accessing compaq coms?

[figarow]

I have just bought a deskpro 4000 and I've just installed win98se from a newly formatted HDD.
No matter how hard I try I can't seem to be able to access the bios/cmos. Everyone is telling to toggle f10 on starting the computer, but doing this only creates a beeping sound.
Can someone with a little more insight please help me:confused:

[figarow]

Please I beg.........cry, sob, I neeeeeeed help:(

[Penguin4x4]

Try Delete, ESC, F1, or F2

[badvector]

Okay, I just checked out the compaq website and you may have the same problem as I had when I was running my compaq. On older compaqs, the bios/cmos is stored on a special diagnostics partition fo your hard drive. Odds are, you either deleted it, or if you installed a new hard drive you've lost it. Easy fix though so don't sweat it. Go to this link (http://www.compaq.com/support/files/deskpro/us/index.html) and select your computer information and click the Locate software button. Scroll down and look for a file similiar to Computer Set up and Diagnostics. That link will take you to a sight where you can download the program you need to make your bios/cmos changes. On mine I was able to boot from floppy into the Bios and didn't bother restoring it to the hard drive. Hope this is the fix for you.

[eh?]

the bios isn't stored on the hard drive its stored on a ROM chip. i think for compaqs its either Esc or F2.

[ThePerfectCore]

the bios isn't stored on the hard drive its stored on a ROM chip. i think for compaqs its either Esc or F2.

Nice job not paying attention to any of badvector's post. Older Compaq's DO have their BIOS (in this sense and reference - a BIOS utility) stored on a small non-DOS partition in the corner of the HDD.

I should know, I've had to re-install it each time I reformat my Armada.

[repo man11]

That is handy to know. I sure hope I'll never need to do that, the one Compaq I worked on for a friend was enough for me, but it is still good to know. I mean come on, on the harddrive? Boy Compaq sucks!

[eh?]

Originally posted by ThePerfectCore


Nice job not paying attention to any of badvector's post. Older Compaq's DO have their BIOS (in this sense and reference - a BIOS utility) stored on a small non-DOS partition in the corner of the HDD.

I should know, I've had to re-install it each time I reformat my Armada. so if i unplug the harddrive then the computer will not boot up? or better yet when you upgrad harddrives then the computer won't boot...

[badvector]

I think it would still boot, but I don't really remember. I do recall that anytime I made a change that would effect my bios, I had to boot with the diagnostics/set-up floppy to get in and configure my system. Although the actual bios may be stored on a chip on the mobo somewhere, you can't make any changes to it without that diagnostic/set-up disk. ThePerfectCore knew what I meant, I'll be sure to be more clear the next time. Without that partition/boot floppy, your bios is stuck with what was last set up in it. He was asking questions about reformatting and installing windows in this thread (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97831) and I told him there to be careful about formatting. I'm assuming since he formatted and now can't get into his bios, that he deleted the diagnostics partition. Here is what Compaq says about the diagnostics partition program I refered him to.

For all products except the Deskpro EP, SB, and EN Series, Computer Setup and PC Diagnostics are both pre-installed on the Diagnostics Partition. The diskettes in this SoftPaq can be used to update these utilities on the Diagnostics Partition or to restore them if the Diagnostics Partition has been destroyed. Both utilities can be run by pressing F10 during power-up or reboot when prompted in the lower right corner of the screen on some models or when the cursor jumps to the upper right corner of the screen on other models. Or they can be run directly from these diskettes. NOTE: For the Deskpro EP, SB, and EN Series, Computer Setup/VP and Personal Computer Diagnostics must be run from diskette. Computer Setup/VP allows the user to configure security and power management settings as well as system resources (DMA, IRQ, I/O Ports, and Memory).

Just trying to make myself a little more clear on the subject.

[eh?]

Originally posted by badvector
I think it would still boot, but I don't really remember. I do recall that anytime I made a change that would effect my bios, I had to boot with the diagnostics/set-up floppy to get in and configure my system. Although the actual bios may be stored on a chip on the mobo somewhere, you can't make any changes to it without that diagnostic/set-up disk. ThePerfectCore knew what I meant, I'll be sure to be more clear the next time. Without that partition/boot floppy, your bios is stuck with what was last set up in it. He was asking questions about reformatting and installing windows in this thread (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97831) and I told him there to be careful about formatting. I'm assuming since he formatted and now can't get into his bios, that he deleted the diagnostics partition. Here is what Compaq says about the diagnostics partition program I refered him to.



Just trying to make myself a little more clear on the subject. thats what i said, the BIOS is on the ROM. but ThePerfectCore felt he knew better tried to prove me wrong. if what he said was true then you could never upgrade the harddrives of the computer or if the hard driv of the computer crashed then the whole computer would be worthless unless you bought a harddrive from compaq and had them put the bios on the harddrive...


*edit* if you go here (http://www.compaq.com/support/Techpubs/qrg/deskpro4000.html) and get that pdf the second to last pages shows a replacment ROM... wonder what thats for

[badvector]

Look, this isn't worth a flame war. I said bios in the meaning of the program used to configure it. ThePerfectCore understood this and was pointing that out. I don't think he was trying to challenge anyones knowledge.

Older Compaq's DO have their BIOS (in this sense and reference - a BIOS utility)


It's my mistake for refering to it in this way. The problem is, without the system configuration program, your Bios is worthless when you make a change. Let's say you need to get into your computer and change the processor because you swapped one out. Without this utility you can't do it. Without updating your bios you're stuck. Point is, your bios is almost worthless without this utility. Sure if you never want to change any IRQ's or DMA's or disable anything via your Bios you're fine. All I'm trying to do is answer a question and provide some help. I'm not ThePerfectCore, but I believe he was just verifying what I said so that the person that asked the question would not blow off my advice by thinking that I was blowing hot air. As far as booting, I used to boot off of a floppy that had the diagnostics/set-up on it. So you wouldn't have to buy a hard drive from compaq you could boot off of the floppy. They also have a utility to restore the partition to a hard drive. If I remember correctly, I didn't use the Compaq bios when I changed my hard drive because I was forced to use EZBios in order to recognize my full hard drive.

I looked at the page you referenced and didn't see any replacement rom. I saw a rompaq which is a software upgrade for your bios. The rom itself is probably soldered into the board and is not replaceable. At least that's the way it was on mine.

Let's cut the arguments and hopefully this will help out figarow.

[eh?]

Originally posted by badvector
Look, this isn't worth a flame war. I said bios in the meaning of the program used to configure it. ThePerfectCore understood this and was pointing that out. I don't think he was trying to challenge anyones knowledge.




It's my mistake for refering to it in this way. The problem is, without the system configuration program, your Bios is worthless when you make a change. Let's say you need to get into your computer and change the processor because you swapped one out. Without this utility you can't do it. Without updating your bios you're stuck. Point is, your bios is almost worthless without this utility. Sure if you never want to change any IRQ's or DMA's or disable anything via your Bios you're fine. All I'm trying to do is answer a question and provide some help. I'm not ThePerfectCore, but I believe he was just verifying what I said so that the person that asked the question would not blow off my advice by thinking that I was blowing hot air. As far as booting, I used to boot off of a floppy that had the diagnostics/set-up on it. So you wouldn't have to buy a hard drive from compaq you could boot off of the floppy. They also have a utility to restore the partition to a hard drive. If I remember correctly, I didn't use the Compaq bios when I changed my hard drive because I was forced to use EZBios in order to recognize my full hard drive.

I looked at the page you referenced and didn't see any replacement rom. I saw a rompaq which is a software upgrade for your bios. The rom itself is probably soldered into the board and is not replaceable. At least that's the way it was on mine.

Let's cut the arguments and hopefully this will help out figarow. I understood all that, and all i pointed out was that the bios is not stored on the harddrive then theperfect core jumped telling how i basicly that i am stupid and can't read
Originally posted by theperfectcore
Nice job not paying attention to any of badvector's post when i read his post and undsetood it just fine.
As for that page it is a listing of hardware that is on the deskpro 4000 it has nothing to do with software, i dunno but it has a rom which is where the BIOS is stored thats all i pointed out. the config utlity maybe on the harddrive but the bios is on a ROM. theprefectcore did a good job of not paying attetion to my post. i was not trying to start a flame war i was just pointing out where the bios was stored

[figarow]

Thanks heaps for all your help guys. I managed to get the cmos downloaded from the compaq web site. Then I wiped the HDD clean. Then I created a new partition useing the new cmos boot disks. Basically these disks lead me every step of the way.:D
Thanks a lot far all your invaluble help:p