Compaq presario 17XL4W OS reload

kenrob

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Dec 12, 2009
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18,510
I tried to add memory to my old Compaq Presario 1700 and during the process the OS WinXP got trashed. Specifically; on boot-up I get a "...PCI.sys is missing or corrupt..."

Tried to reload WinXP from CD, but it "hangs" after "Press 2 for ASR" and "Press 6 to load SCSI or RAID driver".

Tried the old Compaq "restore" disk, but it also "hangs" after loading Win98, EMM386, showing some "start-up" messages and warnings "this will erase all of the HD...". It hangs after the "if you are really sure ...press 1 and Enter".

Ideas? I don't mind a total reload since I haven't used it in years anyway.

It was working OK before I swapped out the 2 64MB memory boards for 2 512MB. This didn't work (now I check a little further and see it only supports 512 max ...).

Put the 2 64s back ... still worked. Tried 1 64 ... still worked. Tried 512 in 1 slot...no joy. Tried the other slot...no joy. Now won't work on the 64s.

I'm sure I did something silly like maybe swapped memory with power on ... but I tried not to do this. Had the battery out and AC unplugged each time I think.

Ken
 

kenrob

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Dec 12, 2009
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18,510
I'm sure it was DDR. I t doesn't really say on the module. but I ordered it specifically for the Presario.

The invoice lists it as " 512MB SDRAM SODIMM (144 Pin) LD 133MHz PC133 FOR Compaq Presario 1700T"

How can I get to the "Setup Menu" ? It "boots" to the Compaq "flash" screen, but there is no "Press F1 [F2, F10, etc) for Set-up message that I can see.