re: can't enter bios
Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Windows Me Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by Ed
(599 messages posted)
To learn how to enter the BIOS / CMOS set-up screen on a Compaq computer, read this post.
Common keystrokes that will access the BIOS Setup in a Compaq are F1 , F2 , F10 ,
and Del .
Compaq computers rely (or used to, when I had one) on a special set of diagnostic
tools that reside on a non-DOS diagnostic partition occupying Tracks 0 and 1 of the
hard disk.
The same tools are (or used to be) supplied by Compaq on a special (bootable) floppy
disk that Compaq supplied with the computer. The same tools could be downloaded from
Compaq's website, and run to build the necessary floppy disk. All the user had to
supply was one blank floppy for the tools to be installed on by the downloaded program.
Depending on the model of Compaq PC you own, look on their website for the diagnostic
tools for that particular model.
The floppy disk (once formatted by the downloaded Compaq program) is used to boot
the computer, and loads into memory the necessary tools to analyse the computer and
(hopefully) to correct any faults.
However, if the computer won't boot at all I would tend to suspect a fault in the
Master Boot Record (MBR) in sector CHS 0-0-1 which contains the partition table for
the hard disk. To cure faults of this type, a first step is to read my posting here which will help you understand sector 0-0-1 and provides
links to some tools you might be able to use to resolve the problem.
You will need a Windows ME emergency boot disk from here.
Ed
On Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 10:26 pm, john wrote:
>well boy have i got a prob now. same prob with entering bios. tried fn+f8 then
>tapping f11. got a screen about changing or saving something. NOW THE COMPAQ WILL
>NOT BOOTAT ALL. DO NOT GET THE memory check, will not boot to disk cd or a: with
>start up disk.. found a file on hp for set up but sys will not boot to any device.
> HELP PLEASE!
>thanks
>
>
>
- Written in response to:
- re: can't enter bios (john: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 10:26 pm)
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All messages in this thread [show all]
 | | | | |  | |  | Linux (pieter: Wed, Apr 19, 2006, 1:21 am) |
| | | | | | | | | | | |  | re: can't enter bios (Ed: Thu, Aug 28, 2008, 1:44 pm) |
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