I thought I,d post this over here for the next poor soul who has to deal with one of these things....
1st, its actually a pretty good box. The thing will do exactly what its designed to do flawlessly. The problem comes when you desire to make the thing do more then the original design intended or if your computer literate and like to keep a system "current". I was/am also very very impressed with its recovery capability. It will factory restore flawlessly so its perfect for anyone who doesnt want to get up close and personal with an OS etc....
Now, the 1st thing to realize is that you cant do anything with a Compaq....ANYTHING. The nome at the factory did what he did and any attempt to alter the state of the universe simply results in the "butterfly effect". It might seem fine....but its not....trust me. I think the key reason is that all things compaq are proprietary....probably even the damm screws holding the harddrive:).
My trials and tribulations involve upgrading the video card from the "onboard express 200" to a nvidia 7900GT. The 1st thing to realize is that the "express 200"....simply isnt. It's a part of the "200 express family"...its a proprietary chip based on the design. It'll work with the drivers it came with...it will NOT work with any ATI drivers other then that.
This was my 1st goof, naturally I looked at the mid 2005 drivers and found multiple newer flavors for the "200 express family" {but none of course for the actual bastard cousin residing here in}...
Then of course you want to upgrade the video drivers....NOT. i'm not talking about the disaster known as the control panel....just the drivers will kill your system...not compatable at all...PERIOD. Now anytime you do any of the above you can not recover....except by RECOVERING:). Rolling drivers back, wiping them etc....nada. You need to go nuke and use the Fdisk recovery....its all or nothing. Now, the nvidia drivers that came with the 7900 did the same thing. So did the omega's I tried. The ones I linked here seem to work (for now at least).
Basically you uninstall the ATI control panel and drivers using the control panel....DO NOT USE ANYTHING ELSE. The nomes dont like that and send gremlins out. Yes you'll have 4 useless drivers floating in your registry....but the knomes (cant figure which spelling is right:) are happy and the gremlins are at bay.
So throw out anything you've evewr learned about computers and being computer savvy. You are allowed to do exactly what the numbnut who "designed" the box decided you could do. Anything else unleashes the secret compaq trolls who reside deep in the OS. Trust me, you dont want that....
So, if your an idiot....this is actually a great system. If your not an idiot but want a bombproof box that you can "autorecover" from the worst virus, act of stupidity etc....same thing. But if you've ever cracked a case....simply walk on by.....leave the knomes at rest.
TC suggested a total nuc and reload which is probably as good an option as any...my only concern was/is the MB drivers (for this system at least) are proprietary and seem to be the problem. Even the "good "knomes" at ASUS said there drivers wont work since the chipset is different.
So will I ever buy an other compaq (or similiar)....HELL YES. Perfect system for when my daughter (queen of the system kill) goes to college. In fact this box is headed her way as soon as I build out my next box. Nothing like the "fire in the Hole" recovery for her...and no I could care less about whatever she cant "recover"....
