Can't access BIOS on EVO D510

Ever since I installed WINXP on my EVO D510CMT I can no longer get into the
BIOS.

Pressing F10 when the Compaq splash screen and prompts appear doesn't do
anything anymore. Then, Windows kicks in as normal.

I've tried various things - even disconnecting the hard drive to prevent an
OS starting - in order to see what's happening, but nothing seems to work.

Any ideas anyone ?

TIA.

Tim.

Bad F10 key on keyboard co-incidence???


"Tim Parker" wrote in message
...

Pressing F10 when the Compaq splash screen and prompts appear doesn't do
anything anymore. Then, Windows kicks in as normal.

"Tim Parker" wrote in message
...
Ever since I installed WINXP on my EVO D510CMT I can no longer get into
the BIOS.

Pressing F10 when the Compaq splash screen and prompts appear doesn't do
anything anymore. Then, Windows kicks in as normal.

I've tried various things - even disconnecting the hard drive to prevent
an OS starting - in order to see what's happening, but nothing seems to
work.

Any ideas anyone ?

TIA.

Tim.


Have you downloaded the windows software for accessing the BIOS?

I stillthink the F10 key on the keyboard is bad..............


"DCA" wrote in message
...
"Tim Parker" wrote in message
...
Ever since I installed WINXP on my EVO D510CMT I can no longer get into
the BIOS.

Pressing F10 when the Compaq splash screen and prompts appear doesn't do
anything anymore. Then, Windows kicks in as normal.

I've tried various things - even disconnecting the hard drive to prevent
an OS starting - in order to see what's happening, but nothing seems to
work.

Any ideas anyone ?

TIA.

Tim.


Have you downloaded the windows software for accessing the BIOS?

"Tim Parker" wrote in message
...
Ever since I installed WINXP on my EVO D510CMT I can no longer get into
the BIOS.

Pressing F10 when the Compaq splash screen and prompts appear doesn't do
anything anymore. Then, Windows kicks in as normal.

I've tried various things - even disconnecting the hard drive to prevent
an OS starting - in order to see what's happening, but nothing seems to
work.

Any ideas anyone ?

TIA.

Tim.

Sounds to me like you have allowed XP to reformat your HDD in NTFS.
The original state of the machine had separate hidden 20Mb partition for
diagnostics and BIOS access via their own software. This is on FAT16 or 32.
Once you reformat in non-dos partitioning (ie NTFS) it doesn't work.
Resolution, you need to start all over again.
Doenload a free program called NUKE (google for it) which will totally
remove all data and MBR from your HDD. You then need to have the setup and
restore discs available (download from HP/Compaq for your model) on FDD.
Load them up as per instructions that are available on the disc. This will
make the hidden partition for you again. Once all done, re-install XP on the
FAT32 partition.
Hope this helps - it will NOT be a duff F10 key. Ihad the same with my
Armada 1560 model when W2000 was installed on it.

An EVO D510 BIOS doesn't have anything to do with the disk drive (other than
to possibly lock the motherboard up if the disk drive is defective and still
attached at P.O.S.T.). Access to the bios can be had even if the drive is
disconnected......

I'd check the keyboard to see if the F10 key is bad......

"DCA" wrote in message
...
"Tim Parker" wrote in message
...
Ever since I installed WINXP on my EVO D510CMT I can no longer get into
the BIOS.

Pressing F10 when the Compaq splash screen and prompts appear doesn't do
anything anymore. Then, Windows kicks in as normal.

I've tried various things - even disconnecting the hard drive to prevent
an OS starting - in order to see what's happening, but nothing seems to
work.

Any ideas anyone ?

TIA.

Tim.

Sounds to me like you have allowed XP to reformat your HDD in NTFS.
The original state of the machine had separate hidden 20Mb partition for
diagnostics and BIOS access via their own software. This is on FAT16 or
32. Once you reformat in non-dos partitioning (ie NTFS) it doesn't work.
Resolution, you need to start all over again.
Doenload a free program called NUKE (google for it) which will totally
remove all data and MBR from your HDD. You then need to have the setup and
restore discs available (download from HP/Compaq for your model) on FDD.
Load them up as per instructions that are available on the disc. This will
make the hidden partition for you again. Once all done, re-install XP on
the FAT32 partition.
Hope this helps - it will NOT be a duff F10 key. Ihad the same with my
Armada 1560 model when W2000 was installed on it.

"jsmith" wrote in message
...
An EVO D510 BIOS doesn't have anything to do with the disk drive (other
than to possibly lock the motherboard up if the disk drive is defective
and still attached at P.O.S.T.). Access to the bios can be had even if
the drive is disconnected......

I'd check the keyboard to see if the F10 key is bad......

If you say so. I was advising from another models experience where it most
certainly does - it builds a hidden partition where is stores BIOS
configuration program - the BIOS being invisible without it!

Keeping BIOS configuration data on the hard drive is a thing of the past.
Compaq did it with some of its older computers. But in recent years, the
practice is no more.

I've used the EVO D510, and BIOS access is just as easy as with any modern
Pentium 4 computer... Ben Myers

On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 16:59:00 GMT, "DCA" wrote:

"jsmith" wrote in message
...
An EVO D510 BIOS doesn't have anything to do with the disk drive (other
than to possibly lock the motherboard up if the disk drive is defective
and still attached at P.O.S.T.). Access to the bios can be had even if
the drive is disconnected......

I'd check the keyboard to see if the F10 key is bad......

If you say so. I was advising from another models experience where it most
certainly does - it builds a hidden partition where is stores BIOS
configuration program - the BIOS being invisible without it!

Not on the 300+ D510 systems I have..... The BIOS is unaffected by the
presence/absence of the hard drive. Compaq did use the drive for BIOS
support on systems that are more that 5 or 6 years old, but not on anthing
I've seen since about 2001.

Joe
HP/Compaq APS


"DCA" wrote in message
news
"jsmith" wrote in message
...
An EVO D510 BIOS doesn't have anything to do with the disk drive (other
than to possibly lock the motherboard up if the disk drive is defective
and still attached at P.O.S.T.). Access to the bios can be had even if
the drive is disconnected......

I'd check the keyboard to see if the F10 key is bad......

If you say so. I was advising from another models experience where it most
certainly does - it builds a hidden partition where is stores BIOS
configuration program - the BIOS being invisible without it!