COMPAQ Persario 4508/

[Jeff Foreman]

Hello, My Name is Jeff and I'm New here. I'm not sure if I'm even in the right place or not ,But, I could use some Help!

I was given a compaq persario 4508, The fellow that gave it to me said it worked, Well, when I got it home and set it up it Gave me a message that say's "OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND"! Here's the worst part, I was given some Disk's with it,But one of the disk's are missing! This is what the disk sticker says Title:Windows 3.1- Style: Win 300 Level: 3.1 Disk 1 of 6. I'm missing Disk 3. I wasn't given any other Disk's other than these.
I've tried to see what happens when I put the # 1 Disk in the Floppy, Nothing Happens, It Gives me a Message that say's " ERROR INCORRECT DATA OR INCORRECT SYSTEM DISK"
The Computer does allow me to go into the system set-up menu, but, unless you know exactly what you are looking for *** Well you know what I mean.. Can Anyone Help? I have Called the Manufacturer and they said that the Application Restoration Disk's are not Available anymore..Ive went to Microsoft's Webpage and Looked, I can't seem to find anything there either.. I'm lost Could Someone Please Help??? Thanks. Jeff in VA.
P.S. I forgot to say/ When I first Turn on The Computer the word COMPAQ comes up on the screen, then it goes to the ERROR MESSAGE..If this means anything???

[Alfons]

Compaq provides a fairly good selection of tools & software that you can download to support a particular product. You should go to their site and browse a bit to find the various pieces that you will need. Here are my general findings:

Compaq Specific
1. Windows 3.x is not supported for this model - you can install the OS but Compaq has no drivers for it.
2. W95 & 98 are supported with drivers, diagnostics and other stuff and you can find that by going through THIS PAGE.
3. You should find and download a manual for this computer as well in order to find out how to prepare it for OS installation. Compaq's are not all the same and some require a System Configuration Manager Utility to set up their Configuration Utility on the computer. This Configuration Manager is downloadable if it's needed.

Windows 3.1

You're missing a lot more than one disk for this OS. Windows 3.x will not load on a system that doesn't have DOS installed first - this is a 3 disk set. I recommend at least MS-DOS 5.0 or 6.21 or 6.22. If you're not familiar with setting up a computer with DOS, then I'd avoid this OS and if you want networking capability you'll need to upgrade it to 3.11 which is on another 8 floppies.

[Jeff Foreman]

Hello,
Thank you for you reply. I'm a bit confused about your reply, as I said I'm not very noligable about Computers.. I'm not sure what exactly you are telling me to do? If you wouldn't mind, Could you tell me again what you are recommending me to do-( In Laimends terms). Thanks agian!!Jeff In Va.