[SOLVED] HP Pavilion 7965 BIOS/OS Install

[TenekTek]

I have a (very annoying) HP Pavilion 7965 PC with an A7M266-M Socket A motherboard. The BIOS is virtually barebones, with no special options for BIOS updating. I've been trying to update the BIOS with a floppy disk, but there's no direct option for what to boot off of. Message for more details because I'm stumped XD.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

BIOS updates for HP laptops & desktops are usually designed to be installed from within Windows as the download will usually be an "exe" file or a zipped "exe" file. However, I couldn't find the official downloads page for the Pavilion 7965 to confirm that.

Also, "barebones" BIOS on HP & other pre-built brands is normal ---they don't want you "screwing" it up then expecting them to fix it for free under warranty. Barebones means less likely you'll brick it.

 

[TenekTek]

BIOS updates for HP laptops & desktops are usually designed to be installed from within Windows the download will usually be an "exe" file or a zipped

Also, "barebones" BIOS on HP & other pre-built brands is normal ---they don't want you "screwing" it up then expecting them to fix it for free under warranty. Barebones means less likely you'll brick it.

The main problem being, the previous owner screwed up windows XP (deleted system32)and now I need to reinstall Windows (Probably 98 or 2000), So it's a bit of a mess, because theres no "Boot from" section in POST.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

No factory recovery available?

 

[TenekTek]

No factory recovery available?

Haha, not sure but I doubt there's any real support for the system, it's AGP and DDR-SDRAM old. XD
Will have a look.

 

[TenekTek]

UPDATE: I've got into DOS with an old W98 boot floppy, but I'm just figuring my way around right now and I'm going to see my options.

 

[TenekTek]

No factory recovery available?

I was messing around and I found a system restore setting. Got Windows XP working again.