not sure if I still have the cd, I was going to use it to do a repair, One page showed me to look for a cached copy of the dll and copy it in place, but that dir was not where they said it was, too slow to search now, still clleaning stuff up
A Compaq Presario should have a hidden partition with a copy of the operating system.
To access the recovery partition on your HP or Compaq computer for recovery, follow the steps listed below.
1. Power on the computer
2. Press F10 repeatedly when you see the HP or Compaq logo.
2. When the recovery screen appears, press Next and then Yes to perform a non-destructive recovery.
3. To perform a destructive recovery, click Advanced and then Yes.
4. After the recovery is finished, the laptop will reboot.
Remember, a destructive recovery will reformat the hard drive and you will lose everything, so I would try everything else first.
BTW, have you tried to revert to a restore point?