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| Thread ID: 30779 | 2003-03-02 21:26:00 | Fix a laptop with a missing OS.. No CD-ROM either, and an invisible BIOS! | Chilling_Silence (9) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 125120 | 2003-03-02 21:26:00 | Okay guys, something to tickle your noodle: Ive been given a Compaq Armada 4220T laptop to fix, after the owner tried to re-partition it with Partition Magic and effectively killed everything. It was running Win98, but he's given me his 98 or XP CD's, for me to install either. Now.. Here's this 'tickle your noodle' part. I have a boot floppy I made in XP, and Ive tried it on a couple of other PC's and it works fine, but chuck it in this laptop and it wont boot off it. With or without the floppy in (It doesnt actually manage to boot from the floppy, just does that little BIOS check to make sure one is attached), it comes up saying: Missing Operating System And that's it.... Nothing more, nothing less.... Now, I have a couple of things come to mind: Firstly, I need to check the BIOS, only I cant figure out how to get into it. There's nothing on the keyboard (like press FN + F1 to get into the BIOS) that'll let me get into it through a hotkey. Ive also tried to hit all the keys to get in I can think of: F1, F2, F10, F12, DEL, TAB, anything else? Next, Im likely just gonna have to send the XP or 98 CD over a laplink com cable, only the cable Ive got transfers at 9600bps, meaning it'd take a good large number of hours for the CD to transfer (Not a major). The other thought was that Ive got a PCMCIA Ethernet card that comes up as being (Under my laptop on XP) an Intel 21143-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter, so perhaps now would be a good time to figure out how to network in DOS?? (This is provided I can get my boot disk to be 'booted off') What should I do/Where should I go from here, Im out of ideas for the moment. I cant get into the laptops 'insides' coz he bought it second hand from a company auction and some genius decided to strip each and ever screw to the thing, and they wont come out! Thanks guys Cheers Chilling_Silence |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 125121 | 2003-03-02 21:33:00 | well a quick search found: "Installing the Compaq BIOS GUI If you ever want to change the BIOS settings in the Compaq Laptop be sure to install the Compaq BIOS GUI program first since the Compaq BIOS GUI will create a 4 MB partion in the beginning of the drive, erasing any data present on the disk. Also, if you want to dual-boot with Windows it is advisable to install Windows first. " "Unfortunately, when one installs win 95/98 on a 4220T the F10 key for BIOS access is disabled. Fortunately, Compaq has provided utilities for this access. Go to the Compaq/HP site and dowmload Sp6548.exe. When you run the EXE it will create a boot disk with the utility on it. Boot the laptop up on the disk and the setup program should start. A menu will appear and allow you access to the BIOS." |
tweak'e (174) | ||
| 125122 | 2003-03-03 02:35:00 | Okay, thanks, I'll try that, but so far it hasnt been booting from a floppy, and with no OS, Im sorta stuck?! | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 125123 | 2003-03-03 03:10:00 | Nope, sorry, still comes up with Missing opertaing system error.. Wont boot off the floppy :-( | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 125124 | 2003-03-03 03:38:00 | Does a white rectangle appear at the top RM corner of the screen? If so, F10 should work while the block is there. If not, you might have to get into the box, and move the HD to another computer and give it at least a DOS boot. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 125125 | 2003-03-03 05:26:00 | It's a worry. I wonder if you have tried a boot floppy from PCDOS, MSDOS6.22 or even a Linux boot disk. From what I manage to gather you can install Linux on that one too. The GUI BIOS is contained on a partition on the hard drive. Presumably the use of partition magic wiped this??? The Laptop ( according to the manual ) was designed to run Win95 or NT. The manual can be got here:- ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/supportinformation/techpubs/user_reference_guides/290779-001_rev1_us.pdf If you have problems with the link I can send it to you. I'm VERY pleased it's your problem and not mine. (Sorry about that Chief!!!!! :-) |
Elephant (599) | ||
| 125126 | 2003-03-03 05:57:00 | Yeah, I would install linux if it was all I had, tried booting off a floppy... And sorry but no, no box. I tried just hitting F10 constantlyuntil the missing os error showed. Nothing :-( |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 125127 | 2003-03-03 06:14:00 | hold down the "ecs" key during boot and the system will say "keyboard error, f1 to enter bios" might work, might not . |
robsonde (120) | ||
| 125128 | 2003-03-04 08:11:00 | Great idea, only I'd say its had the 'halt on only keyboard' changed to 'never halt on errors' or something coz nothing works :( | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
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