Compaq

[fftaz336]

I just received a Compaq Armada 1580 and of course this thing is old. THe problem that I am having is that the primary partition for this thing is non-existant. The only thing that is there is compaq's version of a BIOS. The only problem with that is that you can not choose what to boot from and without a floppy drive I can't FDISK it to fix it. I have tried booting from the cdrom and that will not work. Any help out there?

[GaryRouth]

Where did you find that kind soul who gave you an Armada without a floppy drive? [They ship with one originally]. You are correct that if the bios doesn't have the option to boot from a cd-drive, you are stuck until you find a Compaq floppy disk drive for that model.

To make sure you've combed through the Bios options under their usual settings, the F10 setup for boot order is usually under the "System Features"/"Boot Management" menus. If it's not there, undoubtably a RomPaq would update the bios to add that option (that's a fairly late model to not have it - it came with Win95 I believe)...but of course to install the bios update, you need the floppy drive.

The good new is, that while Compaq still lists the replacement drive as $99 new, there are quite a few places that offer it at prices ranging from $5 to $30. You can do a Google search, put the part number only in the Google Advanced search box "exact phrase". It's part # 254962-001.

Some links that might come in handy:
Compaq part webpage for the floppy: http://h30121.www3.hp.com/sparesstor...torage&CGID=15
Compaq Armada 1500 series manual (includes your 1580): http://h200001.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/s...03_rev3_us.pdf
Compaq Main Support page for the Armada 1580: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...bmit.x=6&cc=us

If the person who gave you the Armada is still somewhere nearby, have them look around for their floppy drive. It'll save you a ton of trouble if they just forgot about it. It fits into the "Dual Bay" on the left hand side of the notebook, toward the front. They might just have forgotten to put it back in [while travelling, the Dual Bay can accept an extra battery].

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[p.s. noticed this is your first post here: Welcome to the Pc Mechanic forums! ]

[fftaz336]

Thank you for your response. I kind of figured that was the case. No idea where the person is now. I gues i will have to find a floppy somewhere. Thanks again.

[bailey]

you should be able to download that file to make the floppy you need at the compaq web site

I was able to do the same thing for a deskpro

[GaryRouth]

Turns out that the most commonly available affordable price is $30 for that replacement drive. [quite a number of places are still charging Compaqs asking price of $99 or higher] . . .if you hunt around long enough, or just get lucky on eBay = you might snag one for closer to the $10 range, usually used.

I'm not familiar with this vendor, but there is a place called "OptionServe" that has a few in stock. Might want to check them at resellerratings.com before you buy. http://www.mysimon.com/Disk_drive___...tml?tag=lst&q=

If you are in the UK, there seem to be a few more sites with those drives at prices that look comparable to me, but then I'm no expert at converting currencies.

The floppy bailey mentions is available through the menus on that first link. You can re-create the Compaq bios/system partition on the hard drive with it.

Hope it turns out OK (& at a reasonable price)
. . . Gary