Seen this thread? -> (Factory image) Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX Laptop (90s) with Windows 3.1

giantclam wrote on 2023-11-27, 03:45:

Seen this thread? -> (Factory image) Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX Laptop (90s) with Windows 3.1

yes, see the last post on there
and its more to CF and PCMCIA stuff not the same OEM restore issue

i have noticed in testing, i can install win3.1 on clean dos 6.22 partition, but only via VM. the install fails setup via the pc direct
the VM install boots and works once the sdcard is back in the pc. so there may be a disk conflict or something windows setup does not like.

but no luck with the images or diagnostic partition.

i have found some issues that are not obvious at first. i assume because of the 4gb card.
when trying to install windows 95, it knows something is not right with the reported disk partition and actual size upon disk scan during setup.
have not been able to get 95 to work, or install even by vm or directly on pc. (VM need a CPU fix for high speed processor)
tired to install on pc using setup /is (skip scandisk) but did not work

4GB card shows up as
8263\15\63 3998mb
in the laptop bios it shows type 65\ 3811\cyl 1\head 16\sec 63\ ecc 4\

i was able to also boot to dos from a 8gb card using the same process below:
diskpart>list disk> select disk X> clean.
mount in VM as physical drive > boot of dos 6.22 floppy> install dos
put card back in laptop, should boot up.

for some reason windows 3.11 wont install on the laptop. (after the win 31.1 dos setup screen loads files it goes back to DOS rather then the 3.11 setup)
but i can do it via VM and it will then boot back in the laptop

i will test larger cards and adding partition and update in next post.

for anyone trying to figure out how this archive works....
unpack archive , make a simple DOS VM.
mount HDD image compaq-0.vmdk
mount floppy GHOST6.IMA (rename to IMG)
boot test off floppy, you should be in the partition app.
now shut down and you need to mount the physical disk you want to use to VM (DISK\CF\SD card etc.) boot floppy back into the partition app. LOAD the image file saved on the compaq-0.vmdk disk (.GHO) and this should make you the 8mb non-dos (COMPAQ DIAGONSTIC PARTITION) from here you can copy the files off one of these images that did not boot for me.
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https://archive.org/details/compaqlteelite475cxwindows3.1.7z
https://archive.org/details/lte-elite-475-cx
-
if this works for you leave a comment.

video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycxAinoFCfE

can confirm i got this to work with a 44pin IDE to SD card adapter using a 4GB SDCARD
i THINK the key is the bios drive settings procedure used in the video.
putting the SDcard in the compaq bios shows its type:65, (3811mb), cyl: 1, head:16, sec.63, ecc:4.
in the VM bios i user defined the SD card disk as above, then followed the video to install the partition, dos 6.22 format.
put the SDcard back into the compaq, and IMPORTANT... run f10. setup. "SET DEFAULT" the bios settings.
check the hard drive setting. should be (in my case) type:65 (4065mb) cyl: 1, head:16, sec.63, ecc:4.
REBOOT. you should be in DOS 6.22 DRIVE IS 501 MB

by the way to be clear, the issue this solves is being able to BOOT from the main partition with the diagnostic patriation installed. the Compaq has problems booting unless this is done right.
you can forgo the diagnostic patriation (f10 option on boot) but you may need this, the work around it extract the diagnostic patriation image files to c: but you cannot do everything off the man drive.
most boot problems and drive issues are avoided without diagnostic patriation and just a normal dos patriation, if that suits you needs.

it's discussed in the compaq facebook group but i think that compaq did something where the boot sector/seek is off by 2 bytes or something silly like that.

this is why you need to get a compaq install floppy to generate a bootable hard drive. I could be wrong but this sounds vaguely familiar... can check the facebook group for further details.

gratz on getting a 4gb cf to work. I have only managed to get 1 gb cards and smaller to be recognized,.

if you can find that link\info it would be great

as i have documented you can get it to work other ways, most of the time the floppy is dead.
but i would like to know whats going on,
the bios seems to run on the harddisk rather the mainboard

kleung21 wrote on 2024-02-21, 07:41:

it's discussed in the compaq facebook group but i think that compaq did something where the boot sector/seek is off by 2 bytes or something silly like that.

this is why you need to get a compaq install floppy to generate a bootable hard drive. I could be wrong but this sounds vaguely familiar... can check the facebook group for further details.

gratz on getting a 4gb cf to work. I have only managed to get 1 gb cards and smaller to be recognized,.

I don't understand it fully but I think it has something to do with this

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/ques … ndows-95-doesnt

It's a known problem. I think the way I got around it was to use a sector/byte level disk restore from an image. HOWEVER, now that I have a working floppy emulator, I do have a workaround by reinstalling from scratch using the compaq original softpaqs.

i have the original hard disk, its working barley
i would like to clone it to a hdd>sdcard disk.
i have been able to fresh install windows and dos, but not clone the drive and have it boot.

kleung21 wrote on 2024-02-24, 08:32:

I don't understand it fully but I think it has something to do with this

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/ques … ndows-95-doesnt

It's a known problem. I think the way I got around it was to use a sector/byte level disk restore from an image. HOWEVER, now that I have a working floppy emulator, I do have a workaround by reinstalling from scratch using the compaq original softpaqs.

On one of my youtube videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc_Kd7r6ois

I came across this comment. @i80386sx is one of the compaq lte specialists and he also has an ebay store where he rebuilds / sells Compaq LTE cmos and primary batteries.

@i80386sx
@i80386sx • 7 months ago (edited)
Fair warning. You won’t be able to build your install on any old computer. The LTE Elite, Contura Aero, 400 and a few others subtract 2 from the cylinder count. Most systems don’t accommodate for that. The end result is a “missing operating system” error if you don’t account for this. There is no LBA supper either which makes things interesting.

The 5000 series are far easier to work with. Cards for those can be rebuilt with VirtualBox or VMware Workstation.

1

I can tell you that I have successfully got my 4/75c working using the factory image.
I have used a piece of software to write the image file to the formatted CF card.
The image contains 2 partitions. 1 is the diagnostic partition. the 2nd contains dos and win 3.1.
The image was actually the one for the 4/75cx.
The laptop have a CF card to IDE adapter. (only using 1GB, as anything larger can cause issues)
Also I have the openflops floppy drive emulator installed . Again, this uses image files that you put on a FAT formatted USB.
Unfortunately it didnt work on my 4/75cx.
even though when it boots the curser flashes in all the right spots, the f10 goes nowhere, and the os boot says no operationg system.
I am going to look at the hdd settings using a diagnostic disk on the USB floppy.
It does show type 65, but the cylindars, head and sectors need to be changed.
Will have a go tommorrow to see if I can sort that.

which software?
I have used a piece of software to write the image file to the formatted CF card.
The image contains 2 partitions. 1 is the diagnostic partition. the 2nd contains dos and win 3.1.

MaddogMiller wrote on 2024-03-05, 22:02:

I can tell you that I have successfully got my 4/75c working using the factory image. I have used a piece of software to write t […]
Show full quote

I can tell you that I have successfully got my 4/75c working using the factory image.
I have used a piece of software to write the image file to the formatted CF card.
The image contains 2 partitions. 1 is the diagnostic partition. the 2nd contains dos and win 3.1.
The image was actually the one for the 4/75cx.
The laptop have a CF card to IDE adapter. (only using 1GB, as anything larger can cause issues)
Also I have the openflops floppy drive emulator installed . Again, this uses image files that you put on a FAT formatted USB.
Unfortunately it didnt work on my 4/75cx.
even though when it boots the curser flashes in all the right spots, the f10 goes nowhere, and the os boot says no operationg system.
I am going to look at the hdd settings using a diagnostic disk on the USB floppy.
It does show type 65, but the cylindars, head and sectors need to be changed.
Will have a go tommorrow to see if I can sort that.

win32 disk imager 1.0
Using this image: https://archive.org/details/compaqlteelite475cxwindows3.1.7z
And this is the floppy drive emulator: https://silvestrons-bits-and-bytes.square.sit … p=false&q=false
it works great

If you want to get rid of your HDD and go to CF, this is what I purchased: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364016036279

thanks,
i was hoping to get the OEM install working on the CF\SD card disk. which inc the bios etc F10
i can get that image to work as i have explained in my original posts. by installing dos\win then copying the windows dir over (via another pc)
but there is some issue with alignment or something i think. or maybe that 4gb is the smallest card i have (which i can partition )