Those sort of systems didn't usually ship with actual install media (like a Win98 CD) but instead had a recovery partition on the hard drive that could be accessed by using a "Recovery CD" included with the manual(s). It would be much simpler to format the drive and install whatever OS you choose (even better, replace the painfully slow stock hard drive then install the OS of choice). If you really want to have it use the Compac version, you can likely find a recovery CD image with some searching.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-05-12, 17:53:

Those sort of systems didn't usually ship with actual install media (like a Win98 CD) but instead had a recovery partition on the hard drive that could be accessed by using a "Recovery CD" included with the manual(s). It would be much simpler to format the drive and install whatever OS you choose (even better, replace the painfully slow stock hard drive then install the OS of choice). If you really want to have it use the Compac version, you can likely find a recovery CD image with some searching.

Ok, yep the recovery CD is what I'm looking for. It's not a fast system anyway 😜

25 * 48MB = 1.2GB sounds about right for an XP system image plus preinstalled bloatware... I'd make an effort to hunt down the correct restore disc, it'll know what to do. Or maybe that's even a bootable partition? You don't have "show file extensions" enabled, so it's probably the same for showing hidden/system files meaning we don't know what else might be hiding on there. Does it show up in the BIOS's boot device selection?

edit: This guide suggests F10 at boot, which is similar to what I had in mind. It also has a link to some version of their recovery software.

Using this search term "Presario 700 recovery disk" I got a hit for "Compaq Presario C700 C751NR Recovery Discs" at The Internet Archive. I won't link to it because of possible copyright issues, but I think that's what you're looking for.

elszgensa wrote on 2024-05-12, 18:16:

25 * 48MB = 1.2GB sounds about right for an XP system image plus preinstalled bloatware... I'd make an effort to hunt down the correct restore disc, it'll know what to do. Or maybe that's even a bootable partition? You don't have "show file extensions" enabled, so it's probably the same for showing hidden/system files meaning we don't know what else might be hiding on there. Does it show up in the BIOS's boot device selection?

edit: This guide suggests F10 at boot, which is similar to what I had in mind. It also has a link to some version of their recovery software.

Yep, I've entered BIOS but couldn't find an option for recovery boot. Sure one of the most limited BIOS'es I've seen. User manual suggests CD to launch system recovery.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-05-12, 19:40:

Using this search term "Presario 700 recovery disk" I got a hit for "Compaq Presario C700 C751NR Recovery Discs" at The Internet Archive. I won't link to it because of possible copyright issues, but I think that's what you're looking for.

Appreciate your effort, but C700 is a Core 2 Duo system... meanwhile 700 is a half-decade older Athlon 4. The exact model number is Presario 733EA.

Edit: Just as I posted this and had a closer look on internet archive I found it. Sweet!
Thanks for help!