Question Compaq Deskpro 4000 Restore- Can't get into the BIOS...?

[cheeto2]

I can't seem to get into the bios. F10 is simply ignored. Reset BIOS and tried 3 keyboards ( 1 USB and 2 ps2). Keyboards seems to work otherwise for reboot and the F1 to boot per the bios command. Boot screen displays and an image is produced via VGA card.

Can get it to boot from floppy.

Any ideas?

P.S. Didn't see a windows 95 forum.

 

[kerberos_20]

compaq you say, i believe you will need floppy disk with bios setup on it, those computers had bios files stored on harddrive

is there anything inside you need? compaq had those bioses setup so users had no need to enter it

 

[ex_bubblehead]

The BIOS settings themselves aren't stored on disk. However, the interface needed to make changes does live in a hidden partition on disk. If that partition doesn't exist or is corrupted then you can't access the BIOS settings. You might be able to locate the correct set of floppys for that machine and reinstall the interface but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[kerberos_20]

you can try tweakbios
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/tweakbios.html
you will need to run it in DOS or win9x
here example how it looks like

similar to award bios interface (user friendly)

 

[cheeto2]

Thanks for the replies, help and suggestions.

It is now running 98se since the installation of a replacement hd, but I am still missing several .dll* files. I did find these (https://archive.org/details/diagnosticsdisk) setup disks for the Deskpro 4000, but I can't seem to boot from them.

Anyone know how I might make "Setup Disk 1" bootbale? If I boot dos then try to run the setup.exe on disk 1 it indicates the system needs to reboot to complete setup, but does not boot from the floppy upon reboot. Guessing I need to make disk 1 bootable?

Tried copying contents of disk 1 to floppy but that doesn't seem to be how to use these disks.

*Tried dropping into system/drivers file, but system still indicates it is missing these .dll files.

 

[kerberos_20]

boot from diagnostic diskette
diagnostic partition have to be done first

from manuals:

Manage a Diagnostics Partition

This option allows you to create, delete, or upgrade the diagnostics software on the hard drive partition. This must be performed from a diagnostics diskette.

CAUTION: Creating a diagnostics partition involves performing a low-level format on the hard drive. Normally this is only done to add diagnostics to a new replacement hard drive. If the diagnostics software is deleted, you will no longer be able to access the Compaq Utilities Menu.

CAUTION: If you install an operating system without first installing the diagnostics partition, you will not be able to install a diagnostics partition without losing all data on your hard disk

 

[cheeto2]

Booted from diag disk then rebooted to create the partition. Now diag disk is asking for "Setup diskette". Then I inserted disk A, which has the setup.exe file in the root for a:, hit enter then it simply asks for "setup diskette" again, so I hit enter again and again and again.....

Also tried disk b which has a compressed "csvp" file, which does not work of course. Verified disk a contents as well.

Booted from 98 floppy then tried to run csmenu but it must run in windows environment. When I run setup on disk a after booting from 98 diskette it indicates I need to reboot to finish seutup. Reboot with disk a in drive and I get "Remove disks and other media. Press any key to restart" loop.

Maybe the "setup diskette" is not "disk a", but another disk lost to time?

EDIT: F10 is on screen now (bottom-right) but if I press F10 i get the "insert system configuration diskette in drive a:"...tried all

UGH...disk b is too large for one floppy when decompressed.

Diag diskette is working fine.