Accessing BIOS on old Compaq...

[finity5]

I'm trying to access the bios on my old compaq, from '97, and I just cannot do it. I am having some problems with it, and need to get into the bios. I have tried every key, del, esc, f1, nothing works. I tried resetting the cmos, still nothing. Is there some weird way of accessing the bios on old compaqs?

[Emon]

Try the remaining F keys, and if that doesn't work, start hitting all the other keys over and over. My brother had an Asspaq in 1998, and a new Asspaq laptop, which is really just HP with the Asspaq name.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

[finity5]

I swear I have hit every key on the keyboard, none of the 'F' keys do anything.

[Darth Evad]

I hate compaq and hp.

IIRC it should be F8. I had one at work last year.

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"First off here's what you do to me
You get rough, attack my self esteem
It's not much, but it's the best I've got
And I thought you saw the good in everyone"
Sloan

[agent000x]

I think that it is F10.

[Noopectro]

No, my last computer was a Compaq, it's F8, just keep pressing it at start up.

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Go To: HL2Central (http://www.hl2central.net) - The only HL2 site run by massassians and ex-massassians.

My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love. My insides turn to celery as I unleash my warm and sticky cauliflower of love.

[finity5]

F8 and F10 do nothing, just pops up and says "Keyboard Error".

[Emon]

Don't mash the buttons that fast.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

[Noopectro]

Mmm.. 97 you say? Well I got mine at the end of 98, it was a Presario, so the bios technology shouldn't differ that much, here's what I used to do:

You turn the computer on, the monitor powers up showing the Compaq logo, there is a small '_' (underscore) cursor blinking for a few moments.

If you press the buttons now you cause a keyboard error, which will block out any other key presses until windows boots.

The trick is, to wait until the little underscore cursor changes to a block-cursor (you know, a little blinking white rectangle) then start pushing F8.. I found the best combination was holding F8 down, releasing and depressing it momentarily every few seconds.

However, now I think about it, accessing the bios won't do much good because it sucks, you can hardly do anything in there.

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Go To: HL2Central (http://www.hl2central.net) - The only HL2 site run by massassians and ex-massassians.

My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love. My insides turn to celery as I unleash my warm and sticky cauliflower of love.

[Han5678]

yes listen to electro he is correct, it is f8 on all compaqs i have ever tried. It works on all the ones i have used from 93 to 2003. Oh and by the way compaq bios's suck so it prolly won't do you much good anyway.

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roses are red, violets are blue, I am schizophrenic, and I am too!