Compaq Presario 1200 Notebook - Answered Questions & Fixed issues

If your computer allows it, try running on just AC power (remove the battery). If it works, then you know its the battery, if not, then you may have other problems. Here is a site with some steps to follow to help determine your specific problem. This is another useful website for battery

a 17 year old Laptop , 99.9% now in the dumpster. are you going to spend cash on this? if yes why? if it was a horse it be in the glue factory. a dead laptop step 1: is remove that old shorted huge battery now., step 2: then that 17 year old useless as a brick RTC coin cell. replace it now. or BIOS will be DEAD. strep 3 , a working power pack 19vdc,65watts up. and does the PC fan work now?, if not, it needs lots more cash !!!! ask if you can get this far.? above can be done for $10 (8buck pack and 2 buck coin) leave that main battery out , until the PC runs like new. do not buy a battery main, do not. unless cash dont matter. if this far, and the power button fails, then we must strip the PC down, to find out who is shorting the power buses ! or fan is bad, or just packed fully in lint , as all are that old. do the HP hard reset yet, ? see line 6 here, to the HP page on , hard power reset. http://pcdied.com/black-screen.html#Laptop and then the other tests. after that. here are the goals 1: power seems to work (the switch) 2: the fan works, and actually blow air, not packed up 3: screen shows text of any kind, like, "hit F10 to enter HP setup" as seen for 17 years but not todaY? 4:BIOS key works. F10 key works as prompted . and BIOS screens all work. 5: more, get this far say so... lots more its not a toaster

BIOS issues

Search around for any BIOS update that may be available.

If it's a Presaio 1200 series as you say in the topic title, then you're in bad luck. That's a really old laptop and does NOT come with usb support. Regards.

Can you reinstall a fresh copy of Windows? Or maybe go to the start menu and do a system restore? It sounds like you removed a file related to links. Each desktop icon is a link to a file of one kind or another. It is a bear to fix that unless you're a programmer. If it was me, I'd install a fresh copy of the operating system and set it up specifically for her.

You can't obtain this anymore, windows ME has not been supported by Microsoft for a LONG TIME. Compaq/HP also does not support this laptop either. So if you did have the diskette for it, you wouldn't be able to obtain the drivers for it.. You can obtain a windows XP from online retailers like amazon.com. But there is NO guarentee this will resolve your issue given the age of the computer.

Its not possible that BIOS can reject any USB device, you can use USB DVD in case if the BIOS is not accepting it so you can try to restore BIOS. Just go to the BIOS screen and look for the option to reset it. Normally it done by F9. Thank you.

Chosenone, Even though the battery meter shows it fully charged I doubt it?s correct. Over time rechargeable batteries loose their ability to store power. How long depends on the battery manufacturer and how well you treat it but you can consider yourself fortunate if your battery lasts three or four years. Beware of people who suggest you take apart your batter to bypass the safeties or replace old battery cells. Defective or improperly handled batteries can overheat and cause fires when you least expect them. Let us know if you have any more questions and please don?t forget to rate this post.

Mostly the hard drive itself has failed. Replace it and then install windows on the new drive.

This tools will help you:
- Ophcrack
- ultimatebootcd
- Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
- Cain & Abel
- LCP
- John The Ripper
- PCLoginNow

If you forgot Windows password, you can create a Windows password reset bootable CD/DVD or USB flash drive to reset your lost or forgotten Windows password, i have created a bootable CD with the tool Windows Password Breaker and reset my administrator password successfully. No need to re-install your system.

The only manual I could find for your model laptop (Compaq Presario 1200) is the Service and Maintenance Guide located here. I was unable to find a generic user's guide, so I hope this helps! Have a great day!

Let me know the space of your Hard Disk? and what is the size of your Hard Disk?

if the power wont come on and wont charge then you need a new battery. if itll power on but you cant log in youll have to reboot your hard drive with a recovery disc

It's the hard drive don't mind it. It'll be fine

It depends on the system specs.
The system ram is the most important, your laptop came with 64mb ram, you need a minimum of 128mb, but 256mb should be the absolute min with XP, here are the minimum specs from microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sysreqs/pro.mspx

if u r having isues with the sound system of ur PC then most probably the IRQ of the sound chip is out....no new driver can fix it....
the best alternative is
buy this on Ebay for 1$...it's called USB Sound Adaptor....

its ur lcd screen problem mainly comes when ur screen get some external shock to screen mainly its not repairable need to replace the screen other way is a risky one by resolding the screen main board which is behind the lcd screen (dont try urself ) nd its not a big problem as ur screen work properly

I would think the compaq site would have all the drivers you need. They normally do.