Windows 98, Compaq Presario 5WV520, Destructive Recovery?

Question

My friend's parents gave him a Windows 98 Compaq Presario 5WV250 that they used before they got a better PC.

I've had Windows 98 before and It's not all that bad... but his is just jammed full of crap, over the course of 7 years, and he wants to refresh it for himself. Big problem is, he doesn't have the Recovery CD Set that is required to do a recovery of any sort. All he has is the drivers, which are pretty much without purpose, because his dad got the 98 hardrive installed by a buddy of his who conveniently forgot to give them the Recovery CD Set.

*HUFF!* I need to either:
-Find where to buy a Recovery CD Set for Windows 98, Compaq Presario 5WV250 (United Kingdom).
-Learn how to do a destructive recovery for Windows 98, Compaq Presario 5WV250 (United Kingdom) without utalizing a Recovery CD Set.

Can anyone help?

Answer 1

If you have all the drivers, you could just obtain a copy of Windows 98 and reinstall it, then reinstall the hardware using the appropriate drivers.

You could probably get a Windows 98 CD and key for free since that OS has been phased out.

Or, you could instead update the machine to Windows XP and save yourself some headaches; it most likely can recognize most of the hardware, you'd just probably want to boost the memory to at least 512 MB, ideally 2 GB if possible.

Answer 2

Having done the rest and reinstalled Win 98 you would be well advised to download a later web browser as IE5.5 which comes with 98SE may give error messages on some websites due presumably to the use of later versions of HTML and JAVA.

Answer 3

windows 98 is still used quite alot by many users,its a shame why microsoft have pulled the plug on support for it,it wouldnt of cost them much to keep it going indefinetley
i have a copy of windows 98se,your more than welcome to have a copy(if you want a copy send me details by e-mail)
lucky enough most hardware vendors like nvidia,a.t.i,creative and others are still supporting windows 98 for drivers ect,so drivers wont be a problem,or you can use a program called "driver magician" from http://www.drivermagician.com/
this will scan your p.c and make a back up to dvd or usb key and back up all your systems drivers so when you re-install windows 98se you simply re-install your drivers from the removable media(dvd,usb key)
finally depending on your p.c specifications you may be able to upgrade the compaq presario to windows xp,this may be a easier option as drivers wont be as much a problem in xp,especially when dealing with usb drivers
let me know if you want a windows 98se disk
good luck

Answer 4

You can always buy a version of 98 from any retail store or if its no longer available and the retailers consider it obsolete........you can always order one from amazon...........you can't actually buy a recovery cd of Compaq but.you may call customer service and ask for a duplicate copy insisting the you want only 98 even if that doesn't work and you can't find any retail version of 98 then the only way i suppose is to download it from torrent sites.....i think that you should call customer service first they may ask for warranty card or the bill...........
Hope it Helps.......
Regards :-)....................

Answer 5

omg throw it away..or at least update to windows 2000

Answer 6

easier to let it go. to many hours spent on these ancient o/ses install xp problem solved