Noobiest question of the day!

[Dougan]

I got a compaq presario 2800 laptop, It had a nasty virus so i decided to format and reinstall, now my problem is that I have like 4 software restore cds and ill be damned if all I can get installed is windvd and thats it! I have put all disks in and cannot find any of the install files or it wont load any. I looked on the website, and trying to navigate that website is like trying to swim underwater in mud! Can anyone with exp give me a hand on this one or point me in the right direction? I know for a fact it had norton and works and some other stuff. Thanks a ton!

[legendary]

Did you try booting up with the recovery disks? I had a compaq laptop a long time ago and I also had to format. What I didn't realize is that I also erased a "recovery" partition they had on the hard drive. Because of that, the recovery disks were useless. I had to call Compaq up and they sent me a different set of recovery disks in the mail which worked perfectly.

[Dougan]

Well it lets me install drivers and windvd but that is only on 1 disk I have 3 more with stuff on them and am unable to retrieve it, but ill try to reboot with them, also when i deleted the partition I didnt see anything for recovery but then again i could be wrong. thank you

[Dougan]

I think I figured it out, Thanks a ton for the input, I had to put the restore cd in first then all the supplemental cds by way of rebooting and so forth. What a pain in the a$$!

[Oni]

Yep, they are a pain.

First thing out of my mouth when somebody says 'I have a Compaq/Dell/Whatever' is 'I'm sorry for you'.

They're a pain in the ass to upgrade, and if you use ANYTHING but the restore CD they include, you void your warranty.