restoring an old HP laptop to factory state \ VOGONS

restoring an old HP laptop to factory state

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First post, by Vipersan

Posted on 2018-03-20, 17:31

Vipersan Offline

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So is this even possible ?
I have a working HP nc6000 which orginally had windows 2000 factory fitted ..
Sadly the hard drive died long before I got it.
Easy enough to fit a replacement ..but of course I do not have a recovery partition.
I have no recovery discs ..so what to do ?
All I have is the product key sticker underneath.
Of course ..HP would no longer be interested ..or able to help.
But recovery discs must have once existed ..not that I can find them anywhere.
But maybe someone on the group has these discs.
I'd love to restore this laptop to it's former glory but can see no way to do this.
Can anyone help ?
Afterall ..it's what we do as lovers of retro hardware.
rgds
VS

Reply 1 of 3, by STX

Posted on 2018-03-20, 21:58

STX Offline

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You can probably get by with this ISO:
https://archive.org/details/Microsoft_Windows … _Microsoft_1999
You won't get any pre-installed applications though, but that's probably a good thing.

Reply 2 of 3, by Vipersan

Posted on 2018-03-20, 22:22

Vipersan Offline

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Posts: 1164
Joined: 2018-01-10, 10:31

STX wrote:
You can probably get by with this ISO:
https://archive.org/details/Microsoft_Windows … _Microsoft_1999
You won't get any pre-installed applications though, but that's probably a good thing.

Cheers STX ..
I'll grab a copy and give it a go.
rgds
VS

Reply 3 of 3, by Vipersan

Posted on 2018-03-23, 10:24

Vipersan Offline

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Finally got a win2k rebuild I'm happy with ..although couldn't use the key from the label on the laptop..
There were 2 sets of audio drivers for this unit ..but the Soundmax drivers did the trick ..
Conexant was a no go.
The real problem lay with video drivers ..
Tried several listed as for XP or 2000 from HPs site ..
none worked and only resulted in a BSOD with no way back ..
I had to rebuild the OS at least half a dozen times between tries ..but eventually found a much older ATI install (SP27665.exe) that works, using a very general search on the net.
So ..now I have a working NC6000 laptop with Win2Ksp4 for my collection

I have windows 3.1 on a Toshiba T4500C
2 Win95 os on my pair of T4900CT laptops
Windows 98SE ona Tecra 510CDT
Win2k on a Compaq NC6000
several XP and XP pro on various period Toshibas
Win7 on a 64bit Dell E6430
plus of course the T3200 and T5200 gas plasmas (works in progress) Win3.1 and Win95 respectively.

Next
I would like to get ME on a laptop to fill a gap in the list..
any suggestions as to what to install on..?
I do like to keep the OS period related to harware age where possible.
such is the nature of the hobby.
Eventually Vista as well.
rgds
VS