How to enter bios on compaq?

[Tripleshot]

I have a laptop (presario 1247) on the bench that has win98 os and when it tries to boot, it hangs on test 10 and just leaves a c: | curser. I have tried the rescue disk, but as you can see, we do not get far enough into bios for it to see the CD. Do i need to disassmble it to clear cmos or what? The data on the HDD is valuable and the laptop is needed for a powerpoint presentation. I need to get it up and running again and I do not have much experience with compaq laptops.

Any Ideas?

 

[JC]

Isn't it like F1 or F10 to get into the BIOS on a Compaq?

JC

 

[Tripleshot]

I have hit F1 and F10 to no avail. I am thinking bios is hosed and doesn't get that far to let me enter. I have removed the rechargable battery. That didn't restore anything. The owner said his HDD was almost full and has lots of pictures on it. The freeze seems to be right after some virus scan routine. It locks on a screen that looks like this:

checking memory for viruses... is ok

Scanning c: []
Scanning c:\*.*
Pass 1
Pass 2
Pass 3
Pass 4
Pass 5
Pass 6
Pass 7
Pass 8
Pass 9
Pass 10
C: |

 

[JC]

What about modifying the config.sys or autoexec to disable the virus scan during boot?

 

[Tripleshot]

I can't get into bios to set floppy to be first thing to look for for boot device. We aren't into the bios far enough to do anything.

 

[Buz2b]

You should be able to get into the BIOS by pressing F2 on many Compaqs. Just start doing it repeatedly from the moment you turn it on/boot. That way you can't miss. Just press it once every second. You should get there. BTW, you can find some good info on this site.

 

[networkman]

Depending on the model, you may also be able to download a System Configuration utility from Compaq's site. On many of their older model units, there needed to be a very small (2meg or so) proprietary partition to be able to access the BIOS, if the partition wasn't there, F1/F2/F10 would never do a thing for you.

 

[Tripleshot]

F1,F2, and F10 do nothing. I get the same screen and lock up every time it isturned on. I hit F2 repeatedly on start up trying to get there. No luck. Same with F1. Samw with f10. I am stumped.

 

[Buz2b]

Not having much in the way of experience with laptops, is there any way to get to the CMOS battery for removal or a CMOS clearing jumper? I know they have a "hatch" of sorts (many do) for adding RAM. Can you access the battery or jumper from there or any other area on the unit without trying to tear it apart? That would be my only other suggestion; clearing the BIOS. As a "long shot" have you tried pressing the "Insert" button on bootup? On some MB models that resets the BIOS; I have no idea if it would work in this case though. From the info I found, F2 should have worked to get you into the BIOS. Something is definitely amiss here with your unit.

 

[Tripleshot]

Networkman, thanks for the PM's. I have removed several times the stick of ram in the bottom of the laptop. In conjunction, I removed the battery several times for as long as a minute,sometimes longer. After several more crazy bootups,I got it to go into safemode and I am disabling many goofball settings using msconfig and now running scandisk thorough and auto fix errors. I will cross my fingers that this will boot up after this scandisk completes. If so, I will hook up my zip and begin removing garbage from his hardrive I think are a threat, including mcAfee virus scan. I will install Norton Sysworks and make rescue and back up disks.

I still hate working on laptops. They are integrated and difficult to deal with as compared to a desktop. The unique driver issues for keyboard and touchpad and TFT screen always present a problem when a customer wants to upgrade to a newer OS like XP.

I will come back and tell you if this worked. Someone else with a compaq may have this problem. Happy we collectively resolved the boot problem.

 

[earthman]

Heh, good luck. I have worked on Compaqs too, and especially if that little data partition isn't there for their restore utility, you may never get a bios screen. Also, when you do, there are sometimes few options enabled, much fewer than most "normal" motherboards anyway.

 

[Tripleshot]

I got it working. After several battery removals and memory stick removals, I got a screen to come up that let me get into safe mode. I used MSconfig in safe mode to alter the way it boots, and I suspected McAfee anti virus was causing trouble. I removed that and lo and behold, it is back working. I installed norton systemworks pro to check things out and did all the msoft updates, and now I'm finished with it. I do not think I will ever put a compaq laptop on me bench again. This lapetop cost hours in labor and diagnostics to get it to come back. There is no excuse for that. I think it is poor design.

to all of you who responded to this thread, THANK YOU! You were all a tremendous help.

 

[Buz2b]

(As the cheers go up) Hooray for you! Glad it is working. I agree about Compaq lappys. My brother bought one and it has been a pain everytime he tries to add software, etc. Always "jumping through hoops". Never again.