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| Thread ID: 56476 | 2005-04-06 01:59:00 | Can the BIOS be Replaced? | vinref (6194) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 342064 | 2005-04-06 03:42:00 | Oh .... that pretty well explains the problem .... what you see is not necessarily what you have got! That' seems to be a good reason to steer away from branded PCs. |
Cptn Hotshot (3904) | ||
| 342065 | 2005-04-06 03:52:00 | Terry: You usually have an option in the BIOS to see the gory details rather than the gory logo. It's to improve your "computing experience", with the computer as appliance, that they give you the logo ... but the details are handy for maintenance people. IBM in particular have usually tried to make maintenance easy. (Though they are have found an easier way --- they've sold the desktop PC business.;)). Capn: "What you see" is exactly what you have got: a computer made to a complete specification by a large manufacturer, not a collection of "commodity" parts cobbled together in a garage, with a sticky label put on the front panel. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 342066 | 2005-04-06 06:58:00 | Big deal really :) In the Deskpro (EN SFF) Setup, under the Advanced tab there is a Power-On Self Test option, and under that is the option to enable POST Messages. When that is enabled the Compaq splash screen or logo does not appear, and all that comes up on the screen is: Attempting Boot from CD-ROM Attempting Boot from Floppy Drive Attempting Boot from Hard Drive As I say big deal, that is the sum total of POST, I'd prefer to see the logo :) |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 342067 | 2005-04-06 08:25:00 | "What you see" is exactly what you have got: a computer made to a complete specification by a large manufacturer, not a collection of "commodity" parts cobbled together in a garage, with a sticky label put on the front panel. These collections of commodity parts are cobbled together using the default settings, which almost always are the standard-compliant settings. Those damned Compaq, HP, IBM etc boxes seemed designed to make it difficult to upgrade and modify because they put in their unnecessary proprietary stuff. And it is impossible to find BIOS upgrades or even specification lists for their older products. I'll just have to avoid them. Besides, the no-name boxes sporting no-name Taiwanese/Korean motherboards with AWARD/AMI/PHOENIX BIOS' are a lot cheaper and more standards-compliant. |
vinref (6194) | ||
| 342068 | 2005-04-06 09:06:00 | I want to replace the Compaq, HP or IBM BIOS' with something like AWARD, AMI, PHOENIX etc. I do suspect that this is either not possible, or more trouble than it is worth. Compaq BIOS on most Deskpros I have used do not shutdown or reboot properly under Linux or BSD. Many HPs and IBMs give me other sorts of grief, and make it very difficult and dodgy to administer remotely. And yes, these are older machines (mostly under 500MHz). Ah well... Forget the idea. This is why I build my own so I know what motherboard and BIOS I have and also an intelligible manual. If I need a BIOS update later I can hopefully get one. I use Asus, Gigabyte and Soltek motherboards for myself and friends. Usually the motherboards supplied by the likes of Dell, HP, Compaq and IBM etc have modified versions of motherboards so that they fit in the case and some have pins cut off so you can't identify where to even plug in the ATX power etc. for the case in the event you want to change things. Granted that most people just want to buy a computer and get on and do their thing with it. For those people brand name computers will mostly work for a while until the Grandchild gets around with the latest game. Suddenly we need a new video card and and extra 512 meg RAM. Try upgrading an HP Vectra with a better video card. :eek: Mostly I give this type of computer away to really young people. |
AMD1 (6552) | ||
| 342069 | 2005-04-06 09:13:00 | These collections of commodity parts are cobbled together using the default settings, which almost always are the standard-compliant settings. Those damned Compaq, HP, IBM etc boxes seemed designed to make it difficult to upgrade and modify because they put in their unnecessary proprietary stuff. And it is impossible to find BIOS upgrades or even specification lists for their older products. I'll just have to avoid them. Besides, the no-name boxes sporting no-name Taiwanese/Korean motherboards with AWARD/AMI/PHOENIX BIOS' are a lot cheaper and more standards-compliant. So you knew the answer all along then did you not? I have no idea why I attempted to help! |
AMD1 (6552) | ||
| 342070 | 2005-04-06 10:43:00 | So you knew the answer all along then did you not? I have no idea why I attempted to help! Not really, I just suspected it. The good folk here confirmed it. |
vinref (6194) | ||
| 342071 | 2005-04-06 12:10:00 | That's why compaq, HP etc are weirdos. If you desperately want a new bios you would probably have to code your own (not something that would be enjoyable, I expect) |
Agent_24 (57) | ||
| 342072 | 2005-04-06 12:40:00 | You mentioned that the new bios was for linux. Have you had a look at the Linux Bios Project (www.linuxdevices.com) and there is also LinuxBIOS (wiki.linuxbios.org) which would appear to be a better bet. The LinuxBIOS page has a link to supported motherboards, so you should be able to see if your ones are there. |
Simply_Si (354) | ||
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