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#1
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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 |
#2
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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 |
#3
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"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 |
#4
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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 |
#5
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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 |
#6
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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 |
#7
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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 |
#8
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"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 |
#9
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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 |
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