Compaq Deskpro 2000mmx

Hi All,

I'm trying to access the BIOS on this machine but can't figure out how to. There's no flashing cursor in the right hand corner, where you normally press F10, like on other Compaqs i've worked on. I've tried every key and combination of keys i can think of but nothing works. It will boot to floppy and both FDISK and PMagic show no NDOS setup/diagnostic partition. So i went to Compaq's site to download the relevant softpaq's and this machine doesn't have a setup/diag partition, only the non-MMX version does. So now i'm stuck. I need to access the BIOS settings but can't figure out how to. I tried a search on Google but that didn't get me very far and i've altered the BIOS password jumper to Disabled (it was at Enabled) but to no avail. I've also tried the Clear CMOS jumper. This reset default values, redetected the HD and reset date/time to defaults (great! not...) and allowed me to save changes but that was it. When the machine is switched on, i get the Compaq logo on a white background, with a little egg timer in the bottom left corner of the screen, this stays for around 5 seconds, then it boots from floppy. How do i access the damn BIOS?

TIA,

Ctrl-Alt-Enter, Ctrl-Alt-Tab? Can't remember.....

Nope, neither works...any other ideas?

TIA,

f1, f2, del, f10 ctrl alt esc... so many different combos..

unplug floppy , or summot ,,,till it objects and says "press XXXXX to enter setup" ,,,,,,,,

FtF

Hi Freddy,

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by freddy:
<strong>unplug floppy , or summot ,,,till it objects and says "press XXXXX to enter setup" ,,,,,,,,

FtF</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, unfortunately it doesn't complain. It will say that no floppy is detected, then tell you to press F1 to save changes, then it reboots off the HD. If you also disconnect the HD and CDROM, it just says 'Missing Operating System'. Holding a key down just gives a 'keyboard error xx' and thats it...no options to enter setup :( I'm going to download the Softpaq for the non-MMX machine and see if it will at least let me install it to the HD...

from the Comcrap site:

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.

This any help?:

<a href="http://www29.compaq.com/falco/detail.asp?FAQnum=FAQ5473" target="_blank">http://www29.compaq.com/falco/detail.asp?FAQnum=FAQ5473</a>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Garak:
<strong>f1, f2, del, f10 ctrl alt esc... so many different combos..</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I had a Presario 4505, and F10 got me into the bios if I remember correctly, and I think GeeksRUs has the right info from their site..

Thanks guys. The page that i got at Compaq's site when i entered the machines serial number, didn't give an F10 utility for the setup/diag partition, it only gave a BIOS upgrade, so i assumed (incorrectly) that this model didn't have the NDOS parition. The page that Platypus linked to has the correct Softpaqs for this machine from what i can tell. Have downloaded and will install tomorrow (too late now...got to get sleep!!). Will post results although i have no doubts this will conclude the issue.

Many thanks to all who replied.

Ok, well i said i'd post a result so i'll stick to my word. I downloaded the Softpaq that Platypus linked too but couldn't get it to unpack, it kept giving memory allocation errors about 75% of the way through. After lots of faffing about with conventional memory i downloaded it again on a whim and it unpacked fine, so either they fixed it or the file was corrupted during transfer. Anyway, the short of it is that everything is now installed and running as well as a p200 with 32MB ram and Win98 can be expected to run :)

Thanks again all and mods can close this thread if they so wish.