Access to BIOS setup on OLD HP Vectra ES/12

[David L. Largent]

I need to know how to gain access to the BIOS setup program on an old (ancient!) HP Vectra ES/12. The internal battery has gone dead, and I need to tell it about itself again. Any hints will be most appreciated.

[Jamie Hughes · Accepted solution]

Hello David,

You do have an old PC! The only way to access the BIOS on the ES/12 is by booting off of a floppy disk that was supplied with the PC. If you can send me your email address, we will try to find the files you need so you can recreate the floppy. Please send an email to jamie_hughes@hp.com.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[Jamie Hughes]

Hi David,

I think I found it. Try to download this batch file onto a floppy. You should be able to just boot off of the floppy after you copy this file onto it. After that it should take you into the setup screen.

Please let us know how it goes.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[David L. Largent]

Thanks Jamie. Once you mentioned the start-up diskette, my memory was jogged. I went looking and found said disk. Yes, that was exactly what I needed.

[Matt Zykan]

I need the required files to make one of these BIOS disks from scratch, I just acquired an ES/12, and it did not come with the disk.

[David Hawley]

Ditto!

I have just resurrected a Vectra ES/12 for our museum (for display as an historic item, no less!). The diskette drives work OK, and the HD spins (labelled "TYPE 2" in big letters) but the machine won't boot off it. Some POST error codes turn up and it is wanting to run SETUP - so I presume it has a flat battery. I can make it boot off a bootable diskette, but I would REALLY like to have it working as advertised in the brochure.

We are missing all the doco and diskettes for this machine (it was a museum donation). What are the chances of getting diskette images for the appropriate diskettes at least?