXP CD as long as Home or Professional matches and you use the computer's serial number.

adcocoser

ASKER

Ok, checked the license on the PC, didn't say OEM anywhere on it, so I got out my backup copy of XP, ran it through, typed in the license # on the PC, and it seemed to install and activate just fine. I even went out on a limb and put on Service Pack 2, figured it'd be easier to do it while it's still a clean slate. Envogue wins this round folks. Now to see if I can figure out how I"m supposed to install this Quickbooks upgrade without a previous version on the pc...... Guess I"ll go check the Apps area now...

Aerodecked

The machine you have will have a hidden partition on the original HDD - hence the small data size of the recovery CD. In order to get all the original software back you would need the full recovery kit from Compaq (not cheap as it is out of warranty). This model would need a re-arming of the HDD once the recovery kit is obtained..... hold CapsLock on while it passes POST and attempts to boot.

I know this was a bit late but should help if anyone has this issue in future.