Troubleshooting the Presario

Owners of a Presario 1600 or indeed a 1200 series Laptop, will at some time be in a situation where they are in some respects "on their own" when it comes to fixing problems or getting information. This is partly due to the fact that Compaq never included an original copy of Windows 95/98 with the machine, preferring instead to supply a customised "Quickrestore" CD. This is fine to do a factory default installation, but the CD is organised into many protected CAB files, so therefore it cannot be browsed in an ordinary manner to find fixes / additional Windows utilities which may be of help.

The next most difficult thing for the user to get around, is the fact that any new drivers and updates which are released by the component manufacturers can take a while to appear on the Softpaq download page of Compaq's website. Some never appear at all!

This page may help in some of the most common situations which cause grief to the user!

BLURRED GRAPHICS / ICONS ? (ATI Rage LT Pro Graphics cards only)

Some folk will have noticed that occasionally, with certain programs, graphics or "buttons" can appear smeared in a diagonal pattern, making them impossible to read. There is a fix! Go to ATI's webpage www.ati.com and download the latest ATI graphics card/display drivers for Windows 9X the current version is 4.11.2560. You will need to make sure that you have Directx 6 or greater, and just before you run the install program, you must uninstall the existing drivers, using the Add/Remove programs routine.

USB "NOT COMPATIBLE" FOR SOME PERIPHERALS ?

Several people have had problems with some external USB devices not functioning, or recognising the Presario's USB port, this is usually, but not exclusively with the Iomega ZIP/Jazz, or CDRW USB drives. There are three ways around this:

1- Upgrade to Windows 98 SE or Me.

2- Get a PCMCIA USB port card, or a Firewire/SCSI card solution instead (expensive).

3- Do the following...this only works for the 1600s, 1683, 1685, 1687, 1688, and 1690:

Go into Windows Explorer, and double click on the Windows folder on the C: drive, then double click on the System32 folder.
In the View menu, select Folder Options, then select the "View" tab, and select "Show all files" (Make sure that the "Hide file extensions for known file types" box is not checked.
Click on the OK button, then click once on the Openhci.sys file in the System32 folder to highlight it. Then on the "File" menu, select "Rename" and rename it to Openhci.old, then press the ENTER key.
Next, you need to use Winzip, or a similar compression utility to extract a newer version of the Openhci.sys file from the 151533.zip file located in the x:cpqdrv\151533\B2A\001 folder, (where x: is the drive containing the "system.sav" folder, in my case it is the c: drive.
When this is done, exit all the programs, and restart your computer. You then will have compatibility with your USB device!

HIBERNATE FUNCTION NOT WORKING.

There are several possible causes of this problem.

You may have upgraded your memory, and the computer has not detected that the Hibernate, "Save2dsk.BIN", file is no longer large enough. This is rectified by simply making sure that the Chkhib program is entered to run from the Autoexec.bat file on startup. Simple add "C:\Hibernat\Chkhib.exe" to the Autoexec.bat file, or if it is disabled, remove the "rem " from the front of the line. When you have done, save the Autoexec.bat file, and restart your machine, it will do the rest for you!
Ths fix works also if you have deleted the "Save2Dsk.BIN" file by mistake.

You, or a utility program, may have changed the Power management settings in the BIOS Setup program. If this is the case, then simply go into the BIOS Setup, and load the default settings.

You may have implemented the Windows or DOS power management schemes. They can, and usually do work in harmony with the Hibernate utility, but I sometimes find that they are not the best of friends in some cases. If you find that you are still having problems,do the following:
Simply turn off all Windows/DOS power management, and reboot.

I use a freeware battery monitoring program called "What", which I found on the Windrivers.com Utilities section, this has some excellent features. Better than the Windows Battery level indicator.

BATTERY METER NOT SHOWING CORRECT CHARGE OR BATTERY NOT HOLDING CHARGE, OR BATTERY CHARGE LIGHT BLINKING WITH CLICKING NOISE.

This is a simple case of reading the manual, (page 9-3 in my 1690 manual) and completing at least one battery charge/discharge cycle.
Don't despair if the battery doesn't start charging immediately, or there is a slight clicking noise as the battery charge light blinks on and off for a while. This is due to a fully drained battery, and if left for an hour or so, charging will start, and the light will stop blinking.
This clicking/blinking also happens if you have had the battery in storage for a long period, just follow the above guide to resolve.

If the battery is still not working as expected, then it is dead!

Lithium Ion batteries have no memory effect, that is true, but the battery will still live longer if properly/fully discharged every time. So if you leave the battery in the laptop, even when on mains power, take note of the following...

Your Lithium Ion battery, or any other rechargeable battery, will only recharge for a certain amount of times (between 500 and 1000) before it dies. So if you are continually working on battery power, but just plugging into mains to top up when you can, then you are using the recharge times up a lot faster. Simply put the battery in whenever you are using it, and take it out when on mains, unless charging it. Only charge it when fully drained to maximize lifespan.

MY HARD DISK IS NOT LARGE ENOUGH, CAN I UPGRADE IT?

Yes you can !
The Presario can take up to a 40 GB hard disk, any more and the BIOS will not recognise it. If you really need to have more, you will have to get a hard disk management patch.The only one that I know about is from www.blueskyinnovations.com, but I don't know if it is compatible with the Presario, there is no harm in asking!

Watch this page for more "troubleshot" problems!

Mail me with any questions (please see the new charges that apply for answering questions, on the base of the main page), I can only try to help! mgrudkin@yahoo.com