Armada - new HD - no BIOS

I understand I have to get some SoftPak program from HP's web site and
create a
small partition on the new drive to make a home for the BIOS.

Do I need to reformat the hard drive in order to create this partition, or
can I do it without affecting the current O/S and all my programs?

Thanks

Bryan

Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot it!


"bam" wrote in message
...
I understand I have to get some SoftPak program from HP's web site and
create a
small partition on the new drive to make a home for the BIOS.

Do I need to reformat the hard drive in order to create this partition, or
can I do it without affecting the current O/S and all my programs?

Thanks

Bryan

"Tom Scales" wrote in message
news
Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot it!

This all arises from my not being able to enlarge my Windows screen to more
than half it's size. I'm running 16 colors at the smallest screen resolution
(640x800?) From what I've been able to dig up, this was caused by putting in
a new hard drive and losing the old BIOS. Somehow this HP Computer Settings
program is supposed to fix this.

As you can probably tell, I'm no whiz kid.

Thanks

Bryan

You need to install drivers for the graphics chip in the system, else you'll be
stuck with 640x480 and 16 colors. The problem has nothing to do with the BIOS,
and nothing to do with the new hard drive. Windows needs to be installed
completely for the system to work right. This means that the drivers for all
the chipsets need to be installed... Ben Myers

On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 23:50:50 -0500, "bam" wrote:


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
news
Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot it!

This all arises from my not being able to enlarge my Windows screen to more
than half it's size. I'm running 16 colors at the smallest screen resolution
(640x800?) From what I've been able to dig up, this was caused by putting in
a new hard drive and losing the old BIOS. Somehow this HP Computer Settings
program is supposed to fix this.

As you can probably tell, I'm no whiz kid.

Thanks

Bryan

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
You need to install drivers for the graphics chip in the system, else
you'll be
stuck with 640x480 and 16 colors. The problem has nothing to do with the
BIOS,
and nothing to do with the new hard drive. Windows needs to be installed
completely for the system to work right. This means that the drivers for
all
the chipsets need to be installed... Ben Myers

Sounds good to me - you say "Windows has to be installed completely". What
does that mean? How can I more completely install it than just the regular
installation?

Right now, Windows is seeing the hardware as a Standard Graphics Display
Adapter (as I recall). When it looks for drivers it tells me that I've got
the best ones available already there.

Thanks

Bryan




On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 23:50:50 -0500, "bam"
wrote:


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
news
Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot it!

This all arises from my not being able to enlarge my Windows screen to
more
than half it's size. I'm running 16 colors at the smallest screen
resolution
(640x800?) From what I've been able to dig up, this was caused by putting
in
a new hard drive and losing the old BIOS. Somehow this HP Computer
Settings
program is supposed to fix this.

As you can probably tell, I'm no whiz kid.

Thanks

Bryan

I'll repeat: Windows needs to be installed completely for the system to work
right. "Completely" means that the drivers for all the chipsets need to be
installed.

It is a mistake to assume that whatever version of Windows you installed has ALL
the drivers needed to run the computer properly. More often than not, this is
not the case, except for systems which are pre-loaded with Windows at the
factory.

"Standard Graphics Display Adapter" is the default graphics driver used by
Windows when it cannot find a driver which is an exact match for the graphics
chipset on the motherboard. In short, Windows is lying to you when it looks for
drivers, and tells you that you've got the best ones available already there,
but at least Windows runs albeit in a degraded mode. (Contrast with Linux whcih
does a 1000% better job of identifying chipsets and loading drivers most of the
time.) But, then, why would you expect Windows to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth. Micro$oft's public relations propaganda
machine has been bull****ting and fogging at the world for many years.

I do not know which Armada you are talking about or which version of Windows you
are using. But the real problem you have right now is to first figure out what
graphics chip is in the computer and then to download drivers for the chip
compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to use. If you respond
with the model of Armada and the version of Windows, somebody here will probably
be able to help you some more... Ben Myers

On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 08:47:35 -0500, "bam" wrote:


ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
You need to install drivers for the graphics chip in the system, else
you'll be
stuck with 640x480 and 16 colors. The problem has nothing to do with the
BIOS,
and nothing to do with the new hard drive. Windows needs to be installed
completely for the system to work right. This means that the drivers for
all
the chipsets need to be installed... Ben Myers

Sounds good to me - you say "Windows has to be installed completely". What
does that mean? How can I more completely install it than just the regular
installation?

Right now, Windows is seeing the hardware as a Standard Graphics Display
Adapter (as I recall). When it looks for drivers it tells me that I've got
the best ones available already there.

Thanks

Bryan




On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 23:50:50 -0500, "bam"
wrote:


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
news Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot it!

This all arises from my not being able to enlarge my Windows screen to
more
than half it's size. I'm running 16 colors at the smallest screen
resolution
(640x800?) From what I've been able to dig up, this was caused by putting
in
a new hard drive and losing the old BIOS. Somehow this HP Computer
Settings
program is supposed to fix this.

As you can probably tell, I'm no whiz kid.

Thanks

Bryan

Thanks Ben - this one's definitely a keeper. I like your quote about
Microsoft:

"But, then, why would you expect Windows to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth."

I know very little about programming, but I've always hated when Windows
tells you the download or installation is 99% complete and the last 1% takes
as long as the 99 did. I've always said to myself - g-d damned liars!

Anyway. I'll see what I can find about my graphics chipset. My other Armada
7400 has an S3 something or other.

Bryan


ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
I'll repeat: Windows needs to be installed completely for the system to
work
right. "Completely" means that the drivers for all the chipsets need to
be
installed.

It is a mistake to assume that whatever version of Windows you installed
has ALL
the drivers needed to run the computer properly. More often than not,
this is
not the case, except for systems which are pre-loaded with Windows at the
factory.

"Standard Graphics Display Adapter" is the default graphics driver used by
Windows when it cannot find a driver which is an exact match for the
graphics
chipset on the motherboard. In short, Windows is lying to you when it
looks for
drivers, and tells you that you've got the best ones available already
there,
but at least Windows runs albeit in a degraded mode. (Contrast with Linux
whcih
does a 1000% better job of identifying chipsets and loading drivers most
of the
time.) But, then, why would you expect Windows to tell the truth, the
whole
truth and nothing but the truth. Micro$oft's public relations propaganda
machine has been bull****ting and fogging at the world for many years.

I do not know which Armada you are talking about or which version of
Windows you
are using. But the real problem you have right now is to first figure out
what
graphics chip is in the computer and then to download drivers for the chip
compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to use. If you
respond
with the model of Armada and the version of Windows, somebody here will
probably
be able to help you some more... Ben Myers

On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 08:47:35 -0500, "bam"
wrote:


ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
You need to install drivers for the graphics chip in the system, else
you'll be
stuck with 640x480 and 16 colors. The problem has nothing to do with
the
BIOS,
and nothing to do with the new hard drive. Windows needs to be
installed
completely for the system to work right. This means that the drivers
for
all
the chipsets need to be installed... Ben Myers

Sounds good to me - you say "Windows has to be installed completely". What
does that mean? How can I more completely install it than just the regular
installation?

Right now, Windows is seeing the hardware as a Standard Graphics Display
Adapter (as I recall). When it looks for drivers it tells me that I've got
the best ones available already there.

Thanks

Bryan




On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 23:50:50 -0500, "bam"

wrote:


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
news Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot
it!

This all arises from my not being able to enlarge my Windows screen to
more
than half it's size. I'm running 16 colors at the smallest screen
resolution
(640x800?) From what I've been able to dig up, this was caused by
putting
in
a new hard drive and losing the old BIOS. Somehow this HP Computer
Settings
program is supposed to fix this.

As you can probably tell, I'm no whiz kid.

Thanks

Bryan

"bam" wrote in message
...

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
You need to install drivers for the graphics chip in the system, else
you'll be
stuck with 640x480 and 16 colors. The problem has nothing to do with
the
BIOS,
and nothing to do with the new hard drive. Windows needs to be
installed
completely for the system to work right. This means that the drivers
for
all
the chipsets need to be installed... Ben Myers

Sounds good to me - you say "Windows has to be installed completely". What
does that mean? How can I more completely install it than just the regular
installation?

Right now, Windows is seeing the hardware as a Standard Graphics Display
Adapter (as I recall). When it looks for drivers it tells me that I've got
the best ones available already there.

Thanks

Bryan




On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 23:50:50 -0500, "bam"

wrote:


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
news Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot
it!

This all arises from my not being able to enlarge my Windows screen to
more
than half it's size. I'm running 16 colors at the smallest screen
resolution
(640x800?) From what I've been able to dig up, this was caused by
putting
in
a new hard drive and losing the old BIOS. Somehow this HP Computer
Settings
program is supposed to fix this.

As you can probably tell, I'm no whiz kid.

Thanks

Bryan

Look around in here, Armada 7400 - software and drivers
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/fi...SeriesId=96228

George Girard, Programmer/FiddlerArounder,
Your Current Internet Information can be found he
http://www.canufly.net/~georgegg/You...et.Information
http://www.canufly.net/~georgegg/dns/Dns.Whois.Nslookup

Thanks George and Ben!

I "dickered" around with some S3 Virge pac that I got from the Compaq site
and eventually got my monitor to display at full screen. WHEW!!

Regards,

Bryan



"George" wrote in message
news:1110041655.474f4f3e3fb56f2b13bc975b775c8882@t eranews...
"bam" wrote in message
...

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
You need to install drivers for the graphics chip in the system, else
you'll be
stuck with 640x480 and 16 colors. The problem has nothing to do with
the
BIOS,
and nothing to do with the new hard drive. Windows needs to be
installed
completely for the system to work right. This means that the drivers
for
all
the chipsets need to be installed... Ben Myers

Sounds good to me - you say "Windows has to be installed completely".
What
does that mean? How can I more completely install it than just the
regular
installation?

Right now, Windows is seeing the hardware as a Standard Graphics Display
Adapter (as I recall). When it looks for drivers it tells me that I've
got
the best ones available already there.

Thanks

Bryan




On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 23:50:50 -0500, "bam"

wrote:


"Tom Scales" wrote in message
news Why?

The partition isn't important. It's not the BIOS, it's the BIOS setup
program. Just create the bootable floppy and when you need in, boot
it!

This all arises from my not being able to enlarge my Windows screen to
more
than half it's size. I'm running 16 colors at the smallest screen
resolution
(640x800?) From what I've been able to dig up, this was caused by
putting
in
a new hard drive and losing the old BIOS. Somehow this HP Computer
Settings
program is supposed to fix this.

As you can probably tell, I'm no whiz kid.

Thanks

Bryan

Look around in here, Armada 7400 - software and drivers
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/fi...SeriesId=96228

George Girard, Programmer/FiddlerArounder,
Your Current Internet Information can be found he
http://www.canufly.net/~georgegg/You...et.Information
http://www.canufly.net/~georgegg/dns/Dns.Whois.Nslookup