Compaq Fraud: Getting what I paid for

[shintao]

I bought a new Compaq Presario 5441 quite a few years back. It came loaded with Windows 98SE . I have had a long run without having to do a "Full Restore" with the Quick Restore disk they provided.

I had to use it about a month back, and to my amazement the restore disk restores Windows 98, NOT Win98 second addition that I paid for and was on my machine. So now my "My PC" still shows the WIN98SE status, but when I run the Compaq's support analyzer, it reveals the onboard program is really WIN98. Other online checkers (housecall) show the same thing.

I feel Compaq has frauded me, and owes me a Windows 98SE restore disk that matched the program I bought.

What do you think, and does anyone know how I should resolve this issue??

[MupdotSys]

Compaq are terrible, and did an awful thing to you. We all feel your pain & disgust over this, it's a rotten thing to become aware of so late after the fact.

So now, pick up a copy of WindowsXP and move into the new century. It's about time, eh? :)

[shintao]

I a thinking like you. In my case, it would be cheaper to get a new pc with Xp loaded on it (a new XP CD copy is about $3-400). I would probably need more memory and a bigger hardrive, and etc. Then I still have old fan motors & motherboard,....so

I am no guru, so by the time I paid to get it installed I could have a nice close to new machine. I am thinking that way though. I may find a deal in some garage sale or used store or flea market. On a fixed income here. :) I guess XP is the bells & whistles. But I imagine that is the program the hackers are making trojans & viruses for as well. Maybe they will leave win98 alone(?).

Compaqs have some sort of a harddrive with a imprinted code, that matches something else in the pc. Without the exact replacement HD from Compaq they say (article I read on www) it won't run.


I bought a complete Compaq WIN95 in a garage sale last year for $30. It runs good. I let it set idle to long and the battery died. Need to stick in a new battery. I plan to set it up for my neice/nephew to learn on.

I also have a good/old running WIN3.1 IBM. Of course it is out gathering dust in the storage room. But it is fun to tinker with once in a while.

Those were the days! ~~~~~~~of daily crashes.

[DonBB]

Man, if your hardware is outdated, that is one thing...but an upgrade to XP is only about $90, depending where online you get it...