Compaq Bios Problems

[Case]

I have a Compaq Deskpro computer that I am looking at for a friend of mine.

Problem with it is, it will only boot to the floppy, and hangs there saying “invalid disk”.
I can run a program like troubleshooter from the floppy, I’m sure I can start win98 or whatever off the floppy.

Only thing is, I can’t get into the BIOS. I’ve tried F2, F8, F10, F12, del, esc, everything I could think of. Tried resetting the Bios but this @#$$% Compaq doesn’t have a jumper near the battery, and with it’s proprietary mobo, I can’t find any other way to reset the bios. The battery is hardwired in, so I can’t remove it. Any suggestions on how to get into this bios?????
:FU:

[catcorpse]

Q. How do I access the CMOS setup utility?

A. For older product models, like the Deskpro 286 or 386, place the Diagnostics disk in the disk drive, reboot your system, and choose computer setup from the menu.

For newer products like the ProLinea, Deskpro, Deskpro XL, Deskpro XE, or Presario, press the F10 key while the cursor is in the upper right hand corner of the screen. This happens just after the 2 beeps when booting.

Q. Why can't I get into CMOS Setup by pressing the F10 key at boot. How can this be fixed?

A. First, check your hard drive for a Non-DOS partition of about 3 MB. To do this, run Fdisk and select option four, "display partition information." The setup utilities are located in this partition. If this partition is not there, run setup from the diskettes.


If the diagnostics partition is OK, you may have a Virus. In order for Setup to run 640K of conventional memory must be free. If you have a virus you need to remove it from the system before setup will run.


found this info here (http://www.compaq.com/support/faqs/desktops.html#q1) if I knew more about which system is was, mabey we can figure it out

[Case]

Thanks Cats - never thought to look there. It's a Compaq Deskpro with a Pentium 166 and 96Mb RAM. I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks for the response!

[lurch63]

compaq's typically have the bios programmed to be F10 , if that is not working you might have some serious problems, have had the mispleasure of working with a lot of compaqs and they were all F10, good luck man. sinc. lurch

[Techvillage]

Spot on info their Cats :)

[martzweb]

If you need a set of compaq diagnostic disks, mail me. Gottem right here.

Sometimes their site can be a tad unhelpful.

m