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Compaq LTE Elite 4/75cx Non-System disk or disk error

DOS lives on!! said:
I'm sure the OP enjoys stuff like this in his thread. Nice going.
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Well, I started by trying to be helpful, until I was told to stop "running my mouth" and that I didn't know what I was talking about; sorry that the OP has to be inconvenienced but I don't need to put up with ignorance and rudeness like that.

To the OP, is the hard drive like the one in this picture?
mjxCJ9oJePSv8ebmH3Hp1tA.jpg

I have not seen an external way to hook this drive type up externally before. I've just always hooked them up to a laptop that'll accept these drives and go from there.
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FWIW, that's certainly what mine looks like. Open it up and you'll find a 'normal' 2.5" drive inside.

Back under my rock.
 
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twolazy said:
LOL. Have fun in your ivory tower im outta this place. You knock the poor guy when he was close enough to correct. Yet you rather argue semantics. Have fun... I remember why I left. Pompous asshats that rather troll then help .

Have fun in your endeavors gentlemen.
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Pardon me for trying to correct what I perceived as misleading comments; send me a picture of your LTE FDD that has a direct drive instead of a belt before you go.

Better yet, let's see what's in the OP's computer; it's not very hard to remove but he'll need a T10 torx driver.

BTW, SmallWars, thanks for adding your location (admittedly a pet peeve of mine ;-) ); it comes in handy if/when you want to sell or ask for something that involves shipping, and sometimes you find someone right in your home town who can lend a helping hand
 
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MikeS said:
FWIW, that's certainly what mine looks like. Open it up and you'll find a 'normal 2.5" drive inside.
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I never have had the need to open them up, since at the time it was easier to just stick it in a compatable laptop and access the data. But in this case he can open it and stick the drive into an external drive dock.
 
Yes, I can see how a location would be useful (I'm still a noob at this). My fdd does have a belt inside, and it turns out that it was stretched too much and is not turning the hub, do you know of any way to replace the belt?
 
DOS lives on!! said:
I never have had the need to open them up, since at the time it was easier to just stick it in a compatable laptop and access the data. But in this case he can open it and stick the drive into an external drive dock.
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That's what I had to do when I replaced the HD in mine since the FDD wasn't working in mine at the time either.

FWIW the missing service partition that some folks are calling the BIOS has never mattered; it dual-boots DOS6.22 and W98 and has never had an issue in 10 years or so.
 
Yes, that is what my hdd looks like. If there is no such adapter, then I think we can rule out installing an OS from a different computer. I'll stick with trying to fix the fdd then (if that fails I'll just get a replacement).
 
SmallWars said:
Yes, I can see how a location would be useful (I'm still a noob at this). My fdd does have a belt inside, and it turns out that it was stretched too much and is not turning the hub, do you know of any way to replace the belt?
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A common problem with those drives; a finicky operation to be sure and not one I'm eager to repeat. Maybe you can find a replacement drive here or elsewhere but, contrary to opinions expressed elsewhere ;-), they're not very common and in any case would probably have the same problem.

If you're up to it and have a tiny star driver you can try to replace the belt; 4 screws will remove the cover, and 2 screws will let you lift the motor slightly; the tricky part is to lift up the upper plate that the button is part of, remove and rethread the belt, and put it back together properly.

What I've done with another Compaq LT using that FDD is to ignore it, configure the HD on another system, and then use InterLink instead of the floppy for transferring stuff in and out.
 
Smallwars, you can put the HDD in an external hard drive dock or the like after you remove it from it's "casing." However since you're going to install an OS and programs on it, it'll be better to install everything with the HDD in the laptop and not worry about connecting it to another computer.

MikeS said:
Open it up and you'll find a 'normal' 2.5" drive inside.
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SmallWars said:
Yes, that is what my hdd looks like. If there is no such adapter, then I think we can rule out installing an OS from a different computer. I'll stick with trying to fix the fdd then (if that fails I'll just get a replacement).
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No, I think you misunderstood; did you not open it up in order to replace the drive or did you replace the whole thing?

The drive inside is a normal 2.5" laptop drive and the 3.5" to 2.5" IDE cable adapters that let you use it in a desktop are cheap and easy to find. Just make sure that you connect it right side up and correctly aligned.
 
DOS lives on!! said:
Smallwars, you can put the HDD in an external hard drive dock after you remove it from it's "casing." However since you're going to install an OS and programs on it, it'll be better to install everything with the HDD in the laptop and not worry about connecting it to another computer.
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??? How's he going to install anything on the laptop with a blank HD and no floppy drive? Did I misunderstand? Isn't that why we're here?
 
I was meaning after he got the floppy drive to a working state. However if he wants to install an OS on it while he fixes the FDD, then he can.
 
Ah, I see what you're saying, I realized that too, after opening the HDD. I think we've come upon an easy solution to this problem. I'll just get an adapter then. Thanks for the help :D
 
SmallWars said:
Ah, I see what you're saying, I realized that too, after opening the HDD. I think we've come upon an easy solution to this problem. I'll just get an adapter then. Thanks for the help :D
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Looking forward to your post telling us you got it working; good luck!

Hope you were entertained by the usual, umm, different perspectives and opinions ;-)
 
Yes, I got the adapter today and successfully installed DOS 6.22! It works just like it used to! :D Thanks for the help guys! :D
 
twolazy said:
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/LTE/us/locate/3_870.html

You will need that config util.
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MikeS said:
That link doesn't work for me; anybody else have better luck?
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This link no longer works due to the HP website update. But here is the updated link now which downloads an MS-DOS self-installing floppy image, so you'll need to run it on a DOS O/S which you can do with Virtual Box and and MS-DOS from Winworld, provided your desktop has a floppy. If not, you'll also need a USB floppy drive. Oh, and a floppy disk.
 
P.S. There's also a BIOS update, dated 17 Feb 1998, which supersedes SP2341 (09/12/96 ROM). You can download that here. Again, a self-extracting floppy image.
 
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