> I have a Compaq Presario 5020. I recently found out that my 8GB hard drive
is going bad, it has a large chunk of its total size in bad sectors, even
after several attempts of reformatting. I went out and purchased a new
Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 30 GB Hard drive.  Before I begin replacing it I was
wondering what steps I should take?  I want to install either Windows 98SE
or Windows ME, not sure which one is better? and I wanted to do it without
using the system restore cd that came with my computer if at all possible
the cd has windows 98 on it.  I am currently using the computer but I cant
rely on it not falling soon.  What drivers will I need? can this be done?
what other steps will I need to do inorder to make this process as painless
as possible?  Thanks
__________________________________________________

The first step for this is to call Compaq tech support and find out where to
download the Bios upgrade for your specific model. They do have a special
webpage for this. The file is called a softpaq.  I had to do this when
trying to install a 20Gb drive in a presario 5024. The problem that you will
encounter is that the Bios is probably too old to accept hard drives larger
than 8.4Gb, and an upgrade will fix that. IMO, a bios upgrade is preferable
to having to use the disk manager program that comes with the hard drive.
When I did it we formatted and installed Windows ME and everything worked
well, luckily. The problem that you may face by not using the restore disks
is finding the proper drivers for the hardware devices in your computer.
With proprietary computers from these brand name companies, this is often a
problem because the Windows that is on the recovery disk contains all the
necessary drivers for the devices, and you may run into the problem where a
newly installed OS from another Windows CD may not have the drivers that
your devices require. The reason I didn't run into this problem with the
5024 Presario was because my friend had already upgraded some of his devices
so he already had the software for it, but if you are still using the
original hardware devices that came with your Compaq when you first bought
it, you may very well run int this problem.

Hal T
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