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Compaq Presario al-lin-ones

OK, I'm running into some trouble here. My DOS doesn't recognize half my commands. It won't do "mem", it won't do "edit", it even won't do "help".
When I had formatted the hard drive and wanted to install DOS, it told me there was already another DOS specifically for this system and suggested I should keep that. Some kind of hidden recovery partition type stuff I would guess. Well I went on to install win 3.1 and didn't notice that half the DOS commands don't work till it was too late. I would assume that this is due to the weird DOS version?
Now you may already have noticed from my sub par description here that I am not the most tech-savvy guy when it comes to DOS computing, so forgive me if these questions are kind of stupid :)
1. Is my assessment of the situation somewhat realistic, or is something else more likely?
2. Do I have to kill the entire system, or can I just "update" DOS using my v6.2 discs?
3. Are there any downsides to replacing the "system specific" DOS, as the DOS setup suggested in the beginning?

Thx!

EDIT: While I'm at it: You don't happen to know whether I have to remove the front plate of the PC in order to exchange the CD drive and how I would go about doing that?
It seems I can't really reach any screws from the inside.
 
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either the actual DOS files are not installed or the DOS dir is not in the path variable. There were some special DOS versions that were "system specific", like for some Zenith systems with weird floppies or controllers, but this Compaq is as unique as a fake Gucci bag, so just "kill" the system and install the DOS you like.
 
Good, then I will do that. Thanks for the help!
Btw, just for future reference: you can open the front plate, there are two screws you can see when you flip it on its back. You need to do this in order to exchange the hard drive or the disc drive. Or the speakers for that matter.
 
Ok, so far so good.
I got DOS working, I got the cutemouse driver and I even got a new CD drive in and working.
My last issue is the sound driver for win 3.1 you gave me.
When I run it, 2 discs are supposed to be made but when he tries making the first one he stops with the error message:
"ERROR 03: Error opening file image"
Might the file be corrupted?

Thx!

Edit: I did find the ESS 688 Driver for Win 3.1, but what is the difference between the "688w31_41690" and the "688w31_41675" version?

Edit 2: The 690 version of the driver seems to work. Monkey Island still has no sound though. Also, when I set "set Blaster=a220 i10 d1" it starts with the message that there is a conflict on IRQ10. Any idea what I am doing wrong?
 
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Hi All !

If you are looking for the Compaq Presario CDS524 Driver and Software Package you can find them on my site: http://www.pukepals.com/compaq-presario-cds-524-software-recovery-project/ It may help you to get your good old Presario working again. I'm also happy for a little donation because it was a lot of work getting all the drivers and software back together.. Have fun ! Kind Regards Wolfgang (Sorry Post is in German but you will find everything you need)
 
Hi all, I have recently acquired a Compaq CDs 524. On boot it produces a humming noise from the speakers. I have searched all over the net for solutions to this problem but can't seem to find anything. And was wondering if anyone else has had the same issue. Other than that it seems to be fine I have replaced the hard drive in it and used the provided software found on pukepals website. Seems to run ok. Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you.
 
I had one of these a million years ago - a 1993 CDS-520 - an ex-g/f called it the "Giant Laptop" which looking back I think was quite stupid. It died a sorry death when the shed leaked and rained all over it. Never booted again. Shame.
 
I'm trying to find one of the CDS/CDTV series of all in ones (not 425/433) to fill a nostalgic void in my soul. Anyone know where are the best places to look, other than craigslist/ebay?
 
Here is my CDS 520. It runs rather slow, and could do with a fresh install and perhaps a processor upgrade. Otherwise it is in good working order.

IMG_0543.jpg
 
wolfie said:
i also created a back-up of the recovery disk and broke it up and uploaded it to skydrive. i figured i would share since it is suppose to be good for more than just the cdtv520 and it is almost impossible to find recovery cd's and drivers this system.
Click to expand...

Hi Wolfie.

I'm in the process of recovering a CDS 524 and was wondering if you still have this recovery discs available - I would love to recover the original configuration - TabWorks included!

Caluser2000 said:
Went to fire up the CDS today and good ol COD-Clickity click, clickty click. Oh well, Ive got some spare and into the trash with that one.
Click to expand...

By the way, my HDD has gone "clickity click, clickity click" - citing Caluser2000, to which I should add "clickity clunk" - but all my attempts to install a new HDD have fail - is it because they are big discs? ~10GB.

Thanks
 
Hello all.

I've managed to buy another 524 and this time it was (totally! :cool:) in its original configuration.

The find was due to an unfortunate naming by the seller who, in its blasé attitude, misspelled all the keywords in the add (OLX). I got it while looking for “floppies” which was the only correct word… The find came two days after I bought my first Presario CDS 524!

As soon as it booted (the original HDD) and it showed the Compaq logo under the windows 3.1 splash screen, I removed the disc and made an image of it.
Unfortunately for our international buddies, the OS is in Portuguese, but I will make it available for download.

I made the backup image using the MacOS Disk Utility, having the disc connected through a USB to IDE adapter.

The image was made to the hole disc, including the diagnostics 3mb partition.
 
any updates?

any updates?

goncalo said:
Hello all.

I've managed to buy another 524 and this time it was (totally! :cool:) in its original configuration.

The find was due to an unfortunate naming by the seller who, in its blasé attitude, misspelled all the keywords in the add (OLX). I got it while looking for “floppies” which was the only correct word… The find came two days after I bought my first Presario CDS 524!

As soon as it booted (the original HDD) and it showed the Compaq logo under the windows 3.1 splash screen, I removed the disc and made an image of it.
Unfortunately for our international buddies, the OS is in Portuguese, but I will make it available for download.

I made the backup image using the MacOS Disk Utility, having the disc connected through a USB to IDE adapter.

The image was made to the hole disc, including the diagnostics 3mb partition.
Click to expand...

Hi all, so I've noticed quite a few people have posted links that are now dead and some (like goncalo mentioend above). Any chance we can get live, links to the diagnostics/setup diskettes and/or restore media?

Thanks!

-Matt
 
Hi, I am new here. Just looking for a little help. I have a Compaq Presario CDS 524, got it as a gift because the person just did not want it. I powered it up and windows 95 boots up. From what I can gather from this forum it comes with 3.1 shipped. I looked into it on the pc and it has both 95 and 3.1 showing up. I work in IT and but I do not know anything about these old pc's. Does anybody know and can help point me in the right direction to downgrade back to 3.1?
 
Obtain MS-DOS 6.22 bootable diskettes. FDISK all partitions and create new partitions. Install MS-DOS 6.22. Obtain Windows 3.11 diskettes. Install Windows 3.11. Alternatively: replaced the IDE HDD and retain the IDE HDD with Windows 95.

Or sell it here.
 
I just dug up my CDS 524 and was promted for a power-on password. Does anybody know how to bypass or reset the password? Thanks a alot! Christian
 
Hello all,

Just wanted to pitch in and introduce myself as the proud owner of two Compaq Presario 425s.

Had one of those since my childhood, have very fond memories attached to this computer. Second one I got maybe 10 years ago through a family's friend who emptied his shed full of old vintage computer stuff which I've gladly taken in.

My original one is known to work and I've played around a lot with it. The further I've pushed it was by maxing it out with 20 MB of ram and running Win95 on it, many years ago.

However I'm planning on fully restoring both machines for my own enjoyment and posterity (the second one is now orange, went far beyond usual yellowing and need intensive retro brighting treatment).

I'm also curious to see how much I can modernize it. I've recently ordered the infamous evergreen 586 upgrade kit and I do have a good Ethernet ISA NIC laying around. Apparently it might still be possible to install recent releases of NetBSD on such a configuration, so I'm definitely curious to see how that might look on such an ancient machine ;)

Nice to meet other fans of these old machines :)
 
Since NetBSD 7.0, the legacy kernel is required. All it does is re-enable video support on ISA cards; you'll get a crash if you try to use the regular kernels due to not being able to find a "console" device.
 
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