Compaq Presario 5000 keeps freezing for no reason

5000.

Hello GSM.

>> I have been using the PC without any problem since the day in october 2005 when i replaced transistor Q10. So i think that this is >> for sure a solid solution.

Yes, that solution seems to be good one. Mine has now been ON for 4 days and not a hiccup.


>>> In the years before, my machine was a real nightmare.


This was my daughter's system and she could not be without it as she is a working engineer. When it quit altogether, she got a new putor and gave me this one to do as I wished. A nightmare it was. she got so mad at it.

>>>I think it has been sufficiently proved now that there is a (little) design failure or production failure on the UWAVE motherboards. In >> fact a lot of Presario 5000 systems have a problem that may have caused many people a lot of trouble.

This is why I suggested the legal recourse. In the USA, I know that legal recourse is very valid and even if troublesome, is worth the while. A class action is always looked on kindly by the courts. Who can start one ? As per the rectification on Q10, it does seem that the group here has that faulty design. It seems like a good cause. I have seen worst causes getting rewarded.

Have fun, I do. JP.

NB: Still on the Compaq, runs as new or shall we say: Better than new.

Ram max ?

GSM, me again.

Do you know if the RAM slots can take a 512 m sticks ? I now have 2 x 256 but would like to add a 512 in the third slot.

This morning, I got a true twin MoBo for this Compaq from :

alan_computech_intl on eBay, look at item 220076917457. If anybody would like to go that route instead of getting the iron hot. It is exactly the same, complete with the Q10.

I should get a manual. Cheers. JP.

UWAVE official max 3x 256 MB

Hello handcuff,

The FIC AZ31 mobo is almost equal to the UWAVE and can take 512 MB sticks.
See: http://www.memoryx.net/ficaz31memory.html. This board has at least a different BIOS, not from Compaq.

For the UWAVE the official maximum is only 3x256 MB (or 768 MB).
I don't know if there are compatible PC100 512 MB modules available for the UWAVE version of the FIC AZ31.

I use 576 MB and have made a dual boot system with two hard disks.
One is Windows XP Prof and the other is Vista ultimate edition RC2 (for testing).
The video adapter is a NVidia geforce FX 5200 with 128 MB RAM (Asus V9520-X).
Vista runs fine and might even be a little faster than XP.
It can run also with the Aero Glass theme.

greetings,
gsm

Compaq 5004CA.

Hello GSM.

I now have two spare MoBo for the Compaq, both brand new. I got on eBay and bought them before your notes helped me fix this one here. It is still going, 6 days on and no hiccup at all. Your cure was the cat's meow. It is beside my main system and I use it full time to listen to www.live365.com music.

I might use one MoBo to rebuild an old AT, gut it and just use the case for this purpose and then hand it over to friend who is still running a P 233. I have enough stuff laying around to so do. I will use an Athlon 1.3 in it.

Have a great day. JP.

IBM HD master password.

Hello.

Is there here anybody who would know the master password to access a PW protected HD from IBM. I have 7 of them and I would like to use them, not to get to see what is on them at all. If you are reluctant to divulge the PW here, I will respect your option. You can get me at :

handcuff36@gmail.com

and I would not let it be known. I know that the Master PW will flush the HD, good ! I only want to be able to use the HD.

Be good. JP.

Tee ! hee ! That Compaq.

Hello GSM and all.

Well, the Compaq wirth the new transistor is still going. I am on it at the moment. This was quite a feat, thanks to GSM. 5 weeks now, I think that we can say that it is aproper fix. GSM, is yours still running ?

If anybody chances on that Master Password for an IBM ( Hitachi ) HD, please let all know. It has been a Master Pain, why behave this way, it is not helping the hardware hackers.

Have a great day. Handcuff.

please start questions as a new thread. It is also foolish to post your email address in a public forum unless you like spam generated by spambot programs that harvest email addresses by trolling through forums.

Drivers ???

GSM, hello. I hope that you are still here.

I got another system going with the same MoBo as the Compaq, that I got as a spare. Now, I am stuck for the drivers, audio and video.

Can you kindly show me where they would be D/Lable, please.

As sbefore, I would be thankfull. JP.

Mobo and other Compaq drivers

Hi handcuff

You could find a suitable audio driver here (or at via arena):

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...5&product=93936&rule=58148&dest_page=product&

Regards,
GSM

Video.

Hello GSM.

How are you ? Still busy helping others ? Good.

I would like to have video driver for this MoBo. I was able to get the audio going but I am stuck on 640 x 480 resolution ( or close to this ).

I you can help again, many thanks. JP aka handcuff.

GSM, this was supposed to be : IF you can help again

Hello GSM.
Not to worry any longer. I finally stumbled on the proper driver for the video. On the Epox site, I found some drivers for the KL133 M/ML and used it even if my MoBo is a KL 133\A. The D/L was standard and the install a no brainer. All is honky-dory now and it runs at 1024 x 768. I even got XP H on it now. Next step will be to get a larger HD, the 8 gig one is a bit punny. I will go for a 200 g as they are on sale now for $71.00 US.

All in all, this turned out to be quite a nice education, you bear the credit for it, thanks.

Sincerely, handcuff aka JP.

Compaq board and new trany.

Hell GSM. How are you ?

That Compaq is still running. What a feat ! I wish that I could thank you more than just this message. Have you heard of anybody else using your information to cure their problem ? This site has been silent for a while.

Have a great day and mega thanks go your way, from me.

handcuff36@gmail.com JP.

Further discussion.

This is X-posted to keep this action alive.

Hello JM.

>> i soldered the transistor as per your postings and i have had no relief from the freezing.

>> i am at my wits end and have spent too many hours trying to figured out this terrible problem.

The transistor solution as nicely explained in the conference on Compaq, is the way to go. Mind you, it is a very delicate operation, I used two transistors before I met with success. One has to be very careful and not "damage" the MoBo any more. The pointers by GSM, to solder the legs to more sturdy points was very good. If you tried to do this over the surface soldered very small transistor, ( Q10 ) you might not have done right. I would suggest that you remove that small Q10 and use the larger pads to solder your replacement transistor.

Mine is still going and I am no whiz. Have at it and also keep the discussion on the http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?p=441875#post441875 just to keep it alive. I will try and U/L this discussion to it.

Be good and have fun. Handcuff.

Compaq Presario 6400nx with black screen

GSM,

Looked through your threads. I've tried some of your thoughts, but not to the mother board yet. Running XP Home, trying to set up XP. I can load MS-DOS from floppy, can see C: but it only puts me into the recovery partition (which has nothing on it yet, new drive, just partioned.) I had to partition and format new drive on other machine first. I try to load Windows from setup disk, but at that time, Windows loads all drivers, then hangs on blank blue screen with message "Starting Windows..." in grey strip at bottom.

I'm at my whit's end with this machine. Do you or anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks!

XP to XP ???

Hello Aesmith.

GSM has disappeared from this echo, sad, he really knew his stuff.

Can you explain what you are trying to do in better words, you say that you have XP loaded and you want to load XP. Again ?

If you have a valid XP CD, it should start from the CD-ROM device on its own. I wish that I could help but you are not giving enough indications.

Loading DOS should give you the choice of A:> then of FDISK. Let me know and we might pursue this tread.

Be good. Handcuff.

Multiple problems, but one at a time

Handcuff,

Thanks for responding so quick. Ok. I was kinda rushed before, so I'll explain more in depth what is going on. I have a Compaq 6400nx with XP Home. It crashed a while ago, and I can't remember what it did. I put in a new hard drive to start from a fresh install of XP. I have new install CD's of XP sp1a and XP sp2, both specifically for HP/Compaq computers.

I tried starting from the WinXP CD to set up windows, the computer loads all windows drivers, then freezes at a blue screen with message "Starting Windows" in gray line at bottom.

I thought the hard drive needed to be formatted first so I used my existing desktop (also with XP Home) to partion and format the drive. Formatted 150Gb as NTFS on primary partition, remaining 10Gb as FAT32 recovery partition. Then installed hd into dead computer.

Now, when I boot old computer, I get a black screen with blinking cursor at top left. I have already tried Compaq's fix of F1>F5>F10-- no success.

I replaced the CMOS battery, no change. Tried taking out RAM one at a time, switching sockets, each stick by itself in each socket, no change, still black screen with cursor. I have no peripherals attached to machine, just PS/2 keyboard & mouse and monitor in on-board graphics serial port.

I tried starting from an MS-Dos startup disk and can get into A:>. I try FDISK, and get "Bad command or file name". I then switch to C:> and all I see is the 10Gb recovery partition with nothing in it.

I put in another hard drive formatted and running with XPhome from my other computer (also a Compaq) to see if it would attempt to load windows and it goes to startup screen asking me which Windows startup to use: Safe mode, etc. I chose "Last known good config" and get black screen with cursor. No big deal here since the board and drivers will be different anyway than the machine the drive was running on. I was hoping I might at least get some error messages to come up.

Next, I put the new, empty but partitioned hd back in the old computer, and try to start up a session of Ubuntu Linux from CD. I get the startup screen ok, select which startup mode of Ubuntu I want, and no matter which selection I make, Ubuntu install splash screen comes up with progress meter, computer locks with zero progress.

My next idea was to get the sledge hammer out of my shed, except that this computer belongs to my pastor!

Any ideas would be a great help.

Thanks!!

Have you accessed the BIOS to see what (if anything) is going on there?
The Windows install would (should) format and partition the drive. Did I miss something? I admit (reluctantly) to skimming the thread a bit.
My neighbor had a Compaq which wouldn't load Windows, so I installed Mandriva which got rid (I guess) of the MBR and to my knowledge is still running.
You may need to get rid of the BIOS password. (If it has one).

Yes, I have accessed the BIOS. I've switched boot priorities several times, F5'd to restore defaults, there is no password protection. I've looked and can find no restrictions for LBA in BIOS, so I assume this is already supported on this computer.

I tried installing Ubuntu Linux, but the system hangs before it can load OS too.

Hello, GSM.

It has been over a year now and the Compaq is still running good. I fancy that yours is too. Thanks a mega for your instructions.

Have a fine 2008. JP aka handcuff.