how to get into bios of a compaq

[deep_sky]

how do you get into the bios of a compaq 5461 so that i can see what can and cannot be set?

[izzzy12k]

On Compaq PC's usually F10 will get you into the bios.

izzzy12k

[theCorvetteDoctor]

On boot-up, hold down the "del" key till bios comes up.. f10 is the exit key. DrVette

[Hellhound]

on my compaq f10 takes you to the boios....but dont get your hopes up...its really a kinda idiot proof bios...not much in the way of settings..but thats how you get there

[bubblehd]

F10 will get you there. But as state by Hellhound, don't expect much. Don't expect much from Compaq's web page either.

[deep_sky]

thanks for the information folks....you are all right..there is almost nothing to change, what a rip. my pcchips board's bios is a goldmine in comparison. i am glad that this is my parents' machine, not mine.

[BBA]

Something else about your compaq...90% of the bios code exist in a special hidden track of the first hard drive.

This means an upgrade to the drive will make the PC unbootable.

Any replacement drive will have to be configured by a special set of startup disk's available from compaq as a download sofpak.

[deep_sky]

thanks bba....i will make a note of that when my parents want to get another hard drive...i would probably toss this piece of junk out in the back yard and take care of it geneC. style and then tell them to get a better computer anyways, but i will let them know....

[Nathan]

I think on the 450's and up, CMOS is not on the hard drive, thankfully. But on the ones where they are, when rebuilding, make sure you put them on the drive first before building the other partition(s). You can get them on Compaq's website.

[RPB]

you can make a set of four floppy disks and run cmos config from there instead of the hardrive, also compaq has a tech forum that is very good