Restoring an older HP PC

A friend has a 2 year old Presario that needs a complete hard drive
format and reinstallation of programs that came with the PC. Question:
do all HP PCs come with a "restoration" CD, whereby I can launch the CD
and load the PC to the condition it was when it was bought? Or can
this be done from a Windows XP menu?
I know this is a very basic query, sorry; but I have no clue what HP
offers in terms of complete system restoration. My friend is also
clueless -- she doesn't know what software came with the Presario!
Duh.
Help! Please. Thanks.

EW

AFAIK, Compaq Presarios do not come with a restore CD, altho some computers with
CD burners do give you the option to burn a restore CD or a Windows XP Home CD
from data stored in a hidden partition on the drive.

I've cross-posted your inquiry to an older pre-HPaq Compaq-specific newsgroup
where someone there with better knowledge can provide more assistance.

Knowing which model of Presario you have may also be helpful.

Don't do anything rash until you see a response on the Compaq newsgroup. Before
reformatting and/or reloading Windows, consider other actions to take. If the
computer is working, but very slowly, it may well be infected by the
all-too-common spyware or ad-ware that sneaks into an insecure-by-design
computer operating system these days. If so, running both spybot and ad-aware,
after updating each with the latest definitions, can restore a computer to
respectable working order without loss of data or the time and aggrevation of
reloading the entire Windows OS.

You will also need to enter the Windows Certificate of Authentication code from
the sticker on the side of the computer, should you reload Windows.

.... Ben Myers

On 3 Jan 2005 16:36:49 -0800, wrote:

>A friend has a 2 year old Presario that needs a complete hard drive
>format and reinstallation of programs that came with the PC. Question:
>do all HP PCs come with a "restoration" CD, whereby I can launch the CD
>and load the PC to the condition it was when it was bought? Or can
>this be done from a Windows XP menu?
>I know this is a very basic query, sorry; but I have no clue what HP
>offers in terms of complete system restoration. My friend is also
>clueless -- she doesn't know what software came with the Presario!
>Duh.
>Help! Please. Thanks.
>
>EW
>

Ben Myers wrote:
> AFAIK, Compaq Presarios do not come with a restore CD, altho some
computers with

Thanks, Ben, for your reply. I don't have any more info on the HP than
I provided -- sounds strange, but my friend is "strange." I will
monitor this thread and the Compaq boards for further info. It seems
that HP would have a blanket policy on providing restoration CDs on all
their products, or not. But again, SOMEONE here should know HOW to
restore an HP PC to original manufacturer's configuration!
Thanks for your help. I'll keep looking!

EW

wrote:

> Thanks, Ben, for your reply. I don't have any more info on the HP than
> I provided -- sounds strange, but my friend is "strange." I will
> monitor this thread and the Compaq boards for further info. It seems
> that HP would have a blanket policy on providing restoration CDs on all
> their products, or not. But again, SOMEONE here should know HOW to
> restore an HP PC to original manufacturer's configuration!
> Thanks for your help. I'll keep looking!
>
> EW
>

EW,

Some do know how to restore the original configuration. Older Pavilions
came with restore disks. Then there was a shift to a recovery partition.
Currently the solution is a recovery partition with the ability to burn
recovery disks. In general, recovery disks have been available from HP.

I know of one current Presario model that comes with recovery disks.
Older ones did, too. Your friend probably has a recovery disk. If not,
try to get a set from HP.

If you have recovery disks, boot from them and follow directions on the
screen. If you have a recovery partition, there is a utility on the PC.
Start it up and go from there.

Only you and your friend can determine if restoring to the original
condition is the right thing to do. If you do that, you want to be
prepared. Your friend's system would have 2 year old software and be
vulnerable to the current crop of viruses, attacks, and malware. It
would be good to have a CD with all the service pack and updates so that
you can install them before connecting the PC to the internet. (A system
can be infected even before you can download the patches from Microsoft.)

Doing a complete restore will remove and data or applications installed
since the machine was purchased. As Ben said, don't do anything rash.

craigm

"HP would have a blanket policy on providing restoration CDs on all their
products." No blanket policy, because different product lines of computers are
treated differently. And policies change over time, becoming more and more
niggardly in providing CDs and other media to reload when the need arises. The
Presario is targeted for consumers and small offices, so it gets handled one
way. The DeskPro (now the Evo) is the business-oriented box, so it sees a
different approach. And then there are the servers. The HP Pavilion is also a
consumer-oriented computer. (You may ask Carly why HPaq has to have two product
lines for consumers?)

Frankly, I think the best bet is to simply reload from scratch whatever
operating system came with the computer. If the computer had still other useful
non-operating system software delivered with it, that's another story. You
might check the HPaq web site for drivers and other software for the EXACT model
of computer you are working on. In some cases, the web site has the other
software available for download. In other cases, no... Ben Myers

On 3 Jan 2005 17:39:48 -0800, wrote:

>
>Ben Myers wrote:
>> AFAIK, Compaq Presarios do not come with a restore CD, altho some
>computers with
>
>Thanks, Ben, for your reply. I don't have any more info on the HP than
>I provided -- sounds strange, but my friend is "strange." I will
>monitor this thread and the Compaq boards for further info. It seems
>that HP would have a blanket policy on providing restoration CDs on all
>their products, or not. But again, SOMEONE here should know HOW to
>restore an HP PC to original manufacturer's configuration!
>Thanks for your help. I'll keep looking!
>
>EW
>

ben_myers_spam_me_not wrote:
[deleted]
> (You may ask Carly why HPaq has to have two product lines for
> consumers?)

Because their *customers*, told them to!

Ever wondered why after the merge, the Compaq name was still very
prominent (for example on the Williams-BMW Formula One team)? Probably
not. Much easier to show ignorance and bash HP.

Perhaps. Personally, I would find it far more cost effective to produce both
Presarios and Pavilions on the same production line, with different cosmetic
touches (BIOS splash, removable front plastic logo, keyboard and mouse logos).

General Motors and Ford succeeded for many years in the US using this approach.
Fords own Ford brand and Mercury automobiles use 90% of the same parts with
merely cosmetic differences. General Motors built Chevys, Oldsmobiles, Buicks,
and Cadillacs with many, many common parts.

Just think of the savings in assembly costs, so-called engineering R&D, spare
parts. And look at the annual reports and balance sheets of the merged HPaq!
Printers continue to be the business line that generates 90% of the profit.
Servers and communications gear are a small but profitable area. Desktop
computers are marginally profitable at best.

HPaq may not be using the approach now, but it will not be viable in the
personal computer segment of the business until it does... Ben Myers

On 04 Jan 2005 15:03:55 GMT, Frank Slootweg <> wrote:

>ben_myers_spam_me_not wrote:
>[deleted]
>> (You may ask Carly why HPaq has to have two product lines for
>> consumers?)
>
> Because their *customers*, told them to!
>
> Ever wondered why after the merge, the Compaq name was still very
>prominent (for example on the Williams-BMW Formula One team)? Probably
>not. Much easier to show ignorance and bash HP.

The old saying was a Cougar was a Mustang with lock washers.
HH

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:...
> Perhaps. Personally, I would find it far more cost effective to produce
> both
> Presarios and Pavilions on the same production line, with different
> cosmetic
> touches (BIOS splash, removable front plastic logo, keyboard and mouse
> logos).
>
> General Motors and Ford succeeded for many years in the US using this
> approach.
> Fords own Ford brand and Mercury automobiles use 90% of the same parts
> with
> merely cosmetic differences. General Motors built Chevys, Oldsmobiles,
> Buicks,
> and Cadillacs with many, many common parts.
>
> Just think of the savings in assembly costs, so-called engineering R&D,
> spare
> parts. And look at the annual reports and balance sheets of the merged
> HPaq!
> Printers continue to be the business line that generates 90% of the
> profit.
> Servers and communications gear are a small but profitable area. Desktop
> computers are marginally profitable at best.
>
> HPaq may not be using the approach now, but it will not be viable in the
> personal computer segment of the business until it does... Ben Myers
>
> On 04 Jan 2005 15:03:55 GMT, Frank Slootweg <>
> wrote:
>
>>ben_myers_spam_me_not wrote:
>>[deleted]
>>> (You may ask Carly why HPaq has to have two product lines for
>>> consumers?)
>>
>> Because their *customers*, told them to!
>>
>> Ever wondered why after the merge, the Compaq name was still very
>>prominent (for example on the Williams-BMW Formula One team)? Probably
>>not. Much easier to show ignorance and bash HP.
>

Thanks very much to all who replied for the help. I now have a clue
about the eventual restoration project -- I "think" there's a
restoration partition on her hard drive. In any case, WHY do I have to
get myself in these messes! From now on, I won't know ANYTHING about
computers when friends have problems...

EW

wrote:
> Thanks very much to all who replied for the help. I now have a clue
> about the eventual restoration project -- I "think" there's a
> restoration partition on her hard drive. In any case, WHY do I have to
> get myself in these messes! From now on, I won't know ANYTHING about
> computers when friends have problems...
>
> EW
>

On the Pavilions of that time frame, they were using 4 gig hidden partitions,
or about 6 CD's worth of data. The OS, even if it's bloatware XP, fits on
one CD. If that's what they provided on the Presario, I would never restore
all that garbage. It's not valuable application programs like office suites,
it's adware, spyware, and other items like really valuable feature length
films on how to use a mouse (and a million free trial offers for AOL).